Cisco.IP.Telephony.Planning.Design.Implementation.Operation.and.Optimization [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Training

The goal of many businesses today is to improve employee productivity and reduce costs by deploying new-world technologies such as IP Telephony, wireless, and storage area networking. To successfully deploy the new technologies and gain acceptability within the organization, it is necessary to educate the end users and the support and administration staff.

Following are some tips that can reduce the most basic support calls from the users:

Build an internal website and post all the presentations, FAQs, and videos that teach how to use various features on the IP Phones. You can download the Cisco IP Phone tutorials on Cisco.com from the following URL:

http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/779/largeent/avvid/products/clientsl

Provide training to help desk staff on how to handle basic issues.

Educate users and help desk staff on the escalation procedures.

End-User Training

When switching from analog phones to Cisco IP Phones, end users require minimal training. End users do not have to do anything differently to use the basic phone features, such as making on-net and off-net calls, listening, deleting and leaving voice-mail messages, placing the call on hold, making conference calls, transferring a call, forwarding a call, and so forth. You can retain the same level of functionality in the Cisco IPT solution by designing the dial plan to meet these requirements. For example, if an end user is accustomed to dialing 9 to make off-net calls, configure CallManager to do the same. Also, you can plan to use the available features and buttons on the IP Phones that are similar to the features of the legacy phones, such as hold, transfer, and other functionality.

When end users see a Cisco IP Phone on their desks, they find it similar to legacy phones as far as the basic operation is concerned, with the exception of an LCD screen. This LCD screen is used to show several menus, options, outputs, and enhanced features, and to customize the IP Phone settings.

Cisco IP Phones ship with concise end-user guides, which are also available on Cisco.com. Armed with these guides and the online tutorials mentioned in the previous section, users will quickly feel comfortable using the new phone system.

Help Desk Staff Training

The IPT support staff requires formal training regarding how to support the deployed IPT solution. Several IPT training courses are available through Cisco Systems training partners all over the world. There are also several IPT certifications available to test the efficiency of the IPT support staff.

The following training and exams are recommended for becoming a Cisco IPT support specialist. Completing this training and the exams enables the support staff to provide tier 1 support to end users when they report a problem.

Cisco Voice over IP (CVOICE) course and CVOICE 642-432 exam

Cisco IP Telephony (CIPT) course and CIPT 642-443 exam

Deploying QoS for Enterprise Networks (DQOS) course and QoS 642-642 exam

IP Telephony Troubleshooting (IPTT) course and IPTT 642-425 exam

Voice Network Administration Staff Training

In the four-tier support model described earlier, the help desk staff will not have access to the IPT systems to make configuration or design changes to the IPT architecture. The administration staff includes the users who control and manage the IPT network components. The administration staff is responsible for making design and configuration changes in IPT components. The training that is required for administration staff is similar to the IPT support staff training. Usually, administration staff has senior engineers who have prior experience designing, deploying, configuring, troubleshooting, and managing IPT networks.

Voice Network Design/Architecture Staff Training

The network design/architecture staff consists of engineers who are involved from the planning stages of the IPT network. This group typically handles the following:

Proactive monitoring of the network and execution of optimization steps

Critical service failures

Scalability- and performance-related issues

Ongoing network expansion/design projects

Adding products that contribute features to the existing IPT network

This group also interfaces with product vendors such as Cisco during critical problem escalation. Prior to contacting Cisco to report issues, this group should organize and collect the following information:

Clear and concise problem description

What hardware platform(s) are involved

What software version(s) are involved

What network topology is involved (in case of reactive requests)

If more than one Cisco product is involved, an accurate topology diagram, including device names, locations, and IP addresses

Dial-in details (for reactive requests)

Hardware and software configuration(s)