Update on move to Office 365, Windows 7 & Office 2013

Dear Faculty and Staff, 

On July 4th of this year, we announced our intention to move from our current e-mail platform, Groupwise, to the Microsoft Office 365 e-mail platform for all faculty and Staff. Details on this announcement can be found in our Tech Bulletin archives at http://www.trentu.ca/it/overview_TechBulletins.php. Additionally, on Monday July 22nd, IT hosted an open information session for all faculty and staff. This gave all stakeholders the opportunity to raise any questions or concerns that they may have regarding this change. While participation at this event was good, it was recognized that the summer did not provide a good opportunity for all faculty and staff to participate in this information session. As such, we have scheduled an additional open information session as follows:

Date: Friday, November 15th, 2013
Time: 9:30am - 10:30am
Place: SC 137

Myself, Tariq Al-idrissi, and other IT representatives will be available to answer any of your questions. To view the webcast of the first information session, please go to:

http://webcast.trentu.ca/Panopto/Pages/Viewer/Default.aspx?id=8d3a0fbf-a...

In conjunction to moving all faculty and staff to Office 365, we will be upgrading all imaged and university owned desktops and laptops to the Windows 7 Operating System and to the latest Office. In anticipation of your questions on this move, we have devised the following questions and answers.

When will I be moved to Office 365, Windows 7, and Office 2013?
We are currently creating a detailed schedule regarding the move. We will visit and/or connect with each of you individually. Migrations will commence in early November and continue through to the middle of next year. We will be in touch with each department to schedule individual appointments and will also provide courtesy calls a week in advance of any appointment as a reminder. Additionally, we will ask each faculty and staff member to provide us with some information prior to the appointment and to take some steps in preparation of the upgrade appointment.

What is the process of the upgrade?
The process for the upgrade depends on the hardware that we will be upgrading and the ownership of the hardware in question. Please note that we cannot upgrade Windows or Office on personally owned devices. Please review the table below for details. 

*We will provide you with instructions on back-up and access to your old drive for three months following the migration.

While personal machines cannot be upgraded to the latest Office, due to licensing restrictions, the web access provided as part of this platform is robust enough to meet the vast majority of user needs. Faculty and staff can additionally choose to buy a copy of Office 2013 or Office 2011 for Mac through the Home Use Program for only $11. For more information on the Home Use Program, please go to;

http://www.trentu.ca/it/userguides_MicrosoftHomeUseProgram.php

What training support will I receive?
In addition to the orientation provided by our technicians, we have partnered with Shaw Computer Systems Inc. to provide in-depth training in the use of the new e-mail client, Outlook. There will be a total of 16 identical sessions offered. We will send out details on the training, the training schedule, and registration details in the near future. Additionally, we encourage you to take advantage of the web-based training provided through the newly licensed Lynda.com. We recommend the following courses;

Windows 7 Essential Training
Up and Running with Office 365 (Section 3: Working with the Outlook Web App)
Outlook 2013 Essential Training

For more information on how to access Lynda.com, please go to;
http://www.trentu.ca/it/staff_lyndaTraining.php

Still need more information?
Please visit our in-depth FAQs at;
http://www.trentu.ca/it/office365.php

Hoping to see you at the session.