AbleComm: How to program a Panasonic KX-TVSx25 series voice processor

STEP 1

Connect your PC to the VPS using the AbleComm ProCable, or a serial cable and null modem adapter from RadioShack. Be sure to get a cable or adapter that has the right connector for your voice processor, which may be 9-pin or 25-pin.

>>You CAN'T program your voice processor with a USB cable.<<

Instead of mounting your voice processor next to the phone system control unit, you can mount it near one of your computers, so it's easy to make programming changes. It won't take up much space, and the wiring is very simple -- much simpler than extending a serial cable 50 feet.

For "long distance" programming, use the AbleComm ProConnector Kit.

STEP 2

>>Before starting to program the VPS, make sure it is connected to the phone system.<<

Open HyperTerminal (from Start, Programs, Accessories, Communications).
Click on FILE, then NEW CONNECTION. Assign a name, such as TVS125, and select an icon that you like, and click on "OK."
You should only have to do this step the first time you program the system.

STEP 3

A "Connect to" window should open now. In the bottom section, select Connect Using COM 1 (or whatever port you are using) and click on "OK."
You should only have to do this step the first time you program the system.

STEP 4

A "Port Settings" window should open next (shown below). Select 9600, 8, none, 1, none.
CLICK on "OK."
You should only have to do this step the first time you program the system.

NOTE: While programming the voice processor, the PC screen display
will often refer to your "PBX." In this case, PBX means the control unit
("KSU") of your phone system.

STEP 5

Plug the voice processor into an electric outlet.
The voice processor has a small rotary switch inside the door. Use a tiny flat screwdriver to turn the switch to 5, to initialize the factory settings.
Later, during programming, you will be instructed to move the switch to 0, so your settings can be saved.
Flip the Power Switch to ON (upward position).

STEP 6

After turning the power on, the system starts up in the following sequence:
1. The Power Indicator light goes on.
2. The Power Indicator light begins to flash.
3. “CARD TEST” is displayed on the screen.
4. NOTE: The screen should show "Active COs." "COs" usually refers to lines from the phone company's Central Office. This is really STOOPID. It is really testing the ports in the VPS.
5. “SYSTEM SETUP” is displayed.

If you are programming for the first time, it's OK to see "DPT Interface Connection is not Established."
If you previously completed setting up the system, you should see "DPT Interface Connection is Established" or "APT Interface Connection is Established."
SET THE ROTARY SWITCH TO POSITION ZERO. (See photo in step 5 above)
Press ENTER on your keyboard.
You should only have to do this step the first time you program the system.

STEP 7

The screen will then let you select your terminal type.
Unless you have a good reason not to, type "2" and press ENTER.

STEP 8

If you are setting up the voice processor for the first time, cursor down to "Quick Setup," and press ENTER. (The screen stupidly says "Return-Key."
If the voice processor has been set up previously, you can make a different selection. You will skip steps 9 through 16, and possibly others.

STEP 9

In this screen, you are told to press ENTER. Please do it.

STEP 10

Use your cursor to select your phone system, and press ENTER.

IMPORTANT: While programming in HyperTerminal, you can
save a setting and move back to the previous menu by pressing the
backslash "\" key.

STEP 11

If the voice processor is connected properly to the phone system, the screen should next show "Auto Config. executing."

STEP 12

You should next come to the Mailbox Editing screen, which Panasonic stupidly spells "Editting."
This screen may automatically show some names if they had previously been programmed into your phone system.
Use your ENTER button to move around the screen, and type in the last names of one or more of the people who will have mailboxes, in the "OWNER" column.
You can do lots of mailboxes now, or just enter one and come back later.
To leave this screen, press "S" while your cursor is in the "MAKE" column.

STEP 13

You should then see the "Quick Setup - Port Service Setting" screen. We recommend that you accept the standard settings (at least for now) and just type "S" to move on to the next screen.

STEP 14

You'll then choose passwords.
WRITE THEM DOWN in several places.

STEP 15

While "Yes" is highlighted, press ENTER.

STEP 16

If you've done your job properly, you should see "ON LINE MODE."
With some phone systems, you may see "APT Interface..." instead of "DPT..."
The POWER light on the voice processor should now be steady, not flashing.
If you want a quick thrill, use one of the system phones to call into the voice processor (usually Intercom, 165). DON'T follow the recorded instructions now -- it's for individual mailboxes.
Press ENTER.

STEP 17

Enter your password and select VT100 by typing "2."
Press ENTER.

STEP 18

You should then be at the Top Menu.
If you are programming for the first time, use your cursor to highlight "Program" and press ENTER.
If your system is already set up, you can choose "Program" or another item.

STEP 19

Use your cursor to highlight "Port/Trunk Service" and press ENTER.
NEW OPTIONS: If you want to direct certain calls to specific destinations based on Caller ID or DID, use you cursor to highlight "Service Setting," then highlight "3.Intelligent Call Handling" in the next screen, and go to Step 33 below.

DID Call Routing allows you to assign up to 200 DID numbers and program the route for calls from these assigned numbers to the desired extension, mailbox (including System Group Distribution List) or Custom Service. It also forwards "Private" (the caller’s number is not received) and "Out of Area" calls to a desired extension, mailbox or Custom Service.
The Company Greetings will not play when calls are routed as programmed by this feature.
Note: This feature is only available when the VPS is connected to the following PBXs with DPT Integration. • KX-TD816 (P311Q or higher) • KX-TD1232 (P211Q or higher) • KX-TD500 (V4M or higher). It requires an optional circuit module in your phone system, and DID service from your phone company.

STEP 20

Use your cursor to select Port Service.
Port Service is used if you want callers on all of your lines to reach the same menus.
Trunk Service is used if you want to have different menus for different lines. This is useful if several businesses, or a business and a home, share the voice processor.
If you want to use Trunk Service, select it and skip ahead to STEP 31.

STEP 21

Type "1" to select Port 1, and then press ENTER.
Later, you can select other ports.

STEP 22

Highlight "Day Mode" with your cursor, type "1" and then press ENTER.
Later, you can select other day parts.

STEP 23

In this screen, you can select a company greeting, which can be the first thing that callers hear. This is a brief announcement, such as "Thank you for calling Honest Charlie's Used Cars." If there is an emergency or temporary change in your company's schedule, you can call in from anywhere and change the opening message to something like "Thank you for calling Honest Charlie's Used Cars. Because of Hurricane Hilda, we will be closed until Wednesday," but you won't have to re-record your main menu.
Prompt 915 is an alternative to using Company Greetings, if you want the same announcement to reach callers on all lines at all times. Company Greetings are better if you want different greetings based on line or time. You can also use Prompt 915 plus a Company Greeting.
"Incoming Call Service" refers to the first menu people will hear. We recommend "Custom 1."
Leave the other settings alone, unless you have a good reason to change them.
Press the "\" (backslash) key.

STEP 24

Highlight "Night Mode" with your cursor, type "1" and then press ENTER.
Later, you can select other day parts.

STEP 25

Select a Company Greeting (probably the same one you used before).
Select a Custom Service. If you don't want to use the highlighted service, type 4, and then type in a number to represent a different Custom Service. You can use "2" for your main night menu.
Press ENTER.
Leave the other settings alone, unless you have a good reason to change them.
Press the "\" (backslash) key.

STEP 26

Repeat steps 20 through 25 for all of your ports and day parts.
If you don't want different menus for lunch and break times, you don't have to program them.
If you don't want different settings for day and night, we recommend that you program the night modes anyway, identical to your day settings, in case the system accidentally goes into night mode.

STEP 27

	Press the "\" (backslash) key several times to return to the Program Menu. Use the cursor to highlight "Service Setting." Press ENTER.

STEP 28

Highlight "Custom Service Settings" with your cursor.
Press ENTER.
When you see "Select Service(1-100) :=" at the bottom of the screen, type in the Custom Service number you want to work with.
Press ENTER.
NOTE: You can establish a maximum of 100 Custom Services with the possible depth of 8 layers. Someone will have to record Custom Service Menus so that callers will know which key to press.

STEP 29

You will now be able to start forming the actual menu, by associating an action with a caller's key stroke on a touchtone phone. It's a good idea to write out a script before you start programming the buttons.

Any key stroke can send the caller to a person, or to a group of people in a department, or to a mailbox, or to another menu, or to the main menu, or can repeat the current menu, or allow the caller to type in a few letters of a last name to reach someone, or do other things.

Create a “tree” diagram to design a route leading callers to the desired person, department, mailbox, or next menu. This tree should include all available caller options and cannot be deeper than eight layers. You might want to discuss available options with users before programming the system.

The top of the tree (at left below -- our tree fell down) should include what callers will hear after a brief company greeting. Then create a branch for each option. Fill in each box so you can easily see what action corresponds to each keystroke, and when you make your recordings later, make sure that your spoken message corresponds to the programming.

Remember that it is possible and often necessary to have one custom service lead to another custom service. For example, if someone presses [1] for sales, you might want another menu to say “for cars, press [1]; for trucks, press [2].” This way callers are routed directly to the person best suited to handle them.

The first menu (Custom 1) could be something like:

"If you know the extension number of the person you are calling, you can dial it at any time. For a staff directory, press one. To dial by name, press two. For sales, press three. For customer service, press four. For travel directions, press five. For our fax number, email address and website, press five. To repeat this menu, press six. Thank you."

You will work your way through all the buttons on a touchtone pad, starting with one.

STEP 30

Start filling in the Custom 1 screen.
Change the description to something meaningful to you, such as "main menu - day."
Press ENTER to move the cursor down.
When "System" is highlighted in the "Prompt Mode" line, type "2" to change it to "User1."
Maybe change the "Call Transfer Anytime" setting to "No."

This parameter specifies the destination to which the call will be transferred. The "Extn." setting (enter "E") enables callers to be transferred directly to their intended party by dialing the extension number. The "Mbx" setting (enter "M") enables callers to leave messages in a mailbox by entering the mailbox number. The "No" setting (enter "N") disables extension transfer and mailbox transfer; only 1-digit entries work (following the Custom Service menu).

This parameter should be set to "No" when Subscriber Service is specified as a Custom Service option and it is desired that digits can be entered very quickly to specify a destination. Therefore, in most cases, "No" is the best setting
for this parameter. This is especially true if you do not want to explain "Call Transfer Any Time" in your Custom
Service menu recording ("If you know the extension number for the person you are calling, you can enter it now.")

Don't change the "Wait for Second Digit" setting.

This parameter resolves the problem when the first digit of the extension or mailbox number is the same as one of the Custom Service menu choices. The VPS waits the specified period of time for a second digit to be dialed. If the time period expires without a second digit being entered, the system assumes the caller has selected a menu choice. Use this parameter only if "Call Transfer Anytime" is set to "Extn." or "Mbx".

"No DTMF Input Operation" determines what happens when a caller doesn't press any touch-tone button. By default, the call will go to the Operator, usually the person at phone #101. You can change the destination by typing in a letter representing one of the selections at the bottom of the screen.
After typing in an entry, the cursor will automatically move to the next position.
If you press ENTER, the cursor will move to the next position.

Fill in the Keypad Assignments, by typing in appropriate letters and numbers. Here are some examples:

Try to structure your menu with relatively few choices at each level (probably no more than 5). People often try to remember each choice while waiting to see if a better choice is offered, and it's hard to remember more than three. If you offer lots of choices, make one choice to repeat the menu.

Make sure you program some function for every possible keystroke on a touchtone pad. If you are only offering a few choices in a particular menu, program the other buttons to send the caller to a receptionist or someone else who can help, or make the extra buttons repeat the menu (type in the letter "l") or go back to the main menu (type "m").

Press the backslash key ("\") several times to reach "Program - Service Set" menu, and repeat steps 28 through 30 as needed, to create additional Custom Service menus.

When you are through entering menus, backslash out to the main page and then exit the program.

NOTE: Callers cannot jump between Custom Service menus more than 8 times.

STEP 31 - OPTIONAL! Trunk Service alternative to Port service

Use your cursor to highlight "Trunk Service," and press ENTER.
Type in the number of the first "Trunk Group" you want to program, and press ENTER.

NOTE: Where it says to enter a "Trunk Group Number," you enter a line number (the first line in your system is line one, or "trunk one"), then Day Mode.

This is really STOOOPID. A trunk group in the voice processor is a group of one line; it's not really a trunk or a group! HOWEVER, if you have a KX-TAW848 phone system, it's not STOOOPID: you use the trunk group numbering you set up in the 848 programming.

Also, except for the KX-TAW and KX-TDA systems, a trunk group in the voice processor has nothing to do with a trunk group in the phone system, (also known as "CO Line Group," "Outside Line Group," "TRG," "TRK GRP," "lasagna" and "Harvey.")

STEP 32 - OPTIONAL! used for trunk service only

Use your cursor to select "Day Mode" and press ENTER. (The screen stupidly says "Return-Key").
You will next reach the "Program - Port/Trunk Service - Trunk Service - Day Mode Menu," which looks very much like the menu in Step 22 above, except it will say "Trunk" instead of "Port."
Follow steps 22 through 30, but think "Trunk" instead of "Port." To save space, we're not providing two sets of screen shots.
When you are through entering information, backslash out to the main page and then exit the program.

STEP 33 - OPTIONAL! Intelligent Call Handling Alternative

If you want callers to reach specific menus based on their Caller ID, use your cursor to select "Caller ID Call Routing," and press ENTER.
If you want callers to reach specific menus based on DID ("Direct Inward Dialing" service, use your cursor to select "DID Call Routing," press ENTER, and skip ahead to Step 37.

Caller ID Call Routing allows you to assign up to 200 Caller ID numbers and program the route for the calls from these assigned numbers to the desired extension, mailbox (including System Group Distribution List) or Custom Service.
The Company Greetings will not play when calls are routed as programmed by this feature. It also forwards "Private" (the caller’s number is not received) and "Out of Area" calls to a desired extension, mailbox or Custom Service. The Company Greetings will not play for calls forwarded by this feature. Services have this order of priority: Toll Saver > Holiday Service > Caller ID Call Routing > DID Call Routing > Trunk Service > Port Service (Toll Saver has the highest priority.)

STEP 34 - OPTIONAL! for Caller ID Routing only

Use your cursor to highlight "Enter" and press ENTER.

STEP 35 - OPTIONAL! for Caller ID Routing only

Enter a number for the first Caller ID entry, and press ENTER. This is NOT the phone number, just an identifying number for a position on the list. Start with "1."

STEP 36 - OPTIONAL! for Caller ID Routing only

Type in a phone number without spaces or punctuation.
Press ENTER. The system will then put hyphens into the digit string.
Type in a description.
Press ENTER.
Indicate destinations for each day part by typing in letters from the bottom of the screen, and then specific destinations. Press ENTER after each entry.
"*" (star) substitutes any number (star = wild card). For example, to route all calls from Area Code 201, enter "201 * (star)".
To have a "Private" call (no CID provided) automatically forwarded to a desired destination, enter "P".
For an "Out of Area" call, enter "O".
When you are through with this page, press backslash ("\") to return to the menu shown in in STEP 35, so you can enter another phone number if you like.
When you are through entering phone numbers, backslash out to the main page and then exit the program.

STEP 37 - OPTIONAL! for DID Routing only

Use your cursor to highlight "Enter" and press ENTER.

STEP 38 - OPTIONAL! for DID routing only

Enter a number for the first DID entry, and press ENTER. This is NOT the phone number, just an identifying number for a position on the list. Start with "1."

STEP 39 - OPTIONAL! for DID routing only

Type in a DID phone number without any spaces or punctuation, and press ENTER. The system will then put hyphens into the digit string.
Type in a description to identify the person being called, and press ENTER.
Indicate destinations for each day part by typing in letters from the bottom of the screen, and then specific destinations. Press ENTER after each entry.
When you are through with this page, press backslash ("\") to return to the menu shown in in STEP 38, so you can enter another phone number if you like.
When you are through entering phone numbers, backslash out to the main page and then exit the program.

STEP 40 - Recording Menus

Once you have finished entering the settings for each digit in each menu, the menu "messages" or "prompts" should be recorded. Menu messages tell the caller what options are available and what keys correspond to those options, so the messages must match the programming.
You can't make these recordings if your PC is still connected for programming.
(NEW in 25-series) If you hear "You can not access this service," you are being blocked by System Security.

IMPORTANT: Unless you make changes, the first thing that callers will hear will be "good morning" or "good afternoon" or "good evening" and "welcome to the voice processing system." These prerecorded phrases are called System Prompts.

You can eliminate or modify these prompts if you want to, so callers will hear your own message as soon as the system answers.

>>IMPORTANT: Make sure you have selected "User 1" not "system" prompt in the custom service setting menus, and the port service or trunk service menus, or your changes will not take effect. <<

Access the "Message Manager's Main Command Menu": dial the intercom number for the voice processor (usually 165, unless you used a different number), then press #, 6, *, 998 (or 98 for the KX-TD308). Enter your password, followed by #.
>>IMPORTANT: This will not work if a PC is still connected and in the programming mode.<<
Press [5] to modify messages.
Press [6] to modify the user prompts,
Press [1] to change user prompt 1.
Press [1] if you want to re-record a prompt with your own voice, or press [2] if you want to re-record several prompts.

Enter the prompt number you want to change. (NOTE: These have changed from previous systems.)

Prompt 915 is "welcome to the voice processing system."
Prompt 273 is "good afternoon."
Prompt 274 is "good evening."
Prompt 275 is "good morning."

Continue following instructions. You can press 3 to turn off a prompt.

The next sequence shows you how to record the custom service menus.

Access the "Message Manager's Main Command Menu": dial the intercom number for the voice processor (usually 165), then press #, 6, *, 998 (or 98 for the KX-TD308).
>>IMPORTANT: This will not work if a PC is still connected and in the programming mode.<<
Press [5] to modify messages.
Press [4] to change the custom service menu.
You will hear: "Enter the Custom Service number [1] through [100]. To record the Custom Service Exit prompt, press [0]."
Press the button on your touchtone pad corresponding to the custom service menu you want to record or change.
Follow the instructions until all Custom Service prompts have been recorded, using the tree that you created as a guide.
After you have entered and recorded all menus, it is important to try the program yourself to see that all functions perform properly. Dial into the system and try all the choices to see if you are routed correctly. Verify that each menu choice works as it should.