ICT Services 4 Education

 

School ICT News Bulletin No. 261 - 18/11/2015

Published by ICT Shared Services


November eBulletin Update

Migration of Generic Accounts to Office 365

We mentioned in MI Sheet 216/15 we are planning to replace the current generic email solution provided by BT for a number of reasons. The current solution has created a number of issues for users this year, technically becomes end of life from 31st March 2016, and doesn’t meet customer requirements. This refers to the accounts that end in Norfolk.sch.uk for example head@ and office@.

In response to feedback from schools about the restrictive size of the mail boxes, attachment size and the issues experienced with the current solution, we have considered options and selected Microsoft 365 Education plan because it offers schools the most flexible and cost effective, secure email solution which will continually adapt to changing requirements of schools.

We plan to migrate all current live generic accounts to the web version of Outlook prior to the 18th December 2015. This will mean a slightly different login process but instructions will be provided ahead of this. The migration to Microsoft 365 platform will give you greater flexibility with your mailboxes to include:

  • 50 GB mailbox size
  • Ability to access via an internet connection on any device
  • Continued Spam and Malware protection
  • Ability to send attachments up to 150 MB

This new solution will be included as part of your current Broadband contract until 31st March 2016.

Next Steps:

A separate email will be sent to all head@ addresses listing the accounts we currently have on record for the school and asking for confirmation of which accounts are in use and will therefore need to be migrated.  All accounts that are not required to be migrated will be deleted on 31st December 2015.

Schools with their own email servers which currently relay through the existing BT service will be contacted directly with details of their revised configuration.

Migration Plans:

 

We will be migrating your existing mailbox, calendars, contacts and content over to the new solution, and will make sure the accounts are all working before we delete your old accounts. For the techies we are planning a cutover migration, which will enable us to migrate your accounts overnight to reduce any downtime and impact on users. After the migration you will be required to reset any settings you have previously set up i.e. signatures, forwarding and permissions. Full guidance will be provided for this.

 

We will notify you when your schools’ accounts are due to be migrated and the steps you need to take.

 

All new requests for generic emails accounts to be set will be held until the existing accounts are successfully migrated, then we will offer the option to add new accounts.

 

Out of Scope of this project:

  • Client installations & Licencing
  •  Staff and Student email accounts

 

Technical Requirements:

Outlook Client:

To enable you to use Outlook Client functionality you will need a minimum of Office 2010 with Service Pack 2 installed onto your PC.

Operating system

  • PC: Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7 Service Pack 1
  • Mac: Mac OS X 10.10

For the best experience, Microsoft recommend using the latest version of any operating system.

 

Browser

Microsoft Edge, Safari, Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer 10 or above

Internet explorer 8 and 9 will only allow the “light version” of outlook so you will have reduced functionality.

 

Mobile Devices:

  • Windows: Office 2013 versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access. Windows 8 or higher required. Office Mobile applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote) require Windows 10.
  • iOS: Office for iPad® and iPhone® requires iOS 8.0 or higher.
  • Android: Office for Android™ can be installed on tablets and phones that meet the following criteria: running Android KitKat 4.4 or later version and have an ARM-based or Intel x86 processor.

Mobile browsers: Any mobile browser supported by Microsoft may be used, including the Intune Managed Browser.

 

Contract arrangement

 

The migration to Microsoft 365 will be covered for schools on the Norfolk Broadband Service until 31st March 2016. From previous communications and the schools’ broadband survey customers told us they want the new broadband contract to cover core broadband and internet services and choose to purchase other optional services. This means the Microsoft 365 offering will be available as a separate contract offering from 1st April 2016 for any Norfolk schools and academies. The cost of the service will be £175.00 for up to 10 accounts. Additional accounts can be purchased.

 

Microsoft 365 for Education is free for web client access. Our fees will cover the support overheads of managing the domain and support for users. This means we will take care of the technical requirements of domain management, spam and malware filters and MX records. For full client licencing queries please email ictcontractsteam@norfolk.gov.uk .

Author: ICT Shared Services

Close