Set Phone Attendant Options for Specific Lines

You can add a new line or edit the options for an existing line.To set the options available to patrons who call specific lines in your system:

Note:
The Phone Attendant offers patrons various options as menu choices. If you disable an option, the message file still offers the menu choice. When a caller selects the menu choice, the Phone Attendant states (by default) that the library has disabled the feature. If you want to change this message, you can edit the message file and remove the menu text.

  1. If necessary, open the Phone Attendant configuration utility. See Configure Hardware Communications.
  2. Click Phone Lines to display the Phone Lines tabbed page.
  3. Add a new line, or edit the settings for an existing line:
    • To add a new line, click Add New Phone Line.
    • To edit an existing line, select the line in the Line Number box, and click View.

The Phone Lines Configuration dialog box appears.

  1. Select the phone line you are adding or editing in the Line Number box.

Important:
If your system uses outbound (notification) telephony, be sure you are not specifying a line used for outgoing calls. Outgoing lines are set in Polaris Administration. See Set General Telephone Notification Parameters.

  1. Select an organization ID in the Organization ID box.

This setting allows you to set up organization-specific options and messages for a specific phone line. The default is 1, which identifies the library system organization.

Note:
You can view organization ID values in Polaris Administration. In the Administration Explorer, right-click an organization and select Properties from the context menu. Select the About tab on the Properties dialog box. Polaris system ID number identifies the organization ID.

  1. Specify the log-in settings for this phone line:

After the patron has entered the account barcode, the system transforms the password from the patron record into a number string and then matches the string to the patron’s password input. If the patron presses 2, for example, the system accepts the keypress as representing 2, a, b, or c. Any special characters in the password, including # or *, are mapped to 0, so the patron must press 0 for these characters.

  • Max Login Attempts - Select the number of times a patron can attempt to log in before the Phone Attendant disconnects.
  • Password Required - Select this box if you want to require a patron account password to log in, in addition to the patron barcode (which is always required).
  • If you have checked Password Required, and want to allow alpha-numeric passwords, select Support alpha-numeric passwords.

Note:
Setting inbound telephony to recognize alpha-numeric passwords weakens password strength, because several letters or characters can map to the same number.

When this option is set, the Phone Attendant plays a prompt after the patron enters the barcode. The default message is Please enter your password using the number key appropriate to the letter. Press 0 for all special characters. You can edit the message in Polaris Language Editor (WebAdmin). The Inbound Telephony string ID is PA_MENU_LOGIN_ALPHA_NUMERIC_PASSWORD.

Important:
If you will require patron passwords for Phone Attendant log-in but do not allow alpha-numeric passwords, you must restrict patron passwords to numeric format only.

  1. If you want the service to detect a registration that is due to expire, and warn the patron at log-in, do these steps:
    1. Select the Expiration Warning Enabled box.
    2. In the Expiration Warning Days box, select the number of days before expiration that triggers the warning.

Example:
The Expiration Warning Days value is set to 14. The Phone Attendant delivers the expiration warning message to any patron who successfully logs in, and whose patron account is due to expire within the 14-day time period.

  1. Specify how you want circulation transactions (renewals) to be logged for this line:
    1. Select or type the Polaris user ID in the Trn User ID box.
    2. Select or type the Polaris workstation ID in the Trn Workstation ID box.

Note:
You can view user and workstation ID values in Polaris Administration. Search for the user or workstation with the Find Tool, and right-click the user or workstation in the results list. Select Properties from the context menu. The About tab on the Properties dialog box displays the ID.

  1. If you want this line to allow patrons to hear a list of items they have currently checked out, with options to renew, select List Items Out Enabled.

When List Items Out Enabled is checked, patrons are offered the option of renewing all the items, or renewing single items by pressing a key as the title of the item is read. You can have the Phone Attendant include the author, material type, and the item’s assigned branch for each item in the list by checking these options. If you do not check these options, the Phone Attendant simply lists the titles and renewal options.

Note:
The activity summary menu option is always available. When a patron selects this option, she hears the total number of items out, the total number of items overdue, the total number of “open” hold and ILL requests, the total number of currently held items, the total current account charges, and the total current account credit.

  1. If you want this line to allow patrons to renew an item by entering the item’s barcode, select Renew Single Item Enabled.
  2. If you want this line to allow patrons to hear a list of current holds and ILL requests, select List Requests Enabled.

Hold requests with a status of Inactive, Active/Pending, Shipped, or Not-supplied are included. ILL requests with a status of Inactive, Active, or Received are also included. The list includes the title, request date, and request status for each request.

  1. If you want this line to allow patrons to hear a list of currently overdue items, select List Overdue Items Enabled.

If you select this option, you can have the Phone Attendant include the author, material type, and the item’s assigned branch for each item in the list by checking these options. If you do not check these options, the Phone Attendant simply lists the titles of the overdue items with their due dates.

  1. If you want this line to allow patrons to hear a list of requests currently available for pick-up, select List Held Items Enabled.

The list includes the title, the pick-up branch, and the unclaimed date (“held until”) for each item.

  1. If you want this line to allow patrons to hear a detailed account statement, select Account Statement Enabled.

The statement includes any outstanding amounts in the Charges, Deposits, and Credits fields of the patron account.

  1.  If you want this line to allow patrons to estimate fines on overdue items, select Estimate Fines Enabled.

When the patron selects this option, the message includes the author, title, due date, and estimated amount for each item, and the total due. (If the patron does not have any overdue or claimed items, the option is not available.) If the patron has lost or claimed items and overdue items, an additional message states Additional charges are due for lost or claimed items, please contact the library for more information. If the patron has only lost or claimed items but no overdue items, only the Additional charges message is played. If the patron has only lost or claimed items but no overdue items, only the Additional charges message is played.

  1. Type the path for this line’s message .wav files in the Wave Path box, if different from the default location.

The default location for the .wav files is C:\ProgramData\Polaris\[VersionNumber]\[DataLinkName]\WaveFiles\Inbound