System Administration Guide for Cisco Unity Connection in Cisco Unified CMBE Release 6.x
Setting Up Broadcast Messaging

Table Of Contents

Setting Up Broadcast Messaging

How System Broadcast Messages Work

Task List for Offering Broadcast Messaging to Users

Enabling Phone Access to the Broadcast Message Administrator

Creating a Call Handler to Send Users to the Broadcast Message Administrator

Setting Up a One-Key Dialing Option to Send Users to the Broadcast Message Administrator

Setting Up a Special Phone Number and Routing Rule to Send Users to the Broadcast Message Administrator

Using the Broadcast Message Administrator

Changing Broadcast Message Administrator Defaults


Setting Up Broadcast Messaging


System broadcast messages are recorded announcements that are sent to everyone in an organization. You determine whether users can send and/or update broadcast messages, and set up a way for them to do so by using the Cisco Unity Connection Broadcast Message Administrator. (By default, Cisco Unity Connection users are not enabled to send broadcast messages.)

See the following sections:

How System Broadcast Messages Work

Task List for Offering Broadcast Messaging to Users

Enabling Phone Access to the Broadcast Message Administrator

Using the Broadcast Message Administrator

Changing Broadcast Message Administrator Defaults

How System Broadcast Messages Work

Although system broadcast messages sound similar to regular voice messages, they are not simply voice messages that are sent to a large distribution list. They are unique in the following ways:

System broadcast messages are played immediately after users log on to Cisco Unity Connection by phone—even before they hear message counts for new and saved messages. After logging on, users hear how many system broadcast messages they have and Connection begins playing them.

For each system broadcast message, the sender specifies how long Connection will broadcast the message. The sender can specify that a system broadcast message is "active" for a day, a week, a month—even indefinitely. A user will hear the system broadcast message the first time the user logs on to Connection during the period that the message is active.

Users must listen to a system broadcast message in its entirety before Connection allows them to hear new and saved messages or to change setup options. Users cannot fast-forward or skip a system broadcast message.

If a user hangs up before playing the entire system broadcast message, the message plays again the next time that the user logs on to Connection by phone (assuming that the message is still active).

When a user has finished playing a system broadcast message, the message can either be replayed or permanently deleted. Users cannot respond to, forward, or save system broadcast messages.

Users can receive an unlimited number of system broadcast messages.

Users receive system broadcast messages even when they exceed their mailbox size limits and are no longer able to receive other messages. Because of the way that the messages are stored on the Connection server, they are not included in the total mailbox size for each user.

New users hear all active system broadcast messages immediately after they enroll as Connection users.

By design, system broadcast messages do not trigger message waiting indicators (MWIs) on user phones. They also do not trigger message notifications for alternative devices, such as a pager or another phone.

Users do not receive system broadcast messages in the Cisco Unity Inbox.

Task List for Offering Broadcast Messaging to Users

To allow users to send and/or update broadcast messages, do the following tasks in the order presented:

Set up a way for users to access the Broadcast Message Administrator. See the "Enabling Phone Access to the Broadcast Message Administrator" section.

Enable user accounts or a template to send and/or update system broadcast messages. See the "Broadcast Messages" section of the "Setting Up Features and Functionality That Are Controlled by User Account Settings" chapter of the User Moves, Adds, and Changes Guide for Cisco Unity Connection in Cisco Unified CMBE. The guide is available at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps7273/prod_maintenance_guides_list.html.

Enabling Phone Access to the Broadcast Message Administrator

To send a system broadcast message, Cisco Unity Connection users log on to the Broadcast Message Administrator, which is a special conversation that allows them to send and update system broadcast messages.

You can give users access to the Broadcast Message Administrator in one of the following ways:

Creating a Call Handler to Send Users to the Broadcast Message Administrator

Setting Up a One-Key Dialing Option to Send Users to the Broadcast Message Administrator

Setting Up a Special Phone Number and Routing Rule to Send Users to the Broadcast Message Administrator

Creating a Call Handler to Send Users to the Broadcast Message Administrator

You can create a new call handler, assign it a unique extension, and specify the Broadcast Message Administrator as the destination to which Connection sends the user after hearing the greeting. To make the transfer quick and seamless to users, select a blank greeting for the call handler.

To Create a Call Handler to Send Users to the Broadcast Message Administrator


Step 1 In Cisco Unity Connection Administration, expand Call Management, then click System Call Handlers.

Step 2 On the Search Call Handlers page, click Add New.

Step 3 On the New Call Handler page, enter a display name and the extension that users can dial to reach the call handler.

Step 4 Select the call handler template on which to base the new call handler.

Step 5 Click Save. The Edit Call Handler page for the call handler you are creating opens.

Step 6 Enter additional settings, as applicable. If you add or change any settings, click Save.

Step 7 If you want to set up a one-key dialing option for the call handler, so that callers can reach the Broadcast Message Administrator by pressing a key while listening to the greeting, continue with the "To Set Up a One-Key Dialing Option from a Call Handler for Accessing the Broadcast Message Administrator" procedure.


Setting Up a One-Key Dialing Option to Send Users to the Broadcast Message Administrator

You can specify that Connection will send a caller to the Broadcast Message Administrator (on the Caller Input page for any call handler or user greeting) when a caller presses a particular key during the greeting.

To set up a one-key dialing option for accessing the Broadcast Message Administrator, use one of the following procedures:

To Set Up a One-Key Dialing Option from a Call Handler for Accessing the Broadcast Message Administrator

To Set Up a One-Key Dialing Option from a User Greeting for Accessing the Broadcast Message Administrator

To Set Up a One-Key Dialing Option from a Call Handler for Accessing the Broadcast Message Administrator


Step 1 In Cisco Unity Connection Administration, expand Call Management, then click System Call Handlers.

Step 2 On the Search Call Handler page, in the Search Results table, click the display name of the applicable call handler.

If you want to set up access to the Broadcast Message Administrator from the opening greeting, click the Opening Greeting call handler. Or click the display name of another call handler that you have created for this purpose.


Note If the call handler that you want to modify does not appear in the search results table, set the applicable parameters in the search fields at the top of the page, and click Find.


Step 3 On the Edit Call Handler page, on the Edit menu, click Caller Input.

Step 4 In the Single Key Settings table, click the applicable touchtone key.

Step 5 On the Edit Caller Input page for the key you have selected, check the Locked check box.


Note If you are setting up one-key dialing from the Opening Greeting, ensure that the touchtone key you select to lock is not the first digit of any of the extensions in your system. If it is, locking the key will prevent callers from dialing an extension while listening to the Opening Greeting. Instead, select a key that is not the first digit of any extension.


Step 6 Click Conversation, and then click Broadcast Message Administrator.

Step 7 Optionally, you can rerecord the greeting to mention the key that callers can press in the call handler greeting. (For example, "...for the Cisco Unity Connection Broadcast Message Administrator, press 3.")

Step 8 Click Save.


To Set Up a One-Key Dialing Option from a User Greeting for Accessing the Broadcast Message Administrator


Step 1 In Cisco Unity Connection Administration, click Users.

Step 2 On the Search Users page, in the Search Results table, click the alias of the applicable user.


Note If the user alias does not appear in the search results table, set the applicable parameters in the search fields at the top of the page, and click Search.


Step 3 On the User Basics page, on the Edit menu, click Caller Input.

Step 4 In the Single Key Settings table, click the applicable touchtone key.

Step 5 On the Edit Caller Input page for the key you have selected, check the Locked check box.

Step 6 Click Conversation, and then click Broadcast Message Administrator.

Step 7 Optionally, you can rerecord the greeting to mention the key that callers can press while listening to the user greeting. (For example, "...for the Cisco Unity Connection Broadcast Message Administrator, press 3.")

Step 8 Click Save.


Setting Up a Special Phone Number and Routing Rule to Send Users to the Broadcast Message Administrator

See the documentation for the phone system to set up a new phone number. Then use the following procedure to create a routing rule that sends any call that arrives for the new number to the Broadcast Message Administrator conversation.

To Add a Routing Rule to Send Callers to the Broadcast Message Administrator


Step 1 In Cisco Unity Connection Administration, expand Call Management > Call Routing, then click Direct Routing Rules.

Step 2 On the Search Direct Rules page, click Add New.

Step 3 On the New Direct Rule page, enter a display name for the new routing rule, and click Save.

Step 4 On the Edit Direct Rule page, confirm that the Status is set to Active.

Step 5 In the Dialed Number field, enter the phone number that has been set up for access to the Broadcast Message Administrator.

Step 6 In the Send Call To field, click Conversation, and then click Broadcast Message Administrator.

Step 7 Click Save.

Step 8 On the Search Direct Rules page, verify that the new routing rule is in an appropriate position with the other routing rules in the table. If you want to change the rule order, continue with Step 9.

Step 9 Click Change Order.

Step 10 On the Edit Direct Routing Rule Order page, click the name of the rule you want to reorder, and click the down arrow or the up arrow until the rules appear in the correct order. Click Save.

Step 11 Distribute the new number to callers who are enabled to send and/or update system broadcast messages.


Using the Broadcast Message Administrator

Users whose account settings allow them to able to send and/or update system broadcast messages can use the Broadcast Message Administrator to do the following tasks:

Record and send one or more system broadcast messages.

Define when a system broadcast message becomes active and for how long. Unless otherwise specified by the sender, each message is set by default to broadcast immediately and to remain active for 30 days. Senders can set a future date and time for the message to be broadcast, and can specify that a system broadcast message is "active" for a day, a week, a month—even indefinitely. (Date and times reflect the time zone for the user who sends the message, not those who receive it.)

To change default behavior for the Broadcast Message Administrator, see the "Changing Broadcast Message Administrator Defaults" section.

Note that if a sender hangs up or is disconnected while creating a broadcast message, but before sending it, Cisco Unity Connection deletes the recording.

Users who are able to update system broadcast messages can use the Broadcast Message Administrator to do the following tasks on the local Connection server:

Review active messages. (If there is more than one active message, the Broadcast Message Administrator presents them in order based on the start date and time, starting with the newest messages.)

Change the end date and time for active messages.

Change or add to a recording for future messages. (Note that Connection enforces the total message length limit even when material is added to a message.)

Change the start date and time and/or the end date and time for future messages. (Note that the end date and time does not adjust automatically if senders change the start date and time but do not change the end date and time.)

Delete active and future messages. (Note that Connection does not report which users have already played an active message.)

Changing Broadcast Message Administrator Defaults

Default behavior for the Broadcast Message Administrator is controlled by settings on the System Settings > Advanced > Conversations page in Cisco Unity Connection Administration. Optionally, you can make changes to the system defaults, as follows:

Default Active Days—Indicates the number of days that a system broadcast message remains active when the sender does not specify an end date and time. The default is 30 days. To change how long a message without an end date and time remains active, enter a number from zero (0) to 365 days. A value of zero (0) days means that messages that are sent without a specified end date and time will remain active indefinitely.

Check Frequency—Indicates how often Connection checks for new system broadcast messages. By default, Connection checks for new messages every five minutes. To change this setting, enter a number from 1 to 60 minutes.

Maximum Recording Length—Indicates the maximum length allowed for system broadcast messages. By default, senders can record messages up to 300,000 milliseconds (5 minutes) in length. To change the maximum recording length, enter a number from 30,000 to 360,000 milliseconds.

Play Oldest Message First—Indicates the order in which Connection presents system broadcast messages to users. By default, the check box is checked, which sets Connection to play the oldest message first. To have the newest message played first, uncheck the check box.

Retention Period—Indicates how long Connection retains expired system broadcast messages on the server. By default, Connection purges the WAV file and any data associated with a message 30 days after its end date and time. To change the retention period for expired broadcast messages, enter a number from 1 to 60 days.