Exchange Online, a Microsoft Outlook Web Application, will replace the College’s Groupwise email service
Mariah Joyce
Staff Writer
Starting in April of 2013, the Wooster campus began transitioning from its current email provider to a new service called Exchange Online, a Microsoft Outlook Web Application. Previously, College of Wooster students, faculty and staff used Scotmail, a GroupWise email service supported by Novell, an American software and services company.
According to the migration schedule available on the College’s IT website, faculty began making the transition on April 22, 2013. Staff began the switch to Outlook in early June, and students were scheduled to start transitioning in August.
In reality, as is often the case with major institutional technology shifts, the process has fallen a bit behind schedule. A bar graph available on the College’s IT homepage tracking current progress shows that the majority of faculty and staff (about 90 percent in each case) have made the switch, but not all have been transitioned. Students are listed as starting the transition this fall.
According to Mary Schantz, Director of User Services for Wooster’s IT department, “The plan is to migrate all student e-mail over fall break, Oct. 5. Making the transition on a Saturday, and over break, will cause less disruption than changing email while classes are in session.”
To students worried about the logistics of the switch, Schantz added, “Don’t worry, IT will handle copying your email to the new server for you. On Saturday the link on the home page will change from Scotmail to [Outlook] email and the link will automatically redirect you to the new server.”
Although the switch is taking longer than initially anticipated, the new system may be well worth the wait. Scotmail offers 250MB of storage space, while the new Outlook Web App offers 50GB, about 500 times more storage space.
The Outlook Web Application also corrects some frustrating features of the old Scotmail. The data limit for attachments will be upped from 10MB to 25MB and mobile access will become easier and more widely available. Schantz added that “Where Scotmail had a 15 minute automatic time out feature, the Outlook Web App does not.”
Schantz acknowledged that there have been some problems with mail delivery due to a recent update that was applied by Microsoft, but said that overall “The process has gone smoothly for faculty and staff,” and IT is currently working with Microsoft to resolve the issue.
Wooster’s IT Department is happy to field any and all questions about the upcoming email migration; you can email them at helpdesk@wooster.edu, give them a call at (330) 287-4357 or stop by their office on the fourth floor of Morgan Hall.