E911 Notification

Please refer to Configuring UCX for Kari's Law and Ray Baum's Act for additional detail on how this feature and other UCX settings can be used to optimize the ability for emergency response providers to coordinate with customer personel and locate the source of emergency calls as efficiently as possible. 

 

The E911 On-site Notification service allows on-site individuals to be notified in real-time when someone dials an emergency number from a local extension. The service supports multiple notifications and multiple emergency numbers. The notification will include the caller's extension, caller's name, and the emergency number dialed.

To access the configuration page for this service, perform the following steps:

  1. Open the UCX Web-based Configuration Utility
  2. From the PBX tab, select PBX Configuration
  3. From the left side column, under Applications, select E911 Notification

Overview

When the service is disabled, a message will be displayed at the top to indicate that Notification is disabled.
Links to the configuration pages together with any configured emergency numbers and notification recipients are listed at the top right corner of the page.

General Settings

The General Settings page allows you to customize the Email Template and Enable/Disable the notification service.

The service is Disabled by default, to enable the service:

  1. Toggle the Status to Enabled
  2. Press the Save button

E911_Notification.png

The following is a description of the available variables that can be used in the Subject and Body fields in the email template based on the format shown in the default template above.

  • E911_EXT => the emergency phone number that was called
  • CALLER_EXT => the extension number of the caller
  • CALLER_NAME => the name of the caller (i.e., the name associated with the extension)
  • OUTBOUND_CID => the Outbound CID as programmed in the Extensions page associated with the extension that dialed the emergency number. (If no Outbound CID is configured, then the OUTBOUND_CID value is N/A.

Example of using a Modified Template

For some scenarios it may be advantageous to include the extension's Outbound CID in the email notification. For instance, in Senior Care centers, residents often have their own unique CallerID string that is to be sent out over PRI or SIP trunks for normal calls. This is quite often also the same as the DID number assocaited with their extension, but not always. If an email notification is sent to a monitoring service that does not have a phone directly connected to the UCX placing the emergency call, then modifying the default email template could provide necessary contact details that can be used by that monitoring service as part of their own incident response actions.

The following is an example modification that can be used to send the Outbound CID string in the email emergency notification:

E911ModifiedTemplateExample.png
 
If extension 202 is configured with a Display Name of Room 202 and string "John and Jane Doe" <2145551234> as shown here:
E911OutboundCIDExample.png

Then the resulting email generated in response to an emergency call will be as follows:
E911EmailNotificationExample.png

Add Emergency Number

The emergency number 911 is created by default. This page allows you to add multiple emergency numbers and delete existing ones.

To add an emergency number:

  1. Click on the Add Emergency Number link at the top right corner.
  2. Enter the Emergency Number that will trigger the notification
  3. The Description field is optional
  4. Press the Save button

A valid outgoing route must be setup for the emergency number. Notifications only work for trunk calls. 

Add Notification

To add a call notification recipient:

  1. Cick on the Add Notification link at the top right corner
  2. Select notification Type Call
  3. Enter the extension number in the Value field
  4. The Description is optional
  5. Press the Save button


Note that for some scenarios, you may wish to notify a page group and have the notification played over set-based paging and/or through the company overhead paging system.

To add an email notification recipient:

  1. Cick on the Add Notification link at the top right corner
  2. Select notification Type Email
  3. Enter a valid email address in the Value field
  4. The Description is optional
  5. Press the Save button

Modify/Delete Emergency Number

To modify or delete an emergency number select the desired number from the list on the top right corner of the page.

  • To modify, make the desired changes and press the Save button.
  • To delete, click on the Delete Number link at the top of the page.

Modify/Delete Notification

To modify or delete a notification, select the desired notification from the list on the top right corner of the page.

  • To modify, make the desired changes and press the Save button.
  • To delete, click on the Delete link at the top of the page.

Usage

With the E911 Notification service enabled, when a user calls one of the emergency numbers from a phone connected to the UCX, the following will take place:

1. Email Notification

If an email notification recipient address [email protected] is configured and extension 301 calls 911, the recipient will receive an email similar to the example shown below using the default template settings.

From: "E911 Notification Application " <[email protected]>
Subject: E911 Notification for caller 301
Date: August 6, 2015 at 11:03:58 AM EDT
To: <[email protected]>
Reply-To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>

Attention!

A call from extension 301 has just been placed to emergency 
phone number 911.

This is an automated message.

E-MetroTel UCx E911 On-site Notification Service

2. Phone Notification

If a phone recipient 601 is configured and extension 301 calls 911, the extension 601 will receive a call from the UCX system. On answering the call, a message similar to the example below will be played back.

Attention! This is an emergency call alert.
A call from extension 301 has been placed to emergency phone number 911.

The recipient will then be prompted to press 1 to replay the message.

3. Log Messages

If a phone recipient 601 and email recipient [email protected] are configured, and extension 301 calls 911,  messages similar to the example shown below will be entered into the e911_calls.log file. To view the log file, navigate to the Support - System Log Files page and select the ucx/e911_calls.log file from the pull-down list.

E911 notification. Caller 301 dialed emergency number 911
Initiating email notification to [email protected]
Initiating call notification to Local/601@from-internal

Additional E911 documentation links

Please refer to the following document for additional information on Emergency dialing considerations for UCX deployments:

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