Work is progressing on the design and engineering of the phone system replacement for the University of Oregon. In April, the CCT project team and our consultant partners at Presidio completed proofs of concept for two candidate systems: Microsoft Teams and Cisco.
Both systems had been among the top recommendations by Presidio and The Northridge Group in the 2019 Needs Analysis Project.
What Is a Proof of Concept?
In a proof of concept, IT professionals create a mockup of a system to test its functionality. The process serves several purposes:
- Ensures a candidate system meets UO’s needs and helps identify any gaps;
- Demonstrates how specific processes function in the system;
- Tests how systems might integrate with each other and with UO’s existing technology infrastructure;
- Gives UO staff a first look at an unfamiliar system;
- Provides a better understanding of what staffing or skills might be needed to support the system, from both the technical and user perspectives.
Even when a system looks good on paper, a proof of concept can help ensure it meets practical needs in reality. For something as complex as UO’s phone system, a proof of concept is critical to inform the final tool selection, design, engineering, and planning.
Next Steps
Next, the CCT project team will initiate a small telephony project with an initial focus on Microsoft Teams for a single department — namely, Information Services.
Information Services leaders are working with the CCT project team to create a roadmap for the many remaining pieces of the phone system replacement effort. In the meantime, IS staff will continue building related new infrastructure to support it.
We will share more information here as this work progresses. If you have any questions, please contact the project team at cctprogram@uoregon.edu.