The Agenda - Faculty and Staff Newsletter

Author: Tibor Purger

  • Help Us Help You Better!

    New technology and better solutions keep coming, as we all know. By joining the University’s central Rutgers Active Directory as the Libraries’ Windows domain, we are expanding the ability to log in anywhere with a single username. But it obviously comes with new issues as many have noticed.

    IIS is inviting everyone in the Libraries to submit such issues and any other computing concerns and requests using the RULhelp trouble ticket system. It is the best way to keep track of issues, make sure that every one of them is addressed in a timely manner, and develop our knowledge base to speed up resolution. Instead of emailing or calling UCSs or other IIS staff, please use this address to submit a ticket: support@rulhelp.rutgers.edu It will be automatically channeled to the IT support closest to you.

    IIS is working on transforming the RULhelp database to use NetIDs (instead of old Windows usernames) just like most other platforms. Soon, you will be able to log into the trouble ticket system with your NetID to check the status of your issue.

  • Rutgers Connect Migration Postmortem

    Rutgers Connect Migration Postmortem

    Office_365_logoRutgers University Libraries faculty and staff had a busy summer preparing for the email and calendar migration to Rutgers Connect. The migration took place over three days between August 23 and August 25, 2016, but by the time we reached this milestone, over two months of work by Unit Computing Specialists (UCSs) and Integrated Information Systems (IIS) staff had already been invested into planning the process, preparing for the transition, and learning the new environment.

    Here are some of the highlights:

    • 261 users responded successfully to the pre-migration questionnaire
    • 151 RUL members attended one of seven Information Sessions before the migration
    Please fill out a brief survey by Friday, October 14, and let us know how we did and what you are looking for, in terms of Rutgers Connect training and support, in the future.
    • 277 user accounts, 61 distribution lists, and 59 shared (resource) accounts were migrated
    • 146 RUL member participated in 9 hands-on training sessions conducted by Comparex and IIS (and paid for by the Rutgers Office of Information Technology)
    • 227 support requests have been completed since August 1
    • RUL retirees are also getting help migrating to ScarletMail, but that is a slower process and we respect their schedules
    • IIS was successful in arguing for reduced University requirements related to central management of personal mobile devices when accessing Rutgers Connect mail

    The migration went relatively smoothly, without any significant data loss, but there were inevitable glitches given the complex nature of the system and the four-way handling of the process: Microsoft as the owner of the platform, Rutgers as the customer (represented by OIT), Comparex as the University’s partner performing the actual migration, and, in RUL’s case, IIS as the local IT support unit, together with our UCS colleagues.

    We want to thank everyone for your patience and understanding as we have worked, and still keep working, to make the new tools perform efficiently for all. The Rutgers Connect environment is new to all of us, and there is still a lot to learn. IIS will transform the Rutgers Connect Migration Support website into an ongoing support site in the next couple of weeks. We will also try to prepare advanced training classes in the coming months.

    Since the Rutgers Connect/Office 365 platform lives in the Microsoft cloud, several features are difficult or impossible to adjust to our exact requirements. Rutgers is still working with the vendor to make changes, including the ability to set the default Sender address.

    All IIS members and UCSs added supporting the migration to their regular responsibilities, and they deserve our thanks. Tracey Meyer has been, and remains, our lead support person, and Kalaivani Anathan coordinated the migration process. We hope we have been able to help you all, and look forward to respond to any future question or support request.

    Please fill out a brief survey by Friday, October 14, and let us know how we did and what you are looking for, in terms of Rutgers Connect training and support, in the future.

     

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  • Rutgers Connect Migration: Next Steps

    rutgersConnect_dev7-apps_5_2Most of you have, by now, visited the Rutgers Connection Migration Support website. I hope you are finding a lot of useful information there, but if anything is missing, please let us know using the Submit Your Questions form. This story is meant to update everyone on the newest pieces of the migration plan. Most importantly, to let you know that everyone’s email in Rutgers University Libraries will be migrated August 23–25, 2016. The exact grouping will be worked out in collaboration with AULs and library directors.

    Kickoff meeting:

    A successful kickoff meeting was held on Friday, July 22, with four representatives of OIT, all UCSs; and all IIS staff, joined by a special Migration Representative from the Health Sciences Libraries. A four-hour recording of that discussion is available with RUL NetID authentication–but you are hereby warned: It is heavy on technical jargon! Unless you want to delve into every detail, you would be better off perusing the support site and attending the upcoming information sessions and subsequent training.

    Prepping for the migration:

    But first, as the most important part of preparations, we must collect information about all existing accounts, as only one account per Rutgers employee can be migrated automatically. Content from other accounts should be first transferred to the primary account, or migrated later.

    For this purpose, IIS has developed an instrument with half a dozen questions and a lot of help on how to respond to them. Please use your NetID to log in (each RUL member needs to fill it out personally or with the help of their UCSs) and provide the required information about the Rutgers email accounts you currently hold. The more accurate the data we receive, the more efficient and more painless the migration will be.

    Since the new email and calendaring tools will appear quite different from what Zimbra users are used to, IIS will offer a series of 90-minute information sessions August 8–19 in several libraries covering all three geographic regions. The schedule for these sessions will soon follow via RUL_Everyone messages, and will be available on the support site’s calendar by August 5.

    The plan for the migration:

    All three hundred email users at RUL will be migrated over a three-day period August 23–25. Groups of account holders will be scheduled for each day based on organizational, geographic, and logical criteria. When you come to work on your assigned day of the migration, all your email and calendar appointments will be ready for you in the new system. You can immediately access them and continue working with them in the new interface called OWA (Outlook Web Access) by logging in through any browser using the link connect.rutgers.edu and your new email address [NetID]@libraries.rutgers.edu. (Please see details about account names in the Questionnaire and at the support site.)

    Throughout the days of the migration, IIS staff and UCSs will be “roaming the halls” in the libraries to help users access their mailboxes using the client of their choice: The desktop version of Microsoft Outlook, available on every RUL workstation, is the preferred client for work in the office, while any browser may be used to log into OWA away from your desk.

    Training opportunities:

    Two-hour-long introductory, instructor-led, classroom-based, hands-on training will be offered in several sessions over two days of the migration. If you cannot make it during those days, the training sessions will come back after Labor Day, including more advanced training later on. Individual introductory sessions will also be available for those who learn best that way. Please check back to the support site’s calendar around August 15 for the exact schedule and to sign up.

    In the first wave of training sessions we will focus on the communication tools included with Rutgers Connect (which is, as you know, a customized version of Microsoft’s Office 365 running in the Microsoft cloud): OWA (and Outlook on the desktop), Calendar, People, Tasks, OneDrive for Business (cloud-based file storage), and Skype for Business. But the rest of the Office 365 tools will also be immediately available to everyone from the same online interface: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. At the same time, the respective applications can be downloaded and installed on your home computer and mobile devices, while you will have them installed on your RUL desktops in the Office 2016 version that is fully interchangeable with the cloud-based apps.

    Questions or concerns:

    Much more information will continue to become available as we approach the migration week. In the meantime, please let IIS know of any concerns or questions you might have by writing to support@rulhelp.rutgers.edu or using the support site’s Submit Your Questions form.

  • Rutgers Connect Coming to Rutgers University Libraries

    Rutgers Connect Coming to Rutgers University Libraries

    Office_365_logoAs many in the Libraries have already heard, the university has started the migration of faculty and staff email and calendaring to a unified system, called Rutgers Connect, in the Microsoft Cloud using Office 365. The Libraries are scheduled to migrate in Phase 2, sometime between June and August of 2016, but we are still working with colleagues in the Health Sciences Libraries to determine whether they will be part of the Libraries’ migration, or remain part of RBHS, which is scheduled to migrate in the ongoing Phase 1.

    There is plenty of good news to look forward to, even if some effort will be required from everyone in the course of the migration:

    • Uniform availability anytime, anywhere, of mail, calendar, and the basic Office 365 applications on any platform: Windows, Mac as well as tablets and smart phones of all three flavors (Android, iOS, and Windows)
    • The Office 365 cloud-based suite offers all major productivity apps: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote, which will also be available in desktop versions
    • The email/calendaring client, called Outlook, including Tasks and Contacts (now called People), and its Web-based version, called OWA (for Outlook Web Access), offer each user 50 Gigabytes of mail storage – an order of magnitude higher than what is currently available
    • In addition to the large mail quota, each user will get 1 Terabyte of shareable file storage for collaboration (similar to Google Docs) on Microsoft OneDrive that will show up in your Windows Explorer (now called File Explorer in Windows 10; had been called File Manager before 2000) as just another “drive”
    • In addition, Rutgers Connect includes access to Skype for Business for everyone
    • More collaboration tools (like SharePoint) will be probably added in 2017

    The Rutgers Office of Information Technology (OIT) has contracted a third-party integrator, Comparex, to help with the migration. They will provide webinar-based instruction and tutorials for the use of the entire Office 365 suite. The Libraries’ own Integrated Information Systems (IIS), together with the Libraries’ Unit Computing Specialists, will provide local, customized help in transitioning from Zimbra to Outlook.

    As part of the transition to Office 365, our email addresses will change from “@rulmail.rutgers.edu” to the more intuitive “@libraries.rutgers.edu.” To prepare for this change, everyone is encouraged to set up a Rutgers-wide alias in the form of [firstname].[lastname]@rutgers.edu, and have it point to the current @rulmail.rutgers.edu address. (This can be done now by each user on their own, or IIS can help with the rather simple process that takes but a few minutes.)

    Much more information will follow in the coming weeks and months as IIS prepares the support infrastructure for everyone to use. We will have a Communications Plan and a Support Website (just like for the Zimbra transition in 2011) with all relevant information, so you won’t have to search several Rutgers sites for every detail. The final migration plan itself will be worked out together with representatives of OIT and Comparex about one month before the actual date.

    Here are a few pointers to alleviate early concerns:

    • The current @rulmail.rutgers.edu addresses will forward incoming mail to our new accounts for one full year after migration (without the possibility of logging into the old account) – so that people will have plenty of time to adjust their external list subscriptions.
    • All internal lists will be migrated and/or updated manually by IIS, or support will be provided for lists that we don’t have access to.
    • Since all Rutgers Faculty and Staff domains will “trust” each other, it will be easy to find anyone in the global directory, and to sign up for lists from other departments.

    Please look for a lot more information coming to your mailboxes as we move closer to the migration period. It is a good idea to take the online webinars close to the migration date (so as not to forget everything by the time you need to use the new apps). In the meantime, please let IIS know of any concern or question you might have at support@rulhelp.rutgers.edu and, in a few weeks, at the support website.