Overview

The Parking module creates and configures parking lots, sometimes referred to as parking orbits, where calls can be transferred in order to allow another extension to retrieve the calls. This ability is a form of putting a call on hold so that the intended party can retrieve the call from elsewhere. The standard module allows for the configuration of a single parking lot available to all phones on the system. The commercial Park Pro allows multiple parking lots to be configured.

When a call is parked by transferring that call to the configured parking extension, the call is placed into one of the parking "slots" configured by this module. The parking slot number is announced to the person who parked the call (the "parker"). The slot number can then be dialed from other phones to retrieve the parked call. If the parked call times out and is not retrieved in a timely manner, it can ring back to the parker or be sent to another destination. Parking can be greatly enhanced by programming a phone’s BLF buttons to the configured parking slots or by using parking in in conjunction with visual tools like XactView operator panels or Phone Apps.

Logging In

• In the top menu, click Applications

• In the drop down menu, click Parking

Editing or Creating Parking Lots

Configuring a parking lot is substantially the same whether using the standard Parking module or using the Parking module with Park Pro installed. Differences are noted in this wiki.

The most important items to configure with parking are:

• Parking Lot Extension

• Parking Lot Starting Position

• Number of Slots

• Parking Timeout

• Destination and Come Back to Origin configuration

Editing the default lot in the standard Parking module

The standard module comes with one "Default" parking lot and does not allow the creation of multiple lots.

You can edit this default lot by going to the Parking Settings tab.

Open

Editing or creating a lot with Park Pro

Park Pro offers the ability to create additional lots. You can click on the pencil icon  to edit a lot, or click the Add New Parking Lot button to add a lot.

Parking Lot Pro landing page with two lots configured:

Open

Configuration Options

After you've selected a lot to edit, or have created a new lot, you can edit several configuration options. The following screenshot is from the standard Parking module, but we'll explain the Pro options as well.

General Settings

Parking Lot Extension

This is the extension where a call is transferred to in order to send it to the parking lot.

Parking Lot Name

This is a user-friendly name that will show up in the right navigation bar. With Parking Pro, it allows you to identify different parking lots and is used in other parts of the system that may refer to parking lot information, such as the Print Extensions module.

Parking Lot Starting Position

The first slot number for the parking lot. Cannot be the same as the parking lot extension. When used in conjunction with the Number of Slots set below, the system will create a range of extensions for your parking lot, starting with the first slot number.

Number of Slots

The total number of parking slots in this lot. For example, if your extension is 70 and you enter 8 here you would have parking slots 71-78. The slot range will be displayed next to this field.

Parking Timeout (seconds)

The duration of time in seconds that a parked call will remain in the parking lot before timing out. If the call is not picked up within this period, it will automatically be sent to the timeout destination configured in the Alternate Destination section.

Parked Music Class

This is the music class to play to callers who are waiting in the parking lot. If a specific music class has been previously set for the caller prior to being parked, such as if the call came through a Queue that set the music, then this selection will be ignored in favor of the music class that was previously set for the call.

Pro Only: Parking Lot Type

Public/Private: Whether the lot is considered public or private.

• Public: Anyone will be able to transfer calls into this parking lot.

• Private: Only extensions that are set to use this lot will be able to transfer calls into this lot.

BLF Capabilities

Yes/No: Whether to enable busy lamp field (BLF) capabilities. Each parking slot can have an Asterisk BLF “hint” associated with the parking slot. This allows a phone to have buttons programmed to the parking slots. When a call is parked in that slot, the BLF light will illuminate. You must select Yes if you want hints to be enabled.

Find Slot

• Next: The parking lot will seek the next sequential parking slot relative to the the last parked call instead of seeking the first available slot. This is useful if you have a specific application where you would prefer that calls are parked into the next available slot, such as you want to try and visualize the order in which the calls were parked.

• First: Use the first parking slot available. This is the default setting. This might be particularly useful if you have 8 slots available but most phones only have BLF buttons programmed to the first couple of slots. This would maximize the frequency that all calls are parked in the first few slots.

Returned Call Behavior

If a call is not retrieved from the parking lot after the configured timeout duration, then the system will attempt to return the call either directly to the device that parked the call, or to the destination set in the Alternate Destination section. The options configure both capabilities of the returned call, such as whether or not it can be parked again, as well as conditioning of the returned call such as Caller ID pre-pending that may help identify the call as a timed out parked call.

Pickup Courtesy Tone

Caller/Parked/Both/None: Whom to play the courtesy tone to when a parked call is retrieved.

Transfer Capability

Caller/Parked/Both/Neither: Sets who has DTMF-based transfer capability, usually configured as "##," once the call has been picked up. This does not control the transfer capability of a phone’s transfer button unless that phone is programmed to send the DTMF code when transferring.

Re-Parking Capability

Caller/Parked/Both/Neither: Sets who can re-park a call after it has timed out.

Parking Alert-Info

Alert-Info to add to the call prior to sending the call back to the originator or alternate destination. Please see our wiki on Alert-Infos for more information on how they work and the options for different phones.

CallerID Prepend

A string to pre-pend to the current Caller ID associated with the parked call prior to sending the call back to the originator or alternate destination. This is often used to identify where a call came from such as PRK to show us it was a Parked Call. If used in conjunction with the Auto CallerID Prepend below, this will be placed first followed by the configured Auto Caller ID.

Auto CallerID Prepend

This will automatically prepend specific identifying information about the parked call after a timeout. The options are:

• None: Do not auto populate a CallerID Prepend.

• Slot: The parking slot where the parked call was parked prior to the timeout.

• Extension: The user extension number who originally parked the call, if parked by a local extension on the PBX

• Name: The name associated with the user extension number who originally parked the call, if parked by a local extension on the PBX.

Announcement

A message that will be played to the caller prior to sending the call back to the originator or to the alternate destination. You can select "none" or one of your system recordings.

Alternate Destination

Come Back to Origin

Yes/No: Whether to send a timed-out parked call back to the device that parked the call. If No, the timed-out call will be routed straight to the destination set below. If Yes, the call will be sent back to the origin, but if that device is not available or does not answer, the destination below will ultimately be used. Therefore, a reasonable destination such as a receptionist, ring group, voicemail, or similar should be set.

Destination

This is the destination where a timed-out parked call will be sent either directly (if Come Back to Origin = No), or when a device is unreachable or not responding. This can be any destination on your PBX.

Save

When finished, click the Submit button, then click the Apply Config button.

Pick Up Parked Call Feature Code 

Parking includes a feature code called Pickup ParkedCall Prefix. It is *85 by default and can be changed in the Feature Codes module. When used in conjunction with a parking lot number, it picks up "the next call" from the specified lot. When used in conjunction with a specific slot number, it picks up the call in that slot.

This feature code will allow any extension to pick up a parked call. If using Park Pro, and a lot is considered "private," this feature code will still work even if the extension is not part of the private lot. This is useful in situations such as a shared receptionist needing to retrieve a call from a lot that is not theirs.

If BLFs are enabled, they will be generated for each of the possible combinations. For example, if the lot number is 70, then a BLF for *8570 would be be lit if there is a call parked in any of the slots for lot 70.

Please note, this is a global setting and not something you can enable on a per extension or per parking lot level.