Cisco Unified Communications Manager Assistant
This chapter provides information about setting up manager and
assistant phones with either shared lines or proxy lines for the
Cisco Unified Communications Manager Assistant. Information is also
provided for adding and updating manager-assistant associations using a BAT
spreadsheet, and for creating default and custom CSV data files for
manager-assistants.
You can use the
Cisco Unified Communications Manager Bulk Administration (BAT) to manage
the
Cisco Unified Communications Manager Assistant feature in
Cisco Unified Communications Manager. You can add, update, and delete
managers or assistants with their associations in bulk transactions.
For detailed tasks and information about Cisco Unified Communications Manager Assistant, see the Feature Configuration Guide for Cisco Unified Communications Manager at http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/unified-communications/unified-communications-manager-callmanager/products-installation-and-configuration-guides-list.html.
Phones and Lines for Cisco Unified Communications Manager Assistant
The Cisco Unified CM Assistant feature works with several
Cisco Unified IP Phone models and device profiles. Cisco Unified CM Assistant
provides two modes for configuring managers and assistants lines for use with
Cisco Unified CM Assistant features.
Proxy mode—The primary manager line associates with a proxy line
that has a different directory number on the assistant phone.
Shared line mode—The manager and assistant have a shared line on
their phones that uses the same directory number and partition.
 Note |
You can associate users to devices/phones only if they support
Unified CM Assistant.
|
You can use BAT to set up the manager and assistant phones with
either proxy lines or shared lines.
Set Up Phones in
Proxy Line Mode for Cisco Unified Communications Manager Assistant
To prepare
for configuring manager and assistant phones with Unified CM Assistant proxy
line support, you must complete the following tasks:
Procedure
Step 1
| Set up and
configure Unified CM Assistant requirements for your system. Cisco recommends
that you use the Cisco Unified CM Assistant Configuration Wizard. The wizard
automatically creates the phone templates for Unified CM Assistant manager and
assistant, route points, partitions, translation patterns, and calling search
space for the Cisco Unified CM Assistant service. To run the Cisco Unified CM
Assistant Configuration Wizard, ensure BAT and the wizard are on the same
server.
See theFeature Configuration Guide for Cisco Unified Communications
Manager Guide for information about running the Cisco Unified CM
Assistant Configuration Wizard.
Note
|
You can use
the Cisco Unified CM Assistant Configuration Wizard only one time to set up the
Unified CM Assistant configuration requirements for your system. After running
the configuration wizard, you can only view, but not change, your configuration
with the wizard.
|
|
Step 2
| To add new
phones and users for managers and assistants, use the Unified CM Assistant
manager and Unified CM Assistant assistant phone templates that the
Cisco Unified CM Assistant Configuration Wizard produced on the BAT server. Use
the BAT templates to configure phones for proxy mode only.
|
Step 3
| For existing
manager and assistant phones, you can change the manager and assistant phones
to correspond to the Unified CM Assistant phone templates by using either of
these methods:
-
You can use
the Add Lines feature in BAT to modify existing phones to resemble the
Unified CM Assistant phone templates.
-
You can
delete the original phones and add new phones by using the Unified CM Assistant
phone templates for managers and assistants.
|
Step 4
| After you
configure the phones and lines for managers and assistants, you associate the
manager and assistant lines for Unified CM Assistant control.
|
Cisco Unified Communications Manager Assistant Manager Phone Template Default Settings
The following table lists the default settings for the
Unified CM Assistant manager phone template.
Table 1 Default Settings for Manager Phone Templates for Proxy
Lines
Field
|
Default Value
|
Softkey Template
|
Softkey Template Standard Manager
|
Phone Button Template
|
Standard Cisco Unified IP Phone 7960 (2 lines)
|
Line1
|
Primary line
- CSS =
Generated_CSS_I_E
- Partition =
Generated_Managers
|
Line 2
|
Incoming Intercom line
- CSS =
Generated_CSS_I_E
- Partition =
Generated_Everyone
- Also configure
auto answer with headset option.
|
Services
|
Assistant Primary Service
|
The following table lists the default settings for the
Unified CM Assistant assistant phone template.
Table 2 Default Settings for Assistant Phone Template for Proxy
Lines
Field
|
Default Value
|
Softkey Template
|
Softkey Assistant
|
Phone Button Template
|
Standard Cisco Unified IP Phone 7960 Assistant
|
Expansion Module 1
|
14-button expansion module
|
One line on base phone and five lines on expansion module
|
For proxy lines, one line on base phone and five lines on
expansion module have the following default configuration:
- CSS =
Generated_CSS_M_E
- Partition =
Generated_Everyone
|
Line 7
(On Expansion Module)
|
Intercom line
- CSS =
Generated_CSS_I_E
- Partition =
Generated_Everyone
- Also configure
auto answer with headset option.
|
Manager and Assistant Proxy Line Configurations
BAT assigns Unified CM Assistant line configurations by
mapping the primary manager lines on the phone to proxy lines on the assistant
phone. When you use the Unified CM Assistant manager and assistant default
templates that the Unified CM Assistant wizard created, you can associate from
one to five manager lines on one assistant phone. For phones that are
configured with the Unified CM Assistant templates, this example shows the line
configurations when you associate two manager phones to an assistant phone.
Manager 1 Phone
-
Line 1— Primary line
-
Line 2— Intercom line
Manager 2 Phone
-
Line 1— Primary line
-
Line 2— Intercom line
Assistant Phone
-
Line 1—Primary line
-
Line 2—Proxy line for Manager 1
-
Line 3—Proxy line for Manager 2
-
Lines 4 through 6 are unassigned
-
Line 7—Intercom line
Assistant Phone
Lines 4 through 6 remain available for other manager
associations.
When you associate multiple managers to an assistant phone,
BAT creates proxy lines based on the order in the CSV data file. BAT creates
the first manager-assistant line by assigning all the primary manager lines as
proxy lines to the unassigned lines on the assistant phone. BAT continues
creating individual manager-assistant proxy lines based on the order of the CSV
record until all lines on the assistant phone are assigned or all managers in
the CSV record are associated.
When you associate multiple assistants to a manager primary
line, BAT assigns assistants to the manager based on the order in the CSV data
file. BAT assigns the primary manager lines based on the first assistant number
of available lines. For example, a manager phone has two primary lines. The
first assistant, who is listed in the CSV data file, has only one available
line. Consequently, BAT associates only one primary line for the manager and
one proxy line on all the assistant phones that are listed in the CSV record.
Cisco Unified Communications Manager Assistant Manager Phone Line Configurations
The following table lists all possible line configurations
for a manager phone that BAT can set up when you are using manager-assistant
associations.
Table 3 Manager Phone Line Configuration
Number of Available Lines
|
Configuration
|
One line
|
Line 1—Primary line (Unified CM Assistant controlled)
Intercom line (none)
|
Two lines
(Default Unified CM Assistant manager phone template)
|
Line 1—Primary line (Unified CM Assistant controlled)
Line 2—Intercom line (optional)
|
More than two lines
|
Last line gets configured as the intercom line.
The number of available lines on the assistant phone
determines the number of manager lines that get associated with proxy lines.
|
Unified CM Assistant Phone Line Configurations
The following table lists the default line configurations
for the assistant phones that BAT sets up during manager-assistant
associations.
Table 4 Assistant Phone Line Configurations
Number of Available Lines
|
Configuration
|
One line
|
Line 1—Proxy line
Intercom line (none)
|
Two lines
|
Line 1—Primary line
Line 2—Proxy line
Intercom line (none)
|
Three lines
|
Line 1—Primary line
Line 2—Proxy line
Line 3—Intercom line
|
More than three lines
|
Line 1—Primary line
Line 2—Proxy line
Last line gets configured as the intercom line
All other lines get configured as proxy lines
|
Seven lines
(Default Unified CM Assistant assistant phone template)
|
Line 1—Primary line
Line 2 through line 6 can get configured as proxy lines to
support up to five managers.
Line 7—Intercom line
|
Proxy Line Example for Cisco Unified Communications Manager Assistant Manager and Assistant Phones
You associate two managers, each with three existing lines,
to an assistant phone with six unassigned lines. BAT sets the following line
configurations on the manager and assistant phones.
Manager 1 Phone
-
Line 1—Manager primary line (DN is 2355)
-
Line 2—Manager primary line (DN is 2366)
-
Line 3—Manager intercom line
Manager 2 Phone
-
Line 1—Manager primary line (DN is 2656)
-
Line 2—Manager primary line (DN is 2666)
-
Line 3—Manager intercom line
Assistant Phone
-
Line 1—Assistant primary line (DN is 3333)
-
Line 2—Proxy line 1 for Manager 1 (DN is 3455)
-
Line 3—Proxy line 1 for Manager 2 (DN is 3656))
-
Line 4—Proxy line 2 for Manager 1 (DN is 3366)
-
Line 5—Proxy line 2 for Manager 2 (DN is 3666)
-
Line 6—Available
-
Line 7—Assistant intercom line
Assistant Phone
When you associate a manager phone that has preexisting
primary lines, you must ensure that the number of unassigned lines on the
assistant phone equals or is greater than the number of primary lines on the
manager phone. For instance, BAT does not allow you to create an association
between a manager that has a phone with four configured primary lines and an
assistant with only three available lines.
Set Up Proxy Lines on New Manager and Assistant Phones for Cisco Unified Communications Manager Assistant
You can set up new Unified CM Assistant manager and
assistant phones to use proxy lines.
Before You Begin
- Run the Unified CM
Assistant Configuration Wizard to create the Unified CM Assistant templates,
partition, and calling search space.
- If you want to associate
more than five managers to an assistant, you must access the Unified CM
Assistant Template and make a copy with a new name. Add more lines to the
template to accommodate the additional managers.
Procedure
Step 1
| Choose
.
The
Phone Template Configuration window displays.
Note
|
Because BAT Unified CM Assistant templates are write protected,
if you want to make changes to these templates, you must make a copy of the
template and then edit the template with your changes. See
Table 1
for default manager phone template field descriptions. See
Table 2
for default assistant phone template field descriptions.
|
|
Step 2
| Create the CSV data file for manager phones and another file for
assistant phones using these options:
- Use the BAT spreadsheet and choose the Phones tab.
- Use a text editor and refer to the manager or assistant
template fields as a guide.
|
What to Do Next
Follow the procedures in
Add Phones to Database
to insert new phones.
Set Up Proxy Lines on Existing Manager and Assistant Phones for Cisco Unified Communications Manager Assistant
You can set up existing Unified CM Assistant manager and assistant phones to use proxy lines.
Procedure
Step 1
| Choose . The Phone Add Lines window displays. |
Step 2
| You may need to copy and modify the Unified CM Assistant templates for BAT. See Table 1 for default manager phone template field descriptions, and see Table 2 for default assistant phone template field descriptions.
Note
| If you changed any configuration information (for example, partition names) when you ran the Cisco Unified CM Assistant Configuration Wizard, you must use the same configuration information for the fields when you edit the template.
|
|
Step 3
| Create the CSV data file for manager phones and another file for assistant phones using one of these options: - Use the BAT spreadsheet and choose the Add Lines tab.
- Use a text editor and use the manager or assistant template fields as a guide.
|
What to Do NextYou can set up manager and assistant lines on existing phones.
Set Up Phones in Shared Line Mode for Cisco Unified Communications Manager Assistant
You can set up manager and assistant phones to use shared
lines when you create a BAT template to add new phones in the
Cisco Unified Communications Manager database. Use
the procedures for setting up new phones using BAT.
Before You BeginYou must set up the Unified CM Assistant service parameters for shared
line support in
Cisco Unified Communications Manager.
 Note |
If you have a Cisco Unified IP Phone model 7960, you need a phone
button template with five or more lines.
|
Procedure
What to Do NextYou must associate the manager and assistant lines for Unified CM Assistant
control. Follow the procedures in the
CSV Data File for Manager-Assistant Associations.
Manager Phone Settings for Shared Line Mode
When you create the BAT template to add new or update
existing manager phones with shared lines, use the following phone settings:
Assign the Softkey template: Standard Shared Mode Manager.
Add primary lines to share with assistants, if needed.
Set up the voice-messaging profile on the primary line.
Add an incoming intercom line (optional).
Add speed-dial buttons for outgoing intercom targets (optional).
Set the user locale.
Assistant Phone Settings for Shared Line Mode
When you create the BAT template to add new or update
existing assistant phones with shared lines, use the following phone settings:
Assign the Softkey template: Standard Assistant
If you are using a Cisco 14-button expansion module (7914) for
additional lines, specify the expansion module type in the BAT template.
 Note |
Cisco Unified IP Phone 7960 phone button templates include
expansion module lines.
|
Add a personal primary line.
Add shared lines for each associated manager. Use the same
directory number and partition as the primary line on the manager phone.
Add an incoming intercom line (optional)
Add speed dials to the managers intercom lines (optional)
Set the user locale
Manager and Assistant Shared Line Configurations
BAT associates Cisco Unified CM Assistant line
configurations to shared lines that are assigned to the manager and the
assistant phones. You set the shared line mode in the manager’s configuration
when associating managers with assistants.
In shared line mode, the manager line corresponds to a
shared line on the assistant phone. For example, to associate two managers with
an assistant, you add two lines to the assistant phone that have the same
directory numbers and partitions as the primary lines on the manager phones.
Assistant Phone
Line 1—Assistant primary line (DN is 3356)
Line 2—Shared line with Manager 1 (DN is 2355)
Line 3—Shared line with Manager 2 (DN is 2875)
Lines 4 through 6 are available
Line 7—Intercom line (optional)
You can add lines 4 through 6 as shared lines for other
managers.
When you add multiple manager lines to an assistant phone,
all lines on the assistant phone must use shared line mode. You cannot mix
proxy and shared lines on the assistant phone. Likewise, when a manager has
multiple assistants, all associations must use shared line mode.
When you associate multiple assistants to a manager who has
shared line mode, BAT assigns Unified CM Assistant associations only to those
assistants that are also using shared line mode.
CSV Data File for Manager-Assistant Associations
When you use BAT to insert manager-assistant associations to
the
Cisco Unified Communications Manager database, you can add new associations or
update existing associations.
You have two options for creating a CSV data file to add or update manager-assistant associations:
using the BAT spreadsheet or using a text editor to create a text file in CSV format.
When you create an association for a new manager, you need
to enter a device name. When you update a manager with an existing Unified CM
Assistant record, consider these fields optional. BAT does not allow you to assign the intercom line of a
manager to a proxy line for an assistant if the number of manager lines is
greater than or equal to three.
Add or Update Manager-Assistant Associations Using BAT Spreadsheet
Use the BAT spreadsheet to add new or update existing
Unified CM Assistant associations. The BAT spreadsheet includes data file
templates with macros to make it easy to add, update, or delete
manager-assistant associations.
Procedure
Manager-assistant Association Additions and Updates Using BAT Spreadsheet
The BAT spreadsheet includes data file templates with macros to make it easy to add, update, or delete manager-assistant associations.
When you use the BAT spreadsheet to add new Unified CM Assistant associations, you can set up the manager-assistant configurations in two ways:
Create manager-assistant associations with the default line configuration. For the default line configurations for the manager and assistant phones, see Table 1and Table 1.
Assign proxy lines that do not follow the default line configuration using a custom CSV data file.
Create Default Manager-Assistant CSV Data Files
Use the BAT spreadsheet to create a CSV data file for
inserting, updating, or deleting default manager-assistant associations for
both proxy and shared mode.
After you have finished editing all the fields in the BAT spreadsheet,
you can export the content to a CSV formatted data file. The file is saved to
C:\XLSDataFiles or to your choice of another
existing folder on your local workstation and is assigned a default filename:
<type of operation>ManagerAssistants-timestamp.txt
where
<type of operation> can be either insert or
delete, and
"timestamp" represents the precise date and time
that the file was created.
Procedure
Step 1
| Download and open the BAT.xlt file to open the BAT spreadsheet.
|
Step 2
| When prompted, click
Enable Macros to use the spreadsheet
capabilities.
|
Step 3
| To display the manager-assistant association options, click the
Default Managers-Assistants tab at the bottom
of the spreadsheet.
|
Step 4
| Scroll to the right side of the template until you see the radio
buttons and choose the type of associations for this transaction:
- One manager,
multiple assistants
- One assistant,
multiple managers
|
Step 5
| Complete all mandatory fields and any relevant, optional fields.
- If you choose the
One manager, multiple assistants radio
button, enter the following information in each row:
- Manager ID—Enter
the user ID, up to 30 characters, of the manager.
- Assistant
ID#—Enter the user IDs, up to 30 characters, for the
assistants to whom the manager will be associated, where the
# symbol represents the number of assistants
assigned to a manager.
Tip
| To add more assistants, click
Add more Assistants.
|
- If you choose the
One assistant, multiple managers radio
button, enter the following information in each row:
- Assistant ID—Enter
the user ID, up to 30 characters, of the assistant.
- Manager
ID#—Enter the user IDs, up to 30 characters, for the managers
to whom the assistant will be associated. where the
# symbol represents the number of managers
assigned to an assistant.
Note
| To add more managers, click
Add more Managers.
|
|
Step 6
| Choose the operation that you want to perform:
- To create new manager-assistant associations, click
Insert.
- To delete a manager or an assistant from a manager-assistant
association, click
Delete.
|
Step 7
| To transfer the data from the BAT spreadsheet into a CSV data
file, click
Export to BAT Format.
Tip
| For information on how to read the exported CSV data file, click
the link to
View Sample File in theInsert
Managers/Assistants window in BAT.
|
The system saves the file using the default filename
<type of
operation>ManagerAssistants-timestamp.txt to
C:\XLSDataFiles or to your choice of another
existing folder on your local workstation.
|
What to Do Next You must upload the CSV data file to the
Cisco Unified Communications Manager first node database server so BAT can access
the CSV data file.
Create Custom Manager-Assistant CSV Data Files
When you have existing phones that you want to set up with
manager-assistant associations, you can use the
Custom Managers-Assistants tab in the BAT
spreadsheet. Use the BAT spreadsheet to create a custom CSV data file for
inserting or updating manager-assistant associations for proxy lines on the
assistant phones.
After you have finished editing all the fields in the BAT spreadsheet,
you can export the content to a CSV formatted data file. The system saves the
file using the default filename
Custom Manager-Assistants-timestamp.txt to
C:\XLSDataFiles or to your choice of another
existing folder on your local workstation.
Procedure
Step 1
| Download the BAT.xlt file from
Cisco Unified Communications Manager server.
|
Step 2
| Open the BAT.xlt file. When prompted, click
Enable Macros to use the spreadsheet
capabilities.
|
Step 3
| To display the manager-assistant association options, click the
Custom Managers-Assistants tab at the bottom
of the spreadsheet.
|
Step 4
| Scroll to the right side of the template until you see
Number of Proxy Lines box. In that box, enter
the number of proxy lines that you are assigning to an assistant. The
spreadsheet adds Proxy Line DN and Manager Line DN Columns based on the number
that you enter.
Complete all mandatory fields and any relevant, optional fields.
- Manager ID—Enter the
user ID of the manager.
- Device Name—Enter the
device name that are assigned to the manager phone.
- Intercom DN—Enter the
directory number for the manager intercom line. (Optional)
- Assistant ID—Enter the
user IDs for the assistants to whom the manager will be associated.
- Device Name—Enter the
device name that are assigned to the assistant's phone.
- Intercom DN—Enter the
directory number for the assistant intercom line. (Optional)
- Proxy Line
DN#—Enter the directory number for the assistant proxy line.
- Manager Line
DN#—Enter the directory number for the manager primary line.
The
# symbol represents the number of proxy lines that
are associated to a manager.
|
Step 5
| To transfer the data from the BAT spreadsheet into a CSV data
file, click
Export to BAT Format button.
Tip
| For information on how to read the exported CSV data file, click
the link to
View Sample File in theInsert
Managers/Assistants window in BAT.
|
The system saves the file using the default filename
Custom Manager-Assistants-timestamp.txt to
C:\XLSDataFiles or to your choice of another
existing folder on your local workstation.
|
What to Do Next You must upload the CSV data file to the
Cisco Unified Communications Manager first node database server so BAT can access
the CSV data file.
Topics Related to CVS Data Files for Manager-Assistant
For more information related to Cisco Unified CM Assistant, refer to this documentation.