Project Goals:
Key Points:
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General Project Questions
Contents
- 1 General Project Questions
- 1.1 Will our email addresses remain the same?
- 1.2 Will we keep our @share.epsb.ca address as well?
- 1.3 What is the timeline for rolling out Google Apps Mail and why did we choose May 6th for the Go-live date?
- 1.4 On the “Go Live” date for the district, do I need to migrate my local folders to Google Apps Mail (if desired)?
- 1.5 Will training be available before making the transition?
- 1.6 Will my email from Outlook be migrated to Google?
- 1.7 Will my calendar events be migrated to Google?
- 1.8 Will my contacts be migrated to Google?
- 1.9 All centrally created and managed distribution lists will be available in Google Apps Mail for staff.
- 1.10 Are there staff lists in Google Mail?
- 1.11 What is happening to Microsoft Outlook?
- 1.12 How would this affect our use of Microsoft Office?
- 1.13 Is it really free?
- 1.14 Who else uses Google Apps?
- 1.15 Would staff and students get the same features in Google Apps Mail?
- 1.16 Will I be expected to contact Google with concerns/problems with the use of their applications?
- 1.17 What if Google Mail (and/or Google Apps) is “down” or unavailable?
- 1.18 What about all of those “I’ve shared a document with you...” messages I get in my Google Apps Mail?
- 1.19 Will switching to Google Apps Mail help reduce our costs?
- 1.20 Our data will be stored on Google's servers, so who owns the data?
- 1.21 The website I'm using doesn't work with the Google Chrome browser.
- 1.22 I have already been using Share mail and have created a signature and canned responses, will they remain?
- 1.23 I have already been using Share and have several Share sites. Will I still have access to those?
- 1.24 I'm going on leave. Will I still have access to my mail?
Contents
- 1 General Project Questions
- 1.1 Will our email addresses remain the same?
- 1.2 Will we keep our @share.epsb.ca address as well?
- 1.3 What is the timeline for rolling out Google Apps Mail and why did we choose May 6th for the Go-live date?
- 1.4 On the “Go Live” date for the district, do I need to migrate my local folders to Google Apps Mail (if desired)?
- 1.5 Will training be available before making the transition?
- 1.6 Will my email from Outlook be migrated to Google?
- 1.7 Will my calendar events be migrated to Google?
- 1.8 Will my contacts be migrated to Google?
- 1.9 All centrally created and managed distribution lists will be available in Google Apps Mail for staff.
- 1.10 Are there staff lists in Google Mail?
- 1.11 What is happening to Microsoft Outlook?
- 1.12 How would this affect our use of Microsoft Office?
- 1.13 Is it really free?
- 1.14 Who else uses Google Apps?
- 1.15 Would staff and students get the same features in Google Apps Mail?
- 1.16 Will I be expected to contact Google with concerns/problems with the use of their applications?
- 1.17 What if Google Mail (and/or Google Apps) is “down” or unavailable?
- 1.18 What about all of those “I’ve shared a document with you...” messages I get in my Google Apps Mail?
- 1.19 Will switching to Google Apps Mail help reduce our costs?
- 1.20 Our data will be stored on Google's servers, so who owns the data?
- 1.21 The website I'm using doesn't work with the Google Chrome browser.
- 1.22 I have already been using Share mail and have created a signature and canned responses, will they remain?
- 1.23 I have already been using Share and have several Share sites. Will I still have access to those?
- 1.24 I'm going on leave. Will I still have access to my mail?
Yes. This transition will allow all of us to keep our existing addresses (e.g. john.doe@epsb.ca and jdoe@epsb.ca).
Will we keep our @share.epsb.ca address as well?
Only as an alias. As part of the transition, your @share.epsb.ca account will be renamed @epsb.ca, and mail from both accounts will be merged into the one Google Apps Mail account. However, mail sent to your @share.epsb.ca account will continue to be delivered to your Google Mail inbox, and items shared with your @share.epsb.ca account will still be shared with you.
What is the timeline for rolling out Google Apps Mail and why did we choose May 6th for the Go-live date?
See the project timeline on the GoingGoogle.epsb.ca project site.The final Go Live date of May 6th for Google Mail was selected in February, after the project overview and timeline was reviewed with the Executive Team.
- avoiding progress reporting periods for early adopters and full migration,
- providing sufficient time to learn from the conversion of early adopters,
- avoiding as many busy operational schedules as possible (May is a quieter month than most),
- ensuring sufficient time afterwards for staff learning and acceptance - to complete the transition prior to June,
- completing the transition in this school year, as the aging Exchange infrastructure otherwise required investment to keep it operating reliably,
The trend of Help Desk support calls immediately after the cutover indicate a smooth adoption with decreasing calls as the week progressed. The calls to the HelpDesk for support during the first week were:
- to allow sufficient time to complete all the technical components and develop training resources,
- to provide sufficient lead time for communications and learning by district staff prior to the cutover.
It was a significant accomplishment by the project team to stay on schedule and that well over 100 project plan tasks were completed on time to enable the Go Live date to be achieved. A major part of the project work was the communication plan to inform and educate staff of the cutover and on how to use the new email system. This included - to provide sufficient lead time for communications and learning by district staff prior to the cutover.
the GoingGoogle.epsb.ca site,
Google Guide recruitment, multiple messages through StaffRoom and the Need 2 Know News, school and department presentations, posters, and training sessions.
The trend of Help Desk support calls immediately after the cutover indicate a smooth adoption with decreasing calls as the week progressed. The calls to the HelpDesk for support during the first week were:
- Monday (78 calls and 10 emails) out of 234 total calls and emails to the HelpDesk on all topics that day
- Tuesday (82 calls and 7 emails) out of 241 total...
- Wednesday (52 calls and 14 emails) out of 169
- Thursday (21 calls and 11 emails) out of 124
- Friday (18 calls and 7 emails) out of 102
While there were many users with questions as expected, district staff also made effective use of training resources. The Going Google site had over 7,800 unique visitors throughout the early adoption and full implementation period. The training videos were
viewed over 8,300 times representing over 23,000 minutes viewed
. Considering the size of our email transition involving over 12,000 users, 2.8 million email messages, and 1.7 million calendar entries, the conversion from Exchange to Google Mail has gone extremely well.
On the “Go Live” date for the district, do I need to migrate my local folders to Google Apps Mail (if desired)?
"Go Live" date for the whole district is currently set for May 6, 2013. All inbox, sent, deleted, calendars and contacts will be migrated on that date (there will be a brief period of time where staff will be able to access their data in both places (Outlook and Google) (e.g. 1-2 days over the weekend (May 4-5).Staff will have the option of migrating their local folders (*.PST file(s)) at any time after "Go Live". They could do this in the summer, next fall, or anytime in the future, providing that they continue to have access to the *.PST file(s) on their school or department server. In most cases, ITS technicians will ask staff to finish migrating their *.PST files (if they want to) by a certain date, then they will remove those files and free up server space.
Data in Public Folders will have to be uploaded to Google Drive by the original owners of the files and the share permissions will need to be set as well. Many of the files currently found in Public Folders has not been accessed for some time and will not be transferred unless someone decides that it is important.
Will training be available before making the transition?
Yes
Training will be conducted and staff will be asked to register for training based on their availability. On-demand training will be available on the project help site, and there will also be live training scheduled in the CFE.
Training will be conducted and staff will be asked to register for training based on their availability. On-demand training will be available on the project help site, and there will also be live training scheduled in the CFE.
Will my email from Outlook be migrated to Google?
Yes, but with limitations. Your Exchange (Outlook) inbox, sent items and drafts will be migrated for you. If you wish to move additional mail from your PST files to your Google Apps Mail account, you can do so. (Instructions)Will my calendar events be migrated to Google?
Yes. Your main calendar will be migrated. If you use special calendars in Outlook Public Folders, these will be have to be recreated in Google Calendar. (How-to)Will my contacts be migrated to Google?
Yes. All of your contacts will be migrated and will be available to you. However, your personal distribution lists will have to be re-created in Google. These are called Contact Groups.
One feature that is not technically in your contacts - but you might have thought it is - is the addresses that auto-fill in your address bar. These are part of your Windows profile and will not be migrated to Google Mail. Google Mail has the same feature, and will auto-fill for you based on your Personal Contacts (which are migrated), Domain Contacts (these are populated for you based on staff/student names) and any addresses you have sent mail to from Google Mail.
If you have been using Google Talk as part of Google (Share) mail, you will have to re-invite these contacts.
All centrally created and managed distribution lists will be available in Google Apps Mail for staff.
Are there staff lists in Google Mail?
Yes, we've updated all of the Staff lists. If you wish to send a message to your staff list, please use the address that end in -list@epsb.ca.What is happening to Microsoft Outlook?
Microsoft Outlook is not required for email, and will be removed from most computers in the district over time. You will access your mail through a web browser.We're working on a way to allow staff to continue to maintain access to Outlook for just that purpose, or to provide a tool for referencing PST if they don't want to migrate mail to Google. The objective, however, is to eventually have all mail archives that you want access to on Google, so this would be a temporary arrangement.
One of the benefits of moving to the cloud is not having to support client software as we move forward. We are building support resources to help staff make Google Mail resemble Outlook, and we want to have supports in place for one email interface for all staff.
How would this affect our use of Microsoft Office?
We are not getting rid of Microsoft Office, since we already own the licenses for its use. Google Apps provides access to Google Docs, but is not replacing Microsoft Office.However, our hope would be that staff and students begin to use Google Apps when appropriate to take advantage of some of its specific benefits. This would include the following:
- Documents would be accessible through the web so users can work on their documents from anywhere without having to worry about F:Drive access to do so.
- Documents can be shared easily. This would give another way for staff to pass out documents, and for students to turn in work (via SchoolZone) (which staff could then electronically grade).
- It is easy for groups of people to collaborate on documents at the same time, which would be good for student group work as well as for staff departments.
- Google Docs has an easy to use survey/quiz feature which staff could use for class feedback and assessment.
Is it really free?
Yes, currently Google Apps for education, including Mail, is free. Although there is no guarantee that Google Apps will stay free, here is Google's statement on the issue:Is it really free?
From: https://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=139019
"Google Apps for Education is free. We plan to keep the core offering of Google Apps Education Edition free. This includes user accounts for incoming students in the future. As you may know, Google was founded by a research project at Stanford University, and this is just one way we can give back to the educational community."
In addition to "giving back to education" Google benefits greatly by providing this service for free. If students get used to using Google products at a young age, then they will be more likely to use Google products the rest of their life. Ultimately Google is an advertising company and wants people to use their products so they can sell ads. Note: Google Apps for Education does not include ads.
Anyway, if Google does start to charge for this service in the future, we would not be obligated to pay them. If the cost was prohibitive we could just leave Google Apps and move back to what we do now. We would still own our Microsoft Office licenses and still have our servers to host our data here. (See below for the question that talks about how to move data back out of Google Apps).
There are features of Google Mail that we pay for, such as Google Vault and Google Message Encryption services.
Customer Case Studies
http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/customers.html
No, all technical support will continue to come from our district. All EPS Help Desk personnel have had extensive training in Google Apps and can help with technical questions. For example, we currently use Microsoft Office, but we do not ask staff to call Microsoft with tech questions. Google Apps is just another tech tool that we would support just like all the other tech tools we provide as a district. Having said that, if you have a question, try “Googling” it. The Share HELP site has a place to post questions as well - and staff and students (and the TIPS Team) can provide answers as well.
Filters in Google Mail (like inbox “rules” in Outlook) can filter out messages based on subject line, sender, or content.
Who else uses Google Apps?
Google Apps is used by many schools and universities (including the University of Alberta) as well as the City of Edmonton. You can read about other schools using Google Apps at:Customer Case Studies
http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/customers.html
Would staff and students get the same features in Google Apps Mail?
Currently all staff and students have the same features enabled. Different levels of access are customizable, and this may be something we investigate if required.Will I be expected to contact Google with concerns/problems with the use of their applications?
No, all technical support will continue to come from our district. All EPS Help Desk personnel have had extensive training in Google Apps and can help with technical questions. For example, we currently use Microsoft Office, but we do not ask staff to call Microsoft with tech questions. Google Apps is just another tech tool that we would support just like all the other tech tools we provide as a district. Having said that, if you have a question, try “Googling” it. The Share HELP site has a place to post questions as well - and staff and students (and the TIPS Team) can provide answers as well. What if Google Mail (and/or Google Apps) is “down” or unavailable?
Please see the Apps Status Dashboard to see if there is an issue with Google “globally” before contacting the EPS Help Desk.What about all of those “I’ve shared a document with you...” messages I get in my Google Apps Mail?
Filters in Google Mail (like inbox “rules” in Outlook) can filter out messages based on subject line, sender, or content. Will switching to Google Apps Mail help reduce our costs?
There are some current expenses that we could reduce or eliminate such as our SPAM filter, Email archiving, and backups to tape (reduced since Google will hold much of the data). This could save us several thousand dollars each year. However, there are additional change-management costs related to training as well as licensing costs for some non-core Google Apps that offset this savings. Over time, we should start to realize significant cost savings as a result of a move to Google Mail, but it won’t happen overnight.
Our data will be stored on Google's servers, so who owns the data?
We would still own all our data.Here is Google’s answer on this question:
From: http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/bin/answer.py?answer=106876:
To put it simply, Google does not own your data. We do not take a position on whether the data belongs to the institution signing up for Apps, or the individual user (that's between the two of you), but we know it doesn't belong to us!
The data which you put into our systems is yours, and we believe it should stay that way. We think that means three key things.
From: http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/bin/answer.py?answer=106876:
To put it simply, Google does not own your data. We do not take a position on whether the data belongs to the institution signing up for Apps, or the individual user (that's between the two of you), but we know it doesn't belong to us!
The data which you put into our systems is yours, and we believe it should stay that way. We think that means three key things.
- We won't share your data with others except as noted in our Privacy Policy.
- We keep your data as long as you require us to keep it.
- Finally, you should be able to take your data with you if you choose to use external services in conjunction with Google Apps or stop using our services altogether.
The website I'm using doesn't work with the Google Chrome browser.
For websites that don't load properly in Chrome, there is this tool that basically will run IE inside of Chrome for certain websites. For example, the Visa reconciliation site doesn't work in Chrome. However, if you install this extension, you can set it to always open that site inside of this IE window (in Chrome).Read more about it, and install it in Chrome from here.
I have already been using Share mail and have created a signature and canned responses, will they remain?
No they will not be there after go-live. Rebuilding them can be done quickly by looking through your sent emails for messages created using your signature and canned responses, then cutting and pasting those bits into the appropriate areas which have gotten wiped out. This could also be an opportunity to modify your customizations.
When your EPSB Google Apps account is renamed to you@epsb.ca from you@share.epsb.ca, you'll see a brand-new SITES area. This area will most likely appear like there are no sites in it. Fear not! Your old share sites still exist, you'll just access them using the Share.epsb.ca SITES icon in both StaffZone and SchoolZone. You'll see these icons after the Go-Live day. More information...
I'm going on leave. Will I still have access to my mail?
We provide a basic level of access to StaffZone for staff on leave. The basic level includes District email (and all Google apps) , Staff Room, and PeopleSoft.
