atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums VOIP Phones & IP PBX Cisco Telephones and Systems The install finally begins - UC560

No worries, its been a long and lately very frustrating process!

Its been an interesting journey so far. But with an end to the setup in sight (okay its still pretty distant) its been a pretty neat one as well.

The biggest plus is for the workers that will be using it, every site I get setup are happy campers, we have been "making due" with what we have had for the last couple of years and the staff are happy for the upgrade.

The call quality so far between sites and internally is outstanding.

Besides the ongoing issues with the vendor its been a pretty good process, its also been a very slow one, though nothing in this industry moves really quickly...lol

1.5 more remote sites up today, had to cut the day short for other commitments.

I have saved the biggest remote sites for last, not sure why it just worked out that way.

Then comes the tweaking, still need to finalize the AA's get all the scripting setup and setup the roaming users for our crisis call center. (All this is on the vendor not me) Then its testing and cut over.

Still a long way to go but there seems to be an end in sight.

I have a serious question about this whole project.
ARE YOU JOKING WITH US, this is 70 sets and several locations, no matter how bad the vendor is, no company would put up with this.

Nope no joke, why would I joke about this?

I am a one man IT department, running a shop that supports 175+ workers, 90+ computers and 12 locations. Not to mention servers, the old phone systems, cell phones, blackberrys...etc etc etc.

We (Agency management staff) knew going into this it would not be a quick transfer, between everyday issues and the "OMG I cannot work until you fix this" stuff the phone system is being installed. On top of that I was told not to work any more overtime getting things installed. So I am working as fast as I can.

I know most of you are used to going in and knocking things out in quick order, most likely with a few guys that know what they are doing. I figured thats how things would have went, the first day was that way, things went as planned. It did not go down hill until we started on things the vendor had no clue about, then it just snowballed.

In between issues today I did get one more site up. I can knock out the remote sites in short order now, 15 minutes to reconfigure the routers, then its just plugging in and testing the phones. Now its just getting to the remote sites!

In case I did not point this out before, I have not had the vendor on site since the 21st. I told them they can come back on site once I had the remote sites up and running. There was no point in them being here if they could not reconfigure the routers to make the phones work.

I have to physically go to each site to reconfig the routers as I have turned off remote administration on the routers.

Ok so you are serious.
Then let me ask this.. Does your company understand what a prize they have in you.
You are far and above what a employee should do in a situation like this.
You ever move to NYC and need a job call me first.

hahaha Yes actually they do.

But I will keep your offer in mind if I ever move back down south!

Largest remote site came up without issue. One remote site left, I ran out of power adapters for the phones so I had to stop.

Had a couple of phones that were supposed to be on a POE switch that ended up not being connected and used up my adapters :|

Staff are actively using the system and so far are very happy.

I am also making my list of things the vendor needs to do once they are back onsite.

Hopefully should have a cutover date in the next couple of weeks. I was told once I say "Go" its a 5-10 business day process.

Why are you out of power adapters, didnt the vendor supply enough. There is something very wrong with this picture.
If your using the system what are you cutting over.
Heaven help you.

Nope the power adapters are on me. I had two phones that were supposed to be on a POE switch, that I ended up pulling, so I am 2 short. I ordered them on Thursday, should have them on Monday.

We are using the system internally. None of our phone number have been ported to the PRI yet. I would not allow that until I had all the sites up and tested. So I currently have the old systems running along side the new one.

Ok for the adapters, and you seem to have most of the install under control.
I for one appretiate the infomation and time you spent keeping us informed of this.
This is certainly a big BLACK EYE for Cisco and there vendors. I've seen other Cisco vendors who know very little about communications and the end users suffer.
You have taken control for your company, well done.