AT&T MERLIN LEGEND Communications System PBX System Planning Manual page 145

Features
Automatic Route Selection
How ARS Works
4-40 System Features
Planning Form Instructions
Review the analyis of question 9 on the Employee Communicaton Survey
On PBX System Form 8d, System Speed Dial and System Directory:
1 . Check "No" in the "Display" column if you do not want the number
displayed.
2 . Write each telephone number in the "Telephone Number" column.
3 . Write the label to be displayed for the number in the "Label" column.
Automatic Route Selection (ARS) allows you to make the most efficient use of
trunks connected to the system, which can mean significant savings for your
business. Routing calls efficiently is especially important if the business has
several different types of trunks, such as local, WATS, FX (foreign exchange), or
tie, or uses an alternate long-distance company. If the system is pooled, you
can use ARS to specify which trunk pool should be used for each call, based on
the telephone number the caller dials.
To use ARS, the user selects a System Access Ring, System Access Voice, or
System Access Originate Only button and begins dialing an outside call by
entering the ARS access code (usually a 9) followed by the phone number. The
over
call is then 'routed"
effective. Calls are sent over a preferred route (Route 1 ) when possible,
generally chosen because of lower cost. If all trunks in that route are busy, up to
five alternate routes (Route 2, Route 3, etc.) can be specified to complete the
call. If all the designated routes are busy, the system notifies the user with a
fast-busy tone. The user can then place a request for the busy trunk using the
Automatic Callback feature.
Note: With ARS, users must dial "1" before dialing any 7- or 10-digit toll number,
even if the local telephone company does not require dialing a toll prefix.
The set of preferred and alternate routes to be used for a particular call is
determined by the ARS table 'routing pattern" associated with that call's
destination. The system lets you define up to 16 ARS tables (each with two
subpatterns based on time of day). Four additional tables are factory set and
are designed to save programming time.
ARS performs specific checks to ensure that the user has the appropriate
permissions for making each call (including a check for Allowed and Disallowed
List assignment). First, the dialed number is checked to see if it is an emergency
number, for example, fire, police. If so, the call is placed over the main pool,
regardless of any restrictions. If it is not an emergency call, the permissions are
checked for any call restrictions (outside or toll). Finally, each route and each
telephone is assigned an ARS Facility Restriction Level (FRL). Users are allowed
access to particular routes in particular routing patterns only if their individual
telephone's FRL is greater than or equal to the route's FRL.
a trunk pool that you have determined to be most cost