User Attributes

Cisco Unity Connection users are created to administer or provide access to the voice messaging system. The user attributes are the objects that enable you to control which users can connect to the system, and determine the system features and resources they can access.

Preparing to Add User Accounts

You need to select and define user attributes before adding user accounts in Unity Connection. The settings defined by each attribute helps determine which features are available to the users and callers, define limits, and permissions for using Unity Connection resources.

Following are the user attributes that should be configured before adding user accounts individually or in bulk:

  • Class of Service: The class of service enables you to define the control access to critical features on Unity Connection. The class of service membership enables applies the class of service settings to all the member users. See the Class of Service section.
  • User Templates: The user template settings are applied to the newly created user accounts and enables you to create predefined configurations for the majority of user settings. Any changes made to the user template settings do not affect the existing user accounts associated with that template. See the User Templates section.
  • Mailbox Stores: Unity Connection allows you to create multiple mailbox stores that can be useful for customers with large installations, where the time required to complete a backup is an issue. Before you add user accounts, review the mailbox store that is specified in the user template that you plan to use. You may need to edit the template to specify a different mail store, or create a new template. If you change the mailbox store specified in a user template, any already-created user accounts that were based on that template are not re-assigned to the new mailbox store. However, you can reassign a user to a different mailbox store at any time. To configure the mailbox stores, see the “Message Storage” chapter.
  • Dial Plan: The dial plan in Unity Connection includes partitions and search spaces. Partitions and search spaces provide a way to segregate the global dial and message addressing space within Unity Connection. A partition comprises a logical grouping of objects, such as users and call handlers. The objects are identified by extension, name or SMTP address. A search space contains an ordered list of partitions. See the Dial Plan section.
  • Schedules: Unity Connection uses schedules to determine which user transfer rule to apply and which user greeting to play. Before you add user accounts, review the active schedule that is specified for the template that you plan to use. You may need to edit the template to specify a different schedule or create a new template. If you change the active schedule specified on a user template page, any already-created user accounts that were based on that template are not reassigned to the new schedule. In contrast, when you edit a schedule, the changes affect both new and existing users of that schedule. This means that you can update schedule settings before and after you create user accounts. You can also reassign a user to a different schedule at any time. For more information on managing holiday and schedules, see the Schedules and Holiday Schedules sections.
  • Roles: Unity Connection offers levels of privileges for administrator accounts, set according to a list of predefined roles. Roles specify which tasks administrators can do. Before you add administrator accounts, select the roles that are assigned to each account. You can change which roles are assigned to the accounts at any time. For more information, see the Roles section.

Class of Service

A class of service (COS) defines limits and permissions for accounts with voice mailboxes. For example, a COS:

  • Controls user access to licensed features, such as Web Inbox or Messaging Inbox (When a COS includes access to a feature that requires individual licenses, you can assign groups of users to the COS only if enough licenses are available.)
  • Controls user access to non licensed features, such as Personal Call Transfer Rules and digital networking.
  • Controls how users interact with Unity Connection. For example, a COS dictates the maximum length of user messages and greetings, and whether users can choose to be listed in the corporate directory.
  • Controls call transfer options.
  • Specifies the number of private distribution lists allowed to users, and the number of members allowed on each list.
  • Specifies the restriction tables used to control the phone numbers that users can use for transfers and when placing calls.

A COS is not specified for the individual accounts or templates that are associated with users without voice mailboxes or the administrator accounts.

Remember that if you change the COS that is specified on a user template page, any user accounts that have already been created based on that template are not reassigned to the new COS. In contrast, when you edit the settings in a COS, the changes affect both new and existing members, so you can edit COS settings before and after you create user accounts. You can also reassign a user to a different COS at any time.

Default Class of Service

Unity Connection creates two predefined classes of service that you use when setting up the system.

  • System: The system class of service is assigned to the administrator (users without voicemail box accounts). This class of service cannot be deleted.
  • Voice Mail User COS: The voicemail user class of service is assigned to the user accounts with voicemail boxes. This class of service cannot be deleted.

Configuring Class of Service

This section includes information on configuring a class of service for Unity Connection, define the settings for the class of service and save them.

To Configure a Class of Service

Step 1blank.gif In Cisco Unity Connection Administration, expand Class of Service, and then select Class of Service.

The Cisco Unity Connection Administration displays the currently configured class of services.

Step 2blank.gif Configure a class of service (For information on each field, see Help> This Page):

  • To add a class of service, select Add New. On the New Class of Service page, enter the applicable settings and select Save.
  • To edit a single class of service, select that COS and to edit multiple class of services, check the applicable check boxes and then select Bulk Edit.

a.blank.gif On the Edit Class of Service page, edit the class of service settings.

b.blank.gif After editing the settings, select Save.

  • To delete a class of service by selecting the applicable check boxes of the class of services you want to delete. Select Delete Selected.

 

Class of Service Membership

The class of service membership allows to add user accounts to a particular class of service containing the required features enabled in the COS.

To Assign a Membership

Step 1blank.gif In Cisco Unity Connection Administration, expand Class of Services, then select Class of Service Membership.

Step 2blank.gif Select the class of service members by checking the applicable check boxes and select Move Selected.

 

Class of Service Settings

You can specify the settings, such as live reply and private distribution lists for the user accounts based on the selected class of service.

Live Reply

When live reply is enabled, users listening to messages over phone can reply to a message or user calls the sender. You can use COS settings to specify whether users can live reply only to messages from other users, or to messages from both users and unidentified callers (unidentified callers are outside callers or users who are forwarded to Unity Connection but who cannot be identified by the calling extension).

Users can live reply to a message using the touchstone conversation or the voice-recognition conversation. Consider informing users when you enable this feature, because even when it is enabled, the live reply option is not mentioned in the main phone menus for some phone conversation types.

The following points to be considered for live reply to users:

  • Unity Connection dials the extension of the user who left the message only when the Transfer Incoming Calls to User’s Phone setting for the user who left the message is set to ring an extension or another number.
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Noteblank.gif The Transfer Incoming Calls to User’s Phone field is on the Call Transfer page.

  • The call transfer settings for the user who left the message dictate what Unity Connection does when the user phone is busy, and whether Unity Connection screens the call.
  • If a user attempts to live reply to a message but the sender is unavailable to take the call, a reply message left for the sender is correctly identified as been sent by the user if the user called from a primary or an alternate extension. This is because Unity Connection releases the live reply call to the phone system and the user is no longer signed in to Unity Connection when leaving the reply message.

The following considerations for live reply to unidentified callers:

  • Unity Connection uses the calling number provided by the phone system in the Automatic Number Identification (ANI) string. To initiate the live reply, Unity Connection checks the ANI digits against the transfer restriction table associated with the class of service of the user. If the number is allowed, Unity Connection returns the call by performing a release transfer to the phone system.
  • You can configure a prefix that Unity Connection prepends to the ANI string and the minimum length of the ANI string before the prefix is applied. For example, to prepend a trunk access code to all numbers of a sufficient length, or to provide additional information that the phone system may need to process the number. Any other formatting that must be done to generate a proper dial string must be performed by the phone system.

Private Distribution Lists

COS settings allow you to specify the maximum number of lists that are available to users and the maximum number of members that users can add to each list when they use the Unity Connection conversation or the Messaging Assistant to manage the lists.

You can set the maximum number of lists, up to 99, available to each user assigned to the COS.

While both the Unity Connection conversation and the Messaging Assistant use this COS setting to determine when a user has reached the maximum number of lists, each application calculates differently the number of lists that a user owns:

  • When a user uses the phone to create a new list by adding members, the Unity Connection conversation counts the number of private lists that have members and compares the total to the value in this setting to determine whether the user has reached the list limit. Lists with no members (empty lists) are not included in the total number of lists that a user owns, even if the lists have recorded names or text names.
  • When a user uses the Messaging Assistant to create a new list, the Messaging Assistant counts the number of lists that have a recorded name, a text name, or members, and then compares the total to the value in this setting to determine whether the user has reached the list limit. Lists with no members are included in the total number as long as they have recorded names or text names.

This means that if a user belongs to a COS that allows 15 lists and the user has 12 private lists with members and two lists with recorded names but no members, the user can potentially create more lists by phone than in the Messaging Assistant before reaching the list limit:

  • When the user uses the Unity Connection conversation, the user reaches the list limit either by adding members to the two empty lists and creating one new list, or by creating three new lists. If the user reaches the limit by creating three new lists, the user cannot add members to the two empty lists until two lists are deleted.
  • When the user uses the Messaging Assistant, the user reaches the list limit by creating one new list. Despite reaching the list limit, the user can add members to the two empty lists.

Recorded Name and Length

For each COS, you specify whether users are allowed to record the names and the length of the recorded name.

Hearing a name recorded in the voice of the user can help callers distinguish between users with similar names. When allowed to record the names, users can either use phone conversation or Messaging Assistant to do the recording and they are prompted to complete the task during first time enrollment.

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Noteblank.gif Unity Connection does not prevent users from completing the enrollment process if they do not record a name.

When Unity Connection users have no recorded name, Unity Connection uses the Text to Speech feature to play the username (either the display name or the concatenated first and last name, depending on which name is entered in Unity Connection Administration). The recorded names can give callers an extra level of assurance that they are reaching the person or mailbox they intended to reach. You must record the usernames at the first time enrollment. This assists the callers in understanding names.

SpeechView Transcriptions of Voice Messages

When the SpeechView feature is enabled, Unity Connection uses a third-party external transcription service to convert voice messages into text.

To use SpeechView, users must belong to a class of service that provides transcriptions of voice messages. Members of the class of service can view the transcriptions of the messages using an IMAP client configured to access the messages. The original voice message is still attached to the transcribed text message. Users can optionally configure an SMS or SMTP notification device so that Unity Connection sends the transcription to a phone or external email address.

Video Greetings

In Unity Connection 10.0(1) and later, for each COS, the administrator can specify whether the users are allowed to record and play video greetings. The administrator allows to play video greetings for both the identified and outside callers. Unity Connection allows the identified callers to record video greetings.

The video greeting settings enable the administrators to control whether the members of a class of service can record video greetings and if the video greetings can be played for outside callers.

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Noteblank.gif Unity Connection classifies remote users connecting through an intersite, intrasite, or HTTPS link as outside callers.

To allow the outside callers to access video greetings, you need to enable the enable class of service settings for video greetings, navigate to Cisco Unity Connection Administration> Class of Service> Edit Class of Service> check the Enable Video check box.

You can enable or disable the check box to allow the users to play and record video greetings.

User Templates

Each user and administrator account that you add in Unity Connection is based on a user template. The user template settings include authentication rules and schedules. The authentication rules dictate the password or PIN and account lockout policy for the users that you create.

You must review the settings in the user templates that you plan to use before creating a user account. This helps you to determine whether you need to make changes to an existing user template or create new user templates. For each template, consider the features that you want to enable, specify a class of service, set a schedule and time zone for the accounts you want to create.

To minimize the number of modifications that you need to make to user accounts later, use a separate user template to specify settings applicable for each group of users that you plan to create. For example, if you plan to create accounts for the members of a sales department, create or edit an existing template to set up message notifications. Specify that messages left for the sales employees are encrypted for extra security, increase the length of messages that callers can leave, and make similar appropriate changes to settings that control the conversation heard by the sales employees.

If a particular setting must be unique for each user account, leave that setting blank on the user template, and then you can edit the setting for each user account after they are created.

Default User Templates

Unity Connection has two predefined user templates that you can edit but cannot delete.

 

Voicemail User Template

The settings on this template are suitable for most users.
Administrator Template

The settings on this template are suitable for users who administer Unity Connection. User accounts that are based on this template do not have voice mailboxes.

By default, the template specifies the System Administrator role, which is the administrator role with the highest privileges.

Configuring User Templates

This section includes information on configuring a user template for Unity Connection, defining the settings for the user template, and saving them.

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Noteblank.gif You can manage the user templates using the Bulk Administration Tool. For more information, see the Bulk Administration Tool section.

To Configure a User Template in Unity Connection

Step 1blank.gif In Cisco Unity Connection Administration, expand Templates and select User Templates.

The Search User Templates page displays the default and currently configured user templates.

Step 2blank.gif Configure a user template (For information on each field, see Help> This Page):

    • To add a user template, select Add New. The New User Template page appears. Enter the applicable settings and select Save.
    • To edit a user template, select the user template that you want to edit. On the Edit User Template Basics page, select the applicable settings from the Edit menu:

–blank.gif User Template Basics

–blank.gif Password Settings

–blank.gif Change Password

–blank.gif Roles

–blank.gif Transfer Rules

–blank.gif Message Settings

–blank.gif Message Actions

–blank.gif Caller Input

–blank.gif Mailbox

–blank.gif Phone Menu

–blank.gif Playback Message Settings

–blank.gif Send Message Settings

–blank.gif Greetings

–blank.gif Post Greeting Recording

–blank.gif Notification Devices

–blank.gif Unified Messaging Accounts

–blank.gif Video Services Accounts

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Noteblank.gif For more information on each user template setting, see the Settings for User Accounts and User Templates section.

 

  • To delete a user template, select the user template that you want to delete. Select Delete Selected and OK to confirm deletion.

 

Roles

Unity Connection offers levels of privileges for administrator accounts, set according to a list of predefined roles. Roles specify which tasks administrators can do. Before you add administrator accounts, select the roles that are assigned to each account. You can change which roles are assigned to the accounts at any time.

Unity Connection comes with the following predefined roles. To see the specific privileges for each administrator role, in Cisco Unity Connection Administration, expand System Settings > Roles and select the name of each role. You cannot make changes to the permissions that are associated with each predefined role.

 

Audio Text Administrator

This role allows an administrator to manage call handlers, directory handlers, and interview handlers.
Audit Administrator

This role allows an administrator to enable or disable Unity Connection application and database auditing, to configure audit settings, and to view or delete audit logs.
Greeting Administrator

This role allows an administrator to access the Cisco Unity Greetings Administrator, a Unity Connection phone conversation that allows users to manage the recorded greetings for call handlers by phone.

Note You need to assign this role to a User with Voice Mailbox account because the administrator must be able to access Unity Connection by phone.
Help Desk Administrator

This role allows an administrator to reset user passwords and PINs, unlock user accounts, and view user setting pages.

Note The “Manage Call Handlers Belonging To Users Only - View Only” privilege refers to the primary call handler assigned to a user that include all greetings, transfer rules, and menu entries that you see on the User's page under the Roles section.
Mailbox Access Delegate Account

A user with this role has access to all messages. Remote applications, for example, Cisco Unified Mobility Advantage use the username and password of a user with this role for the purposes of retrieving messages on behalf of other users.

Typically this role is assigned to only one user account, which does not represent a real user but exists to access mailboxes on behalf of other users.
Remote Administrator

This role allows an administrator to administer the database using remote tools.
System Administrator

This is the top-level Unity Connection administration role. This role allows access to all Unity Connection administrative functions, including all user and system settings, all reports, and all administration and diagnostic tools.

The default administrator account that the installer specified during initial setup of Unity Connection is set to this role.

A System Administrator is the only role that has permission to create administrative accounts.
Technician

This role allows an administrator access to all functions that enable management of the Unity Connection server and phone system integration settings; administrators with this role can also run all reports, use diagnostic tools, and view all system and user settings pages.
User Administrator

This role allows an administrator to manage user accounts, access all user administration functions and user administration tools.

While you can assign roles to users with voice mailboxes, except when allowing access to the Cisco Unity Greetings Administrator. As a best practice, make sure that administrators have two accounts: one without a voice mailbox for administering Unity Connection and another with a voice mailbox that they can use to access the personal mailbox.