AGENDA #2d

 

BUDGET WORKING PAPER

 

TO:                 W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

 

FROM:           Bob Avery, Information Technology Director

 

SUBJECT:      Considerations for Replacement of the Town Hall Telephone System

 

DATE:            May 19, 2004

 

 

This memorandum is provided in response to Council Members’ questions about the Capital Improvements Program project for replacing the telephone system in Town Hall.

 

BACKGROUND

 

The Town Hall telephone system was initially installed in two parts in the 1990 time frame as part of the expansion of Town Hall.  In 1997, a system upgrade was installed so the two systems could be merged into a single system to resolve a number of incompatibilities.

 

The installed system is a Nortel NORSTAR Modular Integrated Communications System (MICS).  The basic system is designed to handle 32 telephone handsets.  The modular system design allows incremental additions of 12 telephone lines or 16 handsets.  Our current configuration utilizes all of the modular capabilities and has 112 handsets and 60 telephone lines. From this point, the addition of handsets would require an offsetting reduction in telephone lines and vice versa.  The system switching hardware is still supported by Nortel but the integrated Meridian voice mail system is not.

 

DISCUSSION

 

Several factors have led to a recommendation to replace the Town Hall equipment.  These are maintenance costs, expandability, functional features, and compatibility with a future system to be installed at the Town Operations Center.

 

• Maintenance Costs - A commercial maintenance program was instituted with the system upgrade in 1997 and continued for three years. In 2000, the system maintenance was reverted to internal resources with occasional outsourcing as a cost cutting measure.  For the next two years this was an effective process. In the past two years, system faults and breakdowns have been increasing and some parts have required secondary market resources.  A recent inquiry regarding a potential maintenance contract revealed that several hardware and software upgrades would be required to qualify for a commercial maintenance contract.  The estimated cost of the upgrades was $10,600 and the estimated cost of a maintenance contract would be around $4,500 per year.

 

• Expandability – The current system utilizes the full capacity of the installed equipment. Town Hall is wired for 110 telephone outlets which is within the 112 handset capability of the MICS system but there is no allowance for changes without rearranging the lines and phones allocated to the departments in Town Hall.  Although the number of changes that will be needed over the next couple of years is likely to be small, any such changes would require a reallocation of the available resources.

 

• Functional Features – There are a number of telephone system features that would benefit our ability to respond to citizen requests for information and services that cannot be provided by the current system.  These include unified messaging (integration of voice and email messages), custom call routing, caller identification, bilingual calling prompts, departmental automated call routing, multi-party conference calling, and emergency notification programming.  Newer systems would also provide increased call accounting features that would provide better tracking of individual and departmental costs.

 

• Compatibility – The Town Operations Center is being designed with a centralized data and voice communications network.  A computer center in the Public Works Administration Building will provide networking resources for the Public Works site, the Transportation site, and the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) (which is collocated with Public Works administration).  The intended design of the telephone services is one that uses data networking standards, commonly known as Voice over Internet Protocol or “VoIP”.  The intended benefits are system redundancy for reliability, telephone line sharing for cost reduction, unified messaging capabilities such as forwarding of voice mail between sites, and centralized maintenance and support.  Replacement of the Town Hall telephone system in conjunction with the installation of the Town Operations Center telephone system would provide an opportunity for the systems to be technically complementary.  This would ensure that the systems have redundant capabilities for reliability and are compatible for both routine and emergency operations management needs.

 

One additional benefit of replacing the Town Hall system is the option to upgrade two other Town facilities through a migration process.  The Town Hall system would become a replacement system for the Parks and Recreation Administration Office at Plant Road.  The system installed at Plant Road does not provide sufficient connections for extensions to support the number of employees at Plant Road but is adequate for the smaller number of employees at the Hargraves Community Center.  The Plant Road office system would be transferred to Hargraves Community Center to replace an expensive set of commercial services assigned to individual telephone lines.  Both of these moves would benefit the Town citizens by improving telephone capabilities at both locations.

 

RECOMMENDATION

 

The Town Hall telephone system probably is sustainable for a few more years but lacks any capability to integrate with the Town Operations Center or to provide enhanced telephony capabilities for employees at Town Hall.  Coordinating the replacement of the Town Hall system in combination with efforts to outfit the Town Operations Center would provide an opportunity to put in place compatible systems and potentially reduce costs through consolidation of purchases into one contract.

 

During the next twelve to eighteen months we will need to identify the system to be installed at the Town Operations Center.  If the Town Hall system replacement is included in the planning process, we could ensure both compatibility and lowest cost of the resulting systems.