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CS-5200/5400 ADMINISTRATOR GUIDE, ISSUE 1.1 – August 2005
Page 132 Attendant Phones
Attendant Phones
An Attendant phone can be called by dialing 0 from any of the phones served by them. Typi-
cally, an attendant phone is programmed to provide the following services:
• Central operator for incoming calls
• Message center
• Recall endpoint for unanswered calls
Any phone can be designated as an Attendant phone during database programming. Attendant
stations should be equipped with display phones so the Attendant can see the source names and
numbers of Recall calls.
Model 8520 and 8560 phones support the Mini-DSS, which provides 16 user-programmable
buttons.
A hunt group can be assigned to serve as an Attendant. However, the individual stations in the
hunt group are not required to be programmed as Attendant phones, and the database will not
reflect that the individual phones serve as an Attendant for any other phones. The feature that
separates functions is especially useful when a Voice Mail hunt group is assigned as an Atten-
dant. For information about Automated Attendant, refer to “Automated Attendant’’ on
page 259.
Network and Local Primary Attendants
One Attendant can be designated as the primary Attendant who can receive unsupervised out-
side call recalls, hunt group recalls, and calls that cannot be matched to patterns in call routing
tables.
When the Inter-Tel 5000 Network Communications Solutions platform is installed in a net-
work, two types of primary Attendants are possible:
• Node Attendants: There can be a primary Attendant for each node.
• Network Primary Attendant: A network primary Attendant can be programmed on
each node. Typically, one Network Primary Attendant is shared by all of the nodes.
When the network needs to direct a call to an Attendant, it attempts to direct the call to
the network primary Attendant first. If the network primary Attendant is unavailable, it
directs the call to the Attendant on the node where the call originated.
If there is not a network or local primary Attendant, calls that would normally go to the pri-
mary Attendant (as described above) are handled as follows:
• If the system has seized the call, but it has not been sent to an endpoint, it is discon-
nected.
• If the call has been sent to an endpoint, it remains at the endpoint and rings until
answered.
• If the call is not seized and not sent to an endpoint, the caller will hear ringing until he
or she hangs up. The call will not ring at any endpoint.
One-Attendant or Multiple-Attendant Operation
Each node can be set up with one Attendant or several Attendants, as follows:
• One Attendant: One Attendant provides all of the Attendant services listed on the pre-
ceding page. All trunks (except private trunks) are usually programmed to ring in at this
Attendant’s phone.
• Multiple Attendants: Any or all phones can be programmed as Attendants. (For exam-
ple, there may be one or more Attendants to serve each department in a business.)
Trunks are programmed to ring at any or all Attendant phones. Multiple Attendants can