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Simple phone audit can save your department $$$ by George Spain CCIT Technical Writer By combining a quick look at your department’s telephone bill with a simple audit of telephone jacks, your department could save money—a lot of money. The Purpose MUSC leadership has backed a plan that calls for department heads and business managers to scrutinize their monthly phone bills for any unnecessary phone lines. Then the department should conduct a simple audit of empty phone jacks to see which is still connected but unused.  If each of the 620 or so telephone billing accounts (called 120 accounts) can eliminate just one phone, this plan could save between $170,000 and $258,000 per year campuswide. If voicemail were part of the connection, it would save an additional $25,000 per year. By way of setting an example (as well as saving money), the Center for Computing and Information Technology (CCIT) recently conducted an audit of its modem lines and found that it could eliminate 50 of them at an annual savings of $333.36 per phone or a combined savings of $16,668 for all 50 connections, according to Michael Haschker, manager of the University Communications Team (UCT). Fran Trotman, an information technology coordinator (ITC) in the Department of Psychiatry, jumped on the chance for an early audit and reports that the Department and Institute of Psychiatry are expected to save $45,000 by disconnecting 130 phones and 31 Audix accounts. Some of these phones were off-campus phones. UCT says that regular phone connections are $27.78 per month. Add $8 for voice mail (Audix). Digital lines are $30.99 per month (not including the $8 Audix charge). What’s the plan to save money? What CCIT will do CCIT will: Identify agency codes associated with all departments Identify all numbers billed to those accounts and agency codes Provide each department with web access to billing information (Telebill) Request departments verify physical phone installations against Telebill information Ask each department to request disconnect of at least one unneeded set Correct billing issues or makes adjustments to sets and services Maintain a listing of sets and services disconnected to calculate an annual saving to the department Report the savings to MUSC leadership. What departments can do: Check out its Telebill account on the web at http://hsd.musc.edu/Communications/telebill.asp, using its agency code and password and verify the information including physical location and any additional services (Audix, soft numbers and long distance access) Walk through the department and check the information against Telebill If there's no phone where there should be one, test the jack for service by plugging in a phone and listening for a dial tone. If you get one, you're paying for that line. Digital lines may have more than one number associated with them; you should check all the call buttons for separate lines. If you identify a phone that can be disconnected, submit a disconnect order to UCT. You can fax the disconnect order to 792-9898. To find out the number of a line, call to a digital phone from that jack or dial UCT. UCT can conduct this audit for you for its current hourly rate. Check up on your savings  UCT will keep a spreadsheet of the numbers disconnected and the cost savings and report these to you and to MUSC leadership.  “When departments realize the savings potential, we expect they will want to get started right away,”said Haschker.