Consider the following points when working with Adjunct Routing:

• Before vector steps, try to insert a brief wait step for vector processing to handle any possible delays that cause the vector to fail and the call not to be routed. Follow this best practice when programming a vector:

  • Start all vectors with a wait-time 0 seconds step. Adding this step helps ensure you will have a touch-tone receiver (TTR) for vector processing.

  • When using an adjunct routing step, try to put a wait-time 0 seconds step before the adjunct routing step to provide a pause before routing the call to the adjunct system.

  • Any time digits are collected from a caller using a collect digits step, the step should be preceded by a wait-time 0 seconds step, hearing either ringback or music. This ensures you have a TTR to collect those digits.

• An adjunct specified in an adjunct routing link command can route a call to an internal number, an external number, a split, a VDN, an announcement extension, or to a particular agent. An adjunct can also provide priority ringing, priority queuing, and specify that a route-to an agent be done as a direct agent call.

• You can also include more than two consecutive adjunct routing link steps in a vector. This approach offers the following advantages:

  • Redundancy for ASAI link or application failure.

  • Simultaneous processing of multiple route requests, which distributes incoming call load more efficiently and results in faster call processing times.

• Vector processing continues to occur while an ASAI route request is being processed. Consequently, the first step to follow more than one adjunct routing link steps must be an announcement or a wait time step that adheres to the following rules:

  • If an announcement step follows immediately after an adjunct routing link step, the announcement must not contain any information essential to the caller, such as further instructions, since the announcement immediately terminates when the switch receives a destination from the ASAI adjunct.

  • If a wait-time step follows immediately after an adjunct routing link step, the step must specify ringback or music, but not silence, as the feedback option. If the caller hears silence, the caller might abandon the call.

  Important:

  If an ASAI link or application specified in the adjunct routing link step is out of service, the step is skipped. If the next step is not a wait-time, announcement, or adjunct routing link step, as much as six minutes can elapse before the switch determines that the adjunct application is out of service.

• The field IC Adjunct Routing should be disabled on the CTI Link screen unless the CTI application requires it enabled. Then, program the associated vectors as instructed for that application.

• When IC Adjunct Routing is disabled, only the first announcement or wait-time step encountered is skipped after a sequence of adjunct route steps fails. The following paragraphs apply when IC Adjunct Routing is disabled.

• The second step after the adjunct routing link step must be implemented as a default treatment in case the host application or ASAI link is down. Speed of execution for the default treatment step, for example, route-to number 0 if unconditionally, is controlled by the following factors:

  • If the ASAI link is down and if the first non-adjunct routing link step is a wait-time or an announcement treatment, the treatment step is skipped and the default step that follows the skipped, treatment executes immediately.

  • If the host application is not down, the default step executes if the adjunct does not provide a route within the time defined by the first non-adjunct step. For example, if the first non-adjunct step is an announcement, the default step executes after the time defined by the length of the announcement is exceeded.

• When a vector contains an adjunct routing link command and an ASAI link or application fails, special rules apply to vector processing operations that result. Consider the special processing operations while designing adjunct routing vectors.

• Vector processing continues while an ASAI call route request is processed at an adjunct. Succeeding vector steps can terminate an ASAI call route request if the steps execute before a call route can be provided by the adjunct. Alternately, the adjunct can reject the call route request, and subsequent vector processing proceeds normally.

• The wait-time hearing i-silent command allows the adjunct to decide whether to accept an incoming ISDN-PRI call. When this step is encountered after an adjunct routing link step, the switch does not return an ISDN PROGRESS message to the originating switch. The wait-time hearing i-silent command is important for the Network ISDN and LAI features.