New Telephone Rollout Update

With the advent of new phones being deployed to the Help Desk, many of you might be wondering, ‘When are we getting our phones?’ The intention of this update is to give everyone a high-level vision of that timeline as well as a brief description of the process that we’ll be following.

Our first step is to define the order in which to approach departments. We’re looking at a lot of variables to do that – things like the readiness of cabling, good/bad times of the year, and departments that should get phones at the same time because they are similar or interact a lot. Our next deployment is to the Enrollment Center in mid-March. We’ll start in other areas across DTEC, Commercial Avenue, and the Truax campus in April and will finish by the end of Fall 2010.

The process that each department will follow when their time comes is essentially the same, regardless of department. It includes the following high-level phases:
• Design – A Business Analyst (BA) meets with the department’s ‘owner’ to discuss current and future workflows and phone needs. The BA creates design documents for review with the College’s BAs and then signoff.
• Build – The technical team translates the design into the phone and call flow build.
• User Acceptance Testing – The BA and department owner test call flows in our test lab. This ensures that the build matches the design and that the owner is comfortable with any behavior.
• Training – With testing approved, training will be provided to all end users. This will come in the form of online documentation and videos, formal training, and/or drop in sessions depending on the type of user.
• Deployment and Cutover – Phones will be placed on desks just prior to the date phone numbers are transitioned to the new phones. That change happens after hours, and project team members will be available onsite in each department for support the day after the change.
• Support – The Help Desk will triage any operational questions after any project-related questions have been resolved.

I hope this helps to answer some questions that you might be having. If you have any other questions, however, feel free to contact me.

Thanks.
rrohwer[at] matcmadison [dot] edu (Becky Rohwer), Project Manager