Replacement Telephone System for the SSMC Campus Project Plan Discussion

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Replacement Telephone System for the SSMC
CampusProject Plan Discussion

• Cliff Schoenberger
• NOAA OCIO
• January 23, 2007

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Outline

• Purpose Informational Briefing
• Issues Helpdesk Reliability Technology
• Background Discussion
• Alternatives
• Coordination and Views
• Status
• Next Steps

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Issue

• A resolution is needed for the approach that will
  be taken to upgrade the existing IT and network
  help desks that serve the campus.
• Various sizes and complexity
• Different customer bases, backup capability
  requirements, and specialized technical support
• Increased system capabilities may increase costs
  for offices with simpler requirements.

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Background and Discussion

• The Deloitte Consulting study (April 2006)
  recommended that NOAA consolidate its help desk
  functions.
• Cited the need to upgrade the campus telephone
  system.
• STRIPES contract partially addresses help desk
  consolidation
• Hence, coordination is needed between acquisition
  and implementation of a modern telephone system
  and any consolidation of the current NOAA help
  desks

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Alternatives

• Coordinated installation of telephone system and
  Help Desk consolidation
• Increases complexity of system design
• Requires parallel planning of both projects
• More complicated to execute
• Installation of telephone system with separate
  implementations of Call Center modules
• May incur non-recoverable costs for temporary
  operations
• Simplifies design, planning and implementation

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Next Issue

• Reliability of voice telecommunications must be
  as good or better than current systems
• Redundancy of system components improves system
  reliability but increases overall cost
• Diverse access to the central office eliminates a
  single-point-of-failure but also increases costs
• Tightening budgets necessitate economical
  implementation and out-year maintenance

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Background and Discussion

• Current stand-alone Merlin Legend systems have a
  limited impact (100 users) in case of failure.
• Technician support is currently limited to normal
  working hours. Night and weekend outages are
  handled during the next business day.
• A failure of a campus-wide telephone solution
  could affect approximately 4000 users for an
  unspecified duration of time.
• NOAA is susceptible to voice service disruptions
  caused by cable cuts, and has experienced partial
  outages in the past.

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Alternatives

• Implement non-redundant solution
• Increased risk of campus-wide service outage
• Lowers initial acquisition maintenance costs
• Implement fully-redundant solution
• Higher initial and out year maintenance costs
• Hardens system against catastrophic failure
• Upgrade SSMC campus to full diverse access
• Increased protection of service
• Raises service initiation and recurring costs

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Last Issue

• Should the acquisition and implementation of a
  modern telephone system include
  Computer-telephone integration (with or without
  VoIP)?
• Computer-telephone integrated environments can be
  purchased as part of a separate help desk upgrade
  or as part of telephone upgrade
• Help desk integrators may offer CTI software as
  part of a service.
• Telephone system vendors may offer CTI
  capabilities as part of a PBX acquisition.

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Background and Discussion

• Security Issues
• Vulnerability of IP based devices to hacking
• Lack of well supported security standards in IP
  systems
• Need for business process coordination with LDAP
  directories for authentication
• Increased support (patching) costs several FTE
• Reliability Issues
• IP networks are currently less reliable than
  telephone

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Alternatives

• Obtain CTI as part of the telephone upgrade
• Supports enhanced messaging functions
• May be less expensive to acquire than separately
  purchased CTI
• May impose technical limitations in future help
  desk integration
• Introduces Security and Reliability issues
• Support minimal CTI with telephone upgrade
• Allow help desk integrator to supply advanced
  functions like call dispatch

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Coordination and Views

• Campus Telephone Replacement Team includes
  representatives from each Line office.
• Issues and concerns are being briefed to CIO
  Council for discussion and direction.
• Planning and implementation of telephone system
  will be coordinated with designated parties in
  each Line/Staff office.

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Status

• SSMC Campus Telephone Replacement Team
  established and meeting on bi-weekly schedule.
• Market research of general system designs and
  costs has been conducted on a limited basis to
  establish a rough idea of capabilities and
  financial comparisons.
• Formal project planning documentation delivered
  to PPO for review
• Funding availability delays execution along any
  of the three decision paths ( Helpdesk,
  Reliability, CTI )

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Next Steps

• CIO Council decision briefing supported by
• Cost estimates
• Requirements
• Performance options
• Security considerations
• Risk analysis

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Timeline

• CIO Council Decision Brief February 2007
• Requirements ratification
• Approach guidelines
• Project synchronized w / helpdesk? Y/ N
• Redundancy? Y / N
• Technology level? VOiP / Conventional
• RFQ Release May 2007
• CIO Council Decision Brief (Selection) June
  2007
• Funding Checkpoint June 2007
• Contract Award June 2007
• System Component Installation October 2007
• Workstation Installation April 2008