Have you been tasked with managing extensions for staff members in your office? If you’re an office manager at a company that uses the Avaya Phone System and the IP Office Manager software companion, this tutorial is for you. Here, we’ll go through the steps required to add, update, or remove extensions, and make what many have considered a daunting task a seamless one.
To begin, let’s open the IP Office Manager on your desktop and choose the configuration you’ll be working in. For most small offices, you’ll only have one option. Select it, then login as Administrator. Most times, the password for the Administrator account is “Administrator.”
You’re now logged in and ready to manage your extensions.
Adding an extension
First, we’ll cover adding an extension. A new extension here is defined as an extension that has not been used before. We’ll talk more about updating extensions that are already part of our system later.
Before adding an extension, you’ll need to create a new user to whom that extension will belong
To create a new user, select “User” under the IP Office pane, located at the left of the screen. Inside the User pane, right click and select “New.” The third pane (“user management”) should now be titled “<User:0>:*.” This reflects the unsaved changes to the user’s information. Enter the user’s unique information into the Name and Full Name fields. The “Full Name” field is what will appear on the phone’s display when the user is calling another staffer, or when the user is being called. Add the new extension under the “Extension” field, then select “OK.”
While still in the user management pane, click on the “Telephony” tab, then select “Supervisor Settings.” Add a login code of “1234” and select “OK.” Remember, selecting “OK” does not mean the changes have been saved to the configuration. Instead, the changes are being staged for the configuration’s reboot. To save changes to the system, you’ll need to select the purple disk icon. A pop-up will prompt you to save the configuration. You’ll want to be sure that your “Configuration Reboot Mode” is set to “Merge” to prevent any disruptions while other users are on the phone. You’ll be prompted to enter your login information again, and then you can save your changes to the system.
Finally, you’ll need to head to the new user’s workstation to login from their phone. To login, enter star(*), pound(#) and the extension number. For example, if our new user’s extension is 513, we’ll need to login to the phone at that user’s workstation using “*#513.” The phone’s display may flash for up to one minute. Shortly afterward, you’ll see the new user’s name and extension. Congratulations on adding a new extension!
Updating an extension
What happens when new staff members join the office, old staff members leave, or when a floor plan changes and some staff members move to new workstations? Extensions must be updated. Updating an extension requires much less work than creating one.
The instructions for updating extensions differ based on scenario. We’ll address the two most likely scenarios here.
Staff member A has left ABC Company.
Staff Member B will be sitting at Staff Member A’s old workstation with the same extension number.To update the extension to reflect Staff Member B’s information, you’ll first need to login to IP Office Manager, then select “User” under the IP Office Pane. The User pane will be populated with information related to all users in the system. Find Staff Member A’s name. In the user management panel for Staff Member A, you’ll need to change the information in the “Name” and “Full Name” fields to reflect Staff Member B’s information. Remember, the “Full Name” field is what will appear on the phone’s display. Select “OK.”Next, you’ll need to click on the “Voicemail” tab and change the password for the user’s voicemail to a number you can remember. The first time Staff Member B logs in, he or she will have to use that password; afterward, the password can be changed by the user.
While still in the “Voicemail” tab, change the “Voicemail to Email” address to Staff Member B’s email. Select “OK.”
As with adding a new user, and any time you make changes to the IP Office, you’ll need to save the configuration by selecting the purple disk icon. Select the “Merge” option to prevent disruptions to other staff members who may be using the phone system, and enter your Administrator login information to confirm the changes.
Staff members are swapping workstations, but keeping their old extensions.
When staff members swap desks, changing their extensions requires great attentiveness. When simultaneously swapping the workstations of multiple staff members, I suggest opening a text document or using a writing pad to jot down important information.In IP Office, open the User pane and ensure you have the right extensions for the staff members who are swapping workstations. I suggest writing the extensions in your notepad, along with the staff member’s name.
Next, select “Extension” from the IP Office pane. It will either be located before or after “User” in the tree. In the Extension pane, find the extensions of the staff members and write their corresponding ID number. Carefully go to each extension and change it to the new extension. The new extension will correspond with the workstation for which it is being changed. For example, if Bob sits at workstation A with extension 4321, and you change extension 4321 to 1234, the extension at workstation A will now be 1234, while Bob’s extension will still be 4321.
When changing multiple extensions, be sure to match the ID number of the original extension to the ID number of the newly changed extension. This will ensure that the changes are correct. Once all extensions are changed, select “OK.” You’ll receive an error message, but as long as there are no duplicate extensions and all ID numbers have been matched, you’ll be able to save your configuration. This time, when saving your configuration, select “Immediate” or “Timed.” Though the “Merge” reboot mode has been said to work in newer versions of IP Office Manager, “Immediate” and “Timed” are tried and true. Both the “Immediate” and “Timed” reboot modes will shut down the phone system (sometimes up to five minutes) and disconnect any calls that are taking place. For this reason, I suggest sending an email to your office staff ahead of time using the “Immediate” option to let them know the phones will be rebooting shortly, or reboot the phones overnight using the “Timed” option.
Removing an extension
Though it’s rare that you’ll need to remove an extension completely, doing so is fairly easy.
Once logged into IP Office Manager, you’ll need to open the User pane and find the staff member you want to remove. Right click on that user’s name and select “delete.” Then, go to the Extensions pane, and right click the corresponding extension and select “delete.” As with any changes in the IP Office system, you’ll need to reboot your configuration. It’s fine to select “Merge” for deleted extensions, but be aware that it may take up to 24 hours for the change to occur in the system, during which time the extension and its mailbox will still be accessible.
Keep on learning! Check out our article on how to setup Auto Attendant using Avaya’s IP Office Manager.