VOSS Automate Documentation

Latest Release: VOSS Automate 24.2-PB2

Welcome to VOSS Automate 24.2-PB2! This maintenance release for Automate focuses on a range of bug fixes, including accessibility improvements, time formatting across different time zones, enhanced workflow error prevention, credential policy enforcement, improved logging for Cisco CUCM AXL errors, and better character handling for various fields. Additionally, this release introduces new features and enhancements, including support for dashboard names in Admin Portal URLs, Microsoft license segmentation by hierarchy, and the capability to manage Microsoft Teams Voice Application policies using Automate. For details, see the Release Notes.

Highlights in Automate 24.2-PB2

Microsoft License Segmentation

Automate 24.2-PB2 introduces a comprehensive Microsoft license management feature designed to help you control and reduce licensing costs. This powerful tool allows you to segment your global license pool into subsets within your tenant, enabling granular license controls essential for cost savings and efficient administration.

Key features:

• Hierarchical License Allocation: Define and enforce Microsoft license email alerts via email groups, and allocation limits at specified hierarchy levels within your organization, such as local government agencies.
• License Enforcement: Enable or disable license enforcement via Global Settings. Configure thresholds and receive email alerts via email groups when license limits are reached.
• User-Friendly Display: View friendly names for Licenses (SKU Part Numbers) and Service Plans in lists and forms, simplifying license management.
• Customizable Alerts: Set up and manage license alerting configurations, ensuring you stay informed about your license usage.

Microsoft Offboard Subscriber and Leave User at Site

Previously, when offboarding a Microsoft user, the user was, by default, moved back to the customer level in the Automate hierarchy. This latest maintenance release for Automate now allows you, when offboarding a Microsoft user, to choose to leave the user at the site level. This is done via an Automate Global Setting, "Retain User at Site after MS Offboard Subscriber". It's important to note that the default behavior is still to move an offboarded Microsoft user back to the customer, so you'll need to ensure you configure the behavior you require, via the Global Settings.

Microsoft Auto Attendant and Call Queues, Redirect to Resource Account

Microsoft customers can now configure call flows to redirect to a resource account from within the Automate Admin Portal on Auto Attendant and Call Queues.

Small Enhancements and Bug Fixes

In addition to the new features and enhancements in this release, we've added several small enhancements and performance improvements, included a number of bug fixes, and implemented a number of usability improvements in the Admin Portal. You can find further details, including links to the relevant topics, at What's New by Feature.

Highlights in Automate 24.2-PB1

Number Range Management, new "Unchanged" Status Setting

Previously, it was not possible to bulk modify editable text fields on range numbers in status "Used", "Used-Utility" or "Available". This release introduces workflow enhancements to support setting a number's status to "Unchanged", so that you can update fields on numbers with any status, without changing the original number status.

Cisco VG410 Gateway Support

Automate 24.2-PB1 includes support for Cisco VG410 Gateway, a new analog gateway added to a recent version of CUCM. You'll now be able to choose the VG410 product when adding an analog gateway in the Admin Portal.

See also the release notes for this feature, which will require a post-upgrade re-import of the GatewayType Automate device model to support VG410.

Convert Inactive CUCM LDAP Users to Local CUCM Users on Sync

It is now possible to configure Automate, via the User settings in Global Settings, to automatically convert inactive CUCM LDAP users to "Local" CUCM users when syncing in data from CUCM (bottom-up LDAP sync) to VOSS Automate. This prevents CUCM from deleting those users and their services in its scheduled garbage collection. Previously, you could only do this manually via the "Convert to Local CUCM user" tool.

Small Enhancements and Bug Fixes

In addition to the new features and enhancements in this release, we've added several small enhancements and performance improvements, included a number of bug fixes, and implemented a number of usability improvements in the Admin Portal. You can find further details, including links to the relevant topics, at What's New by Feature.

Highlights in Automate 24.2

Activate and Manage Microsoft Call Blocking

Activate and Manage Microsoft Call Blocking extends VOSS Automate's MS Teams management capabilities, delivering seamless control over Microsoft's Call Blocking functionality, directly within Automate.

As an admin, you'll be able to view the current status of your tenant's call blocking, set the activation state, and enable or disable it. You'll also be able to view, create, modify, or delete inbound blocked or inbound exempt number patterns, and to test random number patterns to see if these match your enabled number patterns.

Webex Wholesale Support

Webex Wholesale Support - Integrating Webex Wholesale support into VOSS Automate offers significant advantages for service providers looking to expand their offerings and streamline operations. This feature enables seamless management of wholesale customers and subscribers through dedicated APIs, ensuring efficient package assignment and configuration. Support for both retail and wholesale models allows VOSS to cater to diverse customer needs, facilitating smooth transitions and improved service delivery. Webex wholesale support in Automate is provided via Quick Add Groups for subscribers and Webex Control Hub for customers.

Remove Cloned Roles, Tooling for Role Audit and Cleanup

Remove Cloned Roles, Tooling for Role Audit and Cleanup - This release ships with a role audit and cleanup tool for deleting unused roles. The tool allows you to bulk remove any unused roles left over from automatic role creation. Previous versions of Automate automatically created cloned roles when creating hierarchies (sites, customers, resellers, and providers). Instead, you can now define whether you want to create a cloned role when creating a hierarchy.

INI Number Reservation per User

INI Number Reservation per User allows you to reserve internal numbers for designated users, streamlining the mass onboarding of pre-assigned numbers, eliminating the need for manual entries, and improving accuracy. Reserving numbers simplifies the onboarding of users migrating from legacy systems, ensuring a smoother transition and improving overall operational productivity.

Manage Number Inventory Filters

Manage Number Inventory Filters empowers high-level admin users to customize number inventory filter options available to lower-level admins, enhancing the GUI's relevance for specific customer use cases and deployments. Admins can apply multiple filters simultaneously as criteria for available lines, improving the precision of inventory management.

Key functionalities include:

• Customizable Filters: Admins can tailor number inventory filters to show only unused numbers, unused numbers with associated E164s, or numbers within public or private ranges.
• Enhanced Control: Filters apply to functionality such as "Use next available line", and can be enabled or disabled at various levels of the hierarchy via the number inventory settings in the Global Settings for more refined control over number assignments.
• Flexible Criteria: Admins can use custom tags, descriptions, or other criteria to filter numbers, ensuring that the available numbers align with specific context and requirements.

This feature streamlines the process of managing number inventories, making it easier to assign numbers based on precise, context-specific criteria.

Enhanced Microsoft Quick Offboard Subscriber

Enhanced Microsoft Quick Offboard Subscriber - Automate 24.2 ships with customizable Quick Add Groups that can be flagged for use when offboarding Microsoft subscribers, and which can be used to drive de-provisioning behavior. Administrators will now have greater control over the offboarding workflow and decisions around whether to remove line information, to reset policies, to remove voice services, or to remove all or a subset of licenses. For example, the admin may want to use a profile that clears the user's LineURI without affecting other licenses.

Offboarding profiles can be set up to align with organizational requirements, making the offboarding process more efficient, reducing the need for manual intervention, and ensuring compliance with internal policies.

Automate's default offboarding Quick Add Group is still available for use if you don't choose your customized offboarding Quick Add Group, that is, offboarding will work as per Automate's standard design, without custom behaviors.

Add Multiple Application Users to Device

Add Multiple Application Users to Device allows a site administrator to easily see the CUCM application users associated to a device, and to bulk add multiple users to the device, or remove users from that device. This saves time and reduces errors in provisioning.

Added Support for MS Teams Policies

Added Support for MS Teams Policies in Automate 24.2 extends support for managing MS Teams policies for your Teams users directly in the Automate Admin Portal. Policies can be updated as part of Quick Subscriber and Subscriber from Profile:

• Assign and manage MS Teams Survivable Branch Appliance (SBA) policy on your Teams users
• Assign and manage Teams Phone Mobile policy at site or global level

Usability Improvements in the Automate Admin Portal

Usability Improvements in the Automate Admin GUI - a number of usability improvements are included in this release of VOSS Automate. We're highlighting the following:

• Improve the ability to change navigation hierarchy from site level

  Users can now switch directly between sites without needing to navigate up a level first, streamlining the process and saving time. This enhancement allows for easier expansion and collapse of hierarchy levels, making it simpler to view and manage multiple sites. The state of the expand/collapse buttons is now more intuitive and consistent, reducing confusion and improving user experience.

• Transfer box only shows first 1000 results

  The transfer box now supports filtering for more than 5000 items using API "contains" queries, ensuring users can find items beyond the initial 5000 results. Large datasets are efficiently handled, making API queries only when necessary, and optimizing performance and usability for lists exceeding 5000 items.

Small Enhancements and Bug Fixes

In addition to the new features and enhancements in this release, we've added several small enhancements and performance improvements, included a number of bug fixes, and implemented a number of usability improvements in the Admin Portal. You can find further details, including links to the relevant topics, at What's New by Feature.