High Country Workplace Technologies helped the City of Cheyenne, Wyoming, migrate from an established Mitel Connect phone system to RingCentral across more than 30 municipal locations and over 600 endpoints.
The project preserved critical public telephone numbers, departmental call flows and resident-facing services. It also required the City to evaluate each Mitel Connect workgroup individually and determine whether it should be replaced by a RingEX call queue or moved to the more advanced RingCX contact center platform.
City of Cheyenne migration at a glance
Customer: City of Cheyenne, Wyoming
Industry: Local government
Environment: More than 30 municipal locations and over 600 endpoints
Previous phone system: Mitel Connect
New communications platforms: RingCentral RingEX and RingCX
Implementation partner: High Country Workplace Technologies
HCWT relationship: Communications vendor to the City since 2014
Migration approach: Discovery, workgroup analysis, configuration, number porting, testing and cutover support
Primary goals: Centralize administration, improve mobility, preserve municipal call flows and modernize communications without disrupting public services
What communications challenge did the City of Cheyenne face?
The City needed to move an established, multi-location Mitel Connect environment to the cloud without disrupting the telephone numbers and departmental workflows that residents and employees relied upon.
Cheyenne’s system connected administrative offices, public works, utilities, police facilities, recreation operations and remote municipal locations. It included hundreds of users, extensions and published telephone numbers, along with auto attendants, shared lines, specialized routing and Mitel Connect workgroups.
Migrating this environment required HCWT and the City to:
- Inventory hundreds of users, extensions and telephone numbers
- Coordinate communications across more than 30 locations
- Document existing Mitel Connect workgroups and their workflows
- Decide whether each workgroup should become a RingEX call queue or a RingCX contact center queue
- Rebuild departmental auto attendants, queues and shared lines
- Preserve published main numbers and direct telephone numbers
- Protect resident access to City services during number porting
- Support office-based, mobile and field personnel
- Minimize disruption during the transition
Why do Mitel Connect workgroups require special attention?
Many Mitel Connect customers use workgroups to distribute incoming calls among employees. A workgroup may appear to be a basic call queue, but some departments rely on it for much more than simply ringing several phones.
During a migration, each workgroup should be evaluated based on how the department actually handles calls. Important questions include:
- How many employees answer workgroup calls?
- How many calls does the department receive?
- Does the department need scheduled or automated callbacks?
- Do supervisors need real-time queue visibility?
- Are callers transferred between specialized teams?
- Must agents assign a disposition or outcome to each call?
- Does management need reporting based on those dispositions?
- Are detailed agent-performance and customer-interaction reports required?
A RingEX call queue can replace many Mitel Connect workgroups effectively. Departments with more advanced service, reporting or workflow requirements may receive substantially greater value from RingCX.
RingEX call queues versus RingCX
RingEX and RingCX can operate within the same municipal communications environment, but they serve different operational needs.
| Requirement | RingEX call queue | RingCX |
|---|---|---|
| Distribute calls among department employees | Yes | Yes |
| Basic queue routing and schedules | Yes | Yes |
| Departmental voicemail and overflow routing | Yes | Yes |
| Standard queue reporting | Yes | Yes |
| Future Queue Booster capabilities | Available as an addition | Not required for basic RingCX contact-center operation |
| Agent dispositions | Limited compared with a contact center | Yes |
| Reporting based on call outcomes | Limited | Yes |
| Advanced agent and supervisor workflows | Limited | Yes |
| Detailed contact-center analytics | Limited | Yes |
| Best fit | General departmental call handling | High-volume or reporting-intensive operations |
The correct decision should be based on operational requirements—not simply on the number of agents answering calls.
How did Cheyenne choose between RingEX and RingCX?
Cheyenne’s Transit and Sanitation departments demonstrate why Mitel Connect workgroups should not automatically be migrated to identical RingCentral configurations.
Transit selected RingEX call queues
The Transit Department determined that RingEX call queues could support its current call-routing and departmental requirements.
RingEX provides the core capabilities Transit needs to distribute incoming calls among employees while maintaining departmental routing, schedules and voicemail. The City can add Queue Booster in the future as Transit’s requirements evolve.
This approach gives Transit an effective replacement for its Mitel Connect workgroup without requiring a full citizen contact center deployment today.
Sanitation selected RingCX
The Sanitation Department had a greater need to document the result of each customer interaction.
RingCX allows agents to assign dispositions to calls so the department can identify why residents called and how those calls were resolved. Those dispositions can then be incorporated into operational and management reporting.
For Sanitation, this information provides significant value. Rather than reporting only how many calls were received, answered or abandoned, the department can better understand the reasons for customer contacts and their outcomes.
Examples could include:
- Missed collection
- New service request
- Billing question
- Cart delivery or replacement
- Schedule information
- Service complaint
- Resolved during the initial call
- Follow-up required
This reporting can help Sanitation identify recurring issues, measure demand for different services and provide management with better information about resident interactions.
Because dispositions and the associated reporting were especially valuable to the department, RingCX was the more appropriate destination for its Mitel Connect workgroup.
Why did the City select RingCentral?
RingCentral gave the City a centrally managed communications platform capable of supporting employees across departments, facilities and work locations.
The City could standardize its overall communications environment while selecting the appropriate queue platform for each department. General departmental workgroups could move to RingEX call queues, while departments needing contact-center workflows, dispositions and more detailed reporting could move to RingCX.
This approach avoided forcing every City department into the same configuration or licensing model.
How did HCWT migrate Cheyenne from Mitel Connect?
HCWT managed the City’s transition through a structured process that included discovery, workgroup evaluation, configuration, number porting, testing, cutover assistance and post-migration support.
1. Document the existing Mitel environment
HCWT inventoried the City’s users, extensions, locations, telephone numbers, auto attendants, workgroups and departmental requirements.
This discovery was essential because municipal phone systems often contain years of accumulated call-routing rules, published numbers and department-specific workflows.
2. Evaluate each Mitel Connect workgroup
HCWT and the City reviewed how each department used its existing workgroups.
Departments primarily needing call distribution could move to RingEX call queues. Departments requiring dispositions, advanced reporting or more structured agent and supervisor workflows could move to RingCX.
3. Rebuild users and call flows
HCWT helped configure users, features, auto attendants, RingEX call queues, RingCX queues and related call flows.
Rather than treating every department identically, the design reflected the different ways City offices receive, route, manage and report on telephone calls.
4. Coordinate number porting and testing
HCWT helped coordinate the transfer of the City’s telephone numbers and verified inbound and outbound calling.
Testing confirmed that main numbers, direct numbers, departmental routing, queues and public-facing call flows operated as intended before and during cutover.
5. Support administrators and employees
HCWT assisted City administrators and employees through cutover and stabilization.
Post-migration support gave Cheyenne an experienced partner familiar with the previous Mitel Connect environment and the newly implemented RingEX and RingCX platforms.
A trusted communications relationship dating back to 2014
HCWT’s work with Cheyenne did not begin with the RingCentral migration.
In 2014, the City selected HCWT to migrate its legacy Avaya PBX to Mitel. HCWT continued serving as Cheyenne’s communications vendor following that initial modernization.
When the City was ready to move from Mitel Connect to RingCentral, it again trusted HCWT to manage the transition.
This long-term relationship gave HCWT valuable knowledge of the City’s locations, departments, published telephone numbers, network environment and operational history. It also helped HCWT recognize that the City’s Mitel workgroups could not all be replaced with a single standardized solution.
What were the results?
Cheyenne now has a cloud communications environment supporting employees across departments, facilities and work locations.
Department-appropriate queue solutions
The City did not have to choose RingEX or RingCX for the entire organization. Each department could select the platform that best matched its requirements.
Centralized administration
The City can manage communications more consistently across its municipal locations through a centralized cloud environment.
Improved operational reporting
Departments using RingCX can capture dispositions and produce reports reflecting the reasons for calls and their outcomes.
Room for future expansion
Departments using RingEX call queues can evaluate additions such as Queue Booster as their requirements evolve.
Preserved public access
The project protected established telephone numbers and call flows used by residents to reach City departments and services.
Continued local expertise
The City continues to have an experienced communications partner familiar with its former Avaya and Mitel systems and its current RingCentral environment.
Frequently asked questions
Can Mitel Connect workgroups be migrated to RingCentral?
Yes. A Mitel Connect workgroup can generally be recreated using a RingEX call queue or RingCX. The correct destination depends on the workgroup’s routing, agent, supervisor, reporting and customer-service requirements.
How do we decide between a RingEX call queue and RingCX?
RingEX call queues are generally appropriate for departments that primarily need incoming calls distributed among employees. RingCX should be considered when departments need dispositions, detailed outcome reporting, advanced supervisor tools or more sophisticated contact-center workflows.
Does every Mitel workgroup need RingCX?
No. Moving every Mitel Connect workgroup to RingCX may add capabilities and costs that some departments do not need. Each workgroup should be evaluated individually.
What are call dispositions?
A disposition is an outcome or classification selected by an agent during or after an interaction. Dispositions can identify why someone called, what service was requested, whether the matter was resolved and whether follow-up is required.
Why are dispositions valuable?
Dispositions allow management to understand more than basic call volume. Reports can show the reasons customers call, the outcomes of those interactions and which issues generate the most demand.
Can one organization use RingEX call queues and RingCX?
Yes. Cheyenne uses RingEX and RingCX within the same overall communications environment. This allows each department to use the platform appropriate for its operational requirements.
Can Queue Booster be added later?
Yes. A department can begin with RingEX call queues and add Queue Booster later when its queue-management requirements justify the additional capability.
Why does Mitel Connect experience matter during migration?
A partner experienced with Mitel Connect can identify how workgroups, hunt groups, call coverage, auto attendants, voicemail, schedules and overflow routing are currently configured. That knowledge helps determine how those functions should be recreated in RingEX or RingCX.
Does HCWT support both RingEX and RingCX migrations?
Yes. HCWT is delivery certified for RingEX and RingCX and helps organizations evaluate, design, configure, implement and support both platforms.
Planning a Mitel Connect migration?
HCWT helps municipalities, school districts, counties, special districts, utilities and businesses migrate Mitel Connect workgroups to the appropriate RingCentral platform.
Our services can include:
- Existing Mitel Connect discovery
- User, extension and telephone-number inventories
- Workgroup and call-flow documentation
- RingEX versus RingCX requirements analysis
- RingEX call-queue configuration
- RingCX design and configuration
- Disposition and reporting design
- Queue Booster planning
- Auto-attendant development
- Telephone-number porting
- Device planning and deployment
- Paging and analog endpoint planning
- E911 and dispatchable-location planning
- User and administrator training
- Cutover testing and post-migration support
Contact HCWT to schedule your review.