Oliver says: When I send out "the memo" to the Chem dept, I'll cut-and-paste the final text here, for future reference.

Memo sent by CRCF

Final text to come....

===========================

TO: CHEMSTAFF-L; chemfac-l; chemgrad-l; chempostdoc-l; chemvissci-l

SUBJECT: Email migration in Feb: Changes req. on almost all computers

--------------------

Chemistry staff, faculty and researchers,

CIT is moving Cornell's email and calendar services off-campus (to "the cloud", or to Microsoft's "Office 365"). This is a very large, complex migration, mostly managed by CIT. I would like to address two important questions you may have about this migration:

1) WHEN is your move?

    The moves for Arts and Sciences, including Chemistry, will be in February.

     Important "actions required" and specific dates below, under section (1).

2) WHAT must you pay attention to?

    On the day of your migration, email will not work until your email software is reconfigured, which many of you may want to do yourselves. (Same for calendar.) This includes your computers (work and home) and mobile devices.

    CRCF staff <crcf@cornell.edu> will be available to help anyone make their software changes on their migration day.

    CRCF staff <crcf@cornell.edu> can most effectively help you with any unusual email clients well before your migration day.

    Important "actions required" and details below, under section (2).

Awareness requested, please:

 * CRCF staff will be very busy on the migration dates (Feb. 5, Feb. 12, and Feb 19) helping you and your colleagues reconnect email (and calendar) clients to the new location of the migrated service.

The information below is specific to the Chemistry department. It is designed to complement the information CIT continues to send you. Please pay attention to CIT's communications being sent to you since CIT is responsible for provisioning our email and calendar services. If you have ANY questions or concerns about CIT's instructions, please contact CRCF <crcf@cornell.edu> so we may assist you. Thank you.

(1) WHEN will this move occur for you, specifically?

=======================================

Action required by you, please:

 * Note the date of your move, below. If it's a bad date (such as if you will be out of town), contact CRCF immediately <crcf@cornell.edu> so we can work out alternative arrangements with you.

For each of the following dates, the moves will occur sometime in the early morning, presumably before ~6am.

(A) WHO: All staff (~50). And calendars and special mailboxes (~50).

      WHEN: Feb. 5, Tuesday

(B) WHO: Emeritus members and retirees. And  select smaller research groups (total of ~10).

      WHEN: Feb. 12, Tuesday

After learning from the above migrations, migrate everyone else in Chemistry:

(C) WHO: Faculty, PostDocs, and other researchers (but //NOT// graduate students) (total of ~80).

      WHEN:  Feb 19, Tuesday

Related info:

 * The few exceptions to the above groupings have either already moved, or will be contacted shortly about the timing of their moves.

 * Graduate students are not on the system being moved so they only need to be aware of this potential disruption to others in the department.

(2) WHAT needs to change on your email (and calendar) client?

=======================================

Action required by you, please:

 * On the day of your migration, those of you willing and able to follow CIT's instructions to change your email (and calendar) clients are encouraged to do so AND notify CRCF <crcf@cornell.edu> if you are successful so we can continue concentrating on helping others.

 * If you use unusual or non-standard email clients (as noted below), contact CRCF immediately <crcf@cornell.edu> so we can work with you well before your migration date to reduce surprises and problems on the day of the migration.

Worst case: In the short-term, you can use a web browser to do your email and calendar tasks until your client is properly re-connected.

(A) CRCF staff don't anticipate much difficulty migrating the following contemporary clients:

Windows: Outlook 2010.

Mac: Outlook 2011

Mac: Apple Mail.

Mobile: iOS's Mail (Apple iPhone, etc)

Mobile: Android's Mail

Mobile: Windows's Mail

(B) Please contact CRCF <crcf@cornell.edu> if you use Eudora, Thunderbird, or the like.

On the migration days themselves, we'll triage so that "tough" client connection problems, especially if you use a more unusual email client, may have to wait until the following day for us to concentrate on resolving them. Thank you for understanding.

(C) CIT's messages to you discuss the software changes needed, breaking down the tasks into pre-migration steps, and post-migration steps. Make sure you either understand CIT's instructions, or contact CRCF <crcf@cornell.edu> so we can help you. Don't hesitate to contact us- working through this "one time" migration can be very confusing, intimidating, and in some circumstances, very complex.

The above information, along with links to CIT's documentation and CRCF's updated information on this project, is available at CRCF's wiki:

https://confluence.cornell.edu/x/2gQ0D

      Chemistry IT (CRCF) > Projects > Office 365 migration

Please let us know how we may assist you. And thank you for your support and understanding as we all work through this migration project together.

-Oliver, and the rest of the CRCF team

 <crcf@>

 255-6278

Expanded details related the above truncated information

As you know by now from CIT's communications via postcard and emails, the university is moving Cornell's on-campus Exchange services (email, calendar) to an off-campus (cloud) hosting service by Microsoft. Campus-wide, this is being staged over three months (Dec-Feb). For Arts and Sciences, including Chemistry, our moves will be in February. Additional timing details below.

This change goes by several names including, "moving to Office 365", "migrating Exchange to the cloud", and "transitioning our email to Microsoft", and similar permutations.

IMPORTANT: After the move, your email (and calendar) clients will need to be changed so they can continue getting email (and calendar info).

We'll need to work together to reduce surprises to you and to CRCF staff trying to assist you. CRCF staff are ready to assist you, including answering your questions and helping to make the necessary changes.

For the first two (of three) migration dates (Feb. 5 and Feb. 12), CRCF will coincidentally be one staff person short those days. And for the last, largest, and most complex migration day (Feb 19), we expect to be at full capacity.