PAC05-2-17

Prepared by: OIT

Unified Communications: Progress and future activities

Contents

• What is Unified Communications?• A very brief UC planning ‘history

lesson’• Activities to date• Experience thus far• Tentative implementation activities

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What is UC?/How Will UC Benefit ISU

Telephony Becomes another Application on the Data Network –

oftentimes referred to as Voice over the Internet

Facilitates the Virtualization of Telephony (some traditional telephony

tasks are performed via software changes instead of changing wires)

But wait, there’s more!….

Specific Ways UC Could Benefit ISU:

- Unified Messaging - Contact Center Functionality

- Instant Messaging - Multimedia Conferencing

- Presence Awareness - Mobility

- One-Click Connections

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A brief history lesson: Requirements Gathering 2014– Approach

Conducted 25 User Meetings with More than 120 Total Participants

21 Campus Departments or Groups Represented

Utilized After-Interview Survey to Capture Individual Input

Survey Contained 83 Specific Rating Items in 6 Categories

Received Survey Responses from 82 Interviewed Participants

Performed Deep Analysis of Survey Data to Identify Key Findings

Conducted Many Technical Requirements Meetings with OIT Staff

Compared ISU Requirements with Those from Other Campuses

Widespread Interest in Improved UC/Telephony Functionality

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A brief history lesson: Requirements Gathering 2014– Key Findings

1. System Reliability, Ease of Use, or Prompt Emergency Response Highly Beneficial to 90%

2. Unified Messaging Highly Beneficial to 81%

3. 'Access VM from Computer' and 'Capture Caller ID, Time, and Date with Messages Left‘ are Highest Unified Messaging Benefits

4. Unified Communications General Feature/Functionality Highly Beneficial to 76%

5. Most Beneficial Phone Feature/Functionality Items are Caller ID Display, Call Transfer, Call Forwarding, Improved Speakerphones, and Call History Display

6. Soft Phone Highly Beneficial to Foundation, Landsbaum, Public Safety, COB, OIT, Ext Learning, and COE

7. Improved Conferencing Feature/Functionality Moderately to Highly Beneficial to 71%

8. Advanced Specialized Call Center Functionality Highly Beneficial to Foundation, Registration, Financial Aid, Extended Learning, Admissions, and OIT

9. Capability for improved phone Mobility Highly Beneficial to Public Safety and OIT

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A brief history lesson: Requirements Gathering 2014– Priority Areas

Unified Messaging

System Reliability/Redundancy

Multimedia Conferencing

Contact Center

Emergency Notification

Phone Sets

At the end of requirements gathering work with users we evaluated and ranked three UC platforms. Cisco, Avaya, and Microsoft (Skype for Business).

Microsoft Skype for Business received the highest overall score.

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A brief history lesson: Requirements Gathering 2014– Decisions made at the end of the planning effort

1. Reduce Risk and Delay Selection of a UC Voice Platform – pilot activities focused on Skype for Business based on results of the overall analysis.

2. Proceed with Key Functionality Improvements:a. Unified Messagingb. Contact Centerc. Multimedia Conferencing (Skype for Business

capabilities).d. Emergency Notification System

3. Do Not Proceed with Old PBX Dual Core Redundancy4. Expedite Critical Infrastructure Upgrades

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UC Experiences and activities to date– ‘So far, so good’

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Unified Messaging – Implemented Fall 2015• Users like managing voicemail through the email inbox

• Through the integration with the email system, caller id shows names

rather than phone numbers for saved contacts

• Connectivity into email, calendaring, and contacts allows for more fluid

communication while on-the-go

Contact Center – Implemented January 2016• Department supervisors are effectively able to manage critical aspects of

their phones such as schedules and reporting

• Using the system, 101,900 phone calls were made to support NSO,

Enrollment, and other activities

• Efficiencies were realized as two separate systems were replaced by

one new system.

UC Experiences and activities to date– ‘So far, so good’

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Skype for Business all pilots – Conducted Aug. 2016 – Feb. 2017• User adds, removes, and changes take less time• The display of presence information has improved communication

efficiency• Integrated phone directory is beneficial• Utilizing Instant Messaging can reduce the number of “quick” emails.• Audio and Video Conferencing scheduling and integration is much better.Critical UC Upgrades – Ongoing since 2015• There has been minimal user impact from the re-wiring activities• Has made it possible to perform future activities to support other UC

projects as well as activities that support efficient wired and wireless environments - e.g. 1Gbps connection to the desktop.

• Root Hall, University Pavilion, HMSU, CML, Gillum Hall

Future Activities – Users will begin to reap the benefits.

Implement SIP connection for campus PSTN connection. This is a critical path item which must happen before we add very many more users to Skype for Business. (scheduled to take place this summer).

Summer 2017 President’s Suite and Offices of Senior Vice Presidents in Rankin, Tirey, Parsons.

Quarter 4, 2017 – Academic college pilot.

Quarter 4, 2017 – Continue to transition more areas.

Complete transition of all users to Skype for Business by the end the December, 2019.

ØThis schedule assumes permanent (requires reappointment) staffing proposal under development will be approved.

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Example– Deployment tasks

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Typical process:

1. Meeting with Departmental Leadership2. User Auditing/Requirements Gathering/Determine UC Devices3. Distribute Documentation4. Migrate Users (Depending on the size of the department, step 4 can take

between 1 to 5 days to complete. For Normal Hall and the Foundation Office this took about 3 days).

a. Skype for Business Enterprise Voiceb. Skype for Business Conferencing

5. Follow Up Support (this includes user testing and feedback loop with OIT).

6. Training is available at: https://support.office.com/en-us/skype-for-business

This is a very high-level overview Each department will have detailed schedule when confirmed

How will this affect me?

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Your telephone number will NOT change.

When you are converted to Skype for Business, your old telephone set will not work with your number. An OIT technician will remove your old telephone set and will replace it with either a headset connecting to your computer, or a Skype for Business (VOIP) phone set. Users specific configuration will be determined during auditing and requirements gathering step.

Using the Skype for Business client (a.k.a. ‘softphone’), you will be able to make telephone calls from your computer as long as you have a certified Skype for Business headset and a properly configured, university owned and supported computer.

Your voice mail will continue to be delivered to your Outlook email.

How will this affect me?

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You will be able to initiate both internal and external audio and video conferencing meetings from within your Outlook client.

You will be able to forward your telephone calls to your cell phone (pending department approval).

You will be able to check your email from your phone via voice response.

You will be able to reply to email via voice (if you choose to do so).

For the time being, the rate you are charged for your existing telephone number will not change.

Questions ?

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