Cisco Unified CallManager Advanced Route Plans

This chapter covers the following topics:

• Configuring route filters in Cisco CallManager Administration to reduce the number of route patterns or restrict calling to undesirable locations
• Modifying route patterns to use access codes and discard digit instructions to convert the dialed number to a number that is supported by a national numbering plan
• Configuring transformation masks to manipulate the appearance of the number of the calling party for outgoing calls and to manipulate called numbers for PSTN compatibility
• Configuring translation patterns that manipulate dialed digits before routing a call to enable users to include a uniform dialing plan between offices or to enable hot line functionality
• Describing how to access route plan reports to view a listing of all the Call Park numbers, Call Pickup numbers, conference numbers (such as Meet-Me numbers), route patterns, and translation patterns in the system

Users of any phone system often need to reach a variety of destinations that include calls to extensions located within the same site, to a different site within the same company (sometimes with different dialing plans), and to other companies located within the same country or a different country. Because these calls can take different paths, such as the IP WAN or a preferred public switched telephone network (PSTN) carrier, completing these calls often requires dialing various access codes, numbers of digits, or prefixes. At the same time, it is often prudent to restrict certain destinations for all users, such as 900 numbers.

To require users to understand the specific dialing patterns necessary to reach these various destinations is impractical and inconvenient. Digit manipulation, or the ability of Cisco CallManager to add or subtract digits to comply with a specific internal dial plan or national numbering plan, is the key to providing transparent dialing and creating a unified dialing plan. Implementing route filters in Cisco CallManager Administration blocks access to specified area codes.

This chapter covers route filters, discard digits instructions (DDIs), transformation and translation patterns, and the route plan report to view all route patterns in a Cisco IP telephony clustered solution.