Overview

Network Class of Service Features

NP Net provides twelve NCOS features. You can combine these features in any way to create an NCOS that provides network privileges for a specific user group. You can configure up to 64 NCOS. This section explains each NCOS feature and provides you with a worksheet to use for NCOS planning.

001 Enable GCOS check across network

A Group Class of Service (GCOS) must be assigned to every NuPoint Voice mailbox. A mailbox cannot make, give, or answer messages to a mailbox outside of its group.

If a mailbox's NCOS includes feature bit 001, the sending node transmits the mailbox's GCOS number with any message that the mailbox sends to a remote mailbox. The receiving node delivers the message if either of two conditions is met:

• The GCOS numbers of the sending and receiving mailboxes are the same.

• The GCOS on the receiving node that has the same number as the GCOS of the sending mailbox allows communication with the recipient mailbox.

If neither condition is true, the remote node rejects the message. The sender receives a receipt saying that "remote mailbox XXX cannot receive messages from your group." (Also see NCOS Feature bit 008 for the circumstances under which receipts are generated.)

If the Network Class of Service does not include feature 001, no GCOS checking will be done, that is. a user can send messages to any remote user, regardless of the recipient's Group Class of Service. (Local node interactions are still controlled by the GCOS.)

002 Allow user to make network messages

This feature allows users, while logged into their mailboxes, to press M to make a message for a mailbox on another NP Net node. This feature is required to make both batch and urgent messages for remote mailboxes.

003 Allow user to make urgent network messages

Feature 003 allows a user to request urgent delivery for messages that are made to remote mailboxes. Feature 002 is required for this feature to work.

004 Allow user to give network messages

This feature allows users to press G to Give a message to a mailbox on another NP Net node. This feature is required to give both batch and urgent messages to remote mailboxes.

005 Allow user to give urgent network messages

Feature 005 allows a user to request urgent delivery for messages that are given to remote mailboxes. Feature 004 is required for this feature to work.

006 Allow user to answer network messages

This feature allows a user, after playing a message from a mailbox on another NP Net node, to press A to answer that message. This feature is required to answer both batch and urgent messages from remote mailboxes.

007 Allow user to answer urgent network messages

This feature allows a user to press A to answer urgent messages from users on remote nodes. Feature 006 is required for this feature to work.

008 Automatic receipts on network messages

This feature causes NP Net to generate a receipt every time a remote message is made, given, or answered.

Receipts are generated under most conditions when a message to a remote node cannot be delivered. The only time a user will not be notified that a message to a remote mailbox was not delivered is if the message was made for more than one mailbox (either through a distribution list or through the "make multiple" feature), and at least one other mailbox on the same node got the message.

Automatic receipts ensure that the sender is always notified of an undeliverable message; however, system users who make many messages often find that the automatic receipts feature is more annoying than helpful. An alternative is to give mailboxes an FCOS that allows the user to request receipts, then instruct the users to request receipts any time messages are made to multiple mailboxes on the same remote node.

009 Say "Remote mailbox" when playing network messages

This feature adds the words "remote message" when the message header is played by the recipient. In other words, network messages are announced in the form of "8:45 am, remote message from Jane Jones."

This feature eliminates potential confusion when received messages seem to be out of order. When a user plays a remote message, the system announces the time that the remote message was recorded, converted to the local time of the recipient, but the message appears in the user's unplayed queue in the order in which it was received. When a remote message is delayed in a queue on the sending node, the time stamp will be out of order with other messages in the unplayed queue, and users may become confused because they do not realize that the message was sent from a remote node. Adding this NCOS feature distinguishes network messages, which may be delayed due to queue thresholds, from local messages.

If senders do not record a name in their mailboxes, remote message introductions announce the sending mailbox number.