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Is it possible for a script to create new extensions for new hires?

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MathiasSF

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Hello,
Just as the title states I am looking to see if it is possible to run a script that will assign a new extension to a new hire and send the welcome email.

if its possible in PowerShell that would be even more wonderful, googling my way around though I haven't found any mention of new extension automation.

Thank you,
 
Hi, Nice feedback... At present we are thinking of integration with Office365 and Google Gsuite for auto syncing of extensions...
 
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Maybe in this case not applicable?

You can import extensions directly from Active Directory or another LDAP server. The added benefit to this method is that every time a change is made to the user configuration in Active Directory, users can be re-synchronised, in which case only the updates will be imported. The step by step guide on how to
Import Extensions via 3CX Active Directory explains the process in detail.

Just as the title states I am looking to see if it is possible to run a script that will assign a new extension to a new hire and send the welcome email.
That welcome email should be attachment-less preferably even for desktops...
We want different levels of staff to have different policies (e.g. 'Regular', 'Pro / Remote user', 'Senior Staff') and perhaps call policies too (e.g. Standard call policy, Premium calls allowed, International calls allowed) without having to tinker with lots of tick boxes for each person each time.
Similar to Roles and permissions from Moodle:
A role is a collection of permissions defined for the whole system that you can assign to specific users in specific contexts. The combination of roles and context define a specific user's ability to do something on any page. The most common examples are the roles of student and teacher in the context of a course.
 
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Hi, Nice feedback... At present we are thinking of integration with Office365 and Google Gsuite for auto syncing of extensions...

Nick,
This sounds interesting. A bit of context and real world experience info for you...

As a large school, we have around 270 staff on our site (but I'm also responsible for several other schools who will probably eventually migrate to 3CX as well). During the academic year, there's quite a few trainee teachers who join us for either a few weeks, months or the whole year. Then there's long term cover, the natural cycle of people coming and going. All of these people need a phone extension - mostly for a softphone. That's quite a lot of people to provision, set up, tweak. I'm looking at doing this with a PowerShell script during the user creation process. At the moment, we use Lync 2010 / Skype for Business 2016 client (migrating to 3CX next month) and user creation, auto software login, assigning users to groups/profiles to pick up settings is probably one of its main pros (for its many, many cons).

With 3CX soft phone activation, it's even more of a chore as teachers roam around all day between PCs. We're scripting a way of provisioning the client for them, to at least mimic SfB like auto-sign in functionality. Having to get them to import their 3CX profile on each PC they use is not good/going to happen/friendly. I'm hoping the move to tighter security around this area doesn't break any possibility of this being done for them.

For me, regular account creation/deletion is a bit lacking in 3CX. Especially around user templates. We want different levels of staff to have different policies (e.g. 'Regular', 'Pro / Remote user', 'Senior Staff') and perhaps call policies too (e.g. Standard call policy, Premium calls allowed, International calls allowed) without having to tinker with lots of tick boxes for each person each time. Yes, it can be scripted but it's a bit of a fudge.

The soft phone itself is easily tinkered with. For the average user, there's a lot they can break. I'd prefer to be able to mandate / hide certain options, to KISS for them. We're even having to deploy the ringtones after the client has gone on, which are edited to be quieter as they're so loud!

Many, many schools have integration with O365/Azure/GSuite already. It's free for us. Some schools are starting to use Azure AD, others are using the SSO feature. We're using ADFS for authentication. Depending on what you're thinking, this could be quite a big positive step.

3CX looks great and I can't wait to migrate to it (we've already purchased and are setting it up). Lync 2010 Server has been a nightmare to admin, really petty, bloated and mixed UI rubbish at the backend. However, I'm a bit frustrated that the end user experience for soft phones and administering of users frequently coming/going is very much less slick than we have now.
 
Hi lewis, Great feedback. yes Azure AD will also be something we will support. @Sopock yes that module will be updated and improved.

One thing about roaming profiles - maybe the web client will help here once we have integrated softphone? Also maybe the smartphone client for teachers could be a solution as well instead of using softphone on Windows? As they can just carry it around.

Re the phone extension templates/roles its something we want to do but its been pushed back a little to finish off some other features but definitely on our to do list.
 
Hi Nick,
Just to respond to your questions:

The profiles are not roaming. We use folder redirection for the bits that matter, but anything that goes in to %AppData%\Local stays on the PC unless their profile is deleted.

I take your point on the smart phone app and this is something I will be publicising. However, mobiles in schools are generally a big no-no. Some schools completely prohibit students having them on site. We have an 'On Site? Out of Sight!' mobile policy. If a teacher were to use their mobiles, even with the app, it crosses in to hypocritical behaviour and professional standards. It is far more difficult to distinguish between using the 3CX for school calls and the mobile for personal calls.

Additionally, we would want teachers to only be able to use the app when on school wifi (to prevent them making calls on our bill from home!), but would also want senior staff being able to use it anywhere. It certainly will have great benefit for senior staff and using it around/off site.

The web client with a soft phone would be good. BUT: it needs to be loadable and stay open at logon. We want to be able to call people, not just have them opening up the web phone when they want to make a call.

If you do ever decide to re-write the Windows soft phone, please consider ADMX templates for customising the app. I realise this client isn't on the agenda, or at least high, but just sowing the seed!

Again, please don't take these as criticism and every customer has different perspectives and needs, but it's good to share sensible reasoning :)
 
While we're discussing auto-configuration of soft phone - please don't make any further changes to the way the config file is currently accessed. We're already having to use a script to export them since they were removed from disk in V15. 3CX may not do automated configuration, but lots of your partners do based on the configuration files.
Thanks
 
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