There are many reasons:

• The university’s legacy telephony platform has reached the end of its usable life. In 2019, the university opted to migrate to Microsoft Teams for Voice, and our project to migrate the campus to the new platform has a mandatory completion date of June 20, 2024.
• The new platform provides better, more-integrated communications features while simultaneously simplifying the delivery of those services: bundling basic service, voicemail, domestic long distance, webinars, collaboration tools, and chat into a single piece of software that is accessible both on- and off-campus.
• Many parts of campus that aren’t using this new infrastructure could achieve real and significant cost savings by taking advantage of this new university resource.
• The Microsoft 365 platform additionally includes significant enhancements to the university’s cybersecurity posture for endpoints, end users and e-mail.

By June 2024, we are expecting all users to have transitioned to Teams Voice. The existing legacy platform must be removed from the production IT environment by June 30, 2024.

Any use cases served by the legacy platform that have not been re-established within the new Teams Voice environment will likely cease to function on June 30, 2024, when the legacy system is removed from the production IT environment.

Yes, we realize that, for some use cases, moving to Teams Voice will require more detailed planning. Please reach out to our project team via Telecom Helpdesk ticket. We stand ready to assist with all complicated use cases.

Start with RCT Teams Voice Reports and if you aren’t finding what you need, submit a ticket to Telecom, category: Telecommunication >Teams Voice.

The Department of Telecommunications will be the definitive source for billing information, legacy SIPx users and numbers and non-user associated phone numbers. Submit a ticket to Telecom, category: Telecommunication >Teams Voice.

Below is a quick list of things to consider before making the move to Teams Voice:

• Telephone records for your area may not be up to date and will likely need to be organized as part of the Teams Voice onboarding process. This can be a time-intensive process and typically requires resources from both your area and Telecom to sort through.
• Front line support (e.g. options and functionality presented in the Teams Voice desktop and mobile client) is the responsibility of your area's IT support for Teams Voice users in your area. It would be advisable to have support staff familiarize themselves with the use of various Teams Voice functions and options presented in the Teams interface.
• Teams Voice onboarding generates notification emails to both onboarding users and the coordinators who submitted the request - Outlook Inbox rules may be your friend if you're a Resource Coordinator.
• Migrating to Teams Voice or changing your associated phone number within Teams Voice does not update your phone number of record in the HR database or Online Directory, please work with your departmental HR representative to ensure your phone number is accurately reflected across CSU systems.

Below is a general outline of the onboarding process.

It takes a minimum of 4 days to onboard a Teams Voice user between submitting the request via the Resource Coordinator Tools and the account being onboarded to Teams Voice. The multi-day cutover is required for licensing and M365 settings to be applied before a Teams Voice account can be onboarded.

If you currently have a CSU provided phone number, Telecom will use existing location data for emergency services. If you are onboarding a new user who did not previously have a CSU phone number, please include building and room data when you submit your "New Teams Voice Request" via the Resource Coordinator Tools. If you have questions or need to update emergency services data for users in your area, please submit a support ticket to Telecom at helpdesk.colostate.edu. by selecting the "Telecommunications" Request Type and the "Teams Voice" option.

Generally, students are not eligible for Teams Voice on an individual basis. However, student employees who answer phones in a service desk or call queue environment can be onboarded to Teams Voice to act as a delegate on a shared number or as an agent of a call queue. Please submit a "New Teams Voice" request through the Resource Coordinator Tools.

NOTE: Your students must use M365 for their mail and calendaring services, as a M365 mailbox is required for Teams Voice. Students using @rams Google Apps can switch their primary email provider on the eID website under Modify eID > Email Settings.

Teams Voice onboarding responsbilities can be delegated to any staff member a primary resource coordinator choses, including non-IT staff. Departmental HR Managers, Office Managers or other Administrative Staff can be made secondary coordinators for your department using the existing "Add Coordinator" functionality. Once designated individuals have been aded as secondary coordinators, primary coordinators can use the "Set Coordinator Access" option in the Teams Voice section of the Resource Coordinator Tools.

Legacy phones will need to find their way to CSU surplus. Fill out an EACR form from CSU Surplus Property to arrange for Surplus pick up or a time to drop off old phones.

Headsets and/or handsets are not required for use of Teams Voice and the project team generally recommmends using the Teams Client on their PC or mobile device. However, Teams Voice will work "out of the box" with most existing desktop/laptop microphones and speakers but individual departments may choose to purchase Teams certified headsets or handsets at their discretion.

By default, an assigned number will stay with a person/account in Teams Voice as they change positions or departments within CSU. However, in some circumstances (at the discretion of that department) there is a need for a well-known phone number to stay within a given area. If a number should stay with a department, the department's Resource Coordinator should work with CSU Telecom to retain the use of the number and to have a new number assigned to the transferring user. Coordinators can go to helpdesk.colostate.edu and submit a Teams Voice ticket by selecting the "Telecommunications" Request Type and the "Teams Voice" option. Please include details such as user, department, number etc. when submitting a help desk ticket.

Also, please allow time for requests to be processed by Telecom, and note that coordination between admins in both the user's previous and new departments may be necessary.

One way to manage these scenarios would be to restrict high profile or high visibility numbers to shared mailboxes only, then leverage delegates on the shared mailbox for those who are responsible for taking those calls. A shared mailbox could also be used in transitioning that phone number from one user to another or between departments.

Please do not hesistate to contact the Teams Voice project team if you have questions about this or similar uses cases.