[charabi]

Old request I know...
Having installed our 1st two 3cx solutions in the UK - we are really keen for further development on Pick up Groups, so that extensions can be allocated a group number or entered into a group - meaning *20* will only pick up calls to other group members of your group. Alternatively, assign group numer to extension - ie *20*1, picks up calls to members of group 1. This has been common practice for many years and is disappointing 3CX struggles here.
Thanks for listening
Martin

[FoxhallVoIP]

Agree with this ...
Just opened a new thread on this before seeing your input ...

Slight modification to your idea maybe ... It would be nice to be able to configure each extension as a member of a call pick-up group (group 1, group 2, 3 etc.). This would mean that you used a generic call pick up code (e.g. our 3CX *20*), but that would only pick up calls ringing on extension in your same pick-up group. If you then (for some reason) wanted to pick up calls on an extension outside your assigned group, you can then use *20* followed by the extension number [or group number].

This would allow us to use a single button or speed dial as call pick-up, with a user not being worried about picking up an older ringing call somewhere else in the business.

[ChrisPriest]

Being the admin of the systems that Martin from Charabi installed.

I whipped up a couple of ASP scripts to implement call pickup, basically you program a button to call the script, the script then checks to see which ring group you are in, and then checks to see if there are any other phones who are members of the same ring group and which are currently ringing. It then transfers the call to your handset.

Only downside to the script, is that it'll only pickup the first ringing call, probably not too much of an issue tho.

If anyone wants the code, drop me a note. You do need the 3CX API for it to work tho.

Best Regards
Chris

[SY]

Question:
What to do in case if two calls are ringing in pickup group?

Thanks

[FoxhallVoIP]

Being the admin of the systems that Martin from Charabi installed.

I whipped up a couple of ASP scripts to implement call pickup, basically you program a button to call the script, the script then checks to see which ring group you are in, and then checks to see if there are any other phones who are members of the same ring group and which are currently ringing. It then transfers the call to your handset.

Only downside to the script, is that it'll only pickup the first ringing call, probably not too much of an issue tho.

If anyone wants the code, drop me a note. You do need the 3CX API for it to work tho.

Best Regards
Chris

What phones are you using Chris??? (any idea if this would work with a Linksys SPA942???)
Thanks

[ChrisPriest]

Question:
What to do in case if two calls are ringing in pickup group?

Thanks

Hi SY,

I have tried this out, basically the script just grabs the first ringing call (which is what we wanted) If another call within the same ring group is ringing and there is another person available to pick up the call, then they can also call the script to grab the next ringing call.

FoxhallVoIP: We use Aastra 57i handsets, make use of their ability to call an XML script.

Regards
Chris

[SY]

Question:
What to do in case if two calls are ringing in pickup group?

Thanks

Hi SY,

I have tried this out, basically the script just grabs the first ringing call (which is what we wanted) If another call within the same ring group is ringing and there is another person available to pick up the call, then they can also call the script to grab the next ringing call.

FoxhallVoIP: We use Aastra 57i handsets, make use of their ability to call an XML script.

Regards
Chris

What is the difference in comparison with *20*?
Why BLF is not acceptable?

[ChrisPriest]

*20* will pick up ANY ringing phone.
Also we do not have enough BLF's to put everyone in each group on a BLF.

With my script, you place anyone who you want to be able to pickup a call into a Ring group (You don't have to use it as a ring group, but it serves as a container for the users)

The script then checks which ring group you are in and then picks up the first ringing call in that ring group.

So, if User A,B and C are in ring group 1 and User D,E and F are in ring group 2, Users A,B and C would only be able to pickup a call in ring group 1 and not in 2 and vice versa.

Our development team are a group of 10 people, they want to be able to pickup any ringing phone in their group only, my script serves this purpose We also apply it to other departments.

The only downside at the moment, is the ASP Worker thread times out after a while and the script engine seems to take a while to reinitialise it, so it can cause a delay, I have changed the timeout/recycle time, but I get a tad concerned that it will just eat memory

Best Regards
Chris

[SY]

*20* will pick up ANY ringing phone.
Also we do not have enough BLF's to put everyone in each group on a BLF.

With my script, you place anyone who you want to be able to pickup a call into a Ring group (You don't have to use it as a ring group, but it serves as a container for the users)

The script then checks which ring group you are in and then picks up the first ringing call in that ring group.

So, if User A,B and C are in ring group 1 and User D,E and F are in ring group 2, Users A,B and C would only be able to pickup a call in ring group 1 and not in 2 and vice versa.

Our development team are a group of 10 people, they want to be able to pickup any ringing phone in their group only, my script serves this purpose We also apply it to other departments.

The only downside at the moment, is the ASP Worker thread times out after a while and the script engine seems to take a while to reinitialise it, so it can cause a delay, I have changed the timeout/recycle time, but I get a tad concerned that it will just eat memory

Best Regards
Chris

Chris,

"Sidecar" can adds ~30-40 BLF buttons.
Some phones has 4-10 "built-in" BLF buttons.
Call Assistant is the "sidecar" which provides advanced call control. It works with groups of extensions.
In my humble opinion, pickup group with dialcode is much more complicated approach.

Thanks

[ChrisPriest]

*20* will pick up ANY ringing phone.
Also we do not have enough BLF's to put everyone in each group on a BLF.

With my script, you place anyone who you want to be able to pickup a call into a Ring group (You don't have to use it as a ring group, but it serves as a container for the users)

The script then checks which ring group you are in and then picks up the first ringing call in that ring group.

So, if User A,B and C are in ring group 1 and User D,E and F are in ring group 2, Users A,B and C would only be able to pickup a call in ring group 1 and not in 2 and vice versa.

Our development team are a group of 10 people, they want to be able to pickup any ringing phone in their group only, my script serves this purpose We also apply it to other departments.

The only downside at the moment, is the ASP Worker thread times out after a while and the script engine seems to take a while to reinitialise it, so it can cause a delay, I have changed the timeout/recycle time, but I get a tad concerned that it will just eat memory

Best Regards
Chris

Chris,

"Sidecar" can adds ~30-40 BLF buttons.
Some phones has 4-10 "built-in" BLF buttons.
Call Assistant is the "sidecar" which provides advanced call control. It works with groups of extensions.
In my humble opinion, pickup group with dialcode is much more complicated approach.

Thanks

Hi SY,

I agree and we do have two sidecar units on our reception console, however, we are finding a lot of people do not like the Assistant (Nothing wrong with it! ) just I guess some people have gotten used to doing things on the phone itself, it will take time for them to migrate, in the meantime, having a single button that picks up a ringing phone in their designated group is exactly what they want and what we have managed to achieve

Best Regards
Chris

[KerryG]

Bottom line is that there isn't always a computer at each phone so the 3CX Assistant is useless if there is no computer around. In many locations this is the case. Retail stores don't have computers next to the cash register, break room, lobby phone, warehouses, etc, there are lots of times you want to pick up a ringing phone but you are not near a computer to use the 3CX Assistant.

Add to that people using Macs, and yes, there are some offices that simply don't want it installed no matter how much you tell them and try to show them how much easier it is to use. One of the biggest show-stoppers for the 3CX Assistant is the chat function, some offices simply will not allow an IM type of system and since this can't be disabled per user yet, there are companies that would use the 3CX Assistant but refuse to on that reason alone.

So there are plenty of use cases where dial codes, even though more complicated, are the only way to do certain tasks.

[pjr]

there are plenty of use cases where dial codes, even though more complicated, are the only way to do certain tasks.

Which is why virtually all of 3CX's competitors have this featue (Mitel, Avaya, Cisco, Asterisk) etc.

As far as I can see it shouldnt be too hard to implement as you have the basic function there already?


Paul

[sophieb]

thanks for sharing!