Office 365 email migration complete

As of March 17, all Exchange email accounts for University of Cincinnati faculty and staff have been migrated to Office 365. Considered the “first phase” of the rollout, this massive email migration replaced the outdated Exchange Server email system, in its 8th year of service. Almost 15,000 mailboxes containing more than 30 terabytes of data were migrated to Office 365.

“The move to Office 365 represents a huge leap forward for UC staff and faculty by providing everyone with a set of modern, tightly-integrated collaboration and content tools that can be used on almost any device, anywhere,” said Jon Adams, associate IT director in IT@UC. “It's much more than just improved email. All staff and faculty have access to the full Office 365 suite.”

 The new Office 365 includes:

• Email: 100 GB of email storage with improved Junk Mail filtering and optional Focused Inbox as well as an updated encryption service.
• File storage: 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage for all of your files.
• Collaboration tools: Collaboration, chat, and online meetings for work groups of all sizes using Microsoft Teams.
• Accessibility: Accessibility Checker and Accessible Content Templates built into most Office 365 applications so you can be sure that your content is inclusive and standards-compliant.
• Multimedia: Brand new Office applications: Sway for digital storytelling; Stream for live and recorded video; Flow for simple, drag-and-drop workflow automation; and much more!
• Mobility: Office desktop and mobile applications on up to 5 computers, 5 phones, and 5 tablets.
• Web compatibility: Modern, always-up-to-date web versions of most Microsoft Office applications, so that you can work entirely from your web browser without installing Office software.

 “The campus-wide rollout of a whole set of modern collaboration tools really supports the Next Lives Here strategic direction,” said Brian Verkamp, assistant vice president of Enterprise Shared Services in IT@UC. “The availability of this seamless integrated technology paves the way for inclusive digital teamwork across colleges and divisions.”

For those interested in using the new tools right away, access to all Office 365 applications and documents can be found using the App Launcher menu button in the upper left-hand corner of the UC webmail portal. Departments, committees, or work groups interested in hosting online collaboration groups are encouraged to setup a new Team. A Team is not required to use the chat/meeting functionality. Departments who currently use Skype for Business for instant messaging or web conferences are encouraged to start using Teams instead, as Skype for Business will retire on June 1. For those who prefer a transition period, both Teams and Skype can run side-by-side.

Office 365 training and assistance are available for all UC faculty and staff. For individuals who learn well on their own, Office 365 training and how-to videos are available online as well as Lynda.com courses through SuccessFactors Learning. For learners who wish to attend a face-to-face session, the Staff Success Center is currently offering OneDrive and Outlook in-person education sessions. Future educational opportunities from the Staff Success Center will be available for additional Office 365 applications, including Teams, later this Spring with additional training added as needs are identified. For information on how to set up email on your computer or electronic devices as well as Outlook troubleshooting guides, please view the Email and Collaboration KB article.

Planning continues for the next university rollout of Office 365 functionality. In 2019, OneDrive will replace Box as the single cloud storage environment. Be on the lookout for more information about the migration, including the schedule, on the IT@UC website. Both online and in-person educational opportunities through the Staff Success Center are currently available in SuccessFactors Learning. Discussions on how to move university files from Box to OneDrive are currently taking place. Additionally, an O365-based UC Intranet project is currently underway.

If you are experiencing slowness or sluggishness with your Outlook email software, please view the Office365 Outlook Slowness KB article. If you continue to experience issues with your email, please submit a ticket via the portal with detailed information regarding the issue, call 556-help (4357) option 2, (866-397-3382 option 2), or seek assistance from your local IT support.