The SpeechView feature enables the transcription of voice messages so that users can receive the voicemails in the form of text. Users can access the transcripted voicemails using email clients. SpeechView is a feature of Cisco Unity Connection unified messaging solution. Therefore, the audio part of each voice message is also available to the users.

Note	When a voice message is sent from Web Inbox to ViewMail for Outlook, the voice message is delivered to the mailbox of the recipient along with the transcribed text both in the transcript view box and in the mail body.

Without this feature, the voice message delivered to the user mailbox has a blank text attachment. This feature requires the use of a Cisco Webex in-house transcription service to convert the voice message to text. Therefore, the blank text attachment is updated with the transcripted text or an error message if there was a problem with transcription.

The SpeechView feature supports Standard Transcription Service. It automatically converts the voice message to text and the transcripted text received is sent to the user over email.

Note	Unity Connection supports only (Universal Transformation Format) UTF-8 character set encoding for transcription.

The following messages are never transcribed:

• Private messages

• Broadcast messages

• Dispatch messages

• Secure messages ¹

• Messages with no recipients

Unity Connection can be configured to deliver transcriptions to an SMS device as a text message or to an SMTP address as an email message. The fields to turn on transcription delivery are located on the SMTP and SMS Notification Device pages where you set up message notification. For more information on notification devices, see the Configuring Notification Devices section.

Following are the considerations for effective use of transcription delivery:

• In the From field, enter the number users dial to reach Unity Connection when they are not dialing from their desk phone. If users have a text-compatible mobile phone, they may be able to initiate a callback to Unity Connection in the event that they want to listen to the message.

• Check the Include Message Information in Message Text check box to include call information such as caller name and caller ID (if available) and the time that the message was received. Otherwise, there is no indication in the message of when it was received.

In addition, if they have a text-compatible mobile phone, they may be able to initiate a callback when the caller ID is included with the transcription.

• In the Notify Me Of section, if you turn on notification for voice or dispatch messages, users are notified when a message arrives. The transcription soon follows. If you do not want notification before the transcription arrives, do not select the voice or dispatch message options.

• Email messages that contain transcriptions have a subject line that is identical to notification messages. So if you have notification for voice or dispatch messages turned on, users have to open the messages to determine which one contains the transcription.

Note

Cisco Webex in-house transcription service server converts the voice message to text into the phone language in which Unity Connection plays system prompts to users and callers.You can set the phone language for the following Unity Connection components: user accounts, routing rules, call handlers, interview handlers, and directory handlers. For information on supported language for SpeechView, see Available Languages for Unity Connection Components section of System Requirements for Cisco Unity Connection Release 15 available at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/15/requirements/b_15cucsysreqs.html.

Unity Connection does not have a locale for language English Canada. Hence, for transcription to work well, use the configuration below to send en-CA as the language to the Cisco Webex in-house transcription service server. For this, execute the below CLI command on the Unity Connection server.

run cuc dbquery unitydirdb update tbl_configuration set valuebool ='1' where fullname='System.Conversations.ConfigParamForAlternateTranscriptionLanguage' 

Note	For the above configuration to take effect, restart the "Connection SpeechView Processor" service from the Connection Serviceability page of the Publisher server in the Unity Connection cluster.

Unity Connection sends the Transcription request over HTTPS protocol to Cisco Webex in-house transcription service. Unity Connection generates RSA-2048 public & private key pair which are used for encryption and decryption of the data. The generated public key is sent securely over HTTPS protocol to Cisco Webex in-house transcription service as JWK object while sending the transcription request from Unity Connection.

Cisco Webex in-house transcription service sends the encrypted transcription response to Unity Connection via Cisco Webex Cloud-Connected UC. Unity Connection decrypts the transcription response using private key stored internally at Unity Connection .

The pair of private and public keys ensures that each time voice messages are sent to the transcription service, the user information is not passed along with the message. Therefore, the transcription service is unaware of the specific user to whom the voice message belongs to.

After sending the transcripted message to the Unity Connection server, the copy of voice message in the transcription service is purged.

Consider the following when deploying the SpeechView feature:

• To enable SpeechView in a digital network deployment, consider onboarding one of the Unity Connection Cluster or Server in the Networking to Cisco Webex Cloud-Connected UC, this would act as Proxy server for other nodes in the Networking.

  This can make it easier to troubleshoot any problems with transcriptions, track your transcription usage and monitor the load it introduces to your network. If one of your Unity Connection servers has a lower call volume than others in the network, consider designating it as the proxy server for transcriptions. If you do not use a proxy sever for transcriptions, Unity Connection server onboarding to Cisco Webex Cloud-Connected UC will be required for each cluster in the network.

  Note	In order to use SpeechView in Digital Networking, all nodes in the network must be running on release 15 SU2or later.

• To extend the SpeechView functionality, users who want to transcribe the voice messages left on their personal number must configure their personal phones to forward calls to Unity Connection when a caller wants to leave a voicemail. This allows to collect all voicemails in one mailbox where they are transcribed. To configure the mobile phones for call forwarding, see the “Task List for Consolidating Your Voicemail from Multiple Phones into One Mailbox” section of the “Changing Your User Preferences” chapter of the User Guide for the Cisco Unity Connection Messaging Assistant Web Tool, Release 15, available at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/15/user/guide/assistant/b_15cucugasst/b_15cucugasst_index.html.

  Note

  When personal phones are configured to forward callers to Unity Connection to leave voice messages, callers may hear a lot of rings before reaching the user mailbox. To avoid this problem, you can instead forward the mobile phone to a special number that does not ring a phone and forwards directly to the mailbox of the user. This can be accomplished by adding the special number as an alternate extension for the user.

• To allow both transcription and relay of voice messages, configure the Message Action in Cisco Unity Connection Administration> Users to accept and relay messages. For more information, see the Message Actions section.

• You can configure the SMTP notification devices to send the transcription text message to the SMTP address. This means users receive two emails at the SMTP address, first one is the relayed copy of the message.WAV file and the second one is the notification with transcription text. For more information on configuring SMTP notifications, see the Setting Up SMTP Message Notification section.

This section contains a list of tasks to configure the SpeechView feature in Unity Connection:

1. Ensure that Unity Connection is registered with Cisco Smart Software Manager (CSSM) or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite. You have acquired the proper licenses, SpeechView from Cisco to use this feature. For more information, see the “Managing Licenses” chapter of the Install, Upgrade, and Maintenance Guide for Cisco Unity Connection, Release 15, available at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/15/install_upgrade/guide/b_15cuciumg.html.

2. Ensure that Unity Connection server is onboarded on Webex Cloud-Connected UC and "Speechview Voicemail Transcript" feature is enabled on the Service Management Page of Cisco Webex Cloud-Connected UC. For more information, see the "Set up Webex Cloud-Connected UC for on-premises devices" in webex Help Center at https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/nzt6c0b/Set-up-Webex-Cloud-Connected-UC-for-on-premises-devices.

   Note

   "Speechview Voicemail Transcription" feature option will only be visible on Cisco Webex Cloud-Connected UC when Unity Connection is running on Release 15 SU2 and later. Both the Nodes in Unity Connection Cluster should be onboarded to Cisco Webex Cloud Connected UC for High Availability of Transcription.

3. Assign users to a class of service that provides SpeechView transcription of voice messages. For more information, see the Enabling SpeechView Transcription of Voice Messages in Class of Service.

4. Configure SpeechView transcription service. For more information, see the Configuring SpeechView Transcription Service.

Unity Connection can generate the following reports about SpeechView usage:

• SpeechView Activity Report by User —Shows the total number of transcribed messages, failed transcriptions, and truncated transcriptions for a given user during a given time period.

• SpeechView Activity Summary Report—Shows the total number of transcribed messages, failed transcriptions, and truncated transcriptions for the entire system during a given time period. Note that when messages are sent to multiple recipients, the message is transcribed only once, so the transcription activity is counted only once.

Whenever a transcription fails, the Cisco Webex in-house transcription service sends an error code to Unity Connection.

Cisco Unity Connection Administration interface shows the five default error codes that can modified or deleted by an administrator. In addition, user has the privilege to add a new error code. Whenever a new error code is sent by the Cisco Webex in-house transcription service, the administrator needs to add a new error code along with the appropriate description.

Note	The error code and description should be in the default system language. If the error code provisioning is not done, then the error code received from the Cisco Webex in-house transcription service is displayed.

The default error codes are sent by the Cisco Webex in-house transcription service to the SpeechView user. The Table 14-1 shows the default error codes in the Cisco Unity Connection Administration interface.

Default Error Codes