All the subscribers in the exchange can be divided into groups. The exchange can handle up to 250 different groups of stations. There is no limitation to the number of members in each group and a station can be member of more than one group. The groups are used for several purposes:

Voice Paging - calling all stations (All Call) or a group of stations (Group Call).
Set-up of audio program or simplex (program) conference to a group.
Send mail messages to a group of stations.
Send Call Request to a group of stations.
Group hunt - calling one station in a group (e.g. to access on of several telephone line).
Restrict access on calls to/from a group of stations.

Additional Information:

Only stations can be members of a group.

Group Membership Configuration

By default all groups are empty, except group 1 which includes all stations.

Group 1

All subscribers are members of group 1 after autoload. A Group Call to group 1 is then heard at all stations.

Group 49

This group is used for stations that are not allowed to access the telephone interface PNCI. The PNCI is normally configured to reject calls from members of this group. The group is empty after autoload.

Group 50

This group is by default used for a group hunt to external telephone lines. All the PNCIs connected to external telephone lines should be entered in this group. When you dial 0 to get access to a telephone line, group 50 is used to find a free line. The group is empty after autoload.

Group 51 to 60

These groups are used for defining Ringing Groups, autoload directory numbers 6701 - 6710 are autoloaded with relation to these groups. Groups 51 to 60 are empty after autoload.

Assigning Stations to Groups

To assign stations to a group, each station must be specifically included. It is possible to include a station in any number of groups.

Group Call

The Group call feature is used to broadcast voice messages to a group of stations and/or PA amplifiers. The group call audio can be transmitted live, or it can be recordeded by the system and dispatched after having listened to the recording (recall).

Live group call

Default directory numbers for live broadcast:

84: All Call to group 1
85-88: Group Call to groups 2 - 5
890-899: Group Call to groups 6 - 15

To initiate a group call, dial the directory number of the desired group. Both you and the group members hear a ding-dong signal. Press the M-key to start the broadcast. Release the M-key to stop the broadcast. You can choose to exit the group call feature by C-key, or optionally wait (30 sec timeout) for someone to answer.

Recall

Main article: Recall

The recall function is available as from AMC software version 11, and requires an Audio Messaging license. Default directory numbers for "recall" broadcast:

9084: Recall to group 1 (all)
9085-9088: Recall to groups 2 - 5

To initiate a group call, dial the directory number of the desired group. Press the M-key to start recording. Release M-key to listen to the message. Press 8 to dispatch the message, or C to cancel.

Answering feature (Meet Me)

By dialing the answer feature 99 on any intercom station within the answer period (default 30 seconds), you will automatically be connected to the person who initiated the group call.

When using simultaneous group calls, one must answer from a station belonging to the group.

Simultaneous Group Calls

The exchange can send out more that one group call at the same time, keeping track of which station made which group call. There must not, however, be any overlap in members of the simultaneous groups. If there is overlap, the second group call is queued. When simultaneous group calls is used, answering a group call must always be done from a station belonging to the group.

The possibility to have simultaneous group calls can be disabled. A new group call will then meet a busy signal if the ongoing call has the same or higher priority. An ongoing group call will be canceled by a new group call with higher priority.

The gong is a common resource. If two group calls are started at the same time, the second must wait till the gong is finished, no matter what the priorities are. If the repeated gong is used, the gong may be occupied for some time, according to the programming of the repeated gong.

Voice Paging Exclusion To Prevent Acoustic Feedback

In certain situations there may be a problem with acoustic feedback between neighboring stations during Group Calls. With Voice Paging Exclusion each subscriber may exclude up to eight neighboring stations from receiving the audio during a group call initiated by the subscriber. (Before AMC 10.30: max four neighbor stations in list).

In AlphaPro, the list is programmed under Users_&_Stations_(AlphaPro)#Group_Excl.

In Event Handler, the Voice Paging Exclusion list can be accessed using the %ges macro (since AMC 11.00).

Group Call Priority

The group calls can have 4 different levels of priority:

Low (1)
Medium (2)
High (3)
Alarm (4)

By default all groups have Low priority, but this can be changed by programming. The group call priority works in the following way:

With simultaneous group calls: A group call is canceled by a group call with higher priority if there is overlap between members.
Without simultaneous group calls: An ongoing group call is canceled by a group call with higher priority.
Group Calls with Alarm priority. This priority should be used for alarm group calls only. It has the following attributes:
- Priority over group calls with lower priority.
- Override of volume setting on the TouchLine InterGuard stations. The alarm call is always distributed at maximum volume.
- Override of handset off on the TouchLine InterGuard stations. The alarm call comes through the main speaker even if the handset is accidentally misplaced.
- On-going conversations are canceled if the exchange needs the hardware resources to get the Alarm Group Call through to everybody.

Note: The gong is a common resource. If two group calls are started at the same time, the second will wait till the gong is finished, no matter what the priorities are. If the repeated gong is used, the gong may be occupied for some time, according to the programming of the repeated gong.

Group Restrictions

Group Access Level

You restrict the access for a station to activate some group calls by using the Group Access Level. There are 3 access levels for groups: Low - medium - high. The access level is assigned to each group during commissioning of the system. Each station also has a group access setting. Your station must have the same or higher level than defined for the group to be able to activate the group call. This is typically used to restrict access to using All Call to one or two stations (switchboard operator and receptionist).

Additional Information

By using the Class of Service feature you can also restrict a station from access to all group calls.

Restrictions to Recieve Calls from a Group of Stations

It may be desirable to restrict who may call whom. For each station, you can define a group which is not allowed to call the station. This can be used to set up a group of stations that are not allowed to call the PNCI number, thus limiting access to any telephone lines in the AlphaCom system.

Supplementary Access Control to Using Features

You also use group set-up when defining stations that are allowed/not allowed to use a feature, although it is excluded/included in the station’s Class of Service

Group Call Reception Filter

Each station can activate a Group Call Reception Filter which makes it possible only to receive Group Calls with setup priority above a defined priority level. You simply dial 793x to activate the wanted filter on the station.

7930 = Filter off 7931 = Filter 1 Group Setup low priority 7932 = Filter 2 Group Setup normal priority 7933 = Filter 3 Group Setup high priority

When the feature has been activated on the station the display shows which filter is active for your station.

7931 GrpFilt 1
7930 GrpFiltCanc

Aditional Information

The feature is not included in Class of Service 1.

Software

AMC 08.00 or later.

Programmable Gong

The default gong pattern for the group calls is a ding-dong tone. By default there are four alternatives available:

Ding-dong
Dong-ding
Repeated gong
4-tone gong

The selected gong type and tones applies to all group calls.

Groups

From Zenitel Wiki

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