Fax On Demand

The Fax On Demand command allows the caller to enter the fax on demand system, either immediately (ie. when the 'Fax On Demand' command is run from a single command script or by choosing to enter the service from within a tree script.

The fax on demand system will allow a user to receive fax documents from their local fax machine (ie. if they call using a fax machine or fax modem, they are required to press 'start', or similar, in order to receive the fax document) or, as an option, forward fax documents to a remote fax machine.

The Fax on Demand Process

The fax on demand system uses a number of internal voice messages in order to operator. This is how the system works:

1. Caller welcomed with greeting message ('FaxOnDemand' greeting). The default greeting states "You are connected to our fax on demand system. Enter the numbers of the documents you require, separated by the star key, then press the hash key to confirm".

2. Caller should select the document or documents they require.
   • If the caller selected one document, STFax will use the 'SelectedDoc' system greeting to play "You have selected document...". ie. if the caller selected document '1', STFax would state "You have selected document...1".

   • If the caller selected more than one document, STFax will use the 'SelectedDocs' system greeting to play "You have selected documents...". ie. if the caller selected documents '1', '4' and '12', STFax would state "You have selected documents...1...4...12".

3. Caller will be asked to confirm the documents they have selected. The fax on demand system uses the 'Confirm' system message, playing "If this is correct, press the hash key, or press star to start again". If the caller presses #, STFax will continue. If the caller presses '*', STFax will loop back to the opening message.
   • Single document: if the selected document does not exist, STFax will warn and ask the user to re-enter the document number. The system greeting used for this is 'FaxNotFound' and the default greeting states "The required document is unavailable".

   • Multi-document selection: if one of the selected documents does not exist, STFax will ignore all 'unknown' documents and continue to send only correctly selected documents.

   • Multi-document selection: if none of the selected documents exist, STFax will state "The required document is unavailable", using the FaxNotFound system message.

4. The caller will be asked if they wish for their documents to be sent to a remote fax machine (only if you have selected 'allow forward' within the fax on demand preferences!). STFax will use the 'AskForward' system message for this, playing "You can choose to have your document sent to another fax machine. If you require this option press 1, or press the hash key to continue".

5. If the caller presses '1' (ie.requires the documents to be sent to a remote fax machine), STFax will ask the user to enter the fax number and will confirm the number with the caller. To ask for the number, STFax uses the 'AskNumber' system message, playing "Enter the fax number and then the hash key to confirm, or press start to start again". To confirm the entered fax number, STFax uses the 'Confirm' system message, stating "You have entered number...". ie. if the caller entered '01325 460117', STFax would play "You have entered number...0-1-3-2-5-4-6-0-1-1-7". If the caller presses #, STFax continues. If they press *, they are asked to re-enter the fax number.

6. If the caller is calling from a fax machine/modem, and wishes to receive them locally, they will be asked to press the start button on their fax machine, after the tone. STFax uses the 'PressStart' system message for this, playing "Press the start button on your fax machine after the tone".

   The caller would wait for the tone (normally after 5-10 seconds, depending on the modem) and then press start. Their fax machine/modem would start to receive the fax document(s).

7. If the caller chose to have the fax document(s) sent to a remote fax machine, STFax will use the 'Preparing' system message to say "Your fax is being prepared and will be forwarded to the selected number".

   STFax will then hangup, find the first available outgoing server, dial the selected number and send the requested fax document(s).

Understanding the fax on demand preferences

• Play message:  - this is the opening greeting ('FaxOnDemand' system message) which the caller will hear when entering the fax on demand system. The default message is "You are connected to our fax on demand system. Enter the numbers of the documents you require, separated by the star key, then press the hash key to confirm".

• Allow forward  - you can specify whether the caller is allowed to enter a fax number so that their chosen documents can be faxed to a remote machine. If ticked on, this option will allow a caller to select one or more fax documents, enter a fax number and then hang up. STFax will automatically fax the documents to the specified fax number. STFax uses the 'AskForward' system message for this, playing "You can choose to have your document sent to another fax machine. If you require this option press 1, or press the hash key to continue".

  Remember that this could be costly. For instance, someone could deliberately choose all the available fax documents, enter a international fax number and then hangup. Another example is where a caller enters an incorrect number and STFax keeps retrying the number (for whatever number of retries you have setup within the server preferences), using up vital server time.

  We suggest that the 'allow forward' option be used only where the fax on demand system is used in limited circumstances.

• Add/remove  - these buttons allow you to add or remove fax documents from the fax on demand list.

• Fax list  - this is the fax on demand list. To view a fax, double-click on any document within this list.

• File:  - the fax file location and name.

• ID:  - the fax identification number (this is the document number the caller would enter into their telephone keypad in order to choose the document).