Allowing CFA for a phone in a Hunt Group

Question

I have CCM v5.13. Several users are members of a hunt group, and claim that they used to be able to call forward their phones and not receive any calls from the Hunt Pilot. I've made some changes to the Hunt Pilot, and ever since they say when they call forward their phones, it only works for calls made directly to their DID number , and that calls from the Hunt Pilot still ring on their phones.
I've researched this, and found Bug CSCec54565, which states that Cisco recognizes the issue, but has no plans to fix it. The recommended work around is to call the DID number directly, not through the Hunt Pilot. This doesn't work for my set up because these DID numbers are customer service lines which are published to the public.
I also found, in my research, solution # K00682545, which states that this Hunt Group is Working As Designed, and suggests the same work around, which is calling the DID directly.
My concern is the changes I made in the Hunt Pilot. I'm giving my users the benefit of the doubt when they say they used to be able to call forward all calls, whether they come from the Hunt Pilot or directly. I've set up a test Hunt Pilot, using our phones here in the shop, and I could duplicate their problem.
Can anyone think of a change I could have made in the Hunt Pilot settings that would bring this result, or are these users imaging that they could ever call forward all their incoming calls while belonging to a Hunt Group? Any ideas would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi Bethany,
CUCM Hunt Groups/Line Groups have worked this way since at least CCM 4.1(3) :) I never like to doubt users (not a great idea for job preservation) but...I don't see their claim being a valid one.
You have to keep in mind that a call that has routed via the Hunt Pilot will always ignore the CFWD Settings on Hunt Group Member phones. The normal way to control this then is via the Hunt Group Logout of member phones combined with the Hunt Pilot level forward settings.
The following describes how the Call Forward settings on individual Hunt member phones are ignored when presented a call via the Hunt feature. Here is a clip;
Hunting and Call Forwarding
The concept of hunting differs from that of call forwarding. Hunting allows Cisco Unified Communications Manager to extend a call to one or more lists of numbers, where each such list can specify a hunting order that is chosen from a fixed set of algorithms. When a call extends to a hunt party from these lists and the party fails to answer or is busy, hunting resumes with the next hunt party. (The next hunt party varies depending on the current hunt algorithm.) ***Hunting thus ignores the Call Forward No Answer (CFNA), Call Forward Busy (CFB), or Call Forward All (CFA) settings for the attempted party (Line Group member Phones).
From this good doc;
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/admin/6_0_1/ccmsys/a03rp.html#wp1078922
This is where the Hunt Group Logout comes into play. Sadly I don't think any CUCM 5.x versions support this feature, but the users can look forward to this in your next release (6.X or 7.x)
Log Out of Hunt Groups
The Log Out of Hunt Groups feature allows phone users to log their phones out from receiving calls that get routed to directory numbers that belong to line groups to which the phone lines are associated. Regardless of the phone status, the phone rings normally for incoming calls that are not calls to the line group(s) that are associated with the phone. The phone provides a visual status of the login state, so the user can determine by looking at the phone whether they are logged in to their line group(s).
The Log Out of Hunt Groups feature also comprises the following components:
•The HLog softkey allows a phone user to log a phone out of all line groups to which the phone directory numbers belong. Configure the HLog softkey in the Softkey Layout Configuration window. When the user presses the HLog softkey, the phone screen displays "Logged out of Hunt Group." When the user presses the HLog softkey again to log back in and receive hunt group calls, the "Logged out of Hunt Group" notification on the phone screen clears.
•The Hunt Group Logoff Notification service parameter in the Clusterwide Parameters (Device - Phone) section of the Service Parameters Configuration window for the Cisco CallManager service must be configured to enable this feature.
The Log Out of Hunt Groups feature, which is device-based, operates differently for non-shared lines and for shared lines.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/admin/6_1_1/ccmsys/a08ipph.html#wp1032225
Hope this helps!
Rob