Teams, Telephone, Requesting Teams Telephone Service for New Accounts

Does the account need to make and receive external phone calls?

Microsoft Teams allows users within the university tenant to place calls internally without any additional licensing. Access to Microsoft Teams is part of the Office licensing provided by the university. Role-based and resource accounts are required to be Exchange enabled in order to be provisioned an Office license.

Is the user new to the university, or did they move from another department?

New users at the university are not provisioned Teams telephone service automatically. Department telecom coordinators need to place a Pinnacle order to request phone service for new users.

Users that moved from another department may already have service. Please have the user check if they have a dial pad and phone number under the calls tab in the Teams client.

Does the account have the appropriate licensing to be provisioned service?

Please see the Licensing section below for detailed information.

Does the account need to be added as an agent of a Teams call queue?

Many departments use Teams auto attendants with call queues to take in phone calls. Agents of the call queue are required to be enabled with Teams phone service before they can be added to the queue.

Call queue agents can be added in a couple of different ways depending on how the queue is set up. Some call queues have manually entered agent membership, which is edited by Teams support in the Teams admin portal. Some call queues may be set up to use a security group created by the department's local IT support. Always check your department's documentation to determine how your call queue is configured.

• • For requests where the queue is manually populated with agents, please enter a TDX ticket with Teams support.
  • For requests where the queue uses a security group, please contact your local IT support team for assistance.

The majority of staff on campus are provisioned an Office A5 for Faculty license, which includes the Teams phone system license. However, there are accounts that may only get an A1 for Faculty, or an A5 for Student, which do not include the Teams phone system license. Those accounts, if eligible, will need to purchase either the Teams phone system license add-on or an A5 for Faculty upgrade from the University Webstore.

New employees are temporarily in a 'Liminal' status state before the appointment is finalized. This provides their account a temporary Office A1 license which may not be the license they will ultimately be provisioned once the appointment is final. Please do not purchase any additional Teams phone licensing until the user account is no longer listed as 'Liminal'. Departmental IT Pros who have completed the HDTAP training can use the Cerebro tool to check the central registry for an employees' type information to confirm they are no longer listed as 'Liminal'. 

To see what is included in different Microsoft license levels, learn how to check what licenses your account has, or find information about purchasing license upgrades, please read this KB - Microsoft 365 - Licensing and Functionality

Teams support is still providing the phone system license for some positions, under limited circumstances. Please note - Teams support does not upgrade individual user licenses. Necessary add-on and upgrade licenses are purchased and applied by the department through the University Webstore. 

Who does not need to purchase phone licensing?

• Staff members who have been provisioned an A5 for Faculty license
• Staff members provisioned an A1 for Faculty license with Employee Type C or D, and Skill Code 6 or 7
• Graduate students listed as Staff with Employee Type H
• Extra Help employees

Who needs to purchase phone licensing?

• Staff members provisioned an A1 for Faculty license, but not part of the exemptions above
• Graduate students who have a position with the university, but are not Employee Type H
• Allied, Special, or other employee types that do not carry a Staff label
• Emeritus or Retired employees with at least a 0% time appointment
• Role-based or resource accounts

Who is not eligible for Teams telephone service?

• Undergraduate student accounts
• Emeritus or Retired employees without an appointment

Please follow these general steps to have Teams telephone service added to an account.

For a user account:

1. Verify the user is no longer in the 'Liminal' status
2. Have the user check their license types
3. If necessary, purchase an add-on or upgraded license and have it applied to the account
4. Place the Pinnacle order to add telephone service
5. After confirmation of completion, have the user log into Teams via the client or the web and verify they have a dial pad with a phone number under the Calls tab
6. If necessary, request the account be added as an agent of a call queue

For a role-based or resource account:

1. Have the account mail enabled
2. Purchase and apply either the Teams phone system add-on or A5 for Faculty upgrade license
3. Place the Pinnacle order to add telephone service
4. After confirmation of completion, login to the Teams via the client or the web and verify there is a dial pad with a phone number under the Calls tab
5. If necessary, request the account be added as an agent of a call queue