Telephone Voice Services
The intent of this document is to describe telephone voice services provided by Network and Telecommunication Services (NTS) Voice Services, define boundaries of such services, and identify levels of services customers should expect. NTS provides telephone voice services to thousands of customers and call centers on campus. Availability of E911 services is critical for fire/life/safety issues at the University. Availability of telephone voice services is critical to operations throughout the University.
Definition of Services Provided
Twin Cities Campus Telephone Services - http://www1.umn.edu/nts/voice Training Resources - http://uttc.umn.edu/training NTS Voice Services owns and operates the campus voice communications distribution system which provides dial tone to all phone systems on the University’s Twin Cities campus telephone network. The Aastra/Intecom 6880 PointSpan telephone system NTS operates is based on Time Division Multiplexing, a mature and very stable technology. Voice over IP - https://wiki.umn.edu/view/NTSFAQ/VoIPFAQ Voice over IP (Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP) is a newer technology that utilizes the packet data network to transmit and receive voice communications in much the same manner as is used by normal data communications to travel from computer to computer. VOIP is currently in pilot testing at the University, with the goal of integrating VOIP into the University’s Aastra/Intecom Telephone system. Currently VOIP service is reserved for customers who cannot obtain traditional telephone services. Off-campus Centrex service - https://wiki.umn.edu/view/NTSFAQ/CentrexFAQ Locations outside the service area of the Twin Cities telephone system typically subscribe to QWEST Centrex basic telephone service through NTS. QWEST provides a smaller set of features than what is offered on campus. QWEST also offers a simplified Call Center service as well. Gopher Messaging - http://www1.umn.edu/nts/go4msg Gopher Messaging is a unified messaging system, which, in addition to regular telephone-based voicemail, allows customers to customize methods for handling calls, messages, and faxes. Gopher Messaging’s online features make it possible to forward messages via email, and listen to messages or review faxes via the web.
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Gopher Conferencing - http://www1.umn.edu/nts/go4conf Gopher Conferencing is a telephone conferencing system that allows customers to set up telephone conferences at any time for up to 30 callers. In addition to quick and easy 24x7 telephone conferencing, Gopher Conferencing also offers a number of other features that give customers tighter control over their conferences. Call Centers - https://wiki.umn.edu/view/NTSFAQ/CallCenterFAQ A Call Center is an automated telecommunications system used to process large volumes of telephone calls for deployments such as Help Desks or Appointment Scheduling Services. Reports about call traffic statistics and call taker information are managed using the Centergy management application. Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) - https://wiki.umn.edu/view/NTSFAQ/AcdFaq Automatic Call Distribution is a function of the telephone system which routes calls from one telephone number to multiple answering points. The ACD queues incoming calls, which are then distributed to agents based upon predetermined criteria such as longest idle and queuing priority. Customers receive a hold message, which informs them their call is important and is in queue for an agent to answer. Auto-Attendant - https://wiki.umn.edu/view/NTSFAQ/AutoAttendantFAQ An Auto-Attendant is a function of the voicemail system which may be used in conjunction with an ACD. The Auto-Attendant automatically answers incoming calls and presents customers with a previously recorded voicemail menu allowing them to select options and route themselves to certain numbers or recorded messages. Telephone Sets - http://www1.umn.edu/nts/voice The University of Minnesota telephone system supports approximately 33,000 telephones on the Twin Cities campus. Approximately one third of the phones are digital phones and the remainders are traditional analog speakerphones. The Digital sets allow multiple line and feature buttons. NTS offers two digital sets a 12-button speakerphone and a 30-button speakerphone Campus Phones – http://www1.umn.edu/nts/campusphones Networking and Telecommunications Services provides public services to the University of Minnesota Campus community by providing free public campus telephones in key campus locations. Campus phones offer calls to local numbers, 911 emergency calls to the University police, and information calls to the campus information at 625-5000.
Service Performance
Voice Services for the University provides E911 services and is considered critical for Fire/ Life/Safety. NTS strives for service availability to be 100 percent. The telecommunications industry uses a target rating of 99.9999 percentage of availability.
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Hours of Operation
It is the goal of NTS to provide telephone services 24x7x52. System status is available at: http://systemstatus.umn.edu.
Performance Measurement
Availability Up time System Performance Response time Throughput Customer satisfaction Service Delivery Performance NTS response and resolution times
Description
Maximum amount of time before response is made to a service request Maximum amount of time before a request is resolved Severity Response Time Resolution Goal Level* 1 2 3 4
Customer Satisfaction * Severity Level Definitions 1. Critical business application problems or outages that affect an entire campus and many users at the University. Examples include: a. Network outages that affect multiple colleges or administrative units b. Outages or severe performance degradation of core applications such as PeopleSoft, email, Active Directory services for all users c. Any problem that is critical for fire/life/safety issues at the University 2. Important business application problems or outages that affect a campus region or zone at the University. Examples include: a. Localized network outages that affect multiple buildings b. Outages or severe performance degradation of important applications such as UMCal, UMContent, NetFiles, or UMConnect for a large number of users 3. Important business application problems or outages that affect a college/administrative unit/department at the University. Examples include: a. Localized network outages that affect a single building or unit b. Outages or performance degradation of important applications such as UMCal, UMContent, NetFiles, or UMConnect for a limited number of users 4. Non-urgent requests or problems/outages that affect a small number of users. Examples include: a. Service requests/orders (phone/data adds, moves, changes) b. Outages or performance degradation for a very small number of users
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Scheduled Maintenance
Scheduled maintenance periods allow the NTS staff to perform routine maintenance and perform upgrades. Redundancies built into the telephone system will ensure availability of services during scheduled maintenance periods. When maintenance is determined to be required, OIT will update the System Status page five days prior to the maintenance period. Announcement will include start time, anticipated end time, and a description of the maintenance to be performed (upgrades, patches, etc.). If the maintenance window extends beyond anticipated end time, system status will be updated accordingly.
Dependencies
Telephone services are dependent upon the University data center power, network, and related systems. The availability of those systems will have a direct impact on the availability of this service. Service Power Dependency on Service There must be power to networking equipment in OIT data centers and buildings throughout campus There must a room temperature environment for networking equipment in OIT data centers and buildings throughout campus Service Provider Network & Telecommunications/Facilities Management Network & Telecommunications/Facilities Management
Environment
Service Provider and Customer Responsibilities
Staffing
NTS is a large service unit within OIT that is responsible for operating, monitoring, maintaining, and repairing all aspects of the telephone voice network.
OIT Duties and Responsibilities
NTS communicates regularly with customers about telephone services via the net-ops listserv list. NTS also participates regularly in monthly Net People meetings group at which issues related to the various services are reported and discussed. NTS will be expected to: Communicate and coordinate with IT staff in local units to minimize disruption to end users. Notify customers about all scheduled maintenance Meet response and resolution times associated with service-related incidents Generate and make available monthly service level reports
Customer Duties and Responsibilities:
Adhere to any related policies, processes, and procedures Report problems using reporting procedures described in this service statement Provide input on the quality and timeliness of service Installation charges and charges for wiring are the responsibility of the customer Purchase of phone sets is the responsibility of the customer.
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Problem Management
The status of U of M systems is available online at: http://systemstatus.umn.edu. Whenever possible, users are encouraged to check the status page before contacting technical support. For all problems with the telephone system users are encouraged to contact the University’s 1-Help service (http://1-help.umn.edu): On-campus – 1-HELP (1-4357) Off-campus – (612) 301-HELP (4357) E-mail – help@umn.edu 1-Help hours are: Monday – Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
8:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m. 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.
Outside of these hours, or on University holidays, callers may leave a message, which will be responded to the following business day. 1-Help will escalate incidents, when necessary, to appropriate service providers. All incidents and changes reported to 1-Help will be logged into Service Center.
Disaster Recovery
The telephone network is among the critical services. In the event of a disaster, recovering network services is at the highest level of importance. Redundancies are built into the telephone system to minimize outages and to ensure that service is restored as quickly as possible in the event of a disaster. Degraded or failed service receives immediate attention and all available resources are brought into force to recover full operations.
Communication
Normal Operations
The operational status of the service will be available via the system status page. Planned updates and maintenance will be announced five days in advance via the net-ops e-mail list. Operational and support statistics will be reported monthly.
Planned Service Interruptions
NTS performs repair and maintenance activities. Many are not service impacting, however, upgrades are generally scheduled for early mornings when traffic is low and systems can be evaluated. NTS exercises redundancy capabilities weekly. This is usually scheduled for early mornings and only minimally disturbs service. For scheduled upgrades NTS tests new software releases and features on test systems prior to implementing on the production systems. Upgrades and maintenance activities typically are scheduled and announce two weeks in advance.
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Unexpected Interruptions
In the event of unexpected service interruption, OIT will update the System Status page and send notification of service interruption to subscribed individuals within 15 minutes of service loss identification. The net-ops list will be used to communicate interruptions. Status updates will be provided on an hourly basis to both system status and subscribed individuals. Post mortem will be released 24 hours after the resolution of the interruption.
Policies
University of Minnesota Information Technology policies are available on the web at: http://www.policy.umn.edu/groups/ppd/documents/index/policycategories.cfm?ctg=4&subctg=37 University of Minnesota Telephone policies are available on the web at: http://policy.umn.edu/groups/ppd/documents/Policy/Telephones.cfm NTS Policies: 1. NTS is currently the only approved provider for Voice Services on the Twin Cities campus. This includes the suite of services listed on this service statement. 2. NTS owns and distributes telephone number ranges of (612) 301-0000 through 301-9999 and (612) 624-0000 though 626-9999. These numbers are solely distributed by NTS. 3. The Twin Cities Telephone system can support a directory number replicated in many locations. This causes location issues with E911 calling. The police require accurate location information as well as Minnesota statute. This requires the replicated number must be within a reasonable distance from the documented location. We sometimes referred to as “Yelling” or “Hollering” distance as the scenario in which the police will attempt to find the victim based on someone yelling for help. Within the Telephone system there are ways to mitigate this requirement, but special care is required to stay compliant. 4. Digital phone sets must be Aastra/Intecom compliant for use on campus. Using another manufacture may cause damage to the Twin City campus telephone system.
Service Statement Maintenance
This statement of service will be reviewed annually. Last revision: May 2008 File Name: Telephone Voice Services Service Statement - 05-28-2008.doc
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