A very crucial part of any voice implementation, and in some cases data implementations, is the telco coordination.
First, what is telco coordination? Telco stands for “telephone company” which in your case that could be AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, One Communications, (just to name a few) or any of the other provider options available in your area. You may have more than one vendor servicing your current phone/data system today.
Coordination, in this case, refers to the communications, scheduling, and oversight of any new circuits for voice or data traffic your new or current telco provider may be installing based on your orders with them as part of the new system(s) implementation. If you aren’t installing new circuits and you are just reusing the existing ones then coordination also encompasses the communication required to the telco provider you currently use to let them know you will be implementing one or more new systems. They need to be notified of the date when the cutover is scheduled so they are aware and hopefully they won’t turn off your service due to errors they may receive during the cutover when the circuits are being moved to the new equipment. It is very important to have a contact name and number at a minimum from your telco provider for cutover night just in case your service is turned off so that person can get the service restored.
Telco coordination can be the customer’s responsibility or it can be added to the project as a task for G3TP to perform for an additional fee. The customer must supply a “letter of authorization” (or “LOA”) naming G3TP as the customer’s representative for all telco coordination for the project. If any additional costs apply from your telco provider they must still get the customer’s sign-off before proceeding even with the “LOA” on file. The important thing to remember is that someone must accept the responsibility for telco coordination and follow through to avoid project delays and missed cutover dates. Our G3TP scope of work states any delays caused by third-party vendors hired by the customer are the customer’s responsibility and any expenses incurred to reschedule and make a return trip to the customer location to complete the implementation are also the customer’s responsibility.
So, in my opinion, the answer to the question “When and why is telco coordination important?” is that it is always important for the simple reason that without the proper telco coordination you can miss your testing and cutover dates which can unexpectedly cost the customer more money. For most of the customers I have been involved with things that cost them more money unexpectedly are never a good thing. That is the reason why all G3TP Project Managers make telco coordination a topic of discussion during our initial external kick-off meeting to start a project.
