The final step in the campus email consolidation is coming soon for University of Oregon staff and faculty members.
Most employees will transition to UOmail, the new campuswide email service, by the end of March.
Information Services, the UO's central information technology unit, will be collaborating with IT staff across campus to transition email accounts on a unit-by-unit basis from the university's existing Exchange email service to UOmail, a cloud-hosted version of Exchange. The 10,000 accounts slated to transition this fall and winter consist primarily of employees' accounts, but they also include departmental role accounts that may be used by multiple people, as well as a small number of current and former student employees.
The change is part of the email consolidation effort announced in October 2018 by Jessie Minton, vice provost for information services and chief information officer.
Minton said all UO students, staff and faculty members will be moved to UOmail by 2023. Moving everyone to UOmail will create a consistent user experience throughout the university, provide feature enhancements, facilitate collaboration and improve information security and operating efficiency.
"We're excited that most faculty and staff will be using UOmail by spring term," said Patrick Chinn, associate chief information officer for customer experience in Information Services.
For faculty and staff members who started the year on Webmail, including most employees in the College of Arts and Sciences, the email consolidation effort required first moving to the existing Exchange service in preparation for moving to UOmail.
"Thank you for your patience during this transition," Chinn said, "especially for those of you who only just moved to Exchange. Fortunately, this next transition should be even easier for you, and it brings us closer to having everyone on the same email system."
Functionally, UOmail is very similar to Exchange. People on UOmail will have access to some additional tools and features, as well as streamlined integration with existing Microsoft tools such as Teams.
Those transitioning to UOmail should expect two main adjustments on the day of their transition. To access email through a web browser, they will need to start visiting a new URL: uomail.uoregon.edu.
Also, people who have a UO account on a smartphone or tablet — for example, to check email or use UO calendar or contacts — should plan to update account information on all of their mobile devices. More information is available in the UO Service Portal.
In the coming months, faculty and staff members currently on Exchange can expect more information from the IT staff in their departments, schools and colleges about when their email accounts will be transitioned. Employees without IT staff in their units will receive follow-up information from Information Services.
About 300 staff and faculty members still using Webmail will be moved to Exchange by the end of September — completing a project milestone announced in March — in preparation for moving to UOmail.
By spring 2020, most employees will be using UOmail. However, retirees, graduate employees and a few other types of UO employees will be addressed later in the project.
New employees and students who have claimed their Duck ID accounts since July 17 are already using UOmail. The current plan for the email consolidation project will keep most existing students on Webmail as long as they're at the UO.
More information about the email consolidation project is available on the Information Services website. Anyone with questions about the project can contact the project team at emailproject@uoregon.edu.
Employees seeking help with their email should contact the IT staff in their respective schools and colleges, if applicable, or contact the Technology Service Desk by phone at 541-346-4357, in person in Room 68, Prince Lucien Campbell Hall or through the UO Service Portal. Students seeking help should contact the Tech Desk.
—By Nancy Novitski, University Communications