Invoking "night mode" from out of the building - Mitel 5000

[e scent]

Mitel 5000   - 8528 Phones

Can night mode be turned on from outside the building from a standard cell phone or land line - calling into my admin phone extension?
Code 9860 is simple from my admin phone sitting at my desk.  Can I call into my extension and enter a feature code remotely?  I have yet to find instructions saying it can be done per my extension or via the "System Administrator" Mailbox.

The need is when a storm hits and staff leaves the building during business hours, forgetting to manually turn on night mode OR a storm hits early in the morning before we open, and no one will be coming into the building due to hazardous road conditions.

Remote access to the PC for launching DB programming to get to STAR seems a bit complex for such a simple and standard change needed due to a weather issue  (IMHO).  I must be missing something, yes?  Is there a simple way to invoke a pre-programmed STAR "bad weather" application ring assignment by calling in from outside the building?

And to confirm, a keyed entry of 9860  into night mode remains in place until toggled off, yes?  The night mode is not overridden and disabled by the next STAR open-day schedule that rolls around?

Tropical storms of  late are driving this line of questioning by me.  Thanks in advance for your kind attention and consideration.  Ed

[Tech Electronics]

Ed,

Depending on your software version it is totally possible to do as we program for that all the time.

If you have configuration assistant available on your system that is all you need to put your system into night mode remotely easily. Just call the number directed to config assistant or make it a menu button press in your AA. Then you give it your extension and passcode for your phone and follow the prompts.

Some additional programming may be required for your system to work the way I explained.

Thanks,

TE

[DND ON]

You can't actually put the system into night mode over the phone, but you can certainly route calls to your night greeting, inclement weather greeting or holiday greeting with a simple phone call.

Create a phantom with two forward paths: one for your day ring-in destination and the other for night. Flag them for immediate forwarding, and point your main number to the phantom. Incoming calls will follow the appropriate forward path in day and night mode.

Need to change the ring-in destination from your cell phone? No problem. Call into the Configuration Assistant as described by TE, and manually forward the phantom to the desired application. Manual forwarding will override system forwarding, so you're good to go.

My office used to drive me crazy when they bailed out early for holidays before the STAR kicked in, and I'd be on the road. Close early or open late for inclement weather was a pain as well. Not any more.

You will have to remember to cancel the manual forwarding at some point.

[Tech Electronics]

DND ON,

If the phone you are accessing is an Administrator then you can put the system into Night Mode via the configuration assistant.

When setting up a STAR we always put the Night Ring-In Type to an alternate destination for Inclement Weather situations. We then have the customer use the configuration assistant to put the system into Night Mode; no fuss no muss and no changing of recordings; as long as the inclement weather recording is generic.

When someone makes it back into the office they can take the system out of Night Mode and it is back to their normal STAR operations.

Thanks,

TE

[e scent]

TE  &  DND ON,

Thanks so much for responding and for providing the helpful input.

The Configuration Assistant does show in our software.  I don't think we've made use of it since we've had the system (installed July 2014)

I'll ask a generalized question, which will give away the fact (if you haven't concluded already), that I am no phone technician:  So with the configuration assistant properly configured and programmed, it lets an outside caller then access an extension with administrative privileges, letting feature codes be inputted and accepted from the caller (from outside the building)? (So the code to toggle into night mode – 9860 - can be understood and accepted?)

I wear 17 hats around here which sadly makes me the defacto “phone person”.  I can do back ups,  input new calendar dates into STAR, change voicemail auto attendant messages and make the VOIP phone function in the building when the off-site employee shows up with that phone to be in our midst for a few days.  I'm self taught and I know enough to be dangerous.  I'll see if I can read up on a configuration assistant setup to have a literacy beyond “dangerous”.

The company that installed the system was sold and we have no support at this time.  Of course the Mitel PBX's just work without issues typically and we don't do much other than pay attention to running the other aspects of our business (which is more than you can ask for in a phone system).

For the time being I can at least tell the owners of the business (who live near the building) that they can wade in through bad weather and put the system into night mode.  If I can't figure out the set up for the configuration assistant to handle remote functionality, the owners can pay for a competent Mitel technician to do it for them cause it's above my pay grade!

[dwayneg]

Actually you can't enter feature codes, choices will show up as voice prompts...in this case if your phone is admin phone the voice mail lady will ask if you want to invoke night mode.  Can you get into db programming?  If so we can walk you through the process of making config asst accessible from outside.

You can also invoke night mode from the USER WEB ACCESS if you can hit that from outside, just log into an ext with admin rights.

[BlackSunshine]

Why don't you port forward port 443 from outside to you controller IP address ....then login via http://Https://real world Ip...login with admin password and toggle day night via web browser...I have customers that do all the time

[DND ON]

DND ON,

If the phone you are accessing is an Administrator then you can put the system into Night Mode via the configuration assistant.

Thanks TE, I had forgotten about that. I was playing with my Teleworker phone and it's not an Admin.

[e scent]

@ dwayneg,

Thanks for the offer of assistance!  I do get into DB programming. I'll tell you what I know and maybe you can nudge me in the right direction.
System/Devices and Feature Codes/Assistants:  9443 Config Assistant   9442 Office Link   9441 Conference Assistant

I can dial 9443 from my extension (to IC to Assistant).  It welcomes me to configuration assistant, asks for my extension and pass code.  I figured out it was NOT my VM pass code, got into DB programming for my extension and made a pass code.  I can now get in to the config assistant and hear the prompts to toggle on night mode - Yeah!

But from outside the building, it's a no go.  The digit "9" is not a valid choice at our auto-attendant.  I'm not seeing where I need to enable a "9443" entry to be accepted (I assume this is the next course of action, but could be way off.).  The digit would need access for both  day and night modes with the auto attendant.  I'll guess the configuration assistant will not let you go forward without querying for an extension number (even outside the building) and corresponding password (this is the security of getting access, yes).

Any and all instruction of where to go next, replete with details on par for helping "Dummies" is greatly appreciated!   Ed

Ed

[e scent]

I think I figured it out (or a method that does work from what I can tell).

Went into Devices/Applications/digit translations and pointed "9" to ring to the configuration assistant extension of 9443.  It prompts for an extension and pass code and I get the verbal prompts and can toggle night mode.  I'll set up for both my day and night 2500 & 2501 applications.

Is there more I should be altering for this set up (or other places to complete this type of programming).  Or is this a method that should be avoided?

Ha! HA! I just discovered all phone extensions in our system do not have a pass codes set up and so anyone could type another valid 3 digit extension and then just press # without entering a password and get access to the configuration assistant.

I could create passwords for all phone extensions in the system OR ??    Ed

[DND ON]

Change 9 to transfer to collected extension, so you need to know the specific extension number for the Configuration Assistant. Make sure it has an Extension ID, or you won't be able to dial it.

[e scent]

Thanks to Tech Electronics, DND ON, dwayneg, and BlackSunshine for all the input and ideas.

I was able to make all the tweaks work out.  I can access to toggle into night mode via a phone or remote into my office desk to access the Mitel Web Portal (didn't know the web portal existed!), and I forwarded a port to the PBX to get to the Web Portal via outside the LAN as a third option (the jury is still out on leaving the port fwd in place.)

The phone dial in is the most robust manner for us to toggle into night mode from the outside since the dial tone provider is separate from our ISP.  For our business, the internet is down more often than our dial tones (thanks to the consistently bad Comcast service). When the internet is down, I can still turn on night mode remotely.

I really should forge ahead to create a specifically "inclement weather" auto attendant scenario (like DND ON suggested - via phantom with forward paths and then manually forwarding them). When I start down that road, I will certainly look to the kind and taleted techs at this forum for help.

In parting I'll muse a notion I've always wondered about - the date (year) inputs for holidays.  I know Mitel sells tens of millions of installs worldwide so it may be USA centric of me to assume the software would have built in repeatable "dates" for Standard north American holidays.  Maybe not all holidays, but at least New Years,  Christmas and July 4th perhaps (or just a "repeat yearly" toggle in the software). Having to input the next "year date" when a new year rolls around, for every "closed" holiday we have scheduled, seems unnecessary since an option to make a date "repeat" yearly could be an easy thing to program in the software. Perhaps I am overlooking such an "existing" feature??

Thanks again for all the assistance!
Ed

[Tech Electronics]

e scent,

If you plan on creating a STAR (Scheduled Time Based Application Router) for Holidays then it would be best to set your Night Ring-In Type Destination to your Inclement Weather so you just have to put the system in Night Mode for Inclement Weather. When someone can make it back in then they take it off of Night Mode and your systems STAR takes back over.

As for Repeatable Holidays that isn't a thing within the MiVO-250 unfortunately, but you can setup most major Holidays with no issues and then just get in the day after New Years and reset all of them for the next year; at least that is how we sell it.

Thanks,

TE