Force Account Code

A user can be forced to enter an account code when making ANY external call. This setting is useful when tracking calls for costing purposes or simply for restricting the use of certain numbers. When used for billing purposes different accounts will be billed depending on the account code entered by the user. The Force Account Code field is available for individual users as well as on a system wide basis.

Warning: Users with POT (Plain Ordinary Telephones) can only enter account codes prior to entering the restricted telephone number and if the Set Account Code short code is created. POT users can not enter account codes at the system prompt.  

• To force the use of account codes for individual users:

  1. Receive the system configuration if one is not opened.

  2. Click User located in the Configuration Tree panel.

  3. In the list of users, double-click the user name or extension for whom you want to force the use of account codes.

  4. Click the Telephony tab.

  5. Tick the Force Account Code option.

  6. Click OK.

  7. Merge the configuration.

  8. If the user is using Phone Manager and does not enter an account code, they see an error message. 4400 series and 6400 series handset users see a request to enter an account code on the phone's display.

Account codes can also be used as PIN codes to restrict outgoing calls. At the short code level, account codes can be set as a mandatory use in association with outgoing dialed numbers. Once set up, users are required to enter an account/PIN code when the number being dialed is matched to a defined restricted number. These restricted numbers are defined using a short code. Any valid account code can be used as a PIN code.

• To force the use of account codes at the system level:

  1. Click the Short code form.

  2. In the list of short codes, right-click one of the short code and select New.

  3. Create a short code for a number you want to restrict. For example:

  • Short Code: 00xxxxxxxxxxx

  • Telephone Number: 00N

  • Feature: Dial

  • Force Account Code: Ticked

  This example forces the use of account codes when dialing an international number. In this example, wildcards are used in defining the restricted number so that PIN codes are not requested in the middle of dialing a number. In this example, a matching number of 00x xxx xxx xxxx will request the PIN code after the entire number has been dialed. If we had entered a matching number of 00, the system would request the PIN code in the middle of dialing the number, as it would be matched after just 2 digits.

  4. Click OK.

  5. Merge the configuration.