Removal of device association results in unrecognizable DN

Question

   First post, so all of the usual apologies for not know where to look for an issue that's already addressed...
Recently a small group of employees of our company have changed their standard mode of work such that they no longer have desk phones. (in the case Cisco 7975s)   I have collected all of the unused phones and they are sitting on a shelf.  All except for one.    On that particular device (let's call it "phone 1") I dissociated the DN  and assigned Phone 1 to a new employee.   I used what I think is a pretty standard process.   I created the new user in AD, synced with CM and Unity, set up CUP and CUPC, then I pulled up Phone 1 in CM, dissociated the previous user, Saved, back to Configure Device, changed the Description, set the CSS & Softkey Template, associated the Owner User ID, Saved, Applied Config.  then I added Line 1 and created it on the fly as I usually do, Saved and Applied Config again for good measure.
So, what's the issue?  the phone I re-provisioned (Phone 1) is working just fine for the new user.  However, when I navigate to the User Options page for the original user, not only can I not change the forwwarding, but the dropdown shows only a choice of the new user's DN.  AND when I try and Forward All to the cell phone that also fails.  The last thing is the although I have made no changes to the original user's AD profile (IP phone extension still there) when I dial that extension I get the default for any number we do not have in our AD - that's the fax number pool.
It seems to me that the answer lies somewhere in an association, but I can't find it.  I do not see the option to associate the original user's DN with a user in the DN Configuration window.  In the End User Configuration window for the original the telephone number shown for the original user (non-editable field) is correct.  There are no Controlled Devices for the End User (is this the key?)  If this is the direction I need to be looking, what would be the most economical way (in terms of license units) to set up users who no longer have desk phones nor do they use softphones of any kind.
Callmanager 8.6.2.20000-2
I'm looking forward to utilizing the forums.

Answer 1

when I navigate to the User Options page for the original user, not only can I not change the forwwarding, but the dropdown shows only a choice of the new user's DN.  AND when I try and Forward All to the cell phone that also fails
The /ccmuser UI is very device-centric. When the DN no longer appears on at least one device associated to that end user you will essentially lose control over it. You have two options:
Configure a Device Profile (i.e. Extension Mobility) for the old user, associate the DN to that, and associate the profile to the old user's End User Configuration page. They will see this in /ccmuser and can again modify CFA.
Login to /ccmadmin, choose Call Routing > Directory Number and set the CFA configuration directly as an admin.
The new user's DN appears because the device (remember, /ccmuser is device-centric) is still associated to the old End User Configuration.
AND when I try and Forward All to the cell phone that also fails.  The last thing is the although I have made no changes to the original user's AD profile (IP phone extension still there) when I dial that extension I get the default for any number we do not have in our AD - that's the fax number pool.
Under /ccmadmin Call Routing > Directory Number you will likely see an Active checkbox near the top of the page. If you want it to keep working you'll need to ensure this is checked. This only appears (and is deselected by default) when the DN is not associated to at least one device.
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