Pinnacle, Information on Skype for Business (VoIP), Response Groups, Role-based Accounts, and Common-Area Phones

On this page you can find documentation about non-person accounts. These are used for purposes such as common area phones (CAP), role-based accounts, and response groups that allow multiple users to answer calls coming to a particular group or departmental phone line.

Response Groups

A response group is not a user account, it is an application that runs on the Skype for Business servers.  When a caller calls a response group, the call is routed to agents (Skype for Business users and/or role-based accounts).  Calls can be routed as a Hunt Groups or Interactive Voice Response (IVR).

Hunt Groups are when every incoming call is rotated through the group of agents until a free line is found and the caller is connected. An Interactive Voice Response  routes calls depending on the choice a caller makes using a voice menu system.  The IVR plays the caller a message that has up to four possible options and, depending on the caller's response, routes the caller to a queue or to a second set of up to 4 additional options.

Given the complexity and variation in configuration components, orders for Skype for Business Response Groups require a Pinnacle Service Request and a LCDS2 Excel file (with the Service Request number included as part of the file name). This form will allow you to add detailed information about whichever type of Response Group you are requesting. After you fill out this form, save it to your computer and upload it into your Service Request as an attachment.

More information is available in the Pinnacle Quick Start pages. Instructions for completing the LCDS2 can be found here.

Notification after a Response Group activation

Once a Response Group activation is completed, the original requester will be notified.

Changes to configuration

If you need to make changes to an account - Please follow the instruction to Change a Service

Tools

A report is available via Pinnacle that lists all phone numbers by Org ID.

Information about Response Group Options

  • Welcome message:  a message played for all callers.  Can be an audio file or text-to-speech.
  • Business hours:  defines when the response group will forward calls to agents.  Business hours are defined by day-of week and can have up to 2 open and close times per day (see example below).  An after-hours message (audio or text-to-speech) can be played and an action can be defined to be taken outside of business hours.
    Example of response group hours settings.
  • Holidays:  If selected, the response group will be “closed” on campus holidays.  A holiday message (audio or text-to-speech) can be played and an action can be defined to be taken.
  • Queue time-out:  a maximum period of time for a caller to wait on hold before an agent answers the call.
  • Queue overflow:  a maximum number of calls that the queue can hold.
  • Possible After-hours, Holiday, Time-out and Overflow actions:
    • Forward to voice mail (Must be a SfB enabled account.  This is the most common action.)
    • Disconnect the call
    • Forward to telephone number
    • Forward to SIP address
    • Forward to another queue
  • Agent group participation policy:
    • Informal:  agents in the group do not need to sign in and out. Informal agents are automatically signed in when they sign in to Skype for Business. The default is Informal.
    • Formal:  agents in the group must sign in and out. When you select this option, agents click a menu item in Skype for Business to open a browser and display a web page console for signing in and out.
  • Agent group routing method:
    • Longest idle:  offer a new call first to the agent who has had a presence of Available or Inactive the longest.
    • Parallel:  offer a new call to all agents with status Available or Inactive at the same time. The call is sent to the first agent who accepts it.
    • Round robin:  offer a new call to each agent in turn.
    • Serial:  always offer a new call to agents in the order in which they are listed in the Agent list.  Don’t use this when using a distribution list as the agent list.
    • Attendant:  offer a new call to all agents who are signed in and the Response Group application at the same time, regardless of their current presence (Available, Inactive, Away, Busy, or Appear Offline).
  • Agent List:  can be a list of Skype for Business users or an Exchange Distribution List

Role-based Accounts

A Role-Based Account can be used in the following situations: when individuals who are not eligible for personal Skype for Business accounts need to answer a phone, non-person standalone phones that need to be a member of a response group, and non-person standalone phones need to have voicemail.

Delegates or team calling can be used in conjunction with a Role-Based Account, and voicemail can also be configured for these accounts.

Role-based accounts are essentially regular Skype for Business accounts that are hosted in the department’s Active Directory OU (typically managed by the department IT Professional).  Departments can manage the account password to log into Skype for Business as the role-based account.

Important information about role-based accounts

  • Role-based accounts and Agent Anonymity

Role-based accounts can be established as a means of protecting employees' personal information. In this instance, a role-based account is created for a department, and is reached via the main number. Calls can be forwarded to a response group and agents assigned as delegates on the role-based account. When a delegate calls out, the number on the display will appear as the main number associated with the role-based account. This process is similar to Agent Anonymity, but does not create the limits on services that can occur with Anonymity.

  • Logging in to IP phones using role-based accounts

    The Skype for Business Voicemail PIN of a role-based account cannot be used to log into an IP phone. This requires your Skype for Business Conferencing/IP Phone PIN. To set / reset a Skype for Business Conferencing/IP Phone PIN, go to https://dialin.uillinois.edu.

    User name: UOFI\<role-account-ID>
    Password: <role-account-password>

  • Trouble logging in as role-based account

    If you are having trouble logging in as role-based account, contact your department IT support.
    Note to IT Pros: Make sure that the AD account User Principle Name (UPN) domain is @illinois.edu (or @uillinois.edu if it's a UA unit).

Common Area Phone Accounts

Common area phone accounts can only log into IP phones; they cannot be used to log into Windows or Mac Skype for Business clients. Calls to common-area phones cannot be forwarded manually to another number. Common area phone accounts are generally used for conference rooms and other common areas that may or may not be locked. As such, it is recommended that common area phone accounts have the most restrictive dialing policy (NCOS 4 Campus Community Only).

Important information about common area phone accounts

  • Voicemail

    Common area phone accounts cannot have voicemail.

  • Logging in to IP phones using common area phone accounts

    A common area phone account is assigned a PIN during activation based on the data provided by the department. If this PIN does not work or if you forget your common area phone account Skype for Business Conferencing/IP Phone PIN, please email consult@illinois.edu to reset the PIN.

  • User Sign-in (AKA - Hotdesking)

    The common area phone account will always be signed in and can have the option for other users to sign in if the department has requested this feature (it is called "hotdesking"). When a user signs in, it logs out the common area account. This is helpful if the common area account has dialing restrictions and you need to dial long distance, or you are expecting a call to your number and you are not in your office. Once you are done, you can log yourself out and it will automatically log the common area account back in. If you forget, the phone will automatically log you out after five minutes of inactivity and log the common area account in.