STN-3300.03: Caller ID Masking

STANDARD SUMMARY

Intended Audience: All Faculty, Staff, and Student Employees 
Standard Owner: Director of Enterprise Infrastructure Services (EIS)

Western Washington University’s primary system for voice communications is Microsoft Teams. If an individual has a safety, privacy, confidentiality, or other business justification for hiding their Caller ID information, Information Technology Services (ITS) staff can help. 

There are technical limitations on how many Caller ID numbers our infrastructure can mask, and what numbers you can change them to. The criteria and process for approving Caller ID masking are available in our full standard. 

To request Caller ID masking, submit a ticket to the Academic Technology & User Services (ATUS) Help Desk, or, for requests of a sensitive nature, contact Telecom staff directly at 360.650.3600 or telecom@wwu.edu

 

For the complete standard, click "Full Document" tab at top of page.

FULL DOCUMENT

Intended Audience: All Faculty, Staff, and Student Employees 
Standard Owner: Director of Enterprise Infrastructure Services (EIS)

1. Definitions

Caller ID Masking 

The option to set, through local manipulation rules or by configuration in Teams policy, a Caller ID number for an individual Teams Voice user.   

Auto Attendant 

An automated message and interactive menu system that greets a caller. 

Call Queue 

One or more individuals (agents) who answer a shared phone number, based on a series of call-routing rules established in Teams. 

Service Number 

A phone number assigned to an Auto-Attendant or Call Queue instead of an individual. 

Hosted Number 

A phone number that has been ported to Microsoft’s phone provider, instead of being serviced through WWU’s local phone provider. 

2. Caller ID Masking via Teams Policy 

2.1 Available Options  

Through Microsoft Teams policy, a user’s Caller ID number can be changed to one of three options: 

  1. Anonymous. 
  2. The individual's assigned number. 
  3. Any service number that is a hosted number. 

There is no technical limit to the number of Caller ID Masking changes that can be implemented via Teams Policy. 

2.2 Criteria for Caller ID Masking via Teams Policy 

Any user may request Caller ID Masking via Teams Policy, for any reason. To mask a phone number as a service number, that service number must be a hosted number with Microsoft. Numbers that are provisioned by Western's local phone provider cannot be used in Caller ID Masking via Teams Policy. 

3. Caller ID Masking via Local Manipulation Rules 

3.1 Available Options 

Through local manipulation rules, a Caller ID number can be masked with any Western phone number provisioned by the local (Bellingham) phone provider. Western’s on-campus telephony systems are limited to 205 local manipulation rules; therefore, Information Technology Services (ITS) limits approval of Caller ID Masking via local manipulation rules to specific criteria. 

Caller ID Masking via local manipulation rules will only work for calls from Western-owned phone numbers to outside numbers; Teams-to-Teams calls within Western do not have local manipulation rules applied to them. 

3.2 Criteria for Caller ID Masking via Local Manipulation Rules 

Due to the limited number of local manipulation rules available, individuals requesting Caller ID Masking via local manipulation rules must meet one of the following criteria: 

  • Safety – Individuals with a personal safety reason for masking their phone number, such as: 
    1. Individuals who have issued a no-contact order against another individual, or who have reported to law enforcement that they are concerned for their personal safety. 
    2. Faculty who engage in political or controversial research and anticipate threats or harassment stemming from their academic work. 
  • Privacy and Confidentiality – Individuals whose positions with Western warrant limiting the community’s direct access to them, such as: 
    1. Executive officers who wish to have their direct numbers unlisted due to their public profile. 
    2. Health and wellness employees, such as Counseling Center or Student Health Center employees, who do not wish to reveal their direct numbers to their patients. 
    3. Staff and Student Employees with responsibilities for communication and outreach to the public (outside of Western), who have a business justification for masking Caller ID. 

4. Requesting Caller ID Masking 

All requests for Caller ID Masking may be submitted to ITS via a Help Desk Ticket at https://atus.wwu.edu/get-help

Requests of a sensitive nature may be sent directly to telecom@wwu.edu

5. Authority 

  1. University policy POL-U3000.04: Computer Use – Responsible Computing 

https://policy.wwu.edu/POL-U3000.04-Computer-Use-Responsible-Computing.pdf 

Change Log 

Revised 

Version 

Author 

Approver 

Change 

06/18/2020 

1.0 

Chris Miller 

ITS Standards & Guidelines Committee 

Original Version