Rethinking Telephone Operations at UVA-Wise Oscar Raile, MBA Director for Policy and Planning UVa’s College at Wise

 What will be covered  Overview of implementation  Reorganization of operations  e-Statements  Improvements achieved  High level look – key issues and lessons learned  Not a technical “How to” Journey to a VOIP System

Almost 800 Verizon Centrex phone lines with obsolete phone sets “Pay as you go” contracted maintenance, changes and additions Where did we Begin?

How does our phone system work? How do we communicate? Most people communicate in ways they don’t think about. Some functions are different in VOIP systems. Users perception of success – how well it works for me. Think the communications process not the phones!

 User Survey– what they know they need or want  Work Group Interviews - how they communicate in the work group  “Walkabout” – Look, Listen, observe – Things they don’t know they use / need  The catch: Phone systems and related processes touch MUCH more than everyone thinks Defining needs: (Gathering Needles from the Haystack)

 User Survey  Reliable voic  An indicator light for voic  Caller ID – would be nice  Failure of imagination  Design Concerns  Security  E911 compliance; verified by Wise County center  Reliability of service / downtime Early thoughts on needs

 Things that can’t change - What only works with traditional phone lines?  Emergency issues – How do we keep E911 up to date and legally compliant?  Maintenance boundaries – Who does what?  Business side - How do we generate eStatements?  Gaps – What do proposals not cover? Behind the Scenes

Network design, current loading, support of required features Supporting issues – power, backup and security Vendors’ question number 1: Is your network infrastructure ready for VOIP?

 Committee – The right mix  RFP – User, admin and behind the scenes  Interview / Demonstration  Show us how your system does “x” (user functions)  Demonstrate common admin tasks  How intuitive is each?  Clearly identify core vs add on features  Check Internet – Blogs, vendors, experiences, video demonstrations, 3 rd party resources Searching for the right “fit”

 Support natural communications  Skills needed to support each option  Cost reduction vs intangibles  Implementation process  After sales support  Additional vendors for support  Check references - users and admins Choosing the “right” solution

 7 vendor solutions  2 open source based  5 hardware based  Some were too small (400 phones max)  Some too complex / “admin abusive”  One was a great fit  Simple to use and maintain  Scales easily for the future  Many resellers to work with  A lot of information available on line Our choices

“Brilliantly Simple” is their claim and we found it to be true. A mature, fully featured product line with high reliability. And the winner was…..ShoreTel

 Network certification – testing  Phone switches and server – testing  Pilot group on new system – call testing  Phone sets, users, features – testing  Trunk lines – Offsite call testing  Moving / porting phone numbers – testing  E911 works with local PSAP – testing and documentation (prep for legal challenge)  Did I mention testing? Phased installation & testing

 Service provider product  Not part of ShoreTel system  Create corporate structure  Call record transmission device  eStatements automatically distributed  User  Department head  Billing Summary to accounting eStatement System

 Project planning and operations management  Division of duties among existing staff  VOIP technical (Phones and circuits)  Network support (VLAN & POE)  Move/add/change – in house now  Phone and eStatement support desk  Analog service reduced by 400 lines Reorganization

 Users are happy with new system  “Voic works”  Caller ID with message light  All modern features  Web interface “ShoreTel Communicator”  In house repair of most issues  In house, screen based moves  In house and on demand training Improvements

Questions