Walkthrough: Set-up Team Bulletin Board with Rotating Sponsor Message

In this walkthrough the caller will hear a sponsor message, input a fixed length number identifying their team, listen to their team leader's message with the option to leave a message.  The team leader will have the option to log in to change the team message at any time and will be notified when a team member has left a message. 

The Sponsor list will be incremented sequentially to determine the current Sponsor Number to use.  Each Sponsor will be set-up with a Mailbox record whose Mailbox # is set to the Sponsor Number, Type is Announcement and Greeting is the Sponsor's message.  Each Sponsor message will be played sequentially at the start of a call across all lines.

This Sample Application is available for download.  Use link at the end of this walkthrough to download and install sample application.

Walkthrough Overview

In this walkthrough, you will:

1. Create Mailbox Records;
2. Verify System Parameters;
3. Create Notification Records;
4. Create Audiotex Records/Modules and Associated Scripts.
5. Define entry in the IVR Application List for the new custom IVR;
6. Set Ports.

During this walkthrough, you will learn to do the following:

• Use a Global variable;
• Create and run an Entry.bas script;
• Set-up an mailboxes with:
  •  Type Announcement and Option To Leave Message
  • Settings UL3 (limit owner options to 3);
• Get value of a global variable and assign it to a local variable;
• Get input using the GetDTMF command;
• Send caller to the mailbox associated with the local variable using the CALLBasic Return command;
• Notify mailbox owner via email and phone when caller has left a message in mailbox;
• Handle caller hang up and call failure.

Prerequisites and Assumptions

• CALLMaster software installed and running with the Dialogic board installed and configured.  For more information, see Installation and Setup.
• A working knowledge of CALLMaster Manager.  Specifically how to add, delete and edit records.

• Phone lines connected to CALLMaster and tested.
• Voice Mail Parameters Mailbox Length and Password Length set to 4.
• Email activated and tested.  See Activating Email.

Create Mailbox Records

Sponsor Mailboxes - For this walkthrough we will reserve Mailboxes 9900 thru 9999 for Sponsors.  The first Sponsor Number will be 9900 and 9905 as the last Sponsor Number.  There must be a sequentially numbered mailbox records set-up and used.  
For each Mailbox record, the Mailbox # will be equal to the Sponsor Number, the Type set to Announcement.  Each mailbox will have Settings UL3 (limit owner options to 3) and NGN (do not require mailbox name and greeting for first time login).  Add any other optional information as desired. 

Team Mailboxes - You can use any other Mailbox range for the Team mailboxes.  We will set-up 3 Team mailbox records with Mailbox #  1000, 1001, 1002.  As we want to give the Team member the option to leave a message, we will set the Type to Option to Leave Msg.

Administrator Mailbox - Keep Mailbox record 0000 with the default settings as CALLMaster requires it.  You should change the password for this record to maintain security.

If the mailbox owner wishes to receive email notification of messages or faxes received in their mailbox, enter their email address in the Email field.

Open the CALLMaster Manager. Click on Manage, then select Mailboxes.  Let's add the records in this walkthrough as follows:

As the mailbox has Setting UL3, only the first 3 Set Personal Option Features will be available.  The changes made will take effect as soon as the owner logs out.

Verify System Parameters

As we are using Notification, we need to make sure that the System Parameters - Local Dialing Prefix, Long Distance Dialing Prefix, System's Area Code and System's Phone Number have the correct values for your environment.

Open the CALLMaster Manager. Click on Parameters, then select System.  Double click on each of the parameters mentioned above  to change their values as needed.  Remember, CALLMaster will use this information with the Notification data input below to make notification calls. See System Parameters for details.

For this walkthrough we will assume the following values:

• Local Dialing Prefix - set to 9.
• Long Distance Dialing Prefix - set to 9,1,.
• System's Area Code - set to 914.
• System's Phone Number - set to 5555555

Create Notification Records

As we have enabled the Notification On indicator for Mailboxes 1000, we need to create Notification record(s) for the mailbox.

Open the CALLMaster Manager. Click on Manage, then select Notification to add the records specified below.  For each record, set the Earliest Hour to Call, Latest Hour to Call, Days to Call and the Call Attempt Schedule as desired.  See Notification for details.

Create Audiotex Records/Modules and Associated Scripts

As all calls will be starting in Audiotex mode in this walkthrough, the Audiotex Modules will determine the call flow.

In the Audiotex set-up, the caller will hear a Sponsor message.  There will be a sequential rotation thru the list of Sponsors, with each Sponsor having the ability to record their message at any time.

We will need to create several Audiotex records as shown below.  The Label field provides a brief description of each module.  

Audiotex Module Description

• We start with an Entry.bas script.  This script will initialize the Global variable @intSponsorNo to 9900 (the first Sponsor Number).  This script is placed in the Scripts folder like all the other scripts, however it is not assigned to any Audiotex module.  The Entry.bas script will run only when the CALLMaster service starts.  We also want to set the system variable lctrap to an Audiotex module to send caller if they hang-up.  See sample code below.
• Module 10 is the starting module.  We will use this module to initialize variables using script InitializeVal.bas.  In particular, we need to initialize the variable for the first Sponsor Number (intFirstSponsorNo) and last Sponsor Number (intLastSponsorNo). We will fix the Input Length allowed (intMBInputLen) to be the same as the Mailbox length and initialize a variable strMB to contain the 4 digit number entered by the caller.  See sample code below.
• Module 100 selects the next sponsor message to play. The associated script, GetSponsorNo.bas, checks the value of global variable @intSponsorNo to see if it is equal to the last Sponsor Number. If it is then @intSponsorNo is reset to the first Sponsor Number (intFirstSponsorNo); if not then it is incremented by 1.   The local variable intCurrSponsorMBNo is set to the global variable @intSponsorNo  as the current Sponsor Number.  This value is used to send caller to the Sponsor's mailbox via the Return command. 
• Module 1000 is used to get the caller's fixed length input using the GetDTMF command.   This script uses the StringLength command to make sure the caller has entered the number of digits defined by variable intMBInputLen.  If they have not then the call will be forwarded to module 1190 for error processing.
• Module 1100 gives the caller the option to 'press 1 to hear the team message or 2 if you are a team leader'.  Using Touch Tone Table, the caller is sent to either module 2000 or 2100.  If any other key entered the caller will be forwarded to 1192 for error message and retry.
• Module 1190 is to notify the caller that they have not entered the required number of digits.  The associated script, CheckTryCount.bas, gives the caller 3 attempts to make an input.  If the caller has not entered a valid input after 3 attempts, processing will be forwarded to module 9920.
• Module 1192 is to notify the caller that they have not entered the required number of digits.  The associated script, CheckTryCount.bas, gives the caller 3 attempts to make an input.  If the caller has not entered a valid input after 3 attempts, processing will be forwarded to module 9920.
• Module 2000 uses the Return Command to send caller to Mailbox (Module Action) based on the local variable strMB.
• Modules 9900 and 9910 are required to handle call failure and capture caller hang-up respectively.  Both these modules can be used to set flags and route processing as required.
• Module 9920 is used to notify caller that they have reached the maximum attempts allowed for a valid input.  The script associated with this module can be used to set flags and route processing as required.

Based on the Audiotex modules shown above, we will need 4 scripts as well as the Entry.bas script.  Let's make a Scripts sub-folder (Program Files\CALLMaster\Scripts\SampleApp-TeamBulletinBoard folder) to save the custom scripts.

Create the scripts first.  Open Notepad and create scripts following code examples below.  Remember to save them as .bas type files in the Program Files\CALLMaster\Scripts\SampleApp-TeamBulletinBoard folder. 

The Entry.bas script must be save in the root Program Files\CALLMaster\Scripts folder.

Now you can create the Audiotex modules and reference the scripts above.  Open the CALLMaster Manager, click on Manage, then select Audiotex to add the Audiotex records shown above.

Define IVR Application List Entry

We need to define the custom IVR in the IVR Application List and set it to Audiotex Start Module 10.  Open CALLMaster Manager and select Manage | IVR Application List.  Let's add a new record as follows:

Set Ports

As a last step, we need set the port(s) to the new IVR Application entry created above.  Make sure the Audiotex Start Module field (read only) correctly points to module 10.

As this walkthrough uses Notification, make sure at least one port is enabled for Type Outbound; by default, all the ports are enabled for Inbound. Set the Port Greeting File IDs to the main greeting for all calls if you have recorded one.  If you do not want a main greeting then set the Greeting File IDs to zero. Leave all other fields to the default values.

If you are working with a demo license or have only one line connected, then make sure the connected port is set as specified below.  All other ports should be set to Application 'Disabled'.

Test the custom application

Save all your work. 

Stop CALLMaster service.

Make Audiotex Recordings:

-  Set Port 1 to Application Voice Mail.

-  Start CALLMaster service.

-  Make a call using Port 1.

-  Log in as the Administrator using the Voice Mail Main Menu and make recordings for the Audiotex modules below.

Tip: See Walkthrough: Change Application Without Restarting CALLMaster Service to set port to Voice Mail for ongoing recording changes.

Reset Port 1 to Application Audiotex.  Set the Port Greeting File IDs to zeros.

Stop and Start CALLMaster service.

Make a phone call to test the application.

Make Mailbox Greetings.

- The Team leader and Sponsor can call in to the system and use option 2 to record team messages and retrieve messages.

To download and install, see Sample Applications.