oh i couldnt do it all alone, im surely no "IPT expert". I have TAC support for advanced troubleshhoting or when im stuck an dneed direction, but i always try and do my own research/due dillegence before involving them when necessary.
I still say they are a superb resource (as well as the CCO login on ciscos site) but basic troubleshooting skills in house are still needed, and will only help you fix a trouble faster and more efficiently.
I know in this persons case he is new to the system hes administering, and i could never understand how a company could "throw someone to the wolves" on a business critical system without basic training but i see it does happen! So he really should try and do it himself with people like us assisting and he'll never forget what hes learned. If his company cared so much about downtime they wouldnt have throen him into a system or technology he hasnt experienced yet. Not like im telling him to install or upgrade rteh system himself lol, just giving him basics to look for when he has no phone service. I would also have told him to call TAC if the issue seemed more severe