Michael Thurston

• Design, Deploy, and Maintain All UC Related Scripts and Software.
• Project Management Utilizing SCRUM and Kanban Methodologies within Azure DevOps and GitHub.
• UC Development/Automation SME for Virginia Tax.
• Perform detailed analysis on complex UC logs (SIP Signaling, MIVR, Admin, etc).
• Analyze UC Data from across the agency and leverage it to maximize system-wide performance through thoughtful automation and innovation.
• Serve as liaison between Tax UC and UCaaS Vendors.
• UC Architect for migration from UCCX/Verint to Amazon Connect.
• Custom Wallboard and Dashboard development.
• Maintain all responsibilities of previous role.

Notable Projects

• Office Audit IVR: Integrated and deployed a contact center for to a group that has never had one. Wallboards and secure administrative controls for the IVR were also designed and deployed.
• Office of Collections OCA Database Integrations: Created a database integration within one of the Tax IVRs that recognizes flags users and automatically redirects them to external agencies.
• Amazon Connect POC: Created a successful POC for our migration to Amazon Connect.
• Automated VoIP Separations: Used Microsoft Active Directory, LDAP, and Python to automatically separate terminated employees from VoIP systems.
• Everbridge Integration: Led a project to integrate Everbridge with our UC network to enhance outage contingencies and collaboration.
• ThousandEyes Integration: Led a project to integrate Cisco ThousandEyes with our UC network for better insight and troubleshooting.

• Responsible for troubleshooting, maintaining, and administering Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Cisco Unity Connection, Cisco Contact Center Express, Cisco Smart Software Manager, Cisco Emergency Responder, Cisco Unified Presence, Cisco Prime Licenser Manager, Cisco Finesse, Verint, InformaCast, and Faxcom servers.
• Deploying, troubleshooting, and refreshing Cisco endpoints including Cisco 8841, Cisco 8831, Cisco IP Communicator, and Cisco Jabber.
• Script development/programming utilizing UCCX Script Editor (Java-based), Python, HTML, CSS, Javascript, SQL, SOAP APIs, REST APIs, etc.
• Creating diagrams for the TAX VoIP Network as well as IVR scripts using Visio Professional.
• Maintaining, deploying, and troubleshooting various TAX infrastructure hardware including Cisco Unified Border Elements, APC Smart UPS, UCS blade servers, and VoIP firewalls.
• Utilizing Cisco Real-Time Monitoring Tool, Cisco Real-Time Reporting Tool, Cisco Call Detail Records/Cisco Call Analytics and Reporting, Cisco Unified Intelligence Center, Splunk, and ThousandEyes to run reports, and monitor/troubleshoot Tax user/Network Issues.
• Maintaining and organizing operational documents for VoIP using Excel and Word.
• Other Responsibilities include on-call support, non on-call after hours support, morning systems check-ins, outage resolution, TAX support liaison, multisite endpoint transport and troubleshooting, knowledgebase maintenance, project management (Microsoft Project/AppZilla), VTSC ticket support, VCCC ticket support, training, home network troubleshooting, laptop troubleshooting (certs, drivers, configurations, app deployment, etc), and other duties as assigned.

Notable Projects:

• Post Call Survey for Contact Center: Self-motivated effort to develop post call survey for contact center. Project is pending business review.
• VoIP Automation Tools: Utilized Python to develop tools that automate various VoIP related tasks such as as the daily morning checklist, Faxcom2Filenet receipt logging, Finesse agent forced-logouts, MTP restarts, and UCCX Engine Restarts.
• VoIP Enhanced Monitoring Tools: Utilized Python and Cisco Unified Communications Manager SOAP APIs (AXL) to create enhanced monitoring, logging, and alerting of outages that involve VoIP endpoints.
• VoIP Intranet/Dashboard: Utilized the Django Framework (Python, HTML, CSS, and Javascript) to develop a PoC for a VoIP Dashboard that hosts a phonebook web app that can be utilized throughout the Department of Taxation. Future webapps will include ThousandEyes integration, VoIP asset management, and provisioning tools. Project is pending business review.
• P&I Calculator: Currently refactoring the current approach to the P&I calculator to use the UCCX Editor's native capabilities.
• VoIP Network & IVR Diagrams for TAX: Used Visio to visualize complex network diagrams in ways that are easy to comprehend.

• Maintained, deployed, and troubleshot most aspects of Comcast's HFC (Hybrid-Fiber Coax) network.
• Deployed and troubleshot networking equipment (Routers, CBRs, Modems, WAPs, Switches, NIDs, Fiber Nodes, etc.) for SMBs.
• Deployed and maintained small scale VoIP environments for SMBs utilizing proprietary applications and services.
• Led research teams for NPS research and improvement, customer service script logic improvement, and technical tool design.
• Deployed, maintained, and troubleshot security equipment (cameras, etc.) for both residences and SMBs.
• EPON and GPON utilizing Juniper hardware for Enterprise installation.
• Cross-training in network maintenance, head-end engineering, and hub-site maintenance.
• Ace Award - 3 continuous months of perfect performance metrics
• Beltway Region Tech of the Quarter - Q3 2021

• Design, Deploy, and Maintain All UC Related Scripts and Software.
• Project Management Utilizing SCRUM and Kanban Methodologies within Azure DevOps and GitHub.
• UC Development/Automation SME for Virginia Tax.
• Perform detailed analysis on complex UC logs (SIP Signaling, MIVR, Admin, etc).
• Analyze UC Data from across the agency and leverage it to maximize system-wide performance through thoughtful automation and innovation.
• Serve as liaison between Tax UC and UCaaS Vendors.
• UC Architect for migration from UCCX/Verint to Amazon Connect.
• Custom Wallboard and Dashboard development.
• Maintain all responsibilities of previous role.

Notable Projects

• Office Audit IVR: Integrated and deployed a contact center for to a group that has never had one. Wallboards and secure administrative controls for the IVR were also designed and deployed.
• Office of Collections OCA Database Integrations: Created a database integration within one of the Tax IVRs that recognizes flags users and automatically redirects them to external agencies.
• Amazon Connect POC: Created a successful POC for our migration to Amazon Connect.
• Automated VoIP Separations: Used Microsoft Active Directory, LDAP, and Python to automatically separate terminated employees from VoIP systems.
• Everbridge Integration: Led a project to integrate Everbridge with our UC network to enhance outage contingencies and collaboration.
• ThousandEyes Integration: Led a project to integrate Cisco ThousandEyes with our UC network for better insight and troubleshooting.