VQ Conference Manager DMA displays several real-time status conditions in the Devices area of the application. Theses status notifications provide key information to a DMA user to indicate the basic ‘health’ of the environment.
Geolocation
In DMA we have introduced support for storing geographical location (geo-location) data for a device. This information enables the DMA Dashboard to group and display devices by their physical locations, anywhere in the world.
Data sources are basis of any Address Book that is to be created in and made available by DMA Directory Services to the video endpoint devices in your environment. The first and most important data source for DMA is its own list of devices under management, your organizations own devices. This source is predefined in DMA and named ‘Internal DMA’ by default.
Address Books (Phone Books)
DMA supports the creation of Address Books from the Internal DMA devices list, sub-sets (using filters) of the Internal DMA list or imported data from pre-formatted CSV files.
DMA Address Books are designed to replicate the TMS ‘Corporate Directory’ Phone Book. They are created primarily from the DMA managed device list and are made searchable to assigned video endpoints via the same SOAP XML API method used by TMS.
DMA Address Books can be accessed by endpoints that have been set to ‘TMS mode’ in Phone Books and have the URL set to point at the VQ Conference Manager server’s DMA Directory Service
The Address Books are secured to be accessed only by ‘Assigned’ (permissioned) groups of devices in the same way they are in TMS through the ‘Set on Systems’ command.
Device Configuration is where detailed configuration management of Cisco collaboration devices can be performed using pre-defined Templates and Cisco xAPI commands.
It is also where DMA can be provided with reference information that will be used to configure the details of devices in the DMA database.
Some key aspects include:
Locations
Locations in DMA can be equated to the hierarchy that was previously created in TMS using the Navigator function. The primary use case for Locations is essentially as a categorisation and filing system for your devices.
Typically organizations use location hierarchies that describe the physical and geographic locations of devices, e.g., regions, countries, states, and cities. But they might also use an organisational design that allows for clear identification of who owns a device or what it is used for, possibly in an environment where devices are not stationary.
Labels
In DMA we have introduced a new concept not seen in TMS, but often seen in more modern workflow applications – Labels.
Labels are additional free text ‘tags’ that can be added to devices, enabling additional groupings and identification when filtering devices for actions.
Device Templates
Device Templates in DMA are the equivalent of the ‘Configuration Templates’ function found in the ‘Systems’ section of TMS. The primary use case for Device Templates is to ensure that standard configurations are applied to all endpoints in the environment. This ensures that critical security, performance, and capability settings are maintained.
Before creating templates, you will need to create one or more Template Modules containing the commands or configuration settings that are to be sent to the collaboration device.
Template Modules
Template Modules are a new concept unique to DMA that we have introduced with the aim to reduce the amount of work required to create, manage, and change configurations in large environments.
Device Templates are constructed of Template Modules (containing the required command or configuration settings), a list of devices that the template must be applied to and, if persistent (i.e. to be re-applied regularly to the device), have details of when this should be done.
One Button to Push (OBTP) – one click to join a call using a physical in-room Cisco conferencing endpoint.
Meetings scheduled via VQ’s Meeting Scheduler, Outlook Plug-in or VQCM API can be scheduled to include OBTP capable Cisco devices.
Once scheduled in VQCM, the device’s OBTP meeting schedule is updated and just before meeting start time, the device will present a “Join” button on screen or via its Touch Panel display, enabling a quick and straightforward way of joining the meeting.
