Week 1 — Telecom Fundamentals & Platform Orientation

Time commitment: ~12–15 hours (reading + exercises) Goal: Build the mental model. By Friday, you can explain the four layers of a business phone system, the 7 migration stages, and the difference between SIP and RTP to a non-technical customer.

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Day 1 — The vocabulary and the architecture

Reading (3 hours)

• deployment-toolkit/01-telecom-fundamentals.md — full read, take notes on terms you don’t know
• knowledge-base/glossary.md — scan the full glossary; read any term you’re unsure of in full
• knowledge-base/network-requirements.md — bandwidth formula and QoS section

Exercise 1.1 — Self-quiz on protocol vocabulary

Answer these without looking at the glossary. Then check your answers.

1. What is the difference between SIP and RTP?
2. What does “codec” mean? Name three codecs and their bandwidth requirements.
3. What is SIP ALG? Why is it always disabled?
4. What is jitter? What target should you hit before going live?
5. What is a DID? How is it different from an extension?
6. What does “NAT traversal” mean and why does it matter for VoIP?
7. What is a CSR and when would you request one?
8. What is the difference between losing carrier and winning carrier in a port?

Exercise 1.2 — Analog device identification

Look at this list of devices found in a customer’s office. For each one, identify: (a) is it a candidate for UCaaS migration? (b) what’s the disposition?

• 42 Avaya 9504 desk phones
• 3 fax machines (two in accounting, one in the mail room)
• 1 overhead paging system (6 zones, connected to Avaya via analog port)
• 2 door phones at the building entrance
• 1 alarm system (ADT) with a phone line
• 1 credit card reader in the lobby (uses analog dial-up)
• 6 conference room polycom systems (Trio 8800 — SIP)

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Day 2 — The migration lifecycle and the pipeline

Reading (2 hours)

• deployment-toolkit/02-the-migration-lifecycle.md — full read
• directives/migration-workflow.md — full read (the technical specification for the 7-stage process)

Exercise 2.1 — Stage ownership map

For each action below, identify which stage it belongs to and who owns it:

1. Submitting the LOA to the winning carrier
2. Running compliance_checker.py --can-advance --stage 5
3. Moving the HubSpot deal to “Closed Won”
4. Dialing 933 at every site
5. Running the TCO calculator
6. Receiving the FOC confirmation
7. Holding the kickoff call with the customer
8. Running the Day 30 health check

Exercise 2.2 — n8n trigger map

1. What fires n8n workflow 903?
2. What does workflow 903 do automatically in Stage 2?
3. What does workflow 903 NOT do that you must do manually?
4. What fires workflow 904?
5. What does n8n do if the porting tracker shows foc_received?

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Day 3 — Assessment and discovery

Reading (2 hours)

• deployment-toolkit/03-assessment-and-discovery.md — full read
• knowledge-base/network-requirements.md — full read (bandwidth, QoS, firewall sections)

Exercise 3.1 — Assessment questionnaire practice

Pull up execution/generate_proposal.py --stage assessment and run it for a test migration. Read through the questionnaire it generates. For each section:

1. Why is this section in the questionnaire?
2. What would happen if you skipped it and the customer didn’t tell you?

Exercise 3.2 — Network readiness math

Calculate the bandwidth requirements for these customers:

Customer A: 80 seats, standard business office, uses G.711

Customer B: 200-seat call center, 60% concurrent during peak hours, G.711

Customer C: 30 seats, remote office connected via T1 (1.5 Mbps)

For Customer C: can they migrate to UCaaS as-is? What would you tell them?

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Day 4 — Platform orientation

Hands-on (4 hours)

You need access to a sandbox or trial account on at least two platforms. Work through the provisioning sequence in 05-platform-configuration.md:

RingCentral sandbox (get from your manager):

• Log into admin.ringcentral.com with partner credentials
• Create 5 test users (CSV import)
• Configure a 2-level auto-attendant
• Configure a hunt group with 3 members
• Set up voicemail-to-email for one user
• Set an E911 address and verify it
• Find where to initiate a porting order (you won’t submit one — just find the form)

8x8 sandbox (get from your manager):

• Log into app.8x8.com
• Create 3 test users
• Configure a basic auto attendant
• Create a ring group
• Find the contact center configuration (don’t configure — just explore)

Reading

• deployment-toolkit/05-platform-configuration.md — full read (all 6 platforms + ATA section)

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Day 5 — The knowledge base and self-quiz

Reading (2 hours)

• knowledge-base/feature-gap-matrix.md — full read
• knowledge-base/e911-reference.md — full read (in knowledge base)
• knowledge-base/porting-reference.md — full read (in knowledge base)

Exercise 5.1 — Feature gap scenarios

For each customer scenario, identify: (a) which platform should be ruled out, and (b) what hardware will be needed?

1. 60-seat dental office (HIPAA), has fax machines and paging, wants contact center for scheduling
2. 40-seat accounting firm (PCI), takes credit card payments by phone, no contact center
3. 25-seat federal contractor, needs FedRAMP authorization
4. 15-seat retail business, tight budget, single location, simple call flow

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Week 1 Readiness Check

Answer these questions verbally with your manager (or written if remote). No reference docs.

1. Explain the 7 migration stages and what you own in each.
2. What is SIP ALG and why is it always disabled?
3. A customer says they “don’t have any fax machines.” What do you do?
4. What is the difference between a seat count and an extension count?
5. For a 50-seat customer on a 100 Mbps business cable connection, is bandwidth a concern?
6. Name the 5 porting stages in order.
7. Which of our 6 platforms is FedRAMP authorized? (Name at least 2.)
8. What is DTMF and why does it matter for PCI compliance?

Manager sign-off: _______________________ Date: _______________

Advance to Week 2: [ ] Yes [ ] Needs more time in: ____________________________