asterisk users - Sep 2007 - Force a new user to configure Comedian mail?

In Asterisk 1.4, is there any way to "force" new users to configure
their mailbox?  I'm thinking a simple IVR that holds a user's hand
through changing their PIN, recording their name, and setting up one or
both greetings, the very first time they use the account.
 
I know I can publish docs that tell them how to use the "0" menu and
do
this by hand... but users are lazy and resent documentation.
 
Thanks!
Jeremy Wadhams
Yahoo Inc
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Jeremy Wadhams wrote:
> In Asterisk 1.4, is there any way to "force" new users to
configure
> their mailbox?  I'm thinking a simple IVR that holds a user's hand
> through changing their PIN, recording their name, and setting up one or
> both greetings, the very first time they use the account.
>  
> I know I can publish docs that tell them how to use the "0" menu
and do
> this by hand... but users are lazy and resent documentation.
>  
> Thanks!
> Jeremy Wadhams
> Yahoo Inc
In the sample voicemail.conf file you should find this section:

forcename=yes ; Forces a new user to record their name.  A new user is
               ;     determined by the password being the same as
               ;     the mailbox number.  The default is "no".
forcegreetings=yes ; This is the same as forcename, except for recording
                    ;     greetings.  The default is "no".

If these are set to yes and the user's voicemail password is set to 
their mailbox number, then the next time they enter the voicemail box it 
will ask them to record their name, greetings and change their password. 
NOTE!!!! Make sure you tell them NOT to set their new password to their 
extension when they reset it. They will end up going through all these 
steps the next time they enter their mailbox :) I forgot to tell a 
couple users this and I got a call asking why they had to record their 
greetings every time they went into their voicemail.

-Dave

On 9/14/07, Jeremy Wadhams <jwadhams at yahoo-inc.com>
wrote:
>
>  In Asterisk 1.4, is there any way to "force" new users to
configure their
> mailbox?  I'm thinking a simple IVR that holds a user's hand
through
> changing their PIN, recording their name, and setting up one or both
> greetings, the very first time they use the account.
>
If your pin is equal to your mailbox, VoiceMailMain() does this
automatically when you log in.

-- 
j.
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Jeremy Wadhams wrote:
> I know I can publish docs that tell them how to use the "0" menu
and do
> this by hand... but users are lazy and resent documentation.
As are Asterisk administrators (sometimes) :-)

See the 'forcename' config option in voicemail.conf.sample.

-- 
Kevin P. Fleming
Director of Software Technologies
Digium, Inc. - "The Genuine Asterisk Experience" (TM)

Jeremy Wadhams wrote:
> In Asterisk 1.4, is there any way to "force" new users to
configure
> their mailbox?  I'm thinking a simple IVR that holds a user's hand
> through changing their PIN, recording their name, and setting up one or
> both greetings, the very first time they use the account.
Yep.  In fact, it was one of the first patches I ever wrote for Asterisk.  :)

Here are the relevant options from voicemail.conf:

; forcename=yes     ; Forces a new user to record their name.  A new user is
                    ; determined by the password being the same as
                    ; the mailbox number.  The default is "no".

; forcegreetings=no ; This is the same as forcename, except for recording
                    ; greetings.  The default is "no".

-- 
Russell Bryant
Software Engineer
Digium, Inc.

Jeremy Wadhams wrote:
> In Asterisk 1.4, is there any way to "force" new users to
configure
> their mailbox?  I'm thinking a simple IVR that holds a user's hand
> through changing their PIN, recording their name, and setting up one or
> both greetings, the very first time they use the account.
>  
> I know I can publish docs that tell them how to use the "0" menu
and do
> this by hand... but users are lazy and resent documentation.
Yes.  See the voicemail.conf.sample which is included in the asterisk 
source directory.

Jeremy Wadhams wrote:
> In Asterisk 1.4, is there any way to "force" new users to
configure
> their mailbox?  I'm thinking a simple IVR that holds a user's hand 
> through changing their PIN, recording their name, and setting up one 
> or both greetings, the very first time they use the account.
You can use the forcename and forcegreetings settings to get this 
behavior. The way to let the voicemail system know the user is a new 
user is to to set the mailbox number and password the same for that 
user. If you do this, then the first time the person calls 
VoiceMailMain(), they will be walked through the process of changing 
their PIN, recording their name, and their greetings.

Mark Michelson