Menu Layouts¶

Overview¶

Menu layouts define the content and structure of menus in the Admin Portal, based on your user role at the hierarchy where you log in.

VOSS Automate allows an administrator (with appropriate permissions) to customize menu layouts for different user roles and hierarchy levels. For example, the menu layouts at Provider level of the hierarchy can be different to menu layouts at Customer or Site level. Customizing menu layouts for different user roles at each hierarchy allows you to hide or show resources appropriate for different roles.

Note

This topic describes functionality as displayed in the Admin Portal. The look and feel of landing page and menu layout configuration options may differ in the legacy Admin GUI.

Menu Layouts, FDPs, and CFTs¶

When creating or editing a menu layout, you can (optionally) apply a field display policy (FDP) and configuration template (CFT) to refine the view of model entities for the user role. In this way, the FDP and CFT for a specific model is applied as part of the menu layout (in the menu structure); the FDP and CFT are attributes of the specific model entry for that menu layout. This means:

Different FDPs and CFTs for a specific model can define menu layout variations for that model.
The required FDP and CFT should be available before you create new menus.

Fixed and Configurable Filters¶

If a menu layout applies to the list view of a model, this list can be filtered by means of a number of filter options that apply to the displayed list. Only instances where the values of a model attribute that match the filter, are then shown. For details, see Fixed and Configurable Filters in Menus and Landing Pages

Default Menu Layouts¶

VOSS Automate ships with a number of default menu layouts for the following, hierarchy-based administrator user roles:

System administrator
Provider administrator
Reseller administrator
Customer administrator
Site administrator

If you wish to create a new menu layout, you can create a copy (clone) of a default menu layout, edit the settings, and save it as a new menu, custom, menu layout.

You can also export a menu layout, edit it externally, and re-import it. For example, you can apply an alternative FDP or CFT, or change the order and grouping of items on the menu layout. Designers with access to tag or version tag can apply these to a menu layout so that it can be uniquely identified to track changes.

Note

The VOSS Automate documentation is based on the default, predefined menu layouts that ship with the system.

To work with menu layouts in the Admin Portal (via the default menus):

Go to Role Management > Menu Layouts to view and edit menu layouts.
Go to Role Management > Roles to view the menu layout assigned to a particular role, then click on a role and view the value in the Menu Layout field (which displays the menu layout for users with this role).

Best Practice Menus¶

In addition to the default menu layouts, VOSS Automate provides best practice menus for Provider and Customer administrators, including the associated access profiles and landing pages.

The best practice menus are more business-oriented, and include additional options based on best practice adaptations that may also be included in VOSS Automate.

The table describes the key features of the best practice menus:

Feature

Description

Structure mapped to business use case

A menu order, nesting and naming convention based on common business use.

Menus are ordered ‘top-down, following the logical order of tasks and the system hierarchies that perform these tasks.

Example: For Provider admins, the Cisco UC App Management menu has menus only for these devices, while SMTP server and other settings that Provider admins use are arranged under a menu called Provider Configuration.

In a similar way, the Cisco Subscriber Services menu has sub menus for all the functionality associated with Cisco subscribers in VOSS Automate.

Naming convention

First word capitalized for menu names where the menu is for a form view (input or edit). For example ADD Internal Number Inventory

Where such menu names start with abbreviations or acronyms, for example, E164, HCS, or LDAP, the capitalization rule applies to the next word in the name.

Menus for URLs

Included in the structure are menus that provide links to other VOSS Automate portals, allowing you to launch a another portal directly from a menu.

For this to work, you must update these URLs to match your configuration.

Considerations when Customizing and Assigning a Best Practice Menu

If you wish to modify a best practice menu and then assign the customized best practice menu to a user role, consider the following:

To add or update menu layouts, see Add or Edit a Menu Layout

Note

A Menu Diff Tool allows you to easily modify menus. See the Advanced Configuration Guide for details.
To view or configure FDPs (field display policies) associated with menu items, see Add or Edit a Field Display Policy.
To view or configure CFTs (configuration templates) associated with menu items, see Configuration Templates.
For details around access profiles available for the best practices menus, see the list in the Access Profiles menu. To modify any access profiles to align with a modified mene, see Access Profile Permissions and Operations.
Note the landing pages available for the best practices menus. See the list under the Landing Pages menu.

Menu Items Requiring Adaptations¶

The table lists the menus for specific adaptations:

Note

Not all adaptations may be available on your system. If you wish to use any of these menus, please contact the VOSS team.

Menu	Sub Menu	3rd level menu	Adaptation
VOSS Phone Server Management	VOSS Phone Server VOSS Phone Adaptive Dial Plan		VOSS Phone Server
Customer Management	Contact Centre Services	CC Users CC User Preferences CC User CFTs (with GS_CCUser filter)	ContactCentre-VoiceRecording User
HCS Dial Plan Management	HCS Dialplan Additions HCS Group CLI	Dialplan Additions Dialplan Addition Templates Dialplan Additions CFTs (GS_DialplanAdditions filter) Dialplan Additions CFTs (`ENT_` Filter) CustSCode-PT Translation Patterns External Group CLI Inventory External Group CLI Association Internal Group CLI Inventory Internal Group CLI Association ExternalGroupCLI-PT Calling Party Transforms	Dialplan Additions Group CLI
Site Management	Advanced Site Functions	SameDialplanOB 8XData	Overbuild Same Dialplan AddSite
Number Management	(N to 1) DN to E164 Associations with Update		N to 1 E164 Association Update Support
Number Management	ADD Multi-step Number Inventory		Number Inventory Mgmt - Multi-Step
Cisco Subscriber Services	Add Lines to Pickup Group		Pickup Group Membership
Cisco Subscriber Services	Change Line Change Line Profiles Change Line Instance Profiles		Change Line
Cisco Subscriber Services	Line Recording		Line Recording

Menu	Sub Menu	Adaptation
Cisco MACD Functions	FAC Code Management Sync FAC Codes Across Clusters	Enhanced ForceAuthenticationCode Support
Multi- Vendor Services	VOSS Phones	VOSS Phone Server
Audit Tools	VOSS Day 2 Customer Audit Tool	Audit Tool
Overbuild Tools	RUN EM-User Overbuild	Audit Tool
Overbuild Tools	E164 TPs AND TRANSFORM Move Tool	DN Overbuild

Add or Edit a Menu Layout¶

This procedure adds new menus and updates existing menus. You can create a new layout for your system, or update the default menu layout.

Log in to the Admin Portal as a Provider or Reseller administrator (or higher).
Choose the hierarchy for the new menu layout, for example, Customer.
Go to (default menus) Role Management > Menu Layouts.
Choose an option:
- To create a new menu layout based on settings in an existing menu layout (recommended), click on a menu layout you want to copy. On the menu layout editing screen, click the toolbar Clone icon. A new record is created with pre-populated settings. Go to the next step to edit the settings for the clone to create the new custom menu layout.
- To create a new menu layout as a new record (without existing settings), click the toolbar Plus icon (+) to open the Menu Layouts/New Record page. Go to the next step to set up the new menu layout.
- To edit an existing menu layout, click on the menu layout you wish to edit, make your changes, and save. Updates display only once you’ve logged out and logged in again.
At Name and Description, fill out a name and description for the new menu layout.
At Menu Items, configure the main menus and sub menus. You can make the following changes:
- Re-order menus
- Add, clone, or delete rows for main menus and nested sub menus.
- Add, clone, or delete sub menus (click the Plus icon in the Menu Items column to display nested sub menus)
- Configure fixed and configurable filters
- Choose a menu icon (for main menus only)
- Add or edit a menu title
- Provide a menu description
- Specify a condition that defines when the menu displays
- Choose a model type
- Create internal or external href links
- Choose a FDP (field display policy) and/or a CFT (configuration template)
- Choose a custom component
- Choose the landing page to associate with the menu item
- Choose how a menu or sub menu displays, for example, list, form, or landing page
Note
- You can click in a row to edit a value (either type in the field or select an option from a drop-down)
- Rows with nested menu items or links contain a chevron (>) instead of a Plus icon (+) so that you can see which items have child lists.
- An asterisk indicates required values.
- For details around each of these configuration options, see Menu Layouts Field Reference.
Click Save to add the new menu layout.
Assign the menu layout to the appropriate roles.

Menu Layouts Field Reference¶

This section describes menu layout configuration options:

Note

You can view, add, and edit menu layouts in the Admin Portal via (default menus) Role Management > Menu Layouts. See Add or Edit a Menu Layout

Field	Description
Name	Mandatory. The menu layout name.
Description	A description of the menu layout.
Menu Items	This section displays the menus and sub menus in an editable table layout.

Menu Items¶

The table describes configuration options the Menu Items rows on the Menu Layouts page:

Column	Description
Reorder	Click on the reorder icon in the relevant row to change the location of a menu.
Add, clone, or delete row	Click an icon to either add a row, clone (copy) a row, or to delete the row.
Menu Items	Click the Plus icon to expand nested menus. Click the chevron to collapse expanded menus.
Filters	Click the filter icon in the relevant row to display a dialog where you can choose fixed and configurable filters for a menu item. Fixed filters cannot be removed. The following options are available for configurable filters: Filter By Filter Type Filter String
Icon	The icon to use for the menu item. Click in the cell to choose an icon. Icons display in the drop-down with a descriptive name.
Title	Click in the cell to add or edit the name (title) of a menu item.
Description	Click in the cell to add or edit the menu description.
Condition	Click in the cell to add or edit a macro that allows you to display/hide a menu and its sub menus, based on a condition specified in the macro. If the macro evaluates to true, the menus and sub menus display, else, when false, the menu and its sub-menus are hidden. The default is true (menus and sub menus you add on this page display by default). See the Advanced Configuration Guide for more information about using macros.
Type	Click in the cell and choose a model type to associate with the menu item. Note The model type defines the available custom components.

Column	Description
Href	Click in the cell to specify a path as a direct reference to a model type used for the menu item. Links can be external or internal. Hrefs are generally recommended for external links. For backwards compatibility, hrefs can be used for links within the application, to link directly to a form. For example, the Add Phone page would have the following href value: api/relation/SubscriberPhone/add In this case, you will need to use JSON format menu import, or bulk load, to add any associated FDPs (field display policies) and CFTs (configuration templates) for the menu item. It is recommended that you do not use hrefs to reference view/ type models.
Field Display Policy	Click in the cell to choose a FDP (field display policy) to associate with the menu. Note FDPs cannot be used with custom components.
Configuration Template	Click in the cell to choose a CFT (configuration template) to associate with the menu.
Custom Components	Click in the cell to choose an Admin Portal custom components. Options in the drop-down depend on the model you choose in the Type field. For example, when choosing model type view/AddPhone, the custom component available for selection is Add Phone. The custom components allow you to display GUI content (such as landing pages, lists, and forms) in the same layout as they appear in the Business Admin Portal. Custom components are also available for multi vendor environments and for Microsoft-only environments. This feature is only available in the new VOSS Automate Admin Portal.

Column

Description

Landing Page

Click in the cell to choose a landing page to display, when the Display As option for the menu item is set to Landing Page. This option is only available in the new VOSS Automate Admin Portal. Note that sub menus cannot be selected as landing pages, and landing pages do not have context-sensitive help.

Display As

Click in the cell to choose how the menu item should display. The default is List.

Options are: List, Landing Page, Form, External Link, Tree

List (default)

For two or more instances. If you choose List, and you’ve selected a default FDP and CFT for the model type, users with a user role associated with the menu layout view the model type based on these options. It is also possible to filter the list view. If you choose List display referenced by type or href, note that a tool (tool/[toolname]) can also be presented as a list, for example: /api/tool/Transaction/?entity=data/Event&operation=execute
Landing Page

Allows you to choose an existing landing page, which will display when this menu item is chosen. This option is only available in the VOSS Admin Portal GUI.
Form (for a single instance)

If you’re using href and you choose the Form display, the href value points to a model instance with the pkid, for example data/Countries/5331a739d0278d7893e26d2e, or ends with /add/. The view/ model types always open the Add form; thus, if used, the value should not have the /add/ endpoint, for example, as in this JSON:

{
  "type": "view/QuickSubscriber",
  "display": "form",
  "title": "Quick Add Subscriber"
}

External Link

Recommended for use with href, where a URL specified as the href value opens as a new browser tab. You’ll need to disable pop-up blocking on the users browsers to allow the external link to resolve.
Tree (if available, for two or more instances)

Choosing a Tree display shows a tree view of the resource. When using href with Tree display, the href provides the tree path.

VOSS Automate 21.3

Menu Layouts¶

Overview¶

Menu Layouts, FDPs, and CFTs¶

Fixed and Configurable Filters¶

Default Menu Layouts¶

Best Practice Menus¶

Menu Items Requiring Adaptations¶

Add or Edit a Menu Layout¶

Menu Layouts Field Reference¶

Menu Items¶