Lucent Technologies 5 User Manual

Issue 1

June 1997

Features and Applications 

Page 4-32

Features 

4

This section provides more detail about certain groups of related features, so that 
you can gain additional insight when it is necessary to match features with 
changing business needs. Here, the focus is on the differences among your 
choices, and not all system features are described. In addition, features that affect 
security receive special attention. The 

Feature Reference 

includes complete 

information about all the features, including their interactions, modes of operation, 
and the ways that features work on different system equipment. 

4

The system provides numerous methods for covering calls, allowing one or more 
users to handle incoming calls for others. In many systems, operators direct calls 
to groups and individuals. In others, automated attendants perform all or most of 
this function. When a person is not available, voice mail is often used, and the 
system allows voice mail, too. There are also several ways that two or more 
people can work together to personally handle one another’s calls, and that is 
primarily what we describe here.

There are several factors you should keep in mind when you plan for covering 
calls:

■

How heavy is the call volume of the people involved? Can the covering 
person(s) handle the volume, and is there a backup alternative when they 
cannot?

■

When should calls be covered? Should they be covered all of the time, 
some of the time, or only when the covered person does not answer 
immediately? Have you decided how to set ringing delays for each 
extension (Release 4.1 and later systems only) that is part of a coverage 
group and/or is covered by Primary or Secondary Cover buttons at 
co-workers’ telephones?

■

Are programmed line buttons required for the method you have chosen? 
Do the phones at the extensions have these buttons available for 
programming?

■

Is a voice mail system providing coverage? Do users need programmed 
buttons to turn this coverage on and off? 

■

Should you set Night Service to work with your voice messaging system 
(Release 4.1 and later systems only), so that telephones’ programmed 
Coverage VMS Off buttons are set centrally to turn voice messaging on 
during Night Service and turn it off again during normal business hours?

The system includes a group of capabilities called 

coverage features

, which are 

described in 

. However, there are several other features 

that also help people cover calls, and a discussion of these follows.