Faculty email systems get an update

In the days before the start of the academic year, the faculty, staff and administrators of Georgia College transitioned to a new email system. The switch from the locally-hosted system to an externally-hosted email system was motivated by the crashes on campus last year that greatly impacted campus productivity.

The first step in the transitional process involved a choice between Google Apps (the system through which student email functions) and Live@Edu. When users reviewed the two choices and compared pros and cons, Live@Edu emerged as the better option for faculty and staff. Functioning on a web-based system offers perks like more storage capacity, less chance for crashes and the opportunity for IT staff to address other demands on campus. Plus, Live@Edu’s interface resembles the former email system, so the transition to the new system would not be a drastic change.

“We contacted the Board of Regents and talked to the chief information officer,” said James Carlisle, director of Technology Support Services, . “We got his advice to make sure what we were doing was appropriate. Six other schools have migrated to this same system; we did a lot of collaborating with others to make sure we were doing what we need to be doing.”

Because the daily operation of the university depends so heavily on email, stopping the email system to accommodate the migration was not an option, and consequently, the transition took more time.

As the beginning of the term approached, the first focus was to ensure that faculty and staff had access to their email through the web and that all equipment was ready for the academic year. Issues arose when users continued to operate with the old system. IT found that some messages sent between July 20 and 22 were not delivered to users because of the mixed use between the old and new system. The use of the old system prevented the migration of more than 80,000 messages to the new system, according to University Communications.

“There has been some frustration, but the thing that we’re trying to do is reach out to faculty, staff, administrators and so forth,” Carlisle said. “I think communication has been the biggest impact. There are a few things we’re working around, but for the most part, the transition has gone smoothly.”

Contacts and calendars have had problems, as these were not automatically transferred to the new accounts, and the use of desktop clients like Mi

crosoft Outlook has caused some difficulty because users are currently restricted to the web client.

“What we’re working on is making some changes to allow their desktop client to utilize Live@Edu, just like what it used to,” said Ed Boyd, interim chief information officer.

Because the new Live@Edu system does not support older programs, like outdated versions of Microsoft Office, IT technicians are making their way around campus, upgrading all departments to Office2010

“I think the majority of people have done fine,” Boyd said. “We have had very few people call and say they have a problem. Typically dealing with 1,000 people, combining faculty, staff and administrators, there has really just been a handful. I’ve heard about 20 or less.”

An important aspect of the transition is that users on campus may have their email automatically redirected to the email vendor of their choice. For users who prefer their own email providers, the option remains to continue using their regular providers.

“Well, with any conversion you always have issues that have to be worked out,” Boyd said. “For example, you have to break in a new pair of shoes. They won’t feel like the old pair until you wear them a while.”

Posted by Alyson Crosby on Aug 25 2011. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.