Shortly, we will begin a project to switch all campus telephones to a new phone service hosted by CInergy Metronet.
The Metronet system will provide standard telephone services such as local and long distance calling, voicemail, call forwarding, etc., as well as several new features like voicemail to email, an online portal for managing your phone settings and voicemail, and integration with your DePauw Google account. When your number is switched to the new service, you will also receive a new phone handset for your desk, but your phone number will not change.
The timeline for transitioning lines to the new service, department by department, will begin in late March and continue throughout the following 3-4 months. Preliminary information about the schedule for switchovers is described later in this message.
What you need to do now to prepare for the switchover:
- Each person should complete the Employee Telephone Information Verification form by March 14, 2014. This form should take less than 5 minutes to fill out and will help us verify the accuracy of our records by confirming details about your phone number and office location.
- Each department should begin identifying times that should be avoided for your transition. This will help considerably when we reach out to your department during the development of our installation schedule. As well, if you would like to transition with one of the first groups in late March or early April, let us know.
We will be providing more information about next steps and other details of the switchover as the project continues, but if you have any questions in the meantime, please let us know.
Thanks in advance for your help in helping make this a successful transition.
Best,
Carol.
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Carol L. Smith '85, CIO
DePauw University
office 765-658-4287
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Details about the Telephone Transition to Metronet:
Project Timeline
The timeline for transitioning faculty and staff lines, department by department, to the new service will begin in late March and continue throughout the following 3-4 months.
Preparing for the transition
- Each person should complete the Employee Telephone Information Verification form by March 14, 2014. This form should take less than 5 minutes to fill out and will help us verify the accuracy of our records by confirming details about your phone number and office location.
- Each department should begin identifying times that should be avoided for your transition. This will help considerably when we reach out to your department during the development of our installation schedule. As well, if you would like to transition with one of the first groups in late March or early April, let us know.
The transition process
Information Services, along with Metronet, will try to make the transition process as straightforward and unintrusive as possible:
- We have established a list of department liaisons (e.g. department secretary, administrative assistant, etc.) who we will work with to schedule your department’s new phone installations. We will begin to contact departments in the next 1-2 weeks to set up an installation time .
- An engineer from Metronet will meet with your department liaison to determine the optimum system setup for your department’s needs.
- We will install, test, and move your phone number to the new system overnight on the scheduled installation date.
Training
Weekly orientation sessions for using the new system will be announced at a later date. Online documentation will also be available through the IT KnowledgeBase.
