In June of 2020, the Calling feature was added to Microsoft Teams for UWM faculty and staff. This was the first step in a major telephony project for UWM – uniting all communication tools under one platform (Office 365) and migrating our telephone lines to Microsoft Teams.

In August we were able to move forward with the first phase of this project, migrating individual phone numbers from our current landline phone system (Centrex) to Microsoft Teams. An individual phone number refers to a direct number assigned to an employee at UWM. This number would be the phone number someone would call to speak to a specific employee directly or leave a voicemail.

Please note: If you received a Teams phone number your contact information needs to be updated in UWM’s Human Resources System (HRS). HRS is a self-service system that feeds the UWM directory, which means that individual employees can update their contact information whenever needed. If you have not previously updated your information in HRS, please use our instructions as a guide. 

As we move towards phase 2 of this project, IT staff are collecting data regarding shared phone numbers and their usage across campus. A shared phone number refers to a number that reaches a group of individuals or a department/location. This could include a phone number shared by multiple employees, the front desk for a department, a reception area, or a phone tree. A small number of individual lines remain and will migrate along with shared lines in phase 2.

Departments and areas across UWM will be communicated with directly regarding this phase of the project. We anticipate multiple migrations with AT&T for shared lines throughout 2021.

The next few months will focus on data collection for phase 2. The Teams Calling Project is an ongoing initiative, please check our website for up-to-date information on the project: uwm.edu/teamsproject. If you have any questions regarding Teams Calling please call the UWM Help Desk at 414-229-4040 or visit uwm.edu/helpdesk.