Teams Call Quality Dashboard (CQD)

Microsoft Teams Call Quality Dashboard (CQD): Overview

The Microsoft Teams Call Quality Dashboard (CQD) is a tool designed to help IT administrators monitor and troubleshoot call and meeting quality issues within Microsoft Teams. It provides detailed insights into the performance of calls, audio, video, and screen sharing in meetings, helping organizations track, diagnose, and resolve quality issues related to network conditions, device configurations, and call performance.

The CQD is especially useful for identifying patterns in call quality issues, such as poor audio due to network congestion or video problems related to specific device types. This makes it an invaluable tool for improving overall communication performance across an organization.

The CQD Portal is split into multiple dashboards, allowing admins to analyze different aspects of call quality data and configure reports to focus on specific metrics.

Key Dashboards and Configurations in the Microsoft Teams Call Quality Dashboard (CQD)

1. Summary Dashboard

Function: Provides a high-level overview of overall call quality and performance across the organization.
Components:
- Call Success Rate: Shows the percentage of successful calls versus failed calls over a defined period.
- Call Volume: Displays the total number of calls made within a specific time frame, broken down into successful and failed calls.
- Call Quality Metrics: Aggregates key metrics like jitter, latency, and packet loss for audio, video, and screen-sharing sessions.
- Top Trends: Highlights recurring issues or trends, such as frequent poor call quality in a specific location or with a particular device type.
Example Usage: An IT admin uses the Summary Dashboard at the beginning of each week to review the overall call quality and identify any immediate areas of concern, such as a high number of dropped calls during video meetings in a specific office location.

2. Detailed Metrics Dashboard

Function: Allows admins to dig deeper into specific call quality metrics and analyze the performance of individual calls or meetings.
Components:
- Audio Quality: Displays detailed metrics related to audio calls, including jitter, latency, packet loss, and round-trip time (RTT).
- Video Quality: Shows metrics related to video calls, such as frame rate, resolution, and bitrate.
- Screen Sharing Quality: Monitors screen-sharing sessions and provides data on bitrate, frame drops, and latency.
- Call Failures: Provides detailed logs of calls that failed due to network issues, device problems, or software errors, allowing admins to investigate the root cause.
Example Usage: After a user reports poor audio during a Teams call, the IT admin uses the Detailed Metrics Dashboard to view the specific call and analyze the jitter and packet loss data. They notice the user’s network had high packet loss, suggesting that network congestion caused the poor audio quality.

3. Trends Dashboard

Function: Tracks call quality trends over time, helping organizations identify recurring issues and patterns.
Components:
- Call Quality Over Time: Displays call quality metrics (jitter, packet loss, latency) across various time periods (days, weeks, months).
- Usage Patterns: Highlights patterns in call usage, such as whether poor quality is more frequent during peak hours or specific times of the day.
- Regional Analysis: Shows call performance across different geographic regions, helping identify whether location-specific issues are contributing to poor performance.
- Device Trends: Provides insights into which devices (e.g., headsets, cameras) are most often associated with poor call quality.
Example Usage: The IT admin uses the Trends Dashboard to investigate whether network upgrades in a remote office have improved call quality. By comparing data from before and after the upgrade, they confirm that packet loss and jitter have decreased, resulting in better audio performance for employees in that office.

4. Endpoint Dashboard

Function: Focuses on performance by device and endpoint, allowing IT admins to see how various hardware setups impact call quality.
Components:
- Device Types: Shows performance metrics broken down by device type (e.g., laptops, mobile phones, dedicated Teams devices).
- Peripheral Devices: Tracks the performance of headsets, microphones, cameras, and speakers used in Teams calls.
- Endpoint Quality: Provides specific data for each endpoint (i.e., users’ devices), including connection quality, device performance, and the type of peripherals being used.
- Device Configuration Issues: Highlights cases where poor call quality is linked to incorrect device settings, outdated drivers, or unsupported hardware.
Example Usage: After several users report issues with poor video quality, the IT admin uses the Endpoint Dashboard to determine that the affected users are all using older webcams with low resolution. The admin recommends upgrading the hardware to improve video quality.

5. Network Insights Dashboard

Function: Provides in-depth analysis of how the network impacts call quality, focusing on factors like bandwidth, network congestion, and connectivity.
Components:
- Network Performance: Tracks key network metrics such as latency, jitter, packet loss, and round-trip time (RTT) across different segments (LAN, WAN, VPN, etc.).
- Connection Type: Analyzes performance by connection type, showing whether calls over wired connections, Wi-Fi, or cellular networks perform differently.
- Network Subnets: Breaks down call performance by network subnet, allowing admins to pinpoint specific areas of the network that may be causing issues.
- VPN Performance: Monitors calls made over VPN connections to determine how well remote users are able to connect to Teams services.
Example Usage: After discovering that users in a branch office are experiencing poor call quality, the IT admin reviews the Network Insights Dashboard and finds that calls on the office’s Wi-Fi network are suffering from high packet loss. The admin works with the network team to optimize Wi-Fi settings and improve performance.

6. Locations Dashboard

Function: Provides call quality data broken down by location, allowing admins to compare performance across offices, regions, or specific buildings.
Components:
- Location Performance: Displays call quality metrics (jitter, latency, packet loss) by location, helping admins identify areas with poor performance.
- Building or Office: Allows for granular tracking of call quality within specific buildings or office floors.
- Global Regions: Aggregates performance data by region or country, enabling a broader understanding of whether regional factors (e.g., local ISP issues) are affecting call quality.
Example Usage: The IT admin uses the Locations Dashboard to track call quality across multiple international offices. They discover that users in the European office are experiencing higher latency compared to the US office, prompting further investigation into network issues with the local internet service provider (ISP).

7. User and Call Performance Dashboard

Function: Offers detailed insights into call quality at the individual user level, allowing admins to troubleshoot user-specific problems.
Components:
- User Performance: Displays call quality for individual users, including metrics like jitter, latency, and packet loss for each call they’ve made.
- Problematic Calls: Lists calls that were flagged as poor quality based on thresholds set by the admin (e.g., calls with more than 5% packet loss or jitter above 100ms).
- User Device and Network Data: Shows which devices and networks users were connected to during their calls, providing context for troubleshooting issues.
Example Usage: A user consistently reports poor call quality during Teams meetings. The IT admin pulls up the user’s data in the User and Call Performance Dashboard and notices that the user is often connected via an unstable Wi-Fi network, resulting in high packet loss. The admin recommends switching to a wired connection for improved call quality.

Management Options in the Teams Call Quality Dashboard

The Teams Call Quality Dashboard provides several management and configuration options for administrators, enabling them to customize how data is collected, analyzed, and acted upon.

1. Custom Reporting and Filtering

Description: Admins can create custom reports and filters within the CQD to focus on specific metrics or subsets of data. For example, they can filter reports by specific locations, device types, call types (audio, video, screen sharing), or time frames.
Usage Example: The IT admin creates a custom report that shows the performance of all calls made using a specific headset model to determine if it’s contributing to call quality issues across the organization.

2. Threshold Configuration

Description: Admins can set thresholds for metrics such as jitter, packet loss, and latency to define what qualifies as poor call quality. Calls that exceed these thresholds are flagged for review.
Usage Example: The IT admin sets a threshold for latency at 200ms, so any call that exceeds this value is flagged for investigation in the Problematic Calls section of the dashboard.

3. Data Export

Description: Admins can export call quality data from the CQD to CSV or Excel files for further analysis or for sharing with network teams or vendors.
Usage Example: After identifying network issues in one of the branch offices, the IT admin exports the call quality data from the Network Insights Dashboard to provide detailed metrics to the network team for troubleshooting.

4. Location Data Management

Description: Admins can upload location mapping data to correlate specific subnets or network segments with physical locations (e.g., office buildings, floors). This helps provide a more accurate picture of where issues are occurring.
Usage Example: The IT admin uploads a location map file that links internal subnets to specific office floors. This allows the Locations Dashboard to show call quality by building and floor, making it easier to troubleshoot issues in large offices.

5. Device Management

Description: Admins can manage the performance and health of devices used in Teams calls. The CQD provides insights into device-specific issues, such as outdated drivers or unsupported hardware, that may be causing poor performance.
Usage Example: The IT admin identifies that several employees using older headsets are experiencing frequent audio dropouts. They use the Endpoint Dashboard to verify that these headsets are not certified for use with Teams and recommend upgrading the hardware.

Working and Usage Examples

1. Proactive Network Optimization

Scenario: The IT team notices that users in the New York office are experiencing poor video quality during meetings, leading to complaints from staff. By analyzing the Network Insights Dashboard, the admin identifies that the office’s Wi-Fi network is experiencing high packet loss during peak usage hours.
Action: The admin works with the network team to upgrade the office’s Wi-Fi infrastructure and implement Quality of Service (QoS) policies to prioritize Teams traffic during meetings.
Result: The improvements lead to a significant reduction in packet loss and an overall improvement in video call quality for users in the New York office.

2. Troubleshooting Remote Workers

Scenario: Several remote workers report frequent issues with audio dropouts during Teams calls. The IT admin uses the User and Call Performance Dashboard to track the performance of individual remote users.
Action: The admin discovers that many of the affected users are connecting through VPN, which is causing higher latency and packet loss. After advising users to avoid VPN for Teams calls, the call quality improves significantly.
Result: Remote workers experience better call quality, and the IT admin implements a company-wide recommendation to bypass VPN for Teams meetings.

3. Device Performance Analysis

Scenario: The IT department has received complaints about poor audio quality in conference rooms equipped with specific speakerphones. The admin uses the Endpoint Dashboard to analyze the performance of calls made using these devices.
Action: After identifying frequent audio issues with the speakerphones, the admin checks for and installs firmware updates provided by the device manufacturer. They also recommend replacing outdated devices that do not meet Teams certification standards.
Result: The firmware updates and hardware replacements lead to improved audio quality in the affected conference rooms.

The Microsoft Teams Call Quality Dashboard (CQD) is an essential tool for IT administrators tasked with managing the performance and reliability of Teams calls and meetings. It provides deep insights into key call metrics, device performance, network conditions, and user experience. By using the various dashboards and configurations, IT teams can proactively troubleshoot issues, optimize network settings, improve device configurations, and ultimately enhance the overall quality of Teams communication for their organization.

Through the use of custom reports, location mapping, and device management, the CQD empowers admins to pinpoint the root cause of call quality problems and take the necessary steps to resolve them, leading to a better Teams experience for all users.