Dial Plan enhancements for Communication Manager

Last Updated : Mar 02, 2021 |
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Beginning with Communication Manager Release 4.0, the Dial Plan feature has been expanded to accommodate maximum extension lengths of 16 digits, and allow 18-digit extension dialing using the Uniform Dial Plan (see the Uniform Dial Plan feature). This expansion to 16 digits permits Communication Manager to support the Open Numbering plan that is offered by the Tenovis I55, as well as by other vendors.
This expansion to 16 digits also involves full support for short/long number dialing, flexible punctuation formats, and flexible extension lengths in call appearance and button labels. For US customers, the Dial Plan Expansion feature improves the Dial Plan. Communication Manager can fit more easily into European networks with numbering plans of 8 or more digits (notably those that use Open Numbering).
Punctuation of long numbers, introduced in Communication Manager 1.3 for 6-digit and 7-digit extensions, is still supported for the new longer extensions. Communication Manager 4.0 or later extends this capability to administration forms as well. With punctuation, customers can more easily read extensions of eight or more digits.
The Multi-location Dial Plan feature that was introduced in Communication Manager 2.0 has been extended for Communication Manager 4.0 or later. This means that a customer can let their users dial short numbers within a location. For example, a user can dial 66180 instead of having to dial the full extension 1-908-456-6180. Beginning with Communication Manager 4.0, customers have the option to display the short number on station displays rather than the full extension.
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The Dial Plan Expansion feature affects the information that is displayed on a display telephone. The display information changes based on the type of telephone. However, when extensions longer than 8 characters displays on a telephone, some display strings had to be modified for everything to fit. For example, on a normal station-to-station call, if the punctuated extension is longer than 8 digits, the last three letters of the 27-character name are truncated.
The expanded dial plan is intended to support the flatten and consolidate architecture that Avaya is offering to customers with large DCS and QSIG networks. It simplifies administration, since only a few Communication Manager servers need to be managed rather than dozens or even hundreds of small switches. Communication Manager Release 4.0 or later makes this consolidation easier by letting users keep seeing and dialing their shorter extensions even as their actual extensions grow larger.
Note:
Starting with Communication Manager Release 5.0, you can also use the Per-Location Dial Plan feature for different branches to have different short extensions, so that the extensions do not conflict across branches.
The Dial Plan Expansion feature is implemented on all Linux-based server platforms.
Some of the screens that are modified to accommodate the longer extensions, or have new fields added to them, are:
  • Dial Plan Analysis screen
  • Dial Plan Parameters screen
  • Location Parameters screen
  • Station screen
  • Uniform Dial Plan Table screen
For more detailed information, see the Avaya Aura® Communication Manager Screen Reference.
Dial Plan is enhanced in Communication Manager 6.0 and later to introduce dial prefixes to be dialed before an extension. These dial prefixes are not part of the extension. This enhancement provides a way to avoid dial plan conflicts between long, unique extensions and short numbers used for dialing within a branch or a location. Using dial prefix, you can consolidate E.164 extensions in one digit block, which frees up other leading digits for short intra-branch dialing.
A sample scenario where the dial prefix enhancement is helpful:
  • Single Communication Manager server with gateways in two or more countries.
  • Extensions that match E.164 public numbers.
  • Short dialing within locations and branches.
  • Countries involved have long E.164 numbers.
Avaya recommends that you put extensions into a block of numbers with a single leading digit or group of digits. This keeps the other leading digits available for short intra-branch dialing. In some branches, public E.164 numbers can be 16 digits long, which means there is no room for an extra leading digit. A dial prefix gives you a way to work around this limitation.
For information on how to set up dial prefixes, see Setting up dial prefixes.