Information Regarding Century College's Conversion to Microsoft
News & Updates
Date: 03/24/08
"Adding a network printer" guide sheet is now available.
Date: 03/28/08
TGIF to all!
A HUGE “Thank You” to everyone for their patience, words of encouragement and thanks this week. While many things worked perfectly in our testing lab and pilot roll-outs, they did not scale as we had expected and caused some problems and disruptions. This is especially true for printing and departmental drive rights.
ITS Priorities
#1) Fix global problems such as printing and departmental drive assignments.
We are actively working on adding printers we missed, correcting print driver problems we encountered and assigning printers to the correct labs/offices. We expect to complete the majority of these activities yet today, but may need to continue activities early next week.
You can still continue to add your own printers, simply follow these instructions: http://www.century.edu/files/addingprinter.pdf
#2) Ensure complete functionality of classrooms and computer labs. We expect to complete this by the middle of next week.
#3) Correct departmental areas which have very limited computer functionality due to applications needing to be re-installed, machines upgraded or re-imaged. If you know of computers that may have been missed during our migration activities, please let us know by placing an online work order at: http://centurycit.myworksite.com/. Again, we expect to complete these areas by the middle of next week.
#4) Complete & close existing urgent work orders. This will take some time, as we have received nearly 200 urgent work orders (not including telephone calls) this week. Our goal is to have these addressed by the end of next week. We may contact requestors directly seeking information about the status of your request and whether it has been addressed to your satisfaction.
#5) Complete & close existing, non-urgent work orders. This will take some time, as we have received over 200 online work orders (not including telephone calls) this week. Our goal is to have these updated by the end of next week and completed within two weeks. We may contact requestors directly seeking information about the status of your request and whether it has been addressed to your satisfaction.
Outlook
We have received many requests for assistance in two particular areas:
#1) “Generic” e-mail accounts (e.g. “Room Requests”, “DARS”)
These will be completed and instructions forwarded to key personnel by the end of business Monday.
#2) Rights to see and update other user’s calendars
Like in GroupWise, the ability to see and update someone else’s calendar is dependent on that person granting you those permissions. Unfortunately, ITS team members cannot grant these permissions for you. You will need to contact the person for whom you wish to see/update their calendar and ask them to follow these instructions:
a) View permissions only: This is known as “sharing” a calendar and is rather easy to do:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA012302491033.aspx#1 - Look for the section labeled “Share your calendar with other Exchange users”
b) View & Modify Permissions: This is known as “delegation” I have attached instructions on accomplishing this. Delegation of a calendar (for security reasons) is more complicated than simply sharing a calendar. This document will also be available online on the Microsoft conversion website: http://www.century.edu/microsoft
Closing Thoughts
We continue to hear positive remarks about the transition and the ways in which the ITS Team have worked to help keep our employees and students on track. I received an e-mail just this morning, and I quote:
"…. The people you have working in the East Campus Open Computer Lab are FANTASTIC!!!!!!! I watched them all week work with students and faculty. They were always very positive and extremely helpful!!!! They exemplify what I would expect in an IT professional. Very courteous and dedicated to providing technical support. I am sure the West Campus people are the same, I “live here” so I see and work with the East Enders mostly. (Give em a $10K bonus)"
Kind words such as these remind us how fortunate we are to work here at Century.
Best,
John
Date: 03/25/08
Good Morning,
Given the disruptive nature of the college’s conversion activities I will attempt to send out daily updates regarding project status. My goal is to keep you informed as to how things are going.
The ITS team received almost 100 online work orders yesterday, in addition to dozens of telephone calls. One out of every two of those work orders was marked “urgent”. The vast majority fell into one of two categories: printing or departmental drive access.
For those who would like to add a printer, we have created a quick, step-by-step guide and posted it on the Microsoft conversion site: http://www.century.edu/files/addingprinter.pdf
We are working on the departmental drive issues as rapidly as possible.
If you have already placed a work order, it has been received and is in process. Please do not send a duplicate work order! You can always check the status of your work orders by going to http://www.century.edu/help and using your e-mail address in the bottom section marked “TRACK – Your Service Requests”. Also, we know that our friendly ITS team members always aim to please. It would help us tremendously, however, if you would direct your inquiries to the ITS Help Desk – this way every team member sees them and we can respond more quickly than if you contact an individual on our team.
There are hundreds of employees and thousands of students. We have a couple of dozen ITS team members, so the math is pretty easy on this one. Please keep in mind that Century’s most valuable resources are our employees. If you have a problem, it is entirely possible your neighbor across the way had the same problem and was able to resolve it. Don’t be afraid to ask each other for help, too!
We appreciate your patience and understanding as we attempt to resolve each and every one of your service requests.
Also, it seems appropriate now to express my thanks to:
The ITS Team members – many of whom have worked 10-12 hour days non-stop for the past two weeks to insure that this necessary conversion had as minimal an impact as possible on our students and employees. Without exception, they have gone above and beyond.
The college Administration, who provided us the tools and support we needed to make the conversion happen. Their willingness to invest time and resources into technology have paid dividends in that we now have a state-of-the-art technology infrastructure that will be sustained and grown to support the diverse teaching and learning activities of our faculty and students.
The Staff and Faculty members onsite last week during the conversion activities. You saw the process unfold before your very eyes and were patient, gracious and supportive throughout the week.
The MANY employees who took the time to leave us notes of support, CHOCOLATE and left their workspaces clean and ready for us. You saved us countless hours and raised our spirits (and sugar levels) when we needed that little extra boost. We promise to repay your thoughtfulness.
And to all of those I have missed, my thanks to you as well. It is always the case that blanket “thank-yous” such as this forget someone. My apologies to those I have not mentioned directly.
Best,
John
Date: 03/24/08
Good Morning!
For those of you fortunate enough to have been off last week, welcome back!
Things will definitely look a little different today – hopefully you are well rested and ready to practice patience.
A few notes to help you get started:
Getting Help
To keep the Help Desk telephone line open for emergency assistance requests, please place an online work order for non-critical issues (http://www.century.edu/help) . This account is monitored by almost all of the ITS staff, who will be circulating today to provide assistance as needed.
Passwords
You will be asked to select a new password the first time you log in. We left instruction sheets on all computers, but if you were on campus last week or accessed our new CenturyDirect and changed your password already, you should use the password you created. To comply with MnSCU security guidelines, your new password must be at least 7 characters long.
Please share this with your colleagues!
For security reasons, on Monday, March 31st, any employee accounts that have not been activated will be disabled. To reactivate your account, you will need to place a work order.
Student Passwords
Students must go to the following web page: https://www.century.edu/useraccount/passwordreset.aspx
Once they successfully input their Century Student ID and PIN numbers, they will be able to select a password.
Students may find more information online at http://www.century.edu/studentmicrosoft/index.html
Temporary Accounts
We recognize that not everyone will be successful in logging in using their old username and password. To help accommodate immediate needs, we have created temporary logins for students and employees. These accounts will expire one week from today.
1. Open Century’s webpage www.century.edu
2. Select the Century Direct Login link at the top of the home page
3. Choose Student Portal in the middle of the next screen
4. On the left you will find a link called “Password reset”. You will find directions on how to use the tool if you click on the link “readme” just underneath.
If you have any questions or need assistance please visit either of the computer labs at W1320 or E1710.
Again, please share this information with your colleagues who may not have access to e-mail.
Shared Folders & Printers
Remember, the I:\ drive (departmental drive) changed so that you will see all of the departmental drives to which you have access. You will need to open that folder and possible re-establish any links you may have had on your computer desktop. If you do not see your departmental drive, please place an online work order and we will correct this as quickly as possible.
You may also need to re-establish your default printer. To do this, simply choose Start-Settings-Printers and Faxes. Right-mouse click on the printer you wish to be the default and choose Set as Default Printer.
If you do not see the printer you would like to have, please place an online work order and we will also correct this as quickly as possible.
E-Mail Migration
This process seemed to have worked just fine. We did have a few reports last week of some e-mails or appointments that did not migrate. If this is the case for you, please place a work order online at http://www.century.edu/help and we will try to migrate your account once again. We also did have not migrated GroupWise archives yet; we hope to accomplish this yet this week.
Laptops
We converted laptops that were left here on campus. If your laptop was not on campus, please bring it to the Help Desk on East Campus and plan on leaving it for 2-4 hours so that we may convert it.
Training Classes
No training classes will be held for a couple of weeks while all of our team members attend to work orders. Please check the online STARS system; as we schedule new classes they will appear there first:
https://secure.mnsu.edu/mnscupd/login/default.asp?campusid=0304
Final Thoughts
Please prepare yourself and your students for some temporary frustration and delays with using a new email system. This is a big change for all of us and it will take a bit of time to learn and get proficient with Outlook. Please visit the conversion website (http://www.century.edu/microsoft/index.html) and look under the “Training Resources” link on the left – you will find many tools available to help you. Also, use the Help function from within Outlook itself.
Best,
John
Date: 03/21/08
Establishing First-Time Access to the Century Network from Off-Campus
If you would like to access your files and e-mail for the first time remotely, (from an off-campus location), please click on follow the procedure.
Date: 03/07/08
Good morning, all!
The ITS and Public Safety departments volunteered to be guinea pigs and converted to Microsoft/Outlook on Monday of this week. Now my experience may not be typical, but I needed about 30 minutes to restore desktop shortcuts I had used, my Internet Explorer favorites and configure Outlook just the way I like it. Truth be told, I haven't even looked back! I hope the rest of you are as excited as I am to be moving forward.
As conversion approaches, our in-boxes have been filled with questions regarding what will be happening over the next week or so. In light of this, I devote this edition to answering those Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) as concisely and directly as possible.
Closing Thoughts
Enjoy your Spring Break and keep in mind those of us who will be here while you are away!
John
Date: 03/07/08
ONE WEEK - That is right. In ONE WEEK, we will begin our conversion to Microsoft.
One Thing
My English teacher days come back to me sometimes and I recall that if you have an important message you need to state it up-front, repeat it 3 times and then reinforce it in closing. So here is my one thing - if you take away nothing else from my messages, please take this away:
When we convert faculty and staff offices, we will completely overwrite all data on your office computer's hard drive:
Desktop shortcuts, files stored on the desktop or local hard drive (C:\ drive) and favorites/bookmarks will all be overwritten and CANNOT BE RECOVERED.
The ITS team is available to assist you in relocating these files to the network drives, which will migrate to the new Microsoft environment. Having been through transitions such as this several times in my career, I can tell you how painful it is to have to tell employees that their data has been deleted and cannot be recovered.
I am attaching a checklist of activities we ask you to do before close of business next Friday. PLEASE REVIEW THIS CHECKLIST. The checklist and a number of other resources are available online at http://www.century.edu/microsoft/howdoiprepare.html.
Timetable
Here is a rough timetable of activities:
| Saturday, March 15: | 8 AM: | Begin deleting/replacing/upgrading office computers and installing all new Microsoft conversion applications. |
| 5 PM: |
Shut down Century Direct, GroupWise and network logins Begin migrating data from Novell to Microsoft |
|
| Sunday, March 16: | 8 AM: |
Continue imaging Staff office computers Continue with data migration activities |
| Monday, March 17: | 8 AM: |
Provide on-site support for Staff office areas Begin migrating Faculty office suites Begin migrating Open Computer Labs & General Computer Classrooms |
| Tuesday, March 18: | 12 PM: | Network and E-mail Access restored |
All other migration activities will continue throughout the week of March 17-Saturday, March 22.
| Monday, March 24: | 8 AM: | ITS Staff available for onsite assistance; Additional Help Desk staff |
Important Note: If you will be gone over Spring Break, please be certain that you have all of your files transferred and are ready for your office computer to be deleted/replaced/upgraded before you head out of the office to whatever warm and sunny place you will be visiting
Outlook Training Classes
Next week's class schedule is:
- Monday, March 10, 2008 at 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
- Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
- Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM
- Wednesday, March 12, 2008 at 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM
- Thursday, March 13, 2008 at 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM
- Thursday, March 13, 2008 at 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
- Thursday, March 13, 2008 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Location:
East Campus, room 2213
To sign up for classes, use the new STARS system: https://secure.mnsu.edu/mnscupd/login/default.asp?campusid=0304
Classes after the migration will not be scheduled until the beginning of April as all ITS team will be engaged in the migration tasks. So please sign up for a session listed above to get the basics of Outlook!
Laptop Users
We recognize that mobile computer users depend on their computers and often use their laptops away from the office. Because of this, we do not expect you to leave your laptop computer in your office over Spring Break.
After conversion has been completed on March 24th, laptop users can continue to log onto their computers as they would off campus and will have access to their new e-mail and remote access to the college network until you are ready for conversion. When you are ready to convert, please contact the ITS Help Desk (Help.Desk@century.edu, 651-779-3495).
My Thanks
First to all my deep thanks to all Century employees and students for your patience and understanding while we undergo this necessary migration.
Most importantly to me, though, I have to extend my thanks to the ITS team. They have done an amazing job coordinating the million and one things that needed to be in place for this migration to occur. They have solved every challenge we have encountered with professionalism and technical creativity. They are tired and worn, yet excited for the migration to begin. They are truly a credit to Century and I am very proud to be a member of their team.
Closing Thoughts
We all know that even the most foolproof plans still have some flaws. And our conversion activities will no doubt miss dotting an "i" or crossing a "t". I implore you to be patient with the ITS team members and recognize they are doing the best they can to help all of our employees and students.
John
Date: 02/29/08
I realize that our faculty are attending the RSP/ITeach event today, but wanted to be certain to send out the latest updates on our Microsoft conversion project.
It seems hard to believe, but we are ONLY two weeks away from our conversion! Hope everyone is as ready for the conversion as the ITS team is!
I realize these messages are awfully long, but we want to be certain to address those questions we have received from our customers. Please read thoroughly to be certain you don't miss anything! We are also arranging for these messages to be put into your physical campus mailbox as well.
Outlook (E-mail) Training Classes Still Available!
Next week's class schedule is:
- Monday, March 3, 2008 at 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM
- Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
- Wednesday, March 5, 2008 at 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
- Thursday, March 6, 2008 at 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM
- Friday, March 7, 2008 at 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Location:
East Campus, room 2213
To sign up for classes, use the new STARS system: https://secure.mnsu.edu/mnscupd/login/default.asp?campusid=0304. You can also view all upcoming Outlook classes on the Stars site. Simply enter the word "Outlook" (without quotation marks) as your search term.
Online Resources
We have set up an email migration hotline (“Outlook” in the GroupWise Address book) along with supporting web pages to facilitate answering your questions about the changeover: http://www.century.edu/microsoft/ You can also find an archive of these communications on this site.
Final Thoughts
The ITS team is very excited about the new possibilities, services and stability created by this conversion process. We recognize that the transition will be a time of concern for everyone, but working together and being patient with each other will go a long way toward the success of the project.
Best,
John
Date: 02/22/08
We continue to make great progress as we move forward with our Microsoft conversion project. Here are this week's updates:
Outlook (E-mail) Training Classes Available!
Next week's class schedule is:
Date and times:
- Monday, February 25, 2008 at 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM
- Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM
- Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
- Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM
- Friday, February 29, 2008 at 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Location:
East Campus, room 2213
Classes this week have been very full so please register soon! Initial feedback has been very positive about the Outlook conversion class. Employees have been delighted by the abundance of features available - especially in the web version of Outlook. To sign up for classes, use the new STARS system: https://secure.mnsu.edu/mnscupd/login/default.asp?campusid=0304
Support Levels
As you can probably imagine, transitioning 1,000+ employees, over 10,000 students, over a terabyte (that's 1,000 gigabytes) of data, over 30 servers, nearly 300 printers/copiers, and almost 2,250 computers is a time-consuming and exacting process. It has taken substantial effort and sacrifice from all members of the ITS team.
And keep in mind, we are doing all of this WHILE also maintaining our existing systems! But even more so, it has meant that we may not be as fast to respond to our Help Desk work orders or new project requests as we would like to be (and normally are).
You have also (as have your students) probably noticed that our current servers seem to be failing more frequently. Those more superstitious than I am believe that we have angered the Novell deities and are suffering their wrath. More likely, this stems from the fact that the network server hardware is well past its' useful life and the software is supported in a very limited fashion by Novell. We count the days until we can provide you the stability and performance you deserve with the latest in network hardware and software as a result of the transition to Microsoft!
Finally, you may have noticed that it takes slightly longer to log into the existing network than it used to take. This is because we are deploying tools to help us manage the transition. These tools launch when you log into the network. We appreciate your patience as we work to make the transition as seamless as possible for you and our students.
Final Thoughts
We are also working on a separate site for students that will launch early next week. Since the student migration will be slightly different, we felt it important for them to have a site that will answer their questions with the greatest accuracy.
Best,
John
Date: 02/13/08
Pre-Migration Outlook Training is now available. Register through the Stars system
Outlook - Basic overview, basic email and calendar This class will also cover some migration information as we move from GroupWise to Outlook. During Spring Break the college will migrate from GroupWise to Outlook, this class will help staff and faculty use the basic functionality of Outlook.