Teams Phone License Assignment

Quick Links: | Article Summary | License Overview | Ticket Routing | Process: Assigning Licenses | Process: Teams Resource Accounts (AA/CQ) | Verification | Troubleshooting |

Article Summary  

This internal article describes how Chico State IT technicians assign Microsoft Teams-related licenses and how to route tickets to the correct support team. All licenses in this article are intended to be assigned via group-based licensing (adding the user/account to the appropriate group) and must not be directly assigned to individual users in Microsoft 365 admin portals.

Group-based licensing ensures license changes follow role or service changes automatically and reduces drift from manual, one-off assignments. (Microsoft Entra group-based licensing.)

License Overview  

Important: Do not directly assign these licenses to users. Add the user/account to the corresponding group so licensing is applied by group membership.

• License Name: Microsoft Teams Phone Resource Account for faculty
  Group Name: N/A
  Number of Licenses: 289
  Use Case: Auto Attendants (AA) and Call Queues (CQ). Resource accounts are required for AA/CQ objects and are used to enable external callers to reach them. Documentation on how to create this can be found here.
  Ticket Route To: TDX-ESYS-Cloud
   
• License Name: Microsoft Teams Phone Standard for faculty
  Group Name: o365-teams-phone-fac-lic
  Number of Licenses: 70
  Use Case: Uplift license for employees who only have an A3.
  Ticket Route To: TDX-ITSS-Accounts
   
• License Name: Microsoft Teams Shared Devices for faculty
  Group Name: o365-teams-shared-device-lic
  Number of Licenses: 25
  Use Case: Common Area Phones (CAP). Common area phones are typically signed in with accounts tied to a Teams Shared Devices license.
  Ticket Route To: TDX-ITSS-Accounts
   
• License Name: Teams Premium for Faculty
  Group Name: o365-teams-premium-lic
  Number of Licenses: 25
  Use Case: Assigned to supervisors in a call center (for advanced Teams Premium capabilities; may be required for certain advanced communications/call management features).
  Ticket Route To: TDX-ITSS-Accounts

Ticket Routing  

Use the following routing rules when you identify a request for one of these Teams licenses.

Routing rules

1. Auto Attendants / Call Queues / Teams Resource Accounts: Assign the ticket to TDX-ESYS-Cloud.
   • Reason: AA/CQ resource accounts and configuration require Teams administrative roles. At Chico State, ESYS performs this work.
2. All other Teams licenses in this article: Assign the ticket to TDX-ITSS-Accounts.

Process: Assigning Licenses  

Standard method: Add the user/account to the correct licensing group. Do not assign licenses directly to a user in Microsoft 365.

Step-by-step

1. Identify the requested capability from the ticket:
   • Teams Phone Resource Account (AA/CQ)
   • Teams Phone Standard (uplift for A3 users)
   • Teams Shared Devices (Common Area Phone)
   • Teams Premium (call center supervisor use case)
2. Route the ticket using the rules in the Ticket Routing section.
3. Confirm the correct group to use:
   • Phone Standard: o365-teams-phone-fac-lic
   • Shared Devices (CAP): o365-teams-shared-device-lic
   • Teams Premium: o365-teams-premium-lic
4. Add the user/account to the group in the appropriate identity management tool used by Chico State (group-based licensing).
   • Do not assign the license directly to the user account in M365 Admin Center.
   • If the ticket requests a Common Area Phone or resource account, verify whether the “user” is actually a resource account object (not a person).
5. Document the action in the ticket work notes:
   • Which group you added the account to
   • Date/time (and any relevant identifiers, such as resource account UPN)
   • Any expected propagation time communicated to the requester (if applicable per team practice)
6. Proceed to verification steps in Verification.

Process: Teams Resource Accounts (Auto Attendants / Call Queues)  

Requests involving Auto Attendants (AA) and Call Queues (CQ) should be routed to TDX-ESYS-Cloud. Microsoft Teams requires resource accounts for AA/CQ scenarios, and these accounts are used to connect service numbers and enable callers to reach the AA/CQ. Resource accounts used for AA/CQ are typically disabled for sign-in and behave differently than normal user accounts.

What technicians should capture before routing

1. What is being requested? (new AA, new CQ, change to an existing AA/CQ)
2. Business owner / department and primary technical contact
3. Call flow requirements (hours, menu options, routing destinations, overflow rules)
4. Phone number / service number needs (new number vs. existing number)
5. Names/UPNs for any existing resource accounts involved (if known)

Licensing note

When ESYS creates or manages the AA/CQ resource account, licensing should be applied via membership in: o365-teams-resource-account-lic.

Verification  

1. Confirm group membership shows the user/account in the correct group.
2. Confirm license is applied per your team’s standard verification method for group-based licensing.
3. For Shared Devices / Common Area Phones: confirm the account intended to sign in on the phone is the one that received the Shared Devices license.
4. Update the ticket with verification results and next steps (e.g., “license applied; proceed with device sign-in” or “routed to ESYS for AA/CQ configuration”).

Troubleshooting  

License did not apply after adding to group

• Re-check that the correct group was used (group name must match exactly).
• Check for conflicting license assignments or eligibility issues per group-based licensing behavior.
• If the issue persists, escalate within the assigned team queue (TDX-ITSS-Accounts or TDX-ESYS-Cloud).

Requester asks for a direct license assignment

• Reply that Chico State uses group-based licensing for consistency and auditability.
• Proceed by adding the user/account to the appropriate group instead of direct assignment.