Overview of Message Delivery Operation

The Message Delivery feature operates as follows:

1. A local subscriber records a new voice mail message, forwards an existing call answer or voice mail message, or retrieves a message saved in the subscriber's outgoing mailbox.
2. When prompted for the recipient's extension, the subscriber enters one of the following, depending on how Message Delivery recipients are administered on the local system:
   • If the recipient's number is in a valid range of administered telephone numbers but the recipient is not individually administered, the subscriber typically enters an address prefix (if one is assigned), followed by the full telephone number of the recipient (a country code and/or area code can be necessary), followed by the # key.
   • If the recipient is individually administered, the subscriber typically enters an address prefix (if one was assigned), followed by as much of the recipient's telephone number as is needed for a unique address, followed by the # key. Administered recipients can alternatively be addressed by name (last-name-first).
3. Subscribers can add other local or remote addresses and then approve the message for delivery as described in the quick reference card for their voice mail system.

Note: Messages designated as private are not delivered. Messages designated as priority are delivered but appear as regular messages to the recipient. Subscribers can optionally specify a time when they want the message delivered. If they do, the system delivers the message to the outcalling transmission queue at the requested delivery time, but the message might not be transmitted until the next administered outcalling period.

4. At the first available transmission period, the system attempts to deliver the Message Delivery message as follows:
• If the message arrives during an active transmission period, the system attempts to make the outcall immediately. If the maximum number of simultaneous outcalling resources is busy, the system tries again in 1 minute.
• If an outcalling port is available but the local system cannot deliver the message (no one pressed 0), the system makes five more attempts to deliver the message. The intervals at which the system tries to deliver messages are specified by the system administrator.
5. When the system makes a Message Delivery call to the designated number and the phone is answered, a recording states that a message is waiting and that the intended recipient needs to press 0 to hear it. (If a non-Avaya system or an answering machine answers the call, it can record this part of the message, including the name or telephone number of the sender.)
6. Listeners can take one of the following actions:
• Press 0 to hear the message. Afterwards, they may press *D to delete the message or simply hang up (in the latter case, the system deletes the message for them).
• Press *D to delete the message without listening to it (for example, if they already know what the message is about and do not wish to hear it). Pressing *d ensures that the system does not call them again with this same message.
7. After the message is delivered successfully, the local voice mail system updates the outgoing message status to delivered. If all delivery attempts fail, the local system sends a new voice mail message to the sender to notify him or her that the message was undeliverable. The message is saved in the sender's outgoing mailbox so tha the subscriber can attempt to send it again if desired. The header in the outgoing mailbox contains a more detailed explanation of why the message was not deliverable.

Top of page