Administration via Telephone and Recording Prompts Directly on CUE
Cisco Unity Express (CUE) provides a fantastic interface which administrators and telephony users can utilize to interactively manage the voicemail system. Of particular interest is the ability to automatically record voice prompts. All prompts must have the following format to be played successfully by CUE:
- G.711 u-law
- 8 kHz
- 8 bit
- Mono
Rather than record the prompts using specialized sound editing tool (like Goldwave, or Adobe Audition), a far better alternative is to use the embedded and integrated recording tool offered by CUE. The quality of the recordings and playback is far superior to .wav files (and is the recommended method by Cisco!)
Prompts are recorded using the Administration via Telephone (AvT) interface. This interface is accessed using a standard telephone. Users follow the prompts to interactively record prompts.
The process to enable and use AvT is:
- Add users to the "Administrator" group in CUE. The Administrative group has, by default, the "Administration via Telephone" permission.
- Configure a call-in number in CUE for the "promptmgmt" application. This threw me a bit - I was looking for some reference to Administration via Telephone. Trust me, though, when you setup "promptmgmt", the auto attendant in CUE confirms that this is indeed the AvT interface.
- Ensure that calls can be routed from CME (or CUCM, if integration is with CallManager) to CUE for the promptmgmt call-in number.
- Using the AvT interface, record the prompts.
- Rename the prompts as appropriate, and use in CUE scripts.
In my example, I am integrating CUE and CME; I already had basic voicemail integration configured. In other words, on the CME router I already have:
dial-peer voice 8888 voip
 destination-pattern 8888
 session protocol sipv2
 session target ipv4:192.168.255.98
 dtmf-relay sip-notify
 codec g711ulaw
 no vad
Rather than creating a new dial-peer, the destination pattern is simply changed:
dial-peer voice 8888 voip
 destination-pattern 888.
Using the below example, AvT can be enabled. Observe in the final screenshot the naming convention for recorded prompts. These can be renamed and applied as required to auto attendant scripts.
Browse to Groups in CUE
Observe Permissions for the Administrator Group
Select Group and Browse to Owners/Members
Add Users (Steve has been added here)
Browse to Call-in Numbers
Add the promptmgmt application w/ Number
Record Prompts - Observe Output in CUE
