Cisco IP Softphones | Division of Technology Services

As DTS migrates to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, customers have the option of purchasing from a variety of “end-points” or telephone handsets, and even a softphone. DTS has migrated approximately 9,100 employees to VoIP services.

Softphones run as a workstation application that allows users to make/receive phone calls from a computer connected to a VoIP enabled network. Softphone services are not recommended in a call center environment. Softphone users may experience voice quality issues that are beyond the scope of DTS support, including issues stemming from user internet capacity, personal computer CPU utilization, and memory limitations. Should the softphone user experience excessive voice quality issues, DTS recommends that the user increase any and all combinations of internet capacity, CPU, and memory to meet the business needs of the user.

Technical support is available during business hours Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

This product description outlines the implementation of IP softphones on the state network.

The hours of support required for Cisco IP Softphones are listed below.

Hours of Support

Application

Support Hours

Days of Week

Cisco IP Softphones

Business hours (8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.)

Monday through Friday

Agency Application  

DTS has the ability to enable the use of softphones on the state network as an alternative to purchasing a VoIP telephone handset as an end point for agencies’ voice communication requirements. Cisco Jabber is the only supported softphone client.

Risks and Mitigations

• If a power outage or a loss of Internet connectivity, or both, occurs at your office, then you will not be able to dial 911 from a Cisco Jabber softphone.

NOTE: Customer agencies should provide a secondary form of communication for situations where a disruption of voice services occurs. Mobile cell phones are an excellent backup for these situations.

• In the near future, all Cisco Jabber softphone users will be required to use the Redsky MyE911 client for emergency location purposes. The MyE911 application is not yet available, but when training materials and licensing are complete and ready for distribution, the MyE911 application will be deployed to personal computers. At that point a charge will be assessed for the Redsky MyE911 client.
• Softphone users will be responsible for updating location information in the Redsky MyE911 client as they move locations to work. Although users will receive requests from the client  to verify the users’ location from time to time, users are responsible for ensuring that the location information is accurate.
• For softphone users without the MyE911 client: 
  • If you place a 911 call from your softphone, the 911 system will connect and dispatch responders to the office location that is associated with your softphone phone number.
  • When dialing 911 from your softphone, be prepared to provide your callback number and your address (i.e., your physical location).
• For all softphone users: It is preferable to place 911 calls from a desk phone or from a cellular phone rather than from a softphone.

Hardware Requirements

Softphone performance may be compromised by desktop limitations. The following hardware requirements are the minimum requirements for the softphone to function properly. Please ensure adequate PC resources are available for other user tasks. It is recommended that users have an Ethernet cable connection rather than a wireless Local Area Network (LAN) connection for optimal audio quality. See requirements below:

Minimum Hardware Requirements

Hardware

Requirement

Installed RAM

2 GB RAM on Microsoft Windows 7,8, or Windows 10

Free Physical Memory

128 MB

Free Disk Space

256 MB

CPU Speed and Tyupe

Mobile AMD Sempron Processor 3600+2 GHz

Intel Core 2 CPU T7400 at 2.16 GHz

Intel Atom

GPU

DirectX11 on MS Window 7

I/O Ports

USB 2.0 for USB camera and audio devices

Softphones are configured as part of the data LAN. Quality of service (QoS) settings can be applied; however, DTS cannot guarantee the voice quality of every call made or received using a softphone. Quality may vary depending on headset selected, capacity of user’s PC, application(s) running on user’s PC, traffic and bandwidth availability on the network, and/or other factors such as latency or noise on the line. DTS recommends using one of the Blackwire models for the most reliable service. Blackwire models are the easiest to use; users can just plug them in and play, without assistance from DTS. Also, DTS Central Receiving can directly ship the headset to the customer’s home office if requested in the order.

Supported Headsets for Use with Softphones

Feature

Description

Single Ear

Plantronics Blackwire C5210
Plantronics EncorePro540 (contact center grade)
Plantronics – Part#: 88828-01
Plantronics SupraPlus HW251N – Headset – on-ear
Plantronics – Part#: 64338-31
Plantronics DA70 – Sound card – USB (USB adaptor)
Plantronics – Part#: 201851-01

Double Ear

Plantronics Blackwire C5220
Plantronics EncorePro520 (contact center grade)
Plantronics – Part#: 89434-01
Plantronics DA70 – Sound card – USB (USB adaptor)
Plantronics – Part#: 201851-01

NOTE: Bluetooth devices can cause interference with other (in-range) Bluetooth devices. These devices may work; however, “wired” devices provide a consistent, non-interference user-experience.

DTS trouble-shooting efforts are strictly for customers using supported “wired” headsets and not for bluetooth devices.

Product Features and Descriptions

Softphones run as an application that allows users to make/receive phone calls from a computer connected to a VoIP enabled network.

Rates and Billing

• Customers who exclusively use a softphone will be billed one (1) FY 20 Urate: $32.86 per softphone.
• Customers who have both a standard desk phone and a softphone will only be charged for one (1) FY 20 Urate: $32.86 per month.
• IP softphone users will be charged cost plus for the MyE911 client.

Ordering and Provisioning

Customers requesting IP softphone services should submit a request via ServiceNow. 

To submit a request via ServiceNow from this product description page, select Cisco IP Softphone under Order Product / Service at the top right of this page. 

Customers can also order IP softphone services directly from ServiceNow by navigating to the Service Catalog, selecting Network Telephony Forms, and then selecting Softphone Request. If a customer selects Jabber (Cisco) in the Phone type field at the top of the form, an option appears for ordering multiple softphones in one order. To order multiple softphones in one order, users are required to upload a spreadsheet with the following format. 

Once a Softphone Request form has been submitted, ServiceNow will create a task for DTS Voice Operations to complete the configuration of the new softphone(s) for the phone number(s) included in the request. A task will also be created for the agency desktop support personnel to push the soft phone client to the device of the individual(s) included on the request. This is all handled through the regular ServiceNow system.

Troubleshooting

If you have softphone support issues, please request assistance via ServiceNow “Get Help” at https://dts.utah.gov; Select Online Support and request assistance with IP Softphone.

DTS Responsibilities

• DTS Help Desk will be the first group to troubleshoot with possible assistance from Desktop Support. Issues requiring additional support will be escalated to Voice Operations.
• DTS will maintain the Cisco CallManager platform.

Agency Responsibilities

• Consult with DTS Voice Solution Engineer (VSE) for Cisco IP Softphone request(s) and modification(s).
• Order IP softphones from DTS service catalog. (Note: Customers are required to purchase their headsets directly from the DTS service catalog.)
• Change/modification request(s) to the DTS General Telecommunications online order form: http://dts.utah.gov/get-a-product-service/phones-and-phone-gear.php; select General Telecom Order.
• Notify DTS Customer Support Center of any problems by calling 801-538-3440 or 800-678-3440.

NOTE: DTS Help Desk will be the first group to troubleshoot with possible assistance from Desktop Support. Issues requiring additional support will be escalated to Voice Operations.

DTS Service Levels and Metrics

In an effort to improve service to our customer agencies, DTS will measure and report on the following enterprise metric goals:

• Application Availability
• Resolution Time
• Initial Response
• First Contact Resolution 
• Customer Satisfaction Surveys and Reporting

Application Availability

Application availability measures DTS’s efforts to ensure that agency key business applications meet the percentage of availability goals identified in each agency’s service level agreement. DTS will determine application availability based upon the collective measurement of the configuration items (both hardware and software) that are required in order to support the agency business services applications. These metrics will be reported each month, by agency, and will be presented in a cumulative report showing DTS’s efforts over several months. These reports will then be posted on the DTS Metrics Web page at https://dts.utah.gov/metrics/index.php. 

Metric Description

Target Percentage of Application Availability*

Cisco IP Softphones

95%

Table Note: *Times exclude those tickets in a “Pending” status waiting for a known bug fix.

Resolution Time

Resolution time measures DTS’s efforts to resolve customer incidents within the timelines set below based on urgent, high, medium, and low priorities. These metrics will be reported each month, by agency, and will be presented in a cumulative report showing DTS’s efforts over several months. These reports will then be posted on the DTS Metrics Web page at https://dts.utah.gov/metrics/index.php. 

Total Time to Resolution 

Target Percentage of Tickets Meeting
Priority Timelines

Low priority: 6 business hours

90%

Medium priority: 4 business hours

90%

High priority: 3 clock hours

90%

Critical priority: 3 clock hours

90%

Initial Response

Initial response measures DTS’s efforts to respond to customer incidents within the timelines set below based on urgent, high, medium, and low priorities. These metrics will be reported each month, by agency, and will be presented in a cumulative report showing DTS’s efforts over several months. These reports will then be posted on the DTS Metrics Web page at https://dts.utah.gov/metrics/index.php.  

Time to Initial Response

Target Percentage of Tickets Meeting
Priority Timelines

Low priority: 1 business hour

85%

Medium priority: 1 business hour

85%

High priority: 1 clock hour

90%

Critical priority: 30 clock minutes

95%

First Contact Resolution

First contact resolution measures DTS’s efforts to resolve customer incidents on a customer’s initial contact with either our help desk or a technical specialist. These metrics will be reported each month, by agency, and will be presented in a cumulative report showing DTS’s efforts over several months. These reports will then be posted on the DTS Metrics Web page at https://dts.utah.gov/metrics/index.php. 

Metric Description

Target Percentage of Reported Incidents Resolved on Initial Contact

First Contact Resolution

65% 

Customer Satisfaction Surveys and Reporting 

All users/customers whose technical incidents are resolved by DTS staff will be given the opportunity to respond to an online survey regarding their level of satisfaction with the support received from DTS. Responding to the survey is voluntary. 

The chart below identifies DTS enterprise goals for customer satisfaction. Cumulative monthly reports will be created displaying the level of customer satisfaction with DTS support. These reports will then be posted on the DTS Metrics Web page at https://dts.utah.gov/metrics/index.php. 

Metric Description

Target Levels of
Customer Satisfaction

Average level of satisfaction with resolution efforts

≥ 4.5 on a scale of 0–5

Percentage of respondents expressing satisfaction (vs. dissatisfaction)

93% of respondents satisfied