We have been loving the campus’s engagement in this project. Below is a summary of the conversations we have been having with our community in March 2026. Questions we have received have also been added to our FAQ and incorporated into our training and campus information forums.
Conversations with Stakeholder Groups in March
Our discussions with stakeholder groups this month have captured a wide range of concerns and considerations around transitioning to Teams Calling. Consistently, we heard a few themes:
Admin Assistant Training and Readiness
We heard from all of the groups we met with that Admin Assistants are apprehensive about this change. We are working on organizing a few town hall style meetings specifically for Admin Assistants. We plan a short demo, followed by a Q & A session. We hope to see you there!
Project Timeline
The truth is - we do not have a firm timeline for the campus yet. What we do know is we do not want to schedule your switchover during your department's busiest week of the year. Our project team will work with your office to schedule. See more about our timeline below.
Managing Devices/Notifications to Maintain Work/Life Boundaries
You do not have to take work phone calls on your personally owned devices. Microsoft Teams includes settings that help you manage work/life boundaries. You can customize settings to let colleagues know when you are available and limit notifications outside of your work schedule. We invite you to view our Teams Calling - Quick Start Guide to review the setting options available.
Maintaining Privacy - How do you take calls without everyone in your office hearing it?
Headphones/headsets. If you have headphones/headsets that currently work with virtual meetings - they should work with Teams Calling. Headsets will be available to employees who need them - at no cost to their department. When we schedule your office's move to Teams Calling - we will coordinate with your department to get headsets delivered.
Questions and Concerns From Our Community
Privacy
Phone call recording in Microsoft Teams must be intentionally initiated by a participant on the call; recordings cannot occur automatically. When a recording begins, a clear audio announcement stating, “This call is being recorded,” is played for all participants, and this notification cannot be disabled. In addition, Microsoft has safeguards in place to protect call data: Teams Calling data—including call audio, recordings, and transcripts—is not used to train generative AI models.
Physical Phones
The need for physical phones is being evaluated as we prepare for the campus rollout. More information coming soon!
Project Timeline
Our Pilot is behind schedule. We are working hard to make sure things are done well and not just quickly. After the Pilot - we will have an Early Adopter program for 2-4 weeks to gather additional feedback on user experience. After the Early Adopter program - we will prioritize student facing offices. We will be working with offices to identify switchover dates and times to avoid undue disruption to campus.
Usability
Does the system have an audible “ring” like a standard phone?
Yes. There are several audible ring tones you can choose from.
Phone Queues
In Fall 2025, members of the project team met with offices on campus with a phone queue to inventory their specific needs. Right now, the Technology Help Center is working with our Networking and Telecommunications department to configure and test out their own phone queue. The Technology Help Center will be the first on campus to use a Teams Call Queue.
At this point in time - we have been able to replicate all previously held functionality. In fact, we have found that Microsoft Teams offers more robust reporting and visibility into a call queue. We are looking forward to sharing this more robust experience with other office on campus.
WebEx Conferencing, Virtual Rooms, and Breakout Rooms
We are working those utilizing WebEx for conferencing, virtual rooms, and breakout rooms on a transition plan to different technology options, including MS Teams. If are currently using WebEx and are unsure what technology to transition to - please let us know.
We encourage you to ask your questions. Feedback and questions helps make the experience better for the whole campus.