Pod Connect: Music On Hold

This covers managing Music on Hold (MoH) uploading of recordings, assigning to lines and other settings

• Logging In
• Viewing and Changing Your Security Settings
• Managing Recordings
• Assigning Recordings To Lines

Logging In

Log In to the CommPortal BG Admin portal as normal. Click the Music On Hold link at the bottom of the left hand side of CommPortal.  This opens up a new browser window with the Music On Hold administration system.

If you are the administrator for the top-level department of your business then you will see three links at the top of the page, each taking you to a different section of the Music On Hold administration system.

• Security – View and configure your security settings.
• Mappings – This section allows you to configure different recordings to be played when different lines within your business put callers on hold.
• Resources – This section allows you to upload and manage your recordings.

If you are not an administrator for the top-level department of your business you will not see Resources as only administrators for the top-level department can manage recordings.

 

Viewing and Changing Your Security Settings

To view your security settings, select the Security section.

As well as accessing the Music On Hold system using CommPortal, you can also use your phone to access it. Using this page you can view and change the password you will need to enter to use the phone access. To change your password, follow these steps:

1. 1. Enter the new password in the text box.
   2. Click Apply.

Managing Recordings

To access the recordings section, click on the Resources

Global Media List

The Global Media List section specifies any recordings that we have made available for your use. Whether we make any recordings available to you depends on which service you have subscribed to. You cannot add or remove recordings from the Global Media List.

Your own recordings

The second section displays any recordings that you have uploaded to the system, either using this web interface or via the phone access.

Recording limits

At the bottom of this section you will see:

• How many MB of storage you have used
• How many MB of storage you are allowed
• How many recordings you have uploaded
• How many recordings you are allowed.

The system will not allow you to exceed either your storage limit or the maximum number of recordings you are allowed.

Recording formats

• You can upload recordings to the system in either WAV or MP3 format.

Adding a recording

To add your own recording, follow these steps:

1. 1. Enter an ID for this recording in the ID text box. This ID must be between 10 and 99.
   2. Enter a description for this recording in the Description text box.
   3. Click on Browse and select the recording you wish to upload. This must be either a .wav or .mp3 file.
   4. Click on Add.

Depending on the size of the recording you are uploading this process may take a few seconds.

Modifying a recording

To change the description of a recording, follow these steps:

1. 1. Click on the Edit button to the right of the recording.
   2. Edit the Description
   3. Click Save.
   4. To change the volume at which a recording will play, follow these steps:
   5. Click on the Edit button to the right of the recording.
   6. Select a new Gain value from the drop-down list.
      • Select 0 to play the recording at its original volume,
      • Select +1, +2 or +3 to play the recording louder, with +3 being the loudest.
      • Select -1, -2 or -3 to play the recording quieter, with -3 being the quietest.
   7. Click Save.

Playing a recording

• You can play a recording that you have uploaded by clicking on the ID or Description link for that recording. Note that this will play the recording at its original volume – the Gain setting has no impact on playing a recording through this interface.
• If you want to check the effect of changing the volume of a recording you should log into the phone interface and play the recording from there. For more details on this, see Section 2.1.

Removing a recording

• To remove a recording click on Delete to the right of the recording you wish to delete.

Assigning Recordings To Lines

You can assign recordings either to all lines in your business, or different recordings per line. To do this you need to access the mappings section.

You will now see a list of mappings between the directory numbers of lines in your Business Group or department and the Music On Hold resources that each line uses.

• If the department you are an administrator of has one or more sub-departments, you will see links to these at the bottom of the screen.
• To manage resources for a line that is in a sub-department, click on the link for that sub-department.
• When you have followed the link to a sub-department, an additional link appears at the top of the screen, allowing you to move back up to the parent department

There is always a default mapping, which is used if you don't specify a mapping for a particular line. This is shown first in the list with Default instead of a Directory number and applies to all directory numbers except for those with their own individual mappings in the list. The mappings screen also shows how many individual mappings you are allowed to create.

Each mapping consists of a series of fields which you can set:

• An Initial resource, or recording, which is played when the call is put on hold.
• Optionally a Follow-up resource, or recording, which may be played depending on the Action.
• An Action, which can be one of:
• Repeat – The initial recording is played continually.
• Play Once – The initial recording is played once, and then the follow-up recording is playing continually.
• Repeat – Initial Interrupted – The initial recording should be interrupted at set intervals by the follow-up recording. This could be used to interrupt music with an announcement indicating that the user is in a queue.
• Repeat – Follow-up Interrupted – The initial recording is played first. Then the follow-up recording plays continually being interrupted by the first recording.

The Start point field indicates whether the recording will start at the beginning (the value Start indicates this) or whether it should start at a random point of the recording (the value Random indicates this).

The Duration field which is used by the Repeat – Initial Interrupted and Repeat – Follow-up Interrupted actions to indicate how often the repeated recording should be interrupted.

In general, your Service Provider will configure a Default resource to be played as a single, repeating resource.

If you are an administrator for the whole Business Group, you can override this mapping for the whole group and all its departments, to use a different resource or a combination of resources.

If you are an administrator for a department within the group, you can override the default mapping for your department and any sub-departments.

If you have not changed the default, it appears with an Override button to the right (instead of the Edit button shown for other mappings).

Adding a mapping

To add a mapping for a particular line, follow these steps:

• Use the Directory number, Initial resource, Action, Follow-up resource, Start Point, and Duration drop-downs to set these fields (located to the left of the Add button).
• Click on Add.

Modifying a mapping

To modify either the default mapping, or the mapping for a line, follow these steps:

• To change the default mapping that was supplied by your Service Provider or inherited from a higher-level department, click the Override button to the right of the mapping.
• If you were overriding the default mapping, the Override button is now replaced by Edit and Use Default

To change any other existing mapping, including the default mapping if you have already overridden it, click Edit to the right of the mapping.

• Modify the fields.

To revert to the existing default mapping that was supplied by your Service Provider for the whole Business Group, or the default mapping for your department if you are a department administrator, click the Use Default

• Click on Save.

You cannot modify the telephone number that a mapping applies to. If you need to do this, remove the mapping and add a new one.

Removing a mapping

To remove a mapping click on the Delete button to the right of the mapping. You cannot delete the default mapping but you can override it, edit it, or revert to the original default that was inherited from Service Provider settings or from a higher-level department.