Dear colleagues,

By the end of 2015, all staff email and calendars will be migrated from Gmail to Office 365.

Data security is our top priority at Macquarie University, and following a decision made by Google to move our stored data from Europe to the United States, we initiated a market search to look at alternative options. The result: Office 365 – a Microsoft cloud product suite with services hosted locally in Australian data centres.

What this means for our community (and when)
As analysis and design work is continuing, we cannot advise the exact migration date. Every precaution is being taken and consultation sought to identify the date with the least disruption to our community. To assist in this transition we have appointed deployment partners Dell, Synergy and SMS.

A survey is available for all staff to complete to provide the project team with insights into how you currently use email, calendar and associated apps technology at Macquarie.

Take the survey.

In the coming months

• All staff will migrate to Microsoft Office 365 by the end of 2015.
• Staff will retain their Google accounts and access to Google Apps (including Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drive), but will no longer use Google for email and calendar.
• Google Apps will be reviewed separately in 2016 based on staff and student requirements.
• Student email and calendaring will remain on Gmail and they will also retain access to Google Apps to allow for continued collaboration between students and staff.

Work to date and migration benefits
More than 90 staff across Macquarie have already taken part in a six-month trial period. Whilst we encountered some issues, the majority of these were as a result of the co-existence of Gmail and Office 365. The lessons learned from the trial have enabled us to refine our migration approach.

Following this trial, recommendations were accepted by the University Executive.

Some of the benefits offered by Office 365 include:

• Microsoft data centres based in Victoria and NSW to address our security and data privacy concerns
• improved data access speeds resulting from local hosting
• global email access – Gmail is restricted in some countries and presents a challenge for staff working in important international student markets
• improved collaboration with Australian universities (the majority use Exchange or Office 365 currently, and many plan to ultimately move to Office 365).

Staff will be able to access a suite of Office 365 tools including:

• Email (Outlook) – provides a clear, coordinated view of emails, calendars, and contacts
• One Drive (for Business) – allows users to share, read and edit office files through an app or via offline access
• Skype for Business (Lync) – offers instant messaging, group video chats and online meetings
• Office 365 Pro Plus (Office 2013) – delivers a full suite of Office applications such as Access, Excel, InfoPath, OneNote, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word.

Get involved: Office 365 ambassador network
To aid internal communication, the project is introducing an Office 365 ambassador network comprised of staff from each faculty and department. Faculty IT and desktop support staff will be the first group trained and introduced to the network.

We invite interested staff from all areas of the University to also join the network. Contact the Office 365 project team at ask.office365@mq.edu.au if you would like to represent your faculty or department.

Keep up-to-date: Support, training and FAQs

• An Office 365 migration site is now live and regularly updated with information about the migration, timelines, FAQs, training workshops and contacts.
  Login with your OneID at: itservices.mq.edu.au/office365
• Your faculty and department IT teams are already aware of the migration and will be trained in advance.
• Regular updates will also be provided via This Week at Macquarie University.

The project team will be in touch in the near future as we move closer to the migration date at the end of this year. If you have any questions in the meantime please contact ask.office365@mq.edu.au.

Your cooperation is vital to the success of this migration, and I thank you in advance for your participation and patience as we move forward.

Kind regards,

Dr Mary Davies
Chief Information Officer