Business Group

The Business Group object defines a group of telephone lines (Business Group Lines), typically associated with a small business organization, for which the MetaSwitch NE provides services as though they were connected to a PBX (Private Branch Exchange) rather than directly to the exchange. It is a child of the Business Groups object.

To configure a Business Group, you need to do the following:

Note that the EMS currently includes Tasks to simplify the processes of adding and configuring Business Groups and their child objects. See the Tasks Guide for more information.


If you delete a Business Group's child Dialing Plan object, the users within the Business Group will be unable to make outgoing calls or calls within the Business Group (although incoming calls will still be accepted).



If you delete a Business Group that has one or more Business Group Lines allocated, the Business Group Lines will also be deleted.



If a Business Group uses the Auto Attendant service, and you change the Business Group name, your Auto Attendant menu configuration for the Business Group may be lost. If you need to change the name, please contact MetaSwitch support personnel for assistance.


Parameter

Access

Description
Business Group name Change Unique user-friendly name identifying the Business Group. Specify a name of up to 64 characters. If a name is not specified, the EMS displays a default.
Persistent Profile Change The Persistent Profile that is used as a basis for the configuration of this Business Group and its call services. The default values for many other fields in the Business Group's configuration are taken from the selected profile. If necessary, you can override these defaults for a specific Business Group Line, either by specifying a different profile on the Business Group Line or by setting explicit values. Select from the list of Persistent Profiles that are configured for use by Business Groups, or select Persistent Profile "None" to use the system defaults instead of using a profile.
Synchronization with profile in progress Read only Specifies whether Business Group Line, MADN and MLHG configurations are currently being updated as a result of a recent change to the profile used by this Business Group. Values:
  • True
    The profile has recently been changed, and the NE is in the process of applying the change to Business Group Lines, MADNs and MLHGs in the group. Some lines may still be using the previous settings from before the change.
  • False
    All Business Group Lines, MADNs and MLHGs in the group are using the current settings as specified in the profile, except where the subscriber configuration overrides it.
Local CNAM name Change A name used to identify this Business Group when providing Calling Name Delivery information on a call from this Business Group to another subscriber on the switch. You can override this setting in the Caller ID Services object for each Business Group Line in the group if necessary. Specify a name of 1 - 15 characters, or leave the field blank if you do not want to specify a calling name.
Long distance carrier Change The long distance carrier ID (PIC1) used by default for subscribers in this business group. You can override this for a particular Business Group Line in the group if necessary. Choose Use default or specify the carrier ID as a 4-digit number. If the Business Group includes lines from two or more Rate Centers, you must set this to your own long-distance carrier ID. Some services specific to Business Groups (such as internal Caller ID, distinctive alerting, or flat rate billing for intercom calls) may not work correctly if calls within the Business Group are routed over other carriers.
IntraLATA carrier Change The intraLATA carrier ID (PIC2) used by default for subscribers in this business group. You can override this for a particular Business Group Line in the group if necessary. Choose Use default or specify the carrier ID as a 4-digit number. If the Business Group includes lines from two or more Rate Centers, you must set this to your own intraLATA carrier ID. Some services specific to Business Groups (such as internal Caller ID, distinctive alerting, or flat rate billing for intercom calls) may not work correctly if calls within the Business Group are routed over other carriers.
International carrier Change The international carrier ID (PIC3) used by default for subscribers in this business group. You can override this for a particular Business Group Line in the group if necessary. Choose Use default or specify the carrier ID as a 4-digit number.
Locale Change The language variant used for voice announcements played to subscribers in this business group. Values:
  • English (US) (default)
  • English (UK)
  • English (Canadian)
  • French (Canadian)
  • User Defined 1
  • User Defined 2
Billing type Change The type of billing used for calls within the local area. Choose Use default or specify a value:
  • Flat rate (default)
    The subscriber pays a fixed fee that covers all local calls.
  • Message rate
    The subscriber is billed for each call.
Billing type - intercom calls Change The type of billing used for intercom calls within the business group (which may not be local calls if the business group spans two or more local areas). Values:
  • All flat rate
    The subscriber pays a fixed fee that covers all intercom calls.
  • All message rate
    The subscriber is billed for each call.
  • Local calls flat rate (default)
    The subscriber pays a fixed fee that covers all local intercom calls, and is billed for each non-local intercom call.
Number Validation and routing attributes Change Attributes used to determine how a call made by the subscriber is routed to the network. You can override this setting for each Business Group Line in the group if necessary. Choose Use default or, if required, select one or more of the following values:
  • Pre-paid / off-switch calling card subscriber
    The subscriber uses a pre-paid or off-switch calling card service. The NE must check with an external pre-paid billing platform before routing the call, to ensure that the subscriber is permitted to make this type of call (local, long-distance, international etc.)
  • Fax / modem subscriber
    The subscriber can make fax or modem calls (for which compression should not be used) in addition to standard voice calls. This attribute is typically used to route calls for this subscriber over TDM trunks (such as ISUP) in preference to SIP trunks.
  • Nomadic subscriber
    The subscriber uses VoIP service and may do so from multiple locations. This attribute is typically used to route emergency (911) calls from this subscriber to a VoIP Emergency Call Services system that can provide details of the subscriber's current location.
Deny all usage sensitive features Change Specifies whether subscribers in this business group are prevented from using any call services that are configured with usage sensitive billing. Choose Use default or specify a value:
  • True
    The subscriber is not permitted to use any call service that is configured with usage sensitive billing; this may be configured explicitly in the subscriber configuration or by default from a Persistent Profile or the global setting.
  • False
    The subscriber can use all call services that are configured, regardless of the billing type.
Distinctive alerting Change Specifies whether a distinctive ring tone is used for incoming calls to lines in this Business Group, to identify either internal calls (from within the Business Group) or external calls. Distinctive alerting applies both to ring tones when the called number is not busy and to Call Waiting tones when the called number is busy. For SIP subscribers, use of distinctive ring tones depends on the support provided by the SIP device. The distinctive ring tone used is different from that used for the Priority Call service. If both services are in use and an incoming call is from a number in the subscriber's own Priority Call list, the Priority Call ring tone is used in preference to the business group's distinctive alerting ring tone. Values:
  • None
    Distinctive alerting is not used.
  • External
    A distinctive ring tone is used for incoming calls from external numbers.
  • Internal
    A distinctive ring tone is used for incoming calls from internal numbers.
Service suspended Change Specifies whether service for this Business Group is currently suspended (subscribers in the group are prevented from making or receiving calls). You can override this setting for each Business Group Line in the group if necessary. Values:
  • None (default)
    Service is not suspended: the subscriber can make and receive calls as normal.
  • Incoming calls
    The subscriber is prevented from receiving incoming calls, except that he or she can still receive calls from the operator.
  • Outgoing calls
    The subscriber is prevented from making calls, except that he or she can still make calls to emergency services or to the designated suspended service access number.
  • Incoming and outgoing calls
    The subscriber is prevented from making or receiving any calls, except for calls to emergency services or to the designated suspended service access number.
Number of directory numbers Read only Number of directory numbers that are allocated for use by this Business Group (as part of Business Group Number Blocks).
Number of free directory numbers Read only Number of directory numbers that are allocated for use by this Business Group (as part of Business Group Number Blocks) but not assigned to Business Group Lines.
Enable advanced alerting features Change Specifies whether advanced alerting is supported for SIP phones in this Business Group. Advanced alerting allows Alert-Info data to be sent on calls between two lines in a Business Group (if the specific SIP phones you are using provide support for it). This data allows the calling phone to specify how the called phone is to be alerted, and is typically used for push-to-talk calls or for customized distinctive ringing. Note that the Alert-Info sent on a call may be overridden by Alert-Info specified in the called phone's Remote Media Gateway Model, for example if Alert-Info is configured for intra-BG distinctive ringing. Choose Use default or specify a value:
  • True
  • False
Traffic Study Change Specifies whether this Business Group should have statistics for traffic usage recorded. This records overall statistics for the Business Group as a whole, and can be used to monitor the effect of Facility Group Limits on calls to or from the Business Group. It does not affect whether Line Traffic Studies are used for specific lines within the group. Values:
  • True
  • False (default)
Note that if the maximum allowed number of currently active studies has been met, setting this field to True will be rejected when you apply the change.
Line Class Code 1 - 20 Change / Change Inactive This field appears once for each Line Class Code that you have configured below the Trunk Routing and Policy Services object. The access to this field (Change or Change Inactive) depends on the configuration of the Line Class Code. A code used as a match attribute in number validation and/or routing to provide additional options for routing calls originating from this Business Group. (You can override this value for a specific Business Group Line within the group if required.) If you need to perform specific routing for this subscriber's calls, set this field to a value used as a match value for the Line Class Code in the appropriate Number Validation Entry or Routing Action. Specify the Line Class Code as an integer value in the range 0 - 2147483646. The default is 0. Alternatively, for a validated Line Class Code, you can select a specific value from the list of valid values by clicking on the ellipsis symbol at the end of the field. Either scroll down the alphabetic list of code value descriptions to select the value you want, or type the first few letters of the code's description so that the alphabetic list scrolls to select the entry you want.
Facility Group Limits - external calls Change Specifies whether or not limits are placed on the total number of external calls that can be made to or from this Business Group at the same time. Values:
  • Not permitted
  • Unlimited (default)
  • Limited
Facility Group Limits - maximum external calls Change This field is visible only if Facility Group Limits - external calls is set to Limited. Specifies the maximum number of external calls that can be made to or from this Business Group at the same time. Range: 1 - 2147483647. The default is 16.
Facility Group Limits - terminating calls Change This field is visible only if Facility Group Limits - external calls is set to Limited or Unlimited. Specifies whether or not limits are placed on the number of external calls that can be made to this Business Group at the same time. Values:
  • Not permitted
  • Unlimited (default)
  • Limited
Facility Group Limits - maximum terminating calls Change This field is visible only if Facility Group Limits - terminating calls is set to Limited. Specifies the maximum number of incoming external calls that can be made to this Business Group at the same time. If Facility Group Limits - external calls has been set to Limited, this value cannot be greater than the value specified in Facility Group Limits - maximum external calls. Range: 1 - 2147483647. The default is 16.
Facility Group Limits - originating calls Change This field is visible only if Facility Group Limits - external calls is set to Limited or Unlimited. Specifies whether or not limits are placed on the number of external calls that can be made from this Business Group at the same time. Values:
  • Not permitted
  • Unlimited (default)
  • Limited
Facility Group Limits - maximum originating calls Change This field is visible only if Facility Group Limits - originating calls is set to Limited. Specifies the maximum number of external calls that can be made from this Business Group. If Facility Group Limits - external calls has been set to Limited, this value cannot be greater than the value specified in Facility Group Limits - maximum external calls. Note that this includes calls forwarded from a Business Group Line or three-way calls set up by a Business Group Line within the group. Range: 1 - 2147483647. The default is 16.
Business Group Line Attention Required alarms Read only The total number of Business Group Line objects (and their child objects) associated with this object that are in Attention Required state.
Business Group Line Attention Required alarm events Read only / Reset The total number of times that the alarm state for a Business Group Line child object has gone to Attention Required.
Business Group Line Attend To Dependent alarms Read only The total number of Business Group Line objects (and their child objects) associated with this object that are in Attend To Dependent state.
Business Group Line Attend To Dependent alarm events Read only / Reset The total number of times that the alarm state for a Business Group Line child object has gone to Attend To Dependent.
Multiple Appearance Directory Number Attention Required alarms Read only The total number of Multiple Appearance Directory Number objects (and their child objects) associated with this object that are in Attention Required state.
Multiple Appearance Directory Number Attention Required alarm events Read only / Reset The total number of times that the alarm state for a Multiple Appearance Directory Number child object has gone to Attention Required.
Multiple Appearance Directory Number Attend To Dependent alarms Read only The total number of Multiple Appearance Directory Number objects (and their child objects) associated with this object that are in Attend To Dependent state.
Multiple Appearance Directory Number Attend To Dependent alarm events Read only / Reset The total number of times that the alarm state for a Multiple Appearance Directory Number child object has gone to Attend To Dependent.
Multi Line Hunt Group Attention Required alarms Read only The total number of Multi Line Hunt Group objects (and their child objects) associated with this object that are in Attention Required state.
Multi Line Hunt Group Attention Required alarm events Read only / Reset The total number of times that the alarm state for a Multi Line Hunt Group child object has gone to Attention Required.
Multi Line Hunt Group Attend To Dependent alarms Read only The total number of Multi Line Hunt Group objects (and their child objects) associated with this object that are in Attend To Dependent state.
Multi Line Hunt Group Attend To Dependent alarm events Read only / Reset The total number of times that the alarm state for a Multi Line Hunt Group child object has gone to Attend To Dependent.
Summary child alarm state Read only Summarizes the alarm status for all children of this object. Values:
  • Clear
    No alarms are currently raised.
  • Attention Required
    Attention Required - one or more child objects are not operating normally, and need operator intervention.
  • Attend To Dependent
    Attention Required elsewhere - another object on which one or more child objects depend is not operating normally.
Export - number of objects exported Read only The total number of objects (including child objects) written to the export file so far in the current or most recent export operation.
Export - status Read only The status of the current or most recent export operation, if any. Values:
  • None
    No export has been attempted. Use the export pushbutton to start it.
  • In progress
    Export is in progress. Do not attempt to access the export file until the status has changed to Succeeded.
  • Succeeded
    Export completed successfully.
  • Failed
    Export failed. Check the Export - log correlator field for more details.
  • Partially failed
    A field in the configuration of the exported object or one of its child objects was not valid. Typically this is because a referenced object has been deleted. Either check and correct the configuration before retrying the export, or correct the error in the exported file before attempting to re-import it.
Export - file Change The name of the text file (in the EMS User's home directory on the EMS Server) to which configuration information for this object will be exported. The maximum length of the filename is 32 characters.
Export - log correlator Read only If the export status is Failed, this field contains a correlator for the log message that contains details of the failure. Click on the 'go to log' button next to this field to jump to this message in the EMS log viewer window.
Export - correlator metaswitch Read only If the export status is Failed, this field contains the name of the EMS Server or MetaSwitch Network Element that generated the failure log. You may need this information to find the log in the EMS log viewer window.