Hello,
We wanted to make you aware that UITS is changing IU’s telephony system. Voice and video calling will migrate from “Microsoft Skype for Business” to “Microsoft Teams”. UITS intends to complete the transition from Skype for Business to Teams by June 30th, 2023. More information can be found at About Microsoft Teams Calls at IU.
The timeline for migration has accelerated more than was previously conveyed by UITS. UITS has informed us (see ‘Timeline and UITS communication overview’ just below). As of this publication, it only it includes phone numbers attributed to people without IP phones (see second bullet below). Non-IP phones implies USB phones and headsets. Complex account migrations for IP Phone owners and Response Group Members will be scheduled after March 2nd, 2023, in direct communication between the department and UITS’ Communications Planning & Implementation team (see third bullet below).
Timeline and UITS communication overview
The migration from Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams Calls is proceeding in three groups for three different types of accounts:
- No phone number: All accounts without a phone number assigned (accounts that were eligible only for PC-to-PC calls) were moved between January 31 and February 6, 2023. Affected accounts received an email notification seven days before the migration and a reminder one day before the migration.
- Phone numbers without IP phones or response groups: Accounts with office phone numbers assigned, that do not use either an IP phone or a call response group, will be moved in batches between February 14 and March 2, 2023. All migrations will occur after 5pm on the scheduled date. Affected accounts will receive an email notification seven days before the migration and a notice the morning after the migration.
- Phone numbers with IP phones or response groups: Accounts used with an IP phone, or a call response group require direct discussion to coordinate replacement or retirement of the IP phone and/or management and migration of the response group into a Teams call queue. The UITS Communications Planning and Implementation team will be working with departments directly to schedule migration of these accounts. These migrations are ongoing now and will continue through the 2023 calendar year. These accounts won't receive automated mailings since the interaction with the department will be direct.
After your account has migrated, you will no longer be able to sign into Skype for Business. At that point all voice calls will occur within Microsoft Teams using the “Calls” tab. Please see the example below. You will not have a dial pad option in MS Teams until your account has been migrated.
With
With the move to Microsoft Teams Voice, unfortunately the existing IP phones will no longer work. However, this provides an opportunity to take a fresh look at what equipment best suits your needs.
Over the last few years, there have been many changes in the way people work. Meetings have moved from in-person to virtual and participants have invested in headsets and other equipment in support of being more mobile. The result is less demand for a traditional phone that was once on every desk and in every household. Additionally, UITS data show that a substantial number of desk phones are plugged in but are rarely if ever used.
Moving forward, UITS would like units to only replace those phones where necessary and provide clients with alternative solutions if they don't already have one (e.g., headsets). UITS expectation is that this can substantially reduce the number of phones purchased and deployed.
If looking for information on telephony devices for individuals and for conference rooms, the Knowledge Base has compiled information on telephony equipment.
UITS has conducted an infoshare on the telephony migration, a recording of the first info share can be found here 2023.01.24 - Infoshare - MS Teams Telephony Migration.
There will be an upcoming second UITS infoshare Thursday, March 2, at 1PM ET the Microsoft Teams Calls migration of Response Groups and IP Phones. Adam Sweeny and Michael Morgan will review steps to prepare for migration. They will also discuss the features that Auto Attendant and Call Queues that can be added to Teams Calls plan. Register for the infoshare in advance.
From the IU KB article: About Microsoft Teams Calls at IU - What to expect after your account is moved:
When your account is moved:
- Your Skype for Business client will no longer allow you to authenticate.
- After the conversion begins, it may take up to an hour for the dial pad to appear in Microsoft Teams. You may need to close and relaunch the app or restart your computer for it to appear.
- You can use Microsoft Teams to communicate with people who are still using Skype for Business; however, some features may not work across platforms. These are temporary issues until all accounts have been moved to Teams Calls. Interoperability limitations include:
- You can't make or receive video calls with Skype for Business users.
- You can't share your screen with Skype for Business users or see their screens.
- You can chat with text only, but you can't use emojis, @mentions, or rich formatting.
- You can't search for Skype for Business users by phone number.
- All of your Skype for Business contacts, both internal and external, will be available from the Calls app in Microsoft Teams.
- Call forwarding settings are not automatically transferred to Teams Calls. To recreate your settings in Teams, see Call forwarding, call groups, and simultaneous ring in Teams .
- If you had enabled conversation history in Skype for Business, your IM conversations are stored in the Conversation History folder in Exchange, and they will remain there. In Microsoft Teams, all chats are persistent within the app. You can delete individual chat messages, but others in the conversation will see "This message has been deleted."
- If you have logs of audio or video calls made in Skype for Business, they will remain in the Conversation History folder in Exchange. If you recorded any audio or video calls, those were stored on the hard drive of your computer; the default path should be:
- C:\Users\username\Videos\Lync Recordings
In Microsoft Teams, you'll see a log of all types of calls (incoming, outgoing, or missed) on the Calls app.
If you have immediate questions or concerns, contact the UITS Support Center or CITO at Help Request: CITO | Zone 4 of COLLIT: Indiana University Bloomington.
On behalf of all of us at COLL+IT-ZONE4/CITO