Standard Features

Standard features of Global Management Station (GMS) are grouped as per the following five categories:

The GMS contains a master file of all the Subscribers on the network. The Feature included is Subscriber List Management.

Once a subscriber has an account on a specific Enhanced Fax Network, the subscriber can access any AMS or GMS on the network universally. Each subscriber is assigned a unique subscriber ID for the EMS.

Each subscriber can assign a default profile which consists of Priority, Service Level, Acknowledgment and Cover Page. The subscriber has the capability to over write the default profile when sending a fax to an AMS by the DTMF input string where, the subscriber can assign any combination of the options for a profile.

Subscriber records can be retrieved and viewed based on a specific criteria or combination of criteria whereby eliminating the cumbersome procedure of viewing all the subscriber records at a time. GMS allows to query for a subscriber record based on, Subscriber ID, Last and First Name, Effective From, Status, Company, Address, Phone No and Fax No.

The Subscriber List includes all pertinent subscriber profile data. Subscriber ID, Name, Password, Status, and Default Profile are just some of fields used to describe each individual subscriber on the system. The GMS allows addition, modification, or removal of subscribers within the Subscriber list.

GMS maintains the list of all the subscribers when added in the database unless deleted. And allows the administrator to change the status of a specified subscriber from active to inactive. Once a subscriber’s status is inactive, the subscriber is not deleted from the database but is maintained as an inactive subscriber in the database. And to reactive the subscriber, the administrator has to just change the status of the subscriber from inactive to active without adding the subscriber record again in the database.

GMS allows assigning Broadcast Lists for Subscribers to submit fax broadcast jobs, where the fax document they submit, is transmitted to multiple fax destinations. The broadcast list includes all pertinent subscriber broadcast data. A Broadcast List consists of one or more members. The GMS allows each subscriber to have up to 30 Broadcast Lists. Each list can have up to 10,000 members.

The Server Management features included within the GMS are:

Allows the administrator to define and update the network address of a specified node (such as the Advanced Media Server). Definable information includes the TCP/IP address and the Node ID on the network. The Node ID specifies the physical location and where the node resides on the data network.

Provides information on the various nodes including Physical location, Network Address, Node ID, Node Name, and Status. Also allows the administrator to change the status of specified remote nodes; for example, changing the status of a specified node from inactive to active.

New routes can be assigned very easily by using the feature of Drag and Drop. GMS allows dragging and dropping a portion of the World Numbering Directory into a particular AMS in the list of AMS Servers.

Routing Tables define how fax traffic will travel across the Enhanced Fax Server Network. This allows the administrator to set up least-cost routing paths for various nodes on the network. Routing Tables are developed on the GMS and downloaded to each of the nodes on the network. This ensures network operation even when the GMS is down. Additionally, as Routing Tables are updated, the new tables are downloaded to all of the nodes on the network.

GMS gives the flexibility to choose the networking option that best fits one’s needs.

GMS does dynamic balancing of Network load. By defining the fax traffic flow in the routing tables for EMS balancing of Network traffic is attained to increase available capacity.

The GMS provides a log of every job process in the Enhanced Fax Server Network. It tracks the specifics of each job as well as the system through which it was routed. The GMS allows the operator to Browse Job Records, View Individual Job Records, Save Job Records to File, and Query Job Records.

Allows the operator to query for display of point-to-point job records only. The query with the criteria searches the complete database and displays the matching point-to-point job records. GMS also supports query on Broadcast Jobs only, which display a list of Broadcast Job records with complete information.

Used in passing transaction information to a third party billing package. Information can be saved in a number of different ways. Either all transaction information can be saved, information for a specific time period or information for a particular classification of subscriber.

The system software automatically generates graphical representation of critical data required for monitoring the system, by manipulating the SQL database in an intelligent manner. The reports show information such as

The operator can browse through all the available fax transaction records for the Advanced Media Server Network. The operator can query the system to browse through only a portion of all the available records. This allows the operator to specify a particular job, or possibly all records routed through a particular node. The operator then can also view the complete information for a selected record.

The selected job can be a single destination job or a broadcast job. This is indicated by the colored box in front of the serial number in the first column of the Job View Management dialog. The arrow indicates a single destination job whereas the other figure indicates broadcast job. If a star precedes the arrow it indicates that the job is a direct dialed job. The EMS provides the option to the system operator to set the direct dialing parameter and allow the jobs to be dialed directly that have failed to be routed.

Green color of the box indicates that the status of the job as completed, yellow box indicates the status of the job as pending and if the box is red it indicates that the job has failed after retrying for a pre-set number.

The detail of a job can be viewed by double clicking on that particular job. The following screen shows the detail information about a broadcast job.

Allows the operator to view the complete transaction information for a specific record. Information included is record status, transaction processing time, transaction file size, and destination number, as well as a variety of other information. This allows the operator to handle any customer inquiries or problems, and to quickly provide a response.

Allows the administrator to validate routing codes, and establish and maintain security levels.

Used to validate the country, area, and city codes used in the Routing Tables. As codes are added or changed, this allows the administrator to incorporate those modifications into the Routing Tables used in the Advanced Media Server Network.

The GMS system has two security levels for operating the system, Administrator and Operator security level. The operator is assigned limited rights for a clean operation where as the Administrator has all the relevant rights to control the complete system.

GMS comes with the feature to backup the complete database. It gives the flexibility to either backup few required tables or the complete database.

It also has configurable feature of cleaning up the backed-up database from the disk. The database can be PURGED or cleaned-up after a pre-determined configurable period. This facility enables the user to maintain the database of last pre-determined number of days.