User Self-Service Call Rerouting Always / Command Line to do the same?

[bioreit]

Hi,

I was wondering if there was a command line...command... which can change the Call Rerouting Always destinations on a per extension basis? For example, is there a command which can do "For extension 1234, set Call Forwarding Always Destination to {EXTENSION} or {MOBILE NUMBER} and Enable"?

For a bit of context, we're very new to Mitel (still being built by our suppliers!) and coming from a self-designed and self-supported Asterisk system. All of our users are Hot Desking Users on Mitel 6930 IP handsets, we have MiVoice Business 8.0 SP1 and MiCollab (v8.0.0.40, MSL v10.5.21) servers installed but we are not using the MiCollab client for various reasons - clunky interface for one, most other functionality is better-provided through other applications we already use - but we would very much like to be able to replicate functionality from our Asterisk system, namely a web-based self-service portal which lets users divert their extension to a mobile or other extension very simply.

Because we're not using MiCollab, our suppliers have said the only way to do this is from the phones themselves, changing the Call Forward Always number in the Settings and enabling (we do have a softkey already configured in the templates for Divert On/Off so once configured with a destination that's pretty easy), but the issue we have with this option is that it requires the user to be in front of a phone; our users have become familiar with the ability to get to an off-site meeting, discover they have forgotten to divert their phone to a mobile or a colleague, and can just login to the self-service portal and type a destination into a box and hit Save (we did explore using MiCollab just for this purpose but it is so convoluted in comparison, it would cause more issues than if we just asked users to call us to do it on their behalf!).

So, is there a command which can do this function on behalf of users? I have already discovered the asetpass m1=mailbox pw=passcode command in NuPoint for changing mailbox passcodes (which synchronises to our Hot Desk passcodes), so we can provide a self-service tool for our users to reset their own passcodes without calling the support team, by creating a web front-end over a script which calls up that function - which is another feature of our Asterisk portal we wanted to keep - but I can't find a similar one for MiVoice Business / MiCollab.

Any help would be greatly appreciated - even a definitive answer on whether this is just one of those features we're going to have to lose by transitioning over!

Bioreit

[sunspark]

You can call forward always from phones in the forward menu. Or also from micollab client for pc or for mobile.

[VinceWhirlwind]

I think it's quite funny that you call the idea of simply using the MiCollab Client "convoluted" and then you come up with a plan involving building a web portal and poking commands into bits of the Mitel applications to achieve what is done so very simply from the MiCollab client.
 
Using the MiCollab Client, users initially simply create statuses reflecting how they want their Multi-Device User Group to behave, eg,
An "In the office" status that rings their deskphone
A "Working from Home" status that rings their softphone
An "On the Road" status that rings their mobile AND softphone
An "In a meeting" status that rings their voicemail
A "Send everything to Bob" status that sends all their calls to Bob
etc....
This is a one-time config to create each status, unlike call forwarding where you have to reconfigure the target number for each different scenario every single time

Then all they have to do in the MiCollab Client is flick between statuses according to need. They can run the client on their desktop/laptop or mobile.
 
Also, they can configure their Client to use their Outlook calendar statuses to change their MiCollab status automatically, eg,
"Busy" - change MiCollab to "In a Meeting"
"Out of Office" --> "Send Everything to Rob"
"Working Elsewhere" --> "On the Road".

[acejavelin]

Remember... the 3300 has a user portal built in as well... You can do forwarding, key programming, and other stuff directly from it by webbing into the controller itself and logging in with the user's credentials.

[VinceWhirlwind]

...and yet it's MiCollab Client is that is "clunky".....lol

[bioreit]

I think it's quite funny that you call the idea of simply using the MiCollab Client "convoluted" and then you come up with a plan involving building a web portal and poking commands into bits of the Mitel applications to achieve what is done so very simply from the MiCollab client.
 
Using the MiCollab Client, users initially simply create statuses reflecting how they want their Multi-Device User Group to behave, eg,
An "In the office" status that rings their deskphone
A "Working from Home" status that rings their softphone
An "On the Road" status that rings their mobile AND softphone
An "In a meeting" status that rings their voicemail
A "Send everything to Bob" status that sends all their calls to Bob
etc....
This is a one-time config to create each status, unlike call forwarding where you have to reconfigure the target number for each different scenario every single time

Then all they have to do in the MiCollab Client is flick between statuses according to need. They can run the client on their desktop/laptop or mobile.
 
Also, they can configure their Client to use their Outlook calendar statuses to change their MiCollab status automatically, eg,
"Busy" - change MiCollab to "In a Meeting"
"Out of Office" --> "Send Everything to Rob"
"Working Elsewhere" --> "On the Road".

Yes, MiCollab is convoluted - for the end-user. All of the options you listed above are perfectly valid, but presume that our users have set those up ahead of time. The self-service portal was a bit convoluted for us to setup initially, in that it took literally three hours of coding and testing and from then on we never needed to get involved ever again, and our users could add, change, remove call forward destinations by clicking on a single link and entering a number. Compared to that MiCollab is *extremely* convoluted, if they get to a meeting and realise that the call forwarding destination they have configured to send calls to their colleague won't work, because that person has called in sick - now they need to login to the MiCollab client and add a new destination and/or create a new status, then change to that status. And changing those numbers is many more clicks and menu options away than our existing offering, which would not only require us to provide more training, but will lead to more support tickets and will also lead to greater user frustration.

Consider it from our users point of view - previously, to divert their phone to any number or extension, they just clicked on a link, typed in a number and hit submit (ignoring their ability to also do this from phones - this portal is more for the "Oh crap, I totally forgot to divert my phone before leaving the office" situations). Now we're having to say "Oh, we've changed all that - now all you need to do is log into this app, click on Settings, click on My Numbers, click the ellipsis at the top right, click +New, add in a label, add in the number, Click Add, then click on Manage Status, then click on the ellipsis at the top right of *that* pane, click +New, enter a Status Name, change Send my calls to [the number you just typed in], then click Done. THEN, all you have to do is change to that status whenever you want to divert to that number. It's really simple really and so much better than the old system and who cares if you had to spend five minutes in that meeting you were already late for because it's sooo much better"

I was only asking because we've been able to come up with a simple method for our users to reset their passcodes - which there is literally no 'Mitel' way of doing without knowing the previous passcode, which kind of defeats the object because that's the main reason people would need to reset them - so was wondering if there was a similar function we could hook into to replicate our existing end-user approved system. And FYI, that user-passcode reset portal did take more effort - nearly a whole morning to put in place!

But this is clearly a system limitation of Mitel coupled with our pre-existing applications rendering what is clearly a core component (MiCollab) redundant, so we'll just have to put up with it I guess.

Thanks for responses, even if they were a bit unnecessarily condescending and completely ignored the fact we're not rolling MiCollab out...

[Dogbreath]

You're going to find the Mitel way a bit of a culture shock if you're used to a product you can tinker with and customise to your requirements.

[bioreit]

You're going to find the Mitel way a bit of a culture shock if you're used to a product you can tinker with and customise to your requirements.

Yeah, we're finding that out - we kind of had to move away from our current Asterisk solution but we perhaps naively assumed that a phone system would do roughly similar things in the same ways, which to a certain extent it does I guess, it's just not necessarily the perfect fit for our requirements. Plus, some of our decision-makers were definitely awed by some sales pitches which never really matched the reality (quelle surprise!). But I'm sure we can make it work well enough.

[x-man]

I could tell you a phone system that does all that out of the box on the phone. Set it once and change the numbers as needed. All right there on the phone. Amongst other things. There is an app that expands on the basics but for most the standard stuff suffices. But this is a Mitel forum so I won't.

[VinceWhirlwind]

Using MiCollab Client to forward all your calls takes a couple clicks. It can't possibly be more complicated than a bodged-together Asterix web-portal.
And the benefit of the MiCollab client is that 99% of users have standard configurations they return to, so they don't have to reconfigure their Call Forwarding destination every time they want to activate it - in fact the vast majority of our users rarely even use call forwarding seeing as the MDUG functionality is so convenient for them.
No end-user I've spoken to has ever described MiCollab Client as "convoluted". And I have thousands of them. It is a powerful and intuitive piece of software.

[bioreit]

Using MiCollab Client to forward all your calls takes a couple clicks.

Agreed. As long as they've set it all up correctly in the first place - when they haven't, it *is* convoluted compared to our current offering: three clicks and one instance of typing, versus 14 clicks and three instances of typing.

It can't possibly be more complicated than a bodged-together Asterix web-portal.

Yes, MiCollab is more complicated - when users need to setup a call divert to a new destination in a hurry, which is the scenario I was hoping to find a solution for. We invested the time and effort in creating the portal to make our users' lives easier, as to us that is more important than making *our* lives easier; if you have different priorities, that's fine - for you.

And the benefit of the MiCollab client is that 99% of users have standard configurations they return to, so they don't have to reconfigure their Call Forwarding destination every time they want to activate it - in fact the vast majority of our users rarely even use call forwarding seeing as the MDUG functionality is so convenient for them.

Again, agreed, but we are not rolling out MiCollab due to an internal decision as it would cause too much confusion and conflict with programs we already have, which integrate with our other requirements much better and fit into our culture more completely. Granted, that's *our* issue and *our* decision, but it's the one which has been made and spurred my asking the initial question of whether there was another way. There isn't, that's fine, I accept that.

No end-user I've spoken to has ever described MiCollab Client as "convoluted". And I have thousands of them. It is a powerful and intuitive piece of software.

That's great. We have thousands of users too and of the proportion of those who have seen the suite of products we have, all bar one says it's much more convoluted than our current setup.

All change is painful and this one seems like it will be particularly so - but like I said before, I'm sure we will get there and I'm sure people will learn to live with it and I'm even sure that most will come to prefer the Mitel solution. It's just we are trying to make the transition to Mitel as smooth as possible for our users and this was one question which, if answered, could have helped that process a great deal. But I accept that it can't be done.