Automatic Route Selection (Ars) - AT&T MERLIN 1030 Planning Manual

AUTOMATIC ROUTE SELECTION (ARS)

Would you like to be sure your employees place long distance calls through the most
cost-efficient route?
Automatic Route Selection (ARS) allows you to specify which of your line pools pro-
vide the lowest cost and which of your dialing methods is most efficient for particular
types of calls. For example, you may have several WATS line pools that provide the
most economical means of making calls to different areas of the country. For cer-
tain types of long distance calls, you may also use an alternate long distance
telephone company, whose lines are accessible through your main pool. When ARS
is activated, the system automatically selects the available line pool that contains
the lines preferred by the system administrator for a call to that area code or exchange.
The caller does not have to dial the number of a pool to make an outside call. He
or she just has to:
Touch a Pool Access button.
Lift the handset.
Dial the outside number.
To get the maximum benefit from ARS, it is important to consider the calling patterns
of people in your business and the relative costs of calls placed on different lines
in your system. If people in your business place calls through different types of lines
(e.g., local lines, in-state WATS lines, cross-country WATS lines, or an alternate long
distance telephone company service) to different areas of the country, you can
designate which type of line you want ARS to choose for different area codes and
exchanges. For example, if you are located in Massachusetts (area code 612) and
want employees to use the cross-country Band 5 WATS lines to call San Francisco,
then you can program ARS to route all calls to area code 415 through the Band 5
WATS line pool. If you also want employees to be able to call San Francisco through
an alternate long distance telephone company service when all Band 5 WATS lines
are busy, then you can program the alternate service as your second choice for
routing long distance calls to area code 415.
Note that ARS is flexible and allows you to accommodate the dialing habits of your
employees. There are two dialing choices available with ARS:
dialing an entire number (up to 11-digits)
dialing a portion of a number (as few as 4-digits)
For example, in a company that uses Foreign Exchange (FX) lines to place calls and
employees have become accustomed to dialing only 7 digits to place calls, you can
choose this method of dialing using ARS. If employees do not use the 7-digit dialing
method or new employees are unfamiliar with this method, digit absorption may be
the preferred dialing method. When using digit absorption the complete 11 digit
number (1 + area code + 7-digit number) is dialed. Using the ARS Table, your system
places the call ignoring any unnecessary extra digits.
With ARS you can design the most efficient call routing system for your business.
Once you program ARS, your MERLIN system will automatically place each call
using the line pool that you have designated as the best one for that type of call.
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