Jim Franceschelli just sent the faculty another update regarding the e-mail transition. In short, faculty will not be transitioning over the summer months. Delays in the Identity and Access Management conversion are pushing back the Live@EDU conversion for most faculty until, likely, early September. We’ll keep you posted as new information becomes available.
Change is inevitable in Information Technology and the conversion to Live@edu is no different. Planning and Information Resources has run into delays with the email conversion because of continued issues with the implementation of the Identity and Access Management (IDAM) system. The latest technical challenges put the email project time line in direct conflict with the Banner ERP migration to Linux. As you can guess, the Banner ERP migration takes priority. Conversions into the Live@EDU environment won’t start until the August time frame. That means that email will not change over the summer. The hope is that the Email team will take the leap into Live@EDU in late August with general users beginning following sometime in the fall. Work continues on a revised time line. Additional notifications will be sent to the University Community as the progress is made on the IDAM issues.
It is worthwhile to note that the problems that have arisen and the delays encountered don’t have anything to do with the email/calendar system. The work and testing confirm that the Live@EDU system continues to provide a sound and robust email and calendar system. The problems surround the applications that are being built to provision accounts, manage access, centralize passwords, etc. This IDAM system is being written by an external vendor and ties to the corporate database for automatic management of accounts. Unfortunately the Live@EDU system is the first of many systems that will have the accounts setup and managed by the IDAM and we are forced to modify our implementation schedule because of the delays.
Given the current schedule, collision with the Banner ERP migration dates, and technical difficulties with the IDAM, the window of early faculty adopters in the summer months is no longer possible. Furthermore, new staff and faculty arrivals, as well as incoming students, will be provisioned accounts in the existing email system. Student conversion will also be delayed, possibly until the end of the Fall 2011 term. We are conscious of the academic calendar and the heavy workload that the beginning of the fall term brings for faculty, staff and students and we will continue to make every effort to make this transition as smooth as possible.
The delay of the Live@EDU implementation is a disappointment to many of us; however, the email & calendar conversion plans need to be realistic on how we can effectively accomplish the goals. We are putting a great deal of effort into developing information, documentation and training sessions to make the eventual transition an easy one for all of our users.
IT Services will continue to keep you updated and as more solid information becomes available we will provide the University Community an update on the project time line. If you have any question, please contact the Technology Support Center.
