Attendant Pro December 2015 Update: Change Other User’s Presence & Notes, Call Recording Upload & More

Download the Attendant Pro v.1.0.5835.27413 BETA MSI Installer: Click Here
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New Features

• “Change Presence/Note for Another User” UI surfaces SEFAUTIL Server functionality inside Attendant Pro.
• Call Recording Upload Location
  • Automatically upload recordings to network location of your choice for archiving or manager listening
• When performing a safe transfer to voicemail contact method, Attendant Pro will use Blind Transfer
• Attendant Pro only runs once (running it again will set focus to exsisting instance) 
• Contact Layout Call button logic gets additional intelligence
• Add Arabic (Quatar), Arabic (UAE), Spanish (Spain), Malay (Malaysia), Czech
• “Advanced Search” now has paging if more than one page of results are returned

Improvements/Fixes of Exsisting Features

• Updated French, German, Danish, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Dutch, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Swedish, & Chinese.
• Fixed - Tool tips on Contact Card contact methods are sometimes blank
• Fixed - On the large Contact Layout the photos are now async

“Change Presence/Note for Another User” UI surfaces SEFAUTIL Server Functionality Inside Attendant Pro

In Attendant Pro we have been steadily surfacing more & more functionality of various servers and web services to make a seamless and optimized user experience for common attendant console tasks.  Some of the servers & web services already integrated with Attendant Pro are Exchange, Azure and Office 365.

In the latest version of Attendant Pro we are seamlessly surfacing the functionality of SEFAUTIL Server which means if you have SEFAUTIL Server in your environment the ability to change other users presence and notes will “light up” in Attendant Pro. SEFAUTIL Server has its own centrally managed and very granular security for who can change which user’s settings.

“Change Presence/Note for Another User” is efficiently launched from the “Contact Details” panel (At the moment double clicking the DisplayName in the “Contact Details” panel. NOTE: This UI element is subject to change.) and then you just make your Note and/or Presence change and press OK. At a glance you will see the changes as they occur for immediate feedback that your request was successful.

Detailed view of the “Change Presence/Note for Another User” screen: 

Video

Once again, “Change Presence/Note for Another User” user interface becomes available if you have SEFAUTIL Server implemented in your Skype for Business Server environment.

Read more about SEFAUTIL Server: Click Here
 

Call Recording Upload Location

In the October 2015 update we introduced in Call Recording in Attendant Pro. In this update we are enhancing Call Recording to upload recordings to a network share of your choice for archiving or manager review.

The recordings upload happens as a background task. If Attendant Pro is closed, copying will be paused till Attendant Pro is run again. Attempts to tamper with recordings being uploaded will be logged. 

 

When performing a safe transfer to voicemail contact method, Attendant Pro will use “Blind Transfer”

If you select to do a “Safe Transfer” then select “Voicemail” on a contact, Attendant Pro will transfer using “Blind Transfer”. (since using Safe Transfer will always result in the call bouncing back to the attendant instead of actually going to voicemail)

Limit Attendant Pro Running Instances to One

If you try to run Attendant Pro the second time it will just maximize the exsisting running Attendant Pro instance.

“Smart” Contact Method Logic Made More Sophisticated

If a user clicks the Skype for Business/Lync “Call” or selects “Smart” ( Options | General | Contact Double Click Action = Smart ) for the double click action for a Contact Layout the below logic is what determines what number is called/transferred to:

• When there are mulitple content methods associated with a contact, the Attendant Pro hiearchy:

  • If only one contact method, use that contact method.
  • If more than one contact method use 1st “SIP/Skype Call” address
  • If no SIP/Skype CAll then use “Work” (ADDED)
  • “Other Call” (ADDED)

The user can also hover over the Call button to see what the call/transfer to destination will be.

 

“Advanced Search”: Added Paging if there more than one page of results

In “Advanced Search” you can now page through multiple pages of results.

 

Added UI Languages

We’ve added several languages: Arabic (Quatar), Arabic (UAE), Spanish (Spain), Malay (Malaysia) and Czech.

 

Get a free fully working Trial that takes a minute to download & install:

Attendant Pro October 2015 Update: Call Recording, Park For Group/User Button & More

Download the Attendant Pro v.1.0.5766.27587 BETA MSI Installer: Click Here

• New Features
  • Call Recording
  • On Demand or All Calls
  • 1-Click “Park For”
  • Quick Access Shortcuts: Easily add icons
  • Added “Consult Transfer”  shortcut key label at bottom of screen
  • Added all shortcut keys tooltip
  • Button in Configuration to open Attendant Pro log files
• Improvements/Fixes
  • Custom Contact Layout XAML validation and error checking

 

Call Recording (Feature Included inside Attendant Pro)

For more details on Call Recording included in Attendant Pro, click here.

We have another solution coming soon, Call Recording Pro, which is a solution for users that don’t run Attendant Pro. If you have interest, sign up to be a part of the Call Recording Pro BETA group: click here

1-Click Park For User or Group

“Park For” functionality has been in Attendant Pro since Q2 2015, but in this version we have surfaced it as a single click button right on the “Current Call” panel. Park for allows you to double click a Group or Contact to park for that entity and send them an instant message notifying them a Park is awaiting them.

For more details on “Park For” see: http://attendantpro.blogspot.com/2015/04/attendant-pro-for-lync-skype-for.html#parkforgroup

Quick Access Shortcuts: Easily Add Icons

Easily assign icons to shortcut keys.

Added Shortcut Keys Tooltip

Just hover over a shortcut key label to see all shortcut keys.

 

Button in Configuration to open Attendant Pro log files

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Call Recording Pro for Skype for Business: 1 Minute Install & No Server Call Recording Solution

Sign Up to be a part of the Call Recording Pro BETA group: click here

We are glad to announce Call Recording Pro for Skype for Business (Lync): a call recording solution that is a 1 Minute Install and requires No Servers and is easy to roll out to groups without involvement of central IT.

Call Recording Pro technology will be introduced first as functionality built-in Attendant Pro in just a few days, after that it will introduced in a very light agent that can be installed on any computer running Skype for Business for Windows and can be rolled out centrally using standard Windows management tools. Call Recording Po will be a recording solution whether or not your organization is using Attendant Pro.

How Does It Work?

Call Recording Pro is a small application that runs side by side with Skype for Business client for Windows that records calls. Install in a minute and start recording. That easy.

Features

Below are some of the features:

• Ability to record Every Call (No click) or On Demand with 1-Click
• Policy to determine if users can stop recording in “Always Record” mode
• Easily listen to recordings locally using standard Windows Media player
• Auto upload recordings to OneDrive or corporate shared drive for easy manager access to recordings
• Recording will auto select the Skype for Business audio device

Limitations: It’s Not for Everyone

Call Recording Pro will fit many scenarios, but not all of them.

• Requires Skype for Business (Lync) client for Windows
• Works with all Skype for Business Optimized USB devices (USB headsets/handsets
  • does not work with IP phones at this time
• Does not support switching the audio device during a call at this time
• Not targeted for legal or compliance scenarios

Quick Screen Shots

Just make a call and calls will be recorded!

Easy to configure

Just set recording to your preferred type.

If policy allows it, easily stop recording for confidential information

Easily listen to recording locally. Right click on “Start Recording” button on main screen.

You will see the folder with recordings.

Or have Call Recording Pro automatically upload recordings to OneDrive for easy search and playback by managers

Or mobile devices using OneDrive application [1]

Using standard Windows audio player

FAQ

Q. Will my side be recorded when I mute myself in Skype for Business?
A. No.

Feedback

We realize this is a new way to go about Skype for Business call recording and we welcome your feedback.

Sign Up to be a part of the Call Recording Pro BETA group: click here

[1] – Requires WAV capable player on device. VLC is a free, WAV player for Android devices.

How to Get the GUID of the Address Book in Office365

 

Open the Exchange admin center in Office 365 > permissions > admin roles

Add the Address Lists roll to an existing roll group or create a new role group with the Address List role. Make sure you are a member of the group.

Connect to Office 365 with Powershell:

$session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri "https://ps.outlook.com/powershell/" -Credential $cred -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection

Import-PSSession $session

Get GUID of global address list:

Get-GlobalAddressList | fl name, guid

Get GUID of other address list:

List address lists:

Get-AddressList | fl name

Enter name of address list in place of addresslistname below:

Get-AddressList -Identity "addresslistname" | fl name, guid

Disconnect PowerShell session:

Get-PSSession | Remove-PSSession

Sept 2015 Update: Search Performance Improvements, Advanced Search, Search External Contact Lists & More

Download the v1.0.5725.25009 MSI Installer: Click Here

• New Features
  • Significant Search Performance Improvements
  • Advanced Search
    • New Filtering Capabilities
    • Search Exchange GAL via EWS
    • Search Any External Contact List
    • Multiple Contact Lists
    • PC and User Level Contact Lists
    • Saved Dynamic Contact Groups
    • Segmented Contact List
  • Connect to Exchange different than local PC credentials
  • Search Results Limit
  • Search Results Count
• Fixes
  • DTMF with “Transfer on Answer” would sometimes not allow switching “keypad mode” between DTMF &  DIAL.

 

Significant Search Performance Improvements

We have done some refactoring of our search code that makes significant performance improvements to the existing Basic Search and the new Advanced Search.

Advanced Search

By default Attendant Pro uses Basic contact search which uses the Skype for Business SDK logic for searching for contacts. We have now added Advanced contact search which increases performance, add more flexible filtering, adds ability to search external contact lists and adds some other features.

The Advanced Search is enhancements on top of Basic Search except that it does not include Skype for Business search. (which means if you want to use Advanced Search you would effectively need to enable download Exchange GAL contact list to replicate Skype for Business-like contact list.)

Advanced Search: New Filtering Capabilities

With Advanced Search there are more global filtering capabilities. For example, you can show all the contacts in a certain Department. (with Basic Search/Skype4B SDK you can only see all the John’s, for example, in a certain Department). So typing “Department:(Sales)” and nothing more will show all the contacts in the “Sales” department. Some other fields you might want to use as filters:

Department, office, attribution, title, company, locationname

Search Exchange GAL via EWS

If you turn on Advanced Search you will likely want to have the Exchange Web Services Address Book” contact available to search. To turn this on:

1. Make sure “Enable EWS Integration” is turned on in the “Exchange Web Services Settings” (this may already be enabled for other features.)
2. Search = Advanced
3. Search Exchange Web Service Address Book = Enabled
4. EWS Address Book ID = If Exchange is accessible on your local network this will automatically fill in. If not, here are details on how to get this: Click Here

Advanced Search: Search Any Contact List--Legacy PBX, Cisco, Avaya or Line of Business Contact List

You can now search any contact you or your IT defines by simply putting a contact list file in a folder. This is a simple CSV file with the below Column headers.

DisplayName, FirstName, LastName, SipAddress, EmailAddress, WorkPhone, MobilePhone, JobTitle, Department, Company, Location, Office

The columns can be any order. The “SipAddress” column will identify which Skype for Business (Lync) contact is used for presence for this contact.

IT can place the contact list(s) in the appropriate folder on the local PC using standard scripts and Group Policies. When this feature is first turned on or after a contact list is updated Attendant Pro needs to be restarted to reload the new contact list.

Advanced Search: Multiple Contact Lists

You can have as many contact lists as you want. Just drop as many CSV contact list in the appropriate folders and restart Attendant Pro.

Advanced Search: User and Computer Level Contact Lists

You can have user or PC level contact lists. This means difference users and PC’s can easily have unique contact list(s).

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Landis Computer\Attendant Pro\Contacts

C:\ProgramData\Landis Computer\Attendant Pro\Contacts

Advanced Search: Saved Dynamic Contact Groups

Using Advanced Search filtering capabilities combined with Quick Access Shortcuts” means you can easily save 1-click shortcuts to predefined contact groups. What’s nice about a saved Advanced Search is that if administrators adds new users into a department they automatically show up in the group.

A perk of using “Quick Access Shortcut” is you can assign a shortcut key to display this group.

 

Connect to Exchange different than local PC credentials

If you want to connect to EWS other than using local PC credentials (example: Office 365, hosted Exchange, etc) you can type these alternative credentials under “Exchange Web Services Settings” as shown below.

 

 

Ability to Limit How Many Results Returned

There is now a setting to determine how many results are returned when a search is done. Fewer returns improves performance even more.

User Interface Improvement: Presence Indicators Use Skype for Business Icons in Skype4B Skin

My contact presence.

June 2015 Update: Shared Contact Notes, Group Voicemail, “What’s Next” Calendar View & Much More!

Download the v1.0.5660.21407 MSI Installer: click here

• New Features
  • Centralized/Shared Contact Notes (No Additional Server)
  • Group Voicemail (Quick Access Shortcut Menu/QASM)
  • Visual What's Next Agenda Calendar View in Contact Details
  • Related Contacts – Org related contacts on Contact Details
  • Contact Details Enhancements
  • Saved Conversations (QASM)
  • Tag for Status Alerts
  • Customizable "Park For" template
  • Saved Search (QASM)
  • RGS Agent Group 1-Click Sign In/Out
    RGS Agent Group hove now shows agent group members
  • Print Shortcut Key Cheat Sheet (Options screen)
  • Clicking "Keypad Mode" in status bar area will toggle DTMF mode when in a call
  • Allow global hotkeys for Quick Access Shortcuts (QASM)
• Fixes
  • Disabled horizontal scroll bars when windows "enlarge text and graphics"
  • Mute and Caller picture renders correctly when AP is started mid call
  • Experience better when trying to assign a shortcut key that is already assigned
  • Voicemail indicator(s) updates more timely.
  • Improved experience to assign shortcut keys in Quick Access Shortcuts (QASM)
    

 

Centralized/Shared Contact Notes (No Additional Server)

Centralized/Shared contact notes work just like existing Attendant Pro contact notes and allows your attendants to have a centrally shared list of notes about contacts and phone numbers. As all features in Attendant Pro this requires no additional servers and leverages existing Exchange (EWS) infrastructure and is very simple to setup.

Setup involves setting up an Exchange user to host the notes and giving permissions to the Attendant Pro users that would like to access central notes. (Add-MailboxPermission -Identity centralnotesmailbox -User usertoadd -AccessRights FullAccess) In Attendant Pro Options | Configuration Information you designate which Exchange user that is hosting the central notes. That’s it.

Some more notes:

• Setup and permissions use standard Exchange commands and takes only a minute
• Each attendant can decide if they want to use their own contact notes or central shared notes
• Multiple centrally shared note lists can be configured if desired

 

Group Voicemail (Quick Access Shortcut Menu/QASM)

Usage: Group Voicemail shortcut allows you to setup unlimited group voicemail boxes that can easily accessed with 1 click or definable keystroke. Each group voicemail box shortcut includes a visual indicator of how many voicemails are waiting to be listened to.

Setup: Using the “Quick Access Shortcut Menu” setup screen just fill in the simple setup screen. If you want the message waiting indicator, just use Exchange and give the Attendant Pro user access to voicemail box in question.

 

Visual What's Next Agenda Calendar View in Contact Details

The “Contact Details” now shows a visual “What’s Next Agenda” calendar. So with no additional click, just select a Contact and at a glance see what happening now and next for a Contact based on Skype for Business (Lync) provided calendar information. If the contact has set their Privacy Relationship to Workgroup, the attendant user can see appointment Subject & location details as well for the current time period. With 1 click a drill into the Contact’s calendar detail is possible.

Setup: None.

Related Contacts

Attendant Pro now includes a “Related Contacts” panel in the “Contact Details” which means when you select a Contact you can see at a glance other Contact that are related. All the related contact are fully actionable just like Contact Group and Search contact layouts.

• The Contact Layout of “Related Contacts” changes depending on the Contact Layout including custom layouts.
• Has all the functionality of a Contact Group contact
• Easily size the panel to your need
• Much like Skype for Business “Organization” but much more functional

Setup: None.

“Contact Details” Enhanced

We’ve enhanced the “Contact Details” panel by a cleaner layout and displaying as much information as possible.

Setup: None.

Saved Conversation Shortcut (Quick Access Shortcut Menu/QASM)

Have a common instant message you send or initiate? Save it and invoke it later with 1-click or Global hot key for maximum efficiency!

Setup: Options | Shortcut Setup. Now select “Blank – Saved Conversation” from dropdown and click “Add Shortcut”. Now you can setup your details as you wish.

Tag for Status Alerts

The ability to “Tag for Status Change Alerts” on any contact that supports it.

Customizable "Park For" template

user’s can now customize the “Park For” notification in a fashion similar to the “Call Back Reminder”.

RGS Agent Group Enhancements

The ability to Sign In/Out out of a formal Agent Group with 1-click.
RGS Agent Group hover now shows agent group members

 

Print Shortcut Key Cheat Sheet (Options screen)

User’s can now print out a cheat sheet of all the keyboard shortcuts on one nice printout. Navigate Options | Shortcut Keys | Print Hotkey Cheat Sheet.

Sample printout (below)

Attendant Pro for Lync & Skype for Business Gets #Skype4B & #Lync UI, Quick Access Shortcuts Menu, Call Park for Groups & More

Our team will be at Microsoft Ignite/May 4-8, 2015 and is excited to announce a significant update to Attendant Pro for Lync & Skype for Business. This update includes ability to select Skype for Business or Lync 2013 user interface, Quick Access Shortcuts Menu, Call Park for Groups and much more. If you would like to meet our team and get a personal demo of these new features see us at booth #415 or email wendell@landiscomputer.com to schedule a meeting.

New Features

• Skype for Business User Interface
• Delegate and Anonymous RGS “Call As” feature
  • Setting to be able “Call As” as certain delegate or RGS for 1 call or until changed
• Park for Group
• Park for User
• Transfer calls from Hold
• Transfer Held calls to Current Call
• Merge Held calls to Current Call
• Copy Call Park #
• 1-Click Shortcut Menu System
  • Call plus DTMF shortcuts
  • Call Forwarding shortcuts
  • Run EXE or URL shortcuts
  • Create 1-Click communication shortcuts with keyboard hotkeys for these & more actions:
    • Commonly called or transferred to Contacts
    • a contact or phone number plus preset DTMF
    • Group Voicemail boxes
    • Edit a specific RGS workflow (if user is manager)
    • Sign In or Sign Out of RGS Agent Groups
    • Open Missed Calls, Call History, & Visual Voicemail
    • Change Call Forward between Contacts and/or numbers with 1-Click
• Support smaller application minimum height requirement (768)
• User Interface Improvements
  • New application icon
  • round user pictures and presence on Skype for Business UI
  • Long Self-Username’s supported
  • Splitter grippers more apparent
  • Contact Group colors for Skype for Business and Lync
  • “Contact Layouts” & “Contact Details Panel” have tooltips on all buttons
  • Presence chooser is now Lync 2013
• Resizable Caller Information Panel, Contact Search Panel
• Resizable Contacts display area width
• Options / Menu button is now a split button
• All panels that can be turned on/off are in the Options menu and in the header of “Contact Groups”

Fixes

• Distribution Group contact pictures and endpoints now always display consistently
• Contact search results don’t clear if second search result returns nothing

 

Skype for Business and Lync 2013 User Interface

Attendant Pro has a Skype for Business

Lync 2013 UI

To enable the Skype for Business UI it is as simple as clicking “Enable Skype for Business User Interface” and you can even do it while Attendant Pro is running.

Delegate and Anonymous RGS “Call As” feature

We have added the ability to “Call As” a user that has added you as a delegate or an anonymous response group. Not only that, but we have made the user interface less clicks and simpler.

Changing who the user is calling as:

The user interface is both elegantly simple and makes it possible to make a “call as”  with a single click (without multi-level menus drop-down menus!). This also brings the possibility of “Calling As” another user for a period of time as efficiently as possible. If the operator user generally tends to only make one “Call As” another user, we have a setting to switch back to operator user after one call.

 

Park for Group

We have added “Park for Group” which brings the ability to to Park a call to a Contact Group by merely double clicking on a Contact Group. Just right-click on the “Call Park” button and select “Park for Group”

Now a notice will be sent to all the users in this Skype for Business contact group and they can pickup the call with (of course) 1-click.

“Park for User” works just like Park for Group, but you select a contact.

This feature, just like all features in Attendant Pro, requires NO additional server components. It works with Lync 2013 and Skype for Business.

Transfer calls from Hold

We have now added the ability to transfer or park calls from hold. Just click on the “. . .” (more options) button while the call is on hold.

 

Merge Held calls to Current Call

This release also brings “Merge to Current Call” and “Transfer to Current”.

1-Click Quick Access Shortcuts Menu

Want to add 1-Click or keystroke access to commonly used Skype for Business/Lync tasks? Attendant Pro “Quick Access Shortcuts Menu” allows you to create buttons for common tasks. Below is a list of some of the communication tasks you can optimize with quick access shortcuts: (this list is growing daily)

• 1-Click Quick Access Shortcuts Menu
  • Call plus DTMF shortcuts
  • Call Forwarding shortcuts
  • Run EXE or URL shortcuts
  • Create 1-Click communication shortcuts with keyboard hotkeys for these & more actions:
    • Commonly called or transferred to Contacts
    • a contact or phone number plus preset DTMF
    • Group Voicemail boxes
    • Edit a specific RGS workflow (if user is manager)
    • Sign In or Sign Out of RGS Agent Groups
    • Open Missed Calls, Call History, & Visual Voicemail
    • Change Call Forward between Contacts and/or numbers with 1-Click

 

Assign keyboard shortcuts (above) and you are limited only by your imagination. (below)

You can add as many shortcuts as you wish. A simple user interface allows users to create their own.

User Interface Improvements

The user information area has be optimized to accommodate longer names, includes delegate/RGS “call as” functionality (see above) and just more efficient use of space.

Skype user pictures and presence style and all buttons now have a tooltip to explain their functionality.

Ability to show/hide all information panels from main screen menu or options menu.

Free trial available here: http://landiscomputer.com/attendantpro

Download this version:
http://downloads.landiscomputer.com/beta/attendantProSetup_1.0.5599.28221.msi