Announcements Center

UCM6xxx series introduced the “Announcement Center” feature allowing to initiate calls and play a pre-configured voice prompt to extensions within the same group.

When the code and the group number are dialed together in the combination of code + group number, the specified voice message is sent to all group members and only extensions in the group will hear the voice message.

Announcement center feature can be used in different scenarios such as in hospitals (Code Blue), companies, supermarkets…

This guide will help to understand announcement center settings, steps needed to configure this feature, how to create and upload custom prompt to be used within the announcement center feature, and gives an example illustrating the utility of this option.

Announcements Center Settings

The announcement center settings are available on the UCM6xxx Web GUI under the Value-added Features🡪 Announcement center as displayed on the figure below:

The following tables describe the needed options to configure a new announcement center and a new group.

Announcements Center Settings

Name	Configures a name for the newly created Announcements Center to identify this announcement center.
Code	Configures a code number for the custom prompt. This code will be used in combination with the group number. For example, if the code is 55, and the group number is 666. The user can dial 55666 to send prompt 55 to all members in group 666. Note: The combination number must not conflict with any number in the system such as extension number or conference number.
Custom Prompt	This option is to set a custom prompt as an announcement to notify group members. The file can be uploaded from page ‘Custom Prompt’. Click ‘Prompt’ to add an additional record.
Ring Timeout	Configures the ring timeout for the group members. The default value is 30 seconds.
Auto Answer	Configure either to enable the Auto answer by the members or not.

Group Settings

Name	Configure a name for the newly created group to identify the group. Note: Name has a character limit of 64
Number	Configure the group number. The group number is used in combination with the code. For example, if the group number is 666, and the code is 55. The user can dial 55666 to send prompt 55 to all members in group 666. Note: The combination number must not conflict with any number in the system such as extension number or conference number Number has a character limit of 64
Numbers	Select extension to be included in the group.

Configuring Announcement Center

Please refer to the following steps in order to configure the announcement center on the UCM6xxx series:

Creating New Group:

1. Access the web GUI of your UCM and navigate to PBX🡪Value-added Features🡪Announcement Center
2. Click on to create new group.
3. Specify the name of the newly created group.
4. Configure group number which it will be used with code to send voice message.
5. Select the extensions to be included in the group, who will receive the voice message.

In the example illustrated in Figure 3, the group “Announcement_01” has the number 555. Extensions 1000, 1001, 1002, and 1003 are in this group.

Creating New Announcements Center

1. Access the web GUI of your UCM and navigate to PBX🡪Value-added Features🡪Announcement Center
2. Click on to create a new announcement center.
3. Specify the name to the newly created announcement center.
4. Configures the code which will be used with group number to send the voice message to.
5. Select the message that will be used by the code from the custom prompt drop down menu. To create a new Prompt, please click “Prompt” link and follow the instructions in that page. (Please refer to: [CREATE CUSTOM PROMPTS FOR ANNONCEMENTS CENTER]).

Code and Group numbers are used together to direct specified messages to the target group. All extensions in the group will receive the message. For example, we can send code 44 to group 555 by dialing 44555 from any extension registered to the UCM6xxx. All the members in group 555 which are extensions 1000, 1001, 1002, and 1003 will receive this voice message after they pick up the call.

Announcement Center Example

In a hospital where UCM6xxx is installed, the “Announcement Center” feature can be used as a “Code Blue” service.

“Code Blue” is mainly used in hospitals to indicate a patient requiring resuscitation or immediate medical attention. Instead of announcing on the speakers that there is an emergency in room XXX and disturb the whole hospital.

Using the “Announcement Center” feature on UCM6xxx will allow to dial a code with the room number of the patient and hang up, then calls will be initiated (with caller ID as room number) to the specified group including doctors, nurses… and once answered, pre-recorded voice messages will be played indicating urgency level and room to go to.

To fulfill these requirements, administrator can create different announcement centers and different groups as follows:

Code	Name	Voice prompt
00	CPR	Immediate attention required – CPR
01	Nurse_requested	Nurse requested
02	Doctor_requested	Doctor requested
03	Consultation	Doctor requested for consultation
04	Emergency	Emergency doctors and nurses requested
…	…	…

Group / Room Name	Extension	Members
Room 201	201	2007,2008,2009
Room 202	202	2009, 3010, 3020
Room 203	203	3002, 3010, 3025
….	…	…
Consultation Room 01 (General)	301	2002, 2010
Consultation Room 02 (Cardio)	302	2003, 2011, 2012
…	…	…
Emergency Room 01	401	2020, 2021, 2030, 2031, 2032, 2033
Emergency Room 02	402	2040, 2041, 2042, 2043
…	…	…

Once configured, users can dial following combinations:

Dial number	Results
Caller ID (Room number)	Extensions ringing	Voice prompt played after pickup
00201	201	2009, 2008, 2007	Immediate attention required – CPR
04401	401	2020, 2021, 2030, 2031, 2032, 2033	Emergency doctors and nurses requested
01201	201	2009, 3000, 3002	Nurse requested
03302	302	2003, 2011, 2012	Doctor requested for consultation
…	…	…	…

Configuration Steps

Before configuring the group announcement, the administrator needs to record or upload the custom prompts to be played when receiving the patient’s call.

Please refer to [CREATE CUSTOM PROMPTS FOR ANNOUNCEMENTS CENTER] for more details.

Creating Announcement Group

1. Access the web GUI🡪Value-added Features🡪Announcement Center.
2. Click on to create new announcement group.
3. Configure the name of the group as “room1” for example.
4. Set the group number to “201” for example.
5. Select the extensions to be included in the group. In this example: extensions 1004 and 1005 as displayed on the following figure.

6. Press the Save button.

Now we have created the announcement group “room1” for room 201, we can create similar groups for the other hospital’s rooms using the same steps.

Creating Announcement Centers

1. Access the Web GUI🡪Value-added Features🡪Announcement Center.
2. Click on to create a new announcement center.
3. Set the name to the newly created announcement center to “Test”.
4. Configure the code 04 which will be used with group number to send the voice message to.
5. Select the voice prompt to use from the custom prompt drop down menu.

6. Press the Save button.

Now we have created the announcement center “Emergency” with code 04, we can create other similar announcement centers using the same steps.

Create Custom Prompts for Announcements Center

Prompts on the UCM6xxx can be customized/personalized at the customer’s convenience by either recording or uploading new prompts.

Click on the “Upload Audio File” option as shown on the following figure to be redirected to the “Custom Prompt” page, or go to Web GUI🡪PBX Settings🡪Voice Prompt🡪Custom Prompt page directly.

Once the prompt file (created/uploaded) is successfully added to the UCM6xxx, it will be shown in the prompt list options to select in different announcements scenarios.

Record New Custom Prompt

In the UCM6xxx web UI🡪PBX Settings🡪Voice Prompt🡪Custom Prompt page, click on “Record” and follow the steps below to record a new prompt.

1. Specify the custom prompt file name.
2. Select the format (GSM or WAV) for the IVR prompt file to be recorded.
3. Select the “Extension” to receive the call from the UCM6xxx to record the new prompt.

4. Click the “Record” button. A call will be initiated to the selected extension.
5. Pick up the call and start the recording following voice prompts.
6. The recorded file will be listed in the Custom Prompt web page (see figure 10). Users could select to re-record, play or delete the recording.

Upload Custom Prompt

If the user has a pre-recorded prompt file, click on “Upload” in Web GUI under PBX Settings🡪Voice Prompt🡪Custom Prompt page to upload the file to the UCM6xxx.

Following are the prompt file requirements to be accepted by the UCM6xxx series:

• PCM encoded.
• 16 bits.
• 8000Hz mono.
• In .mp3 or .wav format; or raw/ulaw/alaw/gsm file with .ulaw or .alaw suffix.
• File size under 5MB.

Click on “Choose File Upload” to select an audio file from the local PC and click on “Upload” to start uploading it. Once uploaded, the file will appear in the “Custom Prompt” web page.