A call manager uses a call management application in conjunction with a live dial database to control routing of calls for managed devices. To generate the live dial database, the call management application accesses configured route patterns and enters these patterns into the live dial database. Upon identifying an expansion indicator in a configured route pattern, the call management application accesses dial plan data that includes multiple route pattern definitions that each define a pattern using one or more sub-strings and, for each sub-string, an associated tag. The call management application then enters patterns defined by the route pattern definitions into the live dial database based on various other criteria established for the configured route pattern having the expansion indicator.