Body
Purpose
This is a collection of emails sent to Wave 2 in preparation for the Teams Phone migration 8/12/2025.
Intended Audience
BRCC employees with an assigned phone number.
Emails
Contents
From: John Downey <DowneyJ@brcc.edu>
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2025 4:22 PM
To: President's Office <president@brcc.edu>
Cc: Edward Pease <peasee@brcc.edu>; Jessica Bezold <BezoldJ@brcc.edu>
Subject: Phone System is moving to Microsoft Teams soon!
Members of the College Community:
As I have mentioned previously at College Assembly meetings, the VCCS will soon be implementing a common phone platform across all community colleges in Virginia. As a result, Blue Ridge Community College will be moving to Microsoft Teams within the next month. The implementation will come in two waves. The first wave will be effective on August 12, 2025. On August 12, all of our current office phones will no longer be operational, except for phones in student facing offices such as student services, financial aid, and student financial services. For everyone else, all phone calls will now take place using your computer…similar to how we do Zoom calls. As part of Wave 2, student facing offices will all transition away from phones sometime in mid-September.
Ed Pease and his staff are preparing diligently for this major transition. As part of that transition, please read carefully the following note from Jessica Bezold which further explains the rollout plan.
If you have any questions, please work with your supervisor, who will collect any questions and submit them directly to Jessica. In addition to upcoming training and demo sessions, the help desk will be ready to extend support to anyone who needs it. The technology is not difficult. As I indicated, it will be very similar to making Zoom calls, which you are all familiar with. It will take some getting used to and each of us will need to learn new Microsoft Teams settings that will help us as we learn the system.
Thanks for your patience as we work to implement this VCCS system-wide project.
__________________________________________
Good Afternoon,
We are excited to announce that the VCCS is upgrading our communications platform by integrating Microsoft Teams Calling as our new telephony system. This transition is designed to enhance your productivity, streamline collaboration, and provide you with a unified, modern communication experience.
What This Means for You
Microsoft Teams Calling will allow you to:
- Make and receive calls from anywhere: Seamlessly connect from your desktop, mobile device, or any Teams-enabled device.
- Unify communications: Manage voice calls, chats, and meetings in a single platform.
- Increase flexibility: Enjoy advanced features like voicemail transcription, call forwarding, and delegation tools.
- Enhance mobility: Transition between devices without interruption.
Key Benefits
- Global Reach: Stay connected with international calling capabilities and toll-free options.
- Advanced Analytics: Access detailed call reports to optimize communication strategies.
- Improved Support: Enjoy a secure, reliable platform supported by Microsoft’s robust infrastructure.
- Integration with Microsoft 365: Directly link calls with Outlook, OneDrive, and your favorite productivity tools.
What’s Next
- Migration Timeline: The migration will take place over the next 2 and half months, with minimal disruption to your workflow.
- Training Sessions: We are scheduling tailored sessions to help you maximize the benefits of Microsoft Teams Calling.
- Support: Our IT team and Microsoft-certified partners will be available to assist you during and after the transition.
We are confident this upgrade will elevate our communication and collaboration capabilities. If you have questions or specific needs during this transition, please don’t hesitate to reach out to myself and/or Ed Pease. Preemptive introductory information can be found in the growing knowledge base for Teams Phone within Team Dynamix.
Thank you for your continued support as we move toward this exciting innovation.
Best Regards,
Jessica
Dr. John A. Downey, President
Blue Ridge Community College
Post Office Box 80
Weyers Cave, VA 24486
(540) 453-2200
From: Benjamin Carnevale <carnevaleb@brcc.edu>
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2025 2:12 PM
To: Benjamin Carnevale <carnevaleb@brcc.edu>
Subject: Get Ready for Teams Phone
«FirstName»,
On 8/12/2025, your work phone number «userpersontelephoneNumber» will migrate to Teams Phone. This is a big change for everyone, and we want to make sure you’re prepared.
How to Prepare:
- Read through the project announcement and FAQs
- Look through short how-to videos from Microsoft. Most are less than 1min long
- Test your audio equipment. The way you currently interact with Teams or Zoom meetings is the way you will hear and speak on calls. Schedule a quick meeting with a colleague to help each other test!
Please Ask Questions:
No matter how small, we want to hear your questions; this helps us create documentation for the college as we see a need. So we can keep track of them, please submit your questions as a ticket.
Links:
Please keep an eye out for more informational emails from me or Jessica Bezold regarding this transition.
Migrating with you,
Ben & Jessica
|
Benjamin Carnevale
Help Desk Supervisor
Blue Ridge Community College
540-453-2525
|
Jessica M. Bezold
IT Support Specialist | Accounts, Operations, & Security
Technology Services
Phone: 540.234.9261 | Ext. 602524
|
From: Benjamin Carnevale <carnevaleb@brcc.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, August 6, 2025 4:52 PM
To: Benjamin Carnevale <carnevaleb@brcc.edu>
Subject: Teams Phone: Wave-Specific Information
Importance: High
All,
Beginning Tuesday 8/12, until 9/17, BRCC departments will be communicating across two separate phone systems. We did this to ensure continuity of service with our student-facing departments during the start of the semester, and to avoid a mid-semester change for Faculty.
In the next few days, I will be sending important information directly to each of these groups regarding what to expect. Transferring students to another department will change for EVERYONE, including transferring to the Help Desk.
There will be links in my emails; they are not PHISH bait. Wave 1 has already received a direct email from me with important informational links. Please visit them to stay informed and feel ready to use your computer as a phone.
It will be hard to call the Help Desk on Tuesday if you don’t know how to use Teams Phone 😉. Dr. Downey’s original announcement with additional information from Jessica Bezold and links to documentation is attached.
Thanks,
Ben
Benjamin Carnevale
Help Desk Supervisor
Blue Ridge Community College
540-453-2525
Learn about Teams Phone: Coming 8/12
From: Benjamin Carnevale
Sent: Thursday, August 7, 2025 1:08 PM
To: Karen Welcher <welcherk@brcc.edu>
Subject: Teams Phone: You are in Wave 2
«FirstName»,
You are in «Wave», along with all of Student Services, Financial Aid, Call Center, and Testing Center. Next Tuesday, 8/12, calling anyone outside of those departments will change.
Calling Wave 1
Wave 1 will be external local numbers and no longer be available by 60XXXX or voice directory (602000). Please read these instructions for calling and transferring from Wave 2 to Wave 1.
The Help Desk line, 602400 is moving in Wave 1.
Prepare For 9/19:
- Read through the project announcement and FAQs
- Look through short how-to videos from Microsoft. Most are less than 1min long
- Test your audio equipment. The way you currently interact with Teams or Zoom meetings is the way you will hear and speak on calls. Schedule a quick meeting with a colleague to help each other test!
Ask Questions:
No matter how small, we want to hear your questions; this helps us create documentation for the college as we see a need. So we can keep track of them, please submit your questions as a ticket.
Links:
Please keep an eye out for more informational emails from me or Jessica Bezold regarding the Wave 2 transition on 9/19.
Not PHISHing you,
Ben
Benjamin Carnevale
Help Desk Supervisor
Blue Ridge Community College
540-453-2525
Learn about Teams Phone: Coming 8/12
From: Benjamin Carnevale
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2025 6:42 PM
To: Michael McMullin <mcmullinm@brcc.edu>
Subject: Teams Phone: Changes Start Tuesday, 8/12
«FirstName»
Tomorrow, Tuesday, 8/12, calling and transferring to most other people and departments on campus will change. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the information in this email.
NOT Changing
Financial Aid, Call Center, Student Services, Testing Center, and their related departmental numbers and call-trees will continue using their Cisco phones as normal. Calling and transferring between these departments will function as they have been.
Changing
All Faculty, Admin Faculty, all other departments, and their associated departmental numbers become external local numbers. Please take a moment to review how to call and transfer to them.
Questions
If you have questions or concerns, please reply to this email or submit a ticket. Even if you think it’s a simple one, we want to hear it!
Support
Everything has been thoroughly tested, but there’s always a chance for minor issues with a big migration like this. The Help Desk is ready for your questions tomorrow at 540-453-2400. We will have a new queuing feature enabled, so please hang on the line as long as is reasonable for you. If you are directed to voicemail, please leave us a message; a ticket with a transcription of your message will be created for us.
Informational Links
As we get closer to 9/19, please keep an eye out for emails from me with more information about preparing for your move to Teams Phone. If you want to get some practice in before then, you can always call someone in Wave 1 using the Calls app in Teams. You won’t be a bother: it’ll be just another phone call to them!
Thanks,
Ben
Benjamin Carnevale
Help Desk Supervisor
Blue Ridge Community College
540-453-2525
From: Benjamin Carnevale <carnevaleb@brcc.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2025 5:40 PM
To: Benjamin Carnevale <carnevaleb@brcc.edu>
Subject: Teams Phone: Cisco Phones Update - Wave 2
Hello,
By now you may have noticed you can still reach Wave 1 by dialing their 60XXXX extension. This is to be expected for the moment, as they are still configured in the VCCS phone system. They can talk to each other, but the outside world can’t join the conversation, so to speak.
We are currently removing the migrated phone numbers from the VCCS system. This is a manual, number-by-number process that will take some time. In the next day or so, Wave 1 extensions will return “Your call cannot be completed as dialed.”
To call or transfer to a Wave 1 number from your phone, once this is completed, you will need to treat them as an external number. If you haven’t yet, please take a look at the brief instructions for Wave 2 calling Wave 1. If you’re just calling internally, I urge you to start calling your coworkers via Teams so you’re already used to it come 9/19.
As always, please keep sending questions and concerns my way!
Thanks,
Ben
Benjamin Carnevale
Help Desk Supervisor
Blue Ridge Community College
540-453-2525