Lync Phone Usage Records

Lync uses Phone Usage Records to define calling privileges for Enterprise Voice users. Phone Usage Records are simply labels, which can be given descriptive names such as 'Local Calls' or 'Calls to Mobile' or 'International Calls'. One or more Phone Usage Records are then added to an Enterprise Voice Policy which can be applied to users. The Phone Usage Records are also associated with outbound call routes. This is the 'glue' that applies the call privileges or restrictions to a user. The collection of Phone Usage Records in the Voice Policy determines all the authorised routes allowed to a user. When a user places a call, Lync Server matches the dialed number with a route in the authorized route list. If a matching route is found, the call is made. If no matching route is found, the call is not made.

The graphic below shows a simple example. We have two Enterprise Voice users. Mr Big is the manager and is allowed to make calls to National, Mobile and International numbers. Joe Bloggs is not to be allowed to make international calls. We already have outbound routes to National, Mobile and International (the examples shows Irish numbering where all national calls begin with a single 0, mobiles begin with 08 and international calls begin with 00). We create two Enterprise Voice Policy records called Manager and Staff. We assign these to Mr Big and Joe as appropriate. The Manager policy has Phone Usage Records called 'National', 'Mobile' and 'International', while the Staff policy only has 'National' and 'Mobile' Phone Usage records.

When either user makes a 'National' call, the Phone Usage Record of the 'National' route is compared against the list of Phone Usage Records assigned to the user, through the Voice Policy. In this case, both users will have a match and the call is allowed. When Mr Big makes an International call, again the Phone Usage Record for the route appears in his list of Phone Usage assignments and the call proceeds. On the other hand when Joe attempts an International call, the usage record on the route ('International') does not appear on his list of Phone Usage Records and the call is barred.

Generally, Phone Usage Records are created for two reasons – to restrict calls because of cost (e.g. International calls) or to restrict calls to inappropriate numbers (e.g. premium content services). In the example shown, the user Joe either needs to make calls to mobile (cell) numbers or the call cost to these are the same as calls to National numbers and therefore there is no point in restricting the calls. However, premium calls are generally not appropriate for business calls and are therefore restricted. This is shown in the graphic by the fact that the 'Premium' phone usage record is not applied to any Voice Policy – neither user could make Premium calls.