active calls, pri usage, extension status info

[jlunning]

Is there a way to see all currently active calls on the 3300?  Ideally showing the call start time and extension/numbers involved.   We've had to turn one of our departments into basically a call center.  Call volume is way higher than usual and I'm being asked to get stats and troubleshoot issues that I've never had to deal with before.   I'm an IT staff member, not a phone tech.

I'm familiar with SMDR, but that seems to be after a call is complete.  Sometimes I'm looking to be able to get "in the moment" info about what's going on, particularly around active calls and PRI usage. 

I've also looked at the traffic reports but the output is kind of greek to me.  Not exactly sure what Usage In (erlangs), Peg In, and such really mean.  I can see these show our PRI trunk numbers, but don't understand why some have peg numbers and some don't.  Also, while these traffic reports might be somewhat helpful, they still seem to be reporting things after the fact.

Any guidance will be appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

[ralph]

I'm pretty sure I did some work for you several years ago.

Peg in = how many calls hit the trunk inbound during the reporting period.
Peg out= How many calls hit the trunk outbound during the reporting period.

An easy way to view erlangs is to think of it as a percentage of an hour that a trunk was in use.
For example if you see 99 erlangs then that trunk was in use for 99% of that hours. (actually it's 100%)
If you saw 40 earlangs then the trunk was in use for 40% of that hour.

If you can stat the T1 the calls are coming in on, you can get a snapshot of how many calls are active in/out but not how long they've been on.   But, if you see two trunks with 99 earlangs, then it's probable that they're locked together and need to be busied and returned to service.

Hopefully that helps.

Ralph

[jlunning]

Thanks.  That does shed some light on things.   But I do have more questions.     Below is an example of one of our traffic reports.   What is the BBBB?  Busy?   I see a handful that were at 99% erlangs out.  However, we have been transferring calls through our lines to an external number where people sit on hold for up to 5 hours sometimes.  Would those trunks at 99% erlangs out be those transferred calls?

In all our traffic reports, like below, the first trunk number (1001) seems to have the highest Peg In, then it cascades down, with the second trunk (1002) typically having the second highest, and so on.  Does the PRI work like that for inbound calls?  Does it just try to grab the first trunk that is open starting from 1001?  It seems to be the opposite for outbound calls, working from the last trunk (1022) and going backwards.

If I have at least some trunks with low/no peg counts or erlangs, does that mean we most likely had available PRI channels to handle calls during the time period?

        Trunk         Trunk    Peg     Usage In      Peg     Usage Out
      Number        Label     In    (Erlangs)      Out     (Erlangs)

       1001          PRI Sou   23       0.50          0        0.00
       1002          PRI Sou    5       0.48          0        0.00
       1003          PRI Sou    5       0.17          0        0.00
       1004          PRI Sou    1       0.13          0        0.00
       1005          PRI Sou    2       0.27          0        0.00
       1006          PRI Sou    2       0.15          1        0.00
       1007          PRI Sou    0       0.16          1        0.01
       1008          PRI Sou    0       0.51          0        0.00
       1009          PRI Sou    2       0.02          1        0.02
       1010          PRI Sou    2       0.05          4        0.03
       1011 BBBB     PRI Sou    0       0.00          8        0.81
       1012          PRI Sou    0       0.00          3        0.38
       1013 BBBB     PRI Sou    0       0.00          0        0.99
       1014          PRI Sou    0       0.00         17        0.29
       1015 BBBB     PRI Sou    0       0.00          0        0.99
       1016 BBBB     PRI Sou    0       0.00          6        0.95
       1017 BBBB     PRI Sou    0       0.00          0        0.99
       1018 BBBB     PRI Sou    0       0.00          0        0.99
       1019          PRI Sou    0       0.00          0        0.44
       1020          PRI Sou    0       0.00          1        0.61
       1021          PRI Sou    0       0.00         18        0.48
       1022 BBBB     PRI Sou    0       0.00          6        0.81

[jlunning]

Also I see you are from Michigan.  I've worked for one organization in Southfield for the last 1.5 years, which is where my first exposure to Mitel phone systems comes from.  Before that I worked out of Ann Arbor for 10 years for an MSP that had clients all over southeast Michigan (mainly Ann Arbor, Detroit, Southfield, Flint).  All nonprofits.  Outside of moving/renaming extensions in one Toshiba Strata unit, I rarely had to poke my head inside a phone system those 10 years.  Just did computer stuff.  Not sure where you might remember me from.

[ralph]

What is the BBBB?

Mitel uses that as a flag for what they term as a "Killer" trunk.  I generally ignore this but it is a flag intended to draw your attention to either high usage or high number of pegs, both of which could indicate a problem.

Would those trunks at 99% erlangs out be those transferred calls?

Could easily be.  Check those trunks over a series of hours and if they show .99 for a day or more, busy them out and return them to service.  Each call you transfer out that way will use up two trunks.  Since I see 4 trunks at .99, my guess would be that their hung. 

In all our traffic reports, like below, the first trunk number (1001) seems to have the highest Peg In, then it cascades down, with the second trunk (1002) typically having the second highest, and so on.  Does the PRI work like that for inbound calls?

Yes.  That's the way it works.

If I have at least some trunks with low/no peg counts or erlangs, does that mean we most likely had available PRI channels to handle calls during the time period?

More than likely.  What you want to look for in the report is is the trunk group busy peg.  If it's >0 that means X calls tried to get outbound but no trunks were available.  There's no Mitel report for inbound but you can probably call your carrier and get a "All Trunks Busy" report.

Not sure where you might remember me from.

I know the org you work for.  If I remember correctly, I installed that 3300 years ago.

Ralph