BGSU is transitioning from the current email system to a new Microsoft Exchange based email system. This will be a move for all BGSU account holders with a target completion date of June 30, 2008.

The Exchange migration process will be approached differently if you are a user who requires having your current email messages transferred or if you are a user who does not require email being moved to the new system.

It is anticipated that many users in offices will want to migrate their current email messages to the new system while many more transient users, such as students will not require having their email moved to the new system and will primary be using Outlook Web Access (OWA) to access their email.

Migration process for users (students) with the request to move current email messages......

This option is currently available to students and may be accessed via MyBGSU. Once logged in to MyBGSU and under the MyServices tab, find the Miscellaneous Services heading. A link entitled "Exchange Volunteer Form" will be available. By selecting this link and completing the form, users may select a date to be converted to the new Exchange system and have any prior messages moved to the new system.  Please note:  In order to indicate that you would like to have messages moved to Exchange, please be sure to select the appropriate selection box indicating this need on the second page of the volunteer form.  Failure to do so will migrate you to the new system, however current email messages will not be migrated as a part of the process.  Any forwards will need to be reset by the user following migration.

Migration process for faculty and staff.......

The process will begin with the user receiving notification by an email message being sent to their BGNet email account.  At a minimum, users will be provided with a two-week notice of their migration date, with another reminder being emailed two days prior to the migration.  

It is preferred that the user is present during the migration time, however if the user is unavailable the migration to Exchange can proceed.  If any user does not wish to be migrated on the date specified in the message, they will be asked to notify the project team of that need and another date will be arranged.  It is necessary to keep in mind that the goal is to migrate all accounts prior to June 30, 2008.

At the users discretion, all messages that are being stored in mailboxes on the current BGNet system can be transferred automatically to the new system at migration time.  This need can be communicated to the Exchange Implementation Team member at the time of migration.  Any messages that have been transferred to a local system will need to be moved manually into Outlook or Entourage through one of several available methods.  Documentation and assistance will be available to complete this transfer process.

The items to be migrated are extensive and there will also be some items that are unable to be migrated.  For reference, the following is a list of what does migrate and what does not migrate:

• Mail Messages - If requested, all stored email message will be migrated with the exception of the Trash Folder and the Junk Mail folders.
• Address Book - All contacts and personal address lists that are saved in the address book will be migrated, however distribution lists will not migrate
• Rules and Filters - Rules and filters to not migrate; users must configure any mailbox rules that they wish to implement on their Outlook or Entourage client.

During the migration, the following will take place:

• Creation of your new Microsoft Exchange mailbox
• If requested, copying of the messages in your BGNet mailbox to your new Exchange mailbox
• If necessary and appropriate, install Microsoft Office 2007 (Windows users) or Entourage 2008 (Macintosh users)

Information for all users following migration.......

Following migration, users may use their Exchange account using the same username and password using either Outlook 2007 (for Windows users), Entourage 2008 (for Macintosh users), or through the Outlook Web Access (OWA) interface at:  mail.bgsu.edu.

All Meeting Maker accounts will be transitioned on a yet-to-be determined date in May 2008.  All users should continue to use Meeting Maker for calendaring until this migration date in order to avoid any loss of information in the Meeting Maker to Exchange migration.

Office email accounts will be migrated to Exchange on a future date.

Documentation for Exchange is provided on the web at:  http://www.bgsu.edu/offices/cio/page39967.html.  The ITS Self-Help pages for Exchange may be found at:  http://www.bgsu.edu/its/tsc/self-help/page46342.html.

Continuing and Extended Education will be offering training sessions.  Please see http://ctc.bgsu.edu/outlook for further information regarding training sessions and registration.