Setting 911 Dispatch Location for individual phones at the WE Connect Network Discovered Phones page

Rob_Marschall

The newest requirement within Kari’s Law is RAY BAUM'S Act which requires that interconnected VoIP providers, such as OfficeSuite UC, provide a method for customers to define the Dispatch Location for each phone at a premises to help emergency responders find the caller within the building when they arrive on the scene.

Per the requirements of RAY BAUM'S Act, all new installations of phones and services as of January 6, 2021 must have the ability to transmit location details for each fixed-location phone within the premises. 

It is Windstream’s responsibility to provide a method to define Dispatch Location information for each phone should the customer desire to set one. It’s the customers responsibility to load the information initially and to maintain the accuracy of the location information should any phone be moved in the future.

OfficeSuite UC is compliant with RAY BAUM'S Act and enables OfficeSuite administrators to define Dispatch Location for each IP desk phone at all new service locations installed January 6, 2021 and later via the Network Discovered Phones page in the WE Connect portal.

Viewing 911 Caller ID information for each phone

Log into the WE Connect portal with OfficeSuite administrator credentials and navigate to the Network Discovered Phones page by clicking the link in the OfficeSuite flyout on the left side of your dashboard:

Or navigate there using the menu selections at the top of your dashboard.

Services / OfficeSuite / Phone System / Network Discovered Phones:

On the Network Discovered Phones page is a list of all the phones within your OfficeSuite tenant including IP desk phones, cordless phones, softphones, and SIP devices such as ATA’s used for analog phones.

IP desk phones are easily identified by the make and model in the Phone Model column (e.g. Mitel 6920 or Poly VVX 350, etc.). The extension and user logged into the phone (if any) is shown in the Listing column. The Phone Label field is editable by the individual user of that phone on his or her My Phones page where they program keys on their phone.

Scroll to the right on this page to the 911 Caller ID Info field. That field contains the 911 Calling Line ID, 911CLID, for the phone. By default, the 911CLID for a phone is the 911CLID for the site at which the phone is located. For more details about editing Dispatch Location for 911CLIDs by site, refer to this article in OfficeSuite Community: Setting 911 Dispatch Location for OfficeSuite Sites.

To view the 911 Caller ID info for any number, click the pencil icon next to it.

A new screen pops showing the service address details of the 911 number. The top two fields for Location Name and Dispatch Location in bold type are editable. The remaining fields for service address and 911 CLID are grayed-out and not editable.

 

Editing 911 Caller ID Dispatch Location

It is recommended you start at the OfficeSuite Sites page first and edit the Dispatch Location information for each 911CLID for each location within your enterprise before you attempt to do so for each phone. That way when you review the DL for each phone you will recognize whether the 911CLID for the phone is a shared 911CLID for all the phones at the site.

Review this article for details about editing the DL for each site within your organization: Setting 911 Dispatch Location for OfficeSuite Sites.

Once you’ve defined the DL for each 911CLID at the Sites page, you may return to the Network Discovered Phones page and make a closer examination of the 911CLIDs listed for the phones in your tenant.

By default, all phones assigned to a site display the 911CLID for the site as a whole. You’ll discover that many phones share the same 911CLID because they’re all assigned to the same site. When any phone at that site dials 911 it sends the phone number, service address, and dispatch location details of the site to the Public Service Answering Point, PSAP, serving your area for emergency services.

Changing the 911CLID for an individual phone

If you want to change the 911CLID for a specific phone so that it sends its own unique 911 Caller ID number and its own unique Dispatch Location, follow these steps.

Log the phone out by clicking the Logout button on the row for that phone.

Refresh the page and click the "Add" icon on that row in the 911 CLID field.

At the next screen, select the phone number you want to assign to this phone as its own 911CLID. (If there are no numbers available, you will need to order additional numbers at the Incoming Call Routing page.)

Save. Your order for a new 911CLID for this phone is submitted and may take 48 to 72 hours to fulfill.

Once the new 911CLID appears on the Network Discovered Phones page for this phone click the pencil icon next to it to edit the Location Name and Dispatch Location information for it. Because you’re defining the location of the individual phone, you can opt to be more granular with your Dispatch Location and define it down to room, cube, or desk number.

The Location Name can be anything that identifies this phone in a familiar way to others in your organization, e.g. Conference Room A, Bob’s Office, Break Room, etc. The Location Name is not transmitted to emergency services personnel when 911 is dialed.

The Dispatch Location, on the other hand, is transmitted when 911 is dialed. In this field provide supplemental address information that will assist emergency responders to find the exact location of this phone within your place of business. It’s a 15-character field that may include room number, office, cube, or desk number, floor, or any other instruction to help first responders find the caller.

Remember, at the OfficeSuite Sites page you defined the 911 Caller ID Dispatch Location for the entire site and directed responders to the main entrance, front desk, security office, etc. At the Network Discovered Phones page, once you’ve defined a unique 911CLID for a phone you can then define DL to a deeper level of detail.

Press Save when you’ve made your desired edits and your changes will be uploaded to the 911 database. Updates may take a few hours to propagate to all 911 Public Service Answering Point, PSAP, databases.

Keep this information up to date

Each time you visit the Network Discovered Phones page in the portal you are reminded of your obligation to keep the 911 Caller ID information fields up to date to ensure emergency services personnel have the most accurate information.

If you need to change the address for an established 911 CLID, click the edit icon next to the number and then on the next panel select the down arrow in the Change Address field. Here you can select from previously entered addresses or create a new one.

Support

If you encounter any difficulty when setting the 911CLID or DL for OfficeSuite phones, you may contact the OfficeSuite Support Center for assistance at 888.623.VOIP (8647) or via email at [email protected]

OfficeSuite UC 911 Resources

OfficeSuite compliance with Kari’s Law

Setting up Audible and Visual notifications on phones whenever someone dials 911

Setting 911 Dispatch Location for OfficeSuite Sites

Note for Customers installed prior to January 6, 2021

If your OfficeSuite installation pre-dates January 6, 2021, you may not yet have the capabilities described above. OfficeSuite UC intends to make the option to define DL for each desk phone available to all customers over the course of 2021. Return to the WE Connect portal Network Discovered Phones page at a later date to see if the edit icon appears next to the 911CLID and/or an “Add” option is presented for phones not assigned a 911CLID.