Progress continues on the Phone Replacement project. This project replaces all of the faculty and staff phones throughout SMU and is comprised of multiple stages. Although the project will not be completed until 2020, much of the preliminary work is occurring now, and we will schedule several pilot phone installations this summer. Following is the current status of each stage.
E911 project: 25% complete
As mentioned in our last newsletter, e911 location services are being evaluated. This assessment safeguards that a caller’s location is accurate in the event of an emergency. 25% of the physical locations, known as Emergency Response Locations (ERLs), for all 3,800 phones on campus have been verified.
Cabling Assessment project: 25% complete
Assessments of cabling to the desktop throughout campus are underway. Cabling will be upgraded when required as phones are deployed. This stage is currently 25% complete.
Call Center Solution: pending contract
In addition to preparations for new phones, we are also implementing a new call center solution. A vendor has been selected and we are currently finalizing our contract. Once the contract is finalized, communications to call center stakeholders will occur and a more comprehensive implementation schedule defined.
Deployment Planning
Beginning in May 2019, OIT will pilot the new phones. We will provide training and end-user documentation to this pilot group, and this will allow us to ensure user guides are correct and useful for the university-wide deployment. The OIT team will also develop a new web page for the phone services. This web page will include information on what to expect when you get a new phone, videos, training materials, and answers to frequently asked questions. An announcement will be made later this summer with the deployment dates and training opportunities for the new phone system.
To view updates on the project timeline, visit the Phone Replacement Project Website.
