This article is intended to help department users understand their options for Microsoft Teams campus phone services as it relates to having student assistants support departmental operations. The Division of IT is now offering two options described here.
Teams Agent Accounts
Purpose
Agent accounts are a new service offering. These are generic campus accounts (i.e., TelecomAgent1-AG_RA@csulb.edu) that can be created upon request and are an alternative method for giving campus departments a method for student assistants (SAs) to use Teams Phone Calling on a desktop computer or the Teams app on a mobile device. These accounts are used like a standard campus account whereby SAs will log into them with a designated username and password within their Microsoft Teams desktop app.
Cost
The monthly cost for an Agent account is $15 and billed as a one-time cost during the annual IT Bundle Bill processing in the fall after census.
Benefits
- Provides the same Teams Calling desktop experience as regular employees with Teams Phone service
- Can also be added to department CQs and added to as many as needed
- One account can be shared among more than one student assistant, if necessary, since departments may need multiple student assistants to have Teams Phone access on different shifts
Drawbacks
- If one account is shared among two SAs, for example, only one student can use it at a time. Cannot be used simultaneously by more than one SA, and they have to signed out after each work shift so that the next SA can use the account without issues.
Teams Common Area Phones (CAPs)
Purpose
CAPs are physical Teams Voice phones intended to provide campus departments and programs with a method for:
- Providing student assistants access to telephone service for receiving and making calls on behalf of departments, since student assistants are not licensed or provisioned Teams Phone numbers
- Providing telephone service in public areas or shared work spaces
Cost
The monthly cost for a CAP is $15 and billed as a one-time cost during the annual IT Bundle Bill processing in the fall after census.
Benefits
- Provide similar features as Teams Calling desktop application, but uses a touch screen interface based on the Android operating system.
- CAPs can be added to department Call Queues (CQs) so that student assistants can also answer department phone calls as well as make calls on behalf of departments. CAPs can be added to as many CQs as needed.
Drawbacks
- Though these provide similar features as on the Teams Calling desktop application, the physical phones can be cumbersome to operate.
- Rely on a dedicated network port (or can be shared with one computer) that must be specially configured for installation requiring coordination among several IT groups.
- Moving these physical devices to new locations requires a ticket to Telecom for coordinating the configuration of the device for the new location and coordination among several IT groups.
Questions and Support
If you have further questions or would like to discuss more details or use-case scenarios, please submit a Telephone Service ticket.