5.5.0 Automatic Service Flag can't be turned on/off

[ahennis@voicespring.net]

We just upgraded our test server to 5.5.0.

 

I setup an automatic service flag and a button on my Snon D715 to change the service flag. When I hit the button the flag does not change and I get the message "We're sorry but you are not allowed to place this call.

 

As future enhancements I think it would be a good idea to add the ability to turn the flag on/off from the web GUI and to have a field for permissions and what tone to play when the flag is manually changed.

 

Basically it should have the same fields as a manual service flag.

[ahennis@voicespring.net]

As I read the release notes again I see that I misinterpreted what the feature was.

 

I thought the feature allowed you to turn the flag on or off like one would do with a manual service flag by just dialing the service flag.

 

I still think there should be a way to just dial the service code like one would change a manual service code. Requests have been made for this feature for years.

[Vodia PBX]

We have made some changes in the service flag area so that the user can call and reschedule the service flag for that day using IVR. Did you see/try that already? For that, we also have new US-English prompts.

[ahennis@voicespring.net]

I did try that feature. It is very nice and I like it a lot.

 

As I said it would be nice to be able to have a button just toggle the flag on/off.

 

Here is a use case.

 

I have a customer with business hours from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. I setup an auto service flag for those hours. The customer wants a visual indication that night service is active so I program a button to monitor the auto night service flag. The customer also wants a way to manually turn on his night service. To make this work I create a manual service flag and configure another button on the phone to turn on/off this manual night service.

 

In this case it would be nice to just be able to flip the auto service flag on or off. I envision this feature as just turning the flag on or off until the next scheduled change of the service flag. Example, my Monday hours are 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM and my Tuesday hours are 8:00 AM ti 5:00 PM. I have to leave at 3:00 PM Monday so I press the button that sets the auto service flag. It stays set until I manually change it be pressing the button or until 8:00 AM Tuesday morning when it changes based on the schedule of the service flag.

 

I could instruct the customer to dial the service flag, give them the pin code and have them change the time for that day or they could just press the button.

[Vodia PBX]

We had that button for the snom phones back when we did not care about RFCs and just did a "hack" to get this working. However, it was causing some confusion when the button was turned off before the office hours were over; the main problem remained how to handle staying longer. People forgot to turn the extended hours off when rushing out of the office. The conclusion was to handle only the state transition, e.g. from on to off: If it is already off then don't change it.

 

Now we are just hijacking the dialog state which shows when calls are on and off. It is difficult terrain, e.g. some phones believe that no call can last longer than two hours!

 

I would recommend users to call into the new feature and use the IVR to program changes to the opening hours.