Welcome to your home for all things Migration. Stay current on the latest information, updates, and frequently asked questions. Check back often as we update the page with both IT Department activities and user actions in our efforts to make this migration as well-informed and easy as possible. 

Get Acquainted With Microsoft Applications

Who, What, When, Where, Why?

  • Employees and faculty - No change to the format of your email account, i.e. gwashington@nnu.edu. To prepare your account to be moved, clean out old emails. The cleaner the email, the quicker the transfer will be. Also, check your filters and labels and eliminate old ones no longer used. Once filters and labels are cleaned, screenshot these so you will know if they did not transfer to Outlook. A few may not since Outlook handles filters and labels a bit differently.
    • After the move, you can still sign into Gmail to see your account layout and copy important items to a document, but you will no longer be able to send emails in Gmail. 
    • If you have many many filters, the migration may duplicate the emails that apply to the filter as many times as there are filters. Filters in Outlook are different than in Gmail, so Outlook handles them in this way. If you can eliminate any filters, it will keep the size of your Outlook mailbox down rather than tripling its size. Delete old Google Docs no longer needed. Again, the leaner your document space the faster the transfer will be.
    • Calendars should not be impacted during migration. 
    • Chats will not migrate so if there is important info in your Google Chats, copy them to a document. 
  • Partners and adjuncts will be similar to employees. You will log in with your email address and the active directory password (AD). Some may need to call the Help Desk for assistance if you have never used your AD password.
  • Students will go to login.microsoftonline.com. The Microsoft username will be the new email address. For example, George Washington’s student email account will change to gwashington@my.nnu.edu.
    • After the transfer, there will still be an alias of gwashington@nnu.edu so you will still receive emails. Google Drive, Email, and Calendars will move. Chats will not.
  • Alumni email accounts will change to username@my.nnu.edu and users will go to login.microsoftonline.com to continue accessing email.
  • IT will be performing multiple syncs of your account. If you delete a bunch in Gmail after the first sync, those changes will sync to the Outlook account on the next sync. 

Updates

This notification is for anyone who currently uses Office 365 products. Others may delete or ignore it if they wish.

Students are now synchronized over to microsoft.com and can log in by using a unique email address as their username for the site and by using their NNU network password. 

This change does not affect our use of Google at this time. We are continuing to use Gmail, Google Drive and other Google apps until we change over to Microsoft on February 5, 2024. Here is an example using George Washington, assuming he is a student at NNU, his current email address will be unchanged for Google, but his Microsoft login will look like this.

  • User name: gwashington@my.nnu.edu
  • Password: Same as your NNU network password
          (the password you use on Canvas and the portal)

You can start logging in on microsoft.com and saving your work on OneDrive. You won't be able to send or receive email from Microsoft Outlook until February, however. We will keep using Gmail until February 5, 2024.

Campus Colleagues:

Many of you have been asking great questions about the next steps for the Google to Microsoft transition. We hear your concerns!  Please be assured that the Information Technology team has been working on this project non-stop, making sure the details are in place before we open up Microsoft apps. Here are some answers to some of the questions you have asked. 

Email - Employees, faculty, and adjuncts will retain their current @nnu.edu email address. The migration on February 5, 2024 will transfer all email accounts from Gmail to Microsoft Office365.  After that date, you will no longer be able to receive emails using Gmail. You can still log into Gmail after the transition to confirm the transfer was successful. Office365's Outlook Web Access (OWA) is similar to Gmail in that you log into it using a browser to access your email, calendar, contacts, etc.

To make this migration faster and more efficient, check your current email filters. It's much better not to use filters if possible at this time. Also, delete old emails no longer needed.

Google Drive to OneDrive - IT will transfer your Google Drive files to OneDrive during the migration to a folder in OneDrive marked "Google Drive Migration". You do not need to move files now. After the migration, you will still be able to log in on Google to confirm your files are in OneDrive. Your best practice will be to work in OneDrive only after February 5. To make this migration smoother and quicker, remove unwanted files and folders in Google Drive now. Google apps will be available until June 30, 2024, except for Gmail.

Shared Google Drives - We are currently testing this migration and it is not quite ready. Hold up working on Shared Drives in OneDrive Shared Files until we have it all ready to go.

Teams - MS Teams meetings on the web are operational, but invitation links to participants right now must be sent from Google Mail. Your Google calendar has a Teams meeting option now. If you continue to use Google Meets after the migration date, be aware of the cut-off date of June 30, 2024. Teams sites are not available yet. We are building those out still.

Learning Labs Coming After Thanksgiving - To help users become comfortable with the look and feel of the Microsoft platform, a series of Learning Labs are being scheduled after Thanksgiving through January. Lab facilitators will help you log in, present instructional videos, and help you navigate around the Microsoft applications that are ready. As more features are added to our Microsoft workspace, additional learning labs will be provided. These labs will enable you to get away from your phone and normal work environment to concentrate on becoming comfortable with Microsoft 365. An email will go out soon with the learning lab schedule and sign-ups. 

We appreciate your patience and prayers as the IT team gets the campus ready for this big transition.

Sincerely,

Todd Baker, Director
NNU Information Technology

NNU has made the decision to move our Email platform from Google to Microsoft. Below, you will find some details that relate to our alumni email users.

  • The go-live date is Feb 5, 2024 — no email will be delivered to your current NNU Gmail address after that date
  • Gmail and Google Drive storage (if you use that) will be accessible until June of 2024
  • As an NNU alum, you will continue to have the option of using an NNU email address. The new address format will be: yourname@my.nnu.edu
  • Our Microsoft license does not allow for free storage as Google did, so there will be no cloud storage included with this transition

If you currently use the NNU Google Drive cloud storage, you have until June 2024 to move your data to a new/different storage system of your choosing. We suggest using a personal Google account for storage as this will make the transition of your files easier. Google offers 15GB of free space.

To create a new Google account: While in one of your current Google accounts, click on your picture in the upper right-hand corner, then choose "create new account" and follow the prompts.

There will be more communication during the first part of December when your new email accounts in Microsoft have been created. This communication will provide instructions on how to best communicate with IT for assistance in getting access to the account.

For more information on the project and for Microsoft training, please visit this link:

https://help.nnu.edu/display/TMR/Google+to+Microsoft+Migration

Thank you for your ongoing support of NNU!

NNU Alumni Relations

Good afternoon, Colleagues:
We are providing an opportunity for you to log in on the Microsoft 365 platform today to click around and take a look during the next several days. There are a few things you should know:

  1. You will have access to log in and explore the web apps, such as Outlook, Word, and Teams, but you will not have full functionality on all of the features. We do not recommend downloading desktop apps at this time. You should simply explore the web apps as you would Google Docs, Google Meet, Google Sheets, Gmail, etc.
  2. You will not be able to email from Outlook yet since our mail is still pointed at Google. That functionality will not go live until after February 5, 2024. 
  3. There won't be any direct technical support from IT Services during this trial period for you. We will not be able to give you extra features or permissions until the transition is completed in February.


If you have questions about the timing or the details of the Google to Microsoft migration, please check the FAQ page first before emailing help@nnu.edu. It is located Here: Google to Microsoft Migration

We are receiving multiple emails about the topics that we have covered on the FAQ page or the points above.

To log into MS 365, go to https://login.microsoftonline.com. Use your NNU email address as the username. User your current network password for the MS 365 login. 

Learning labs are coming next week. Watch for the sign-ups!

Have a great Thanksgiving holiday as we all thank the Lord for all He has done for us.

Todd Baker, Director
NNU Information Technology

Good Snowy Morning:
I hope you made it to work without incident! I realize you may have had several emails lately, so this email is just a whole-picture overview of the Microsoft Transition.

In response to requests for training and opportunities for familiarization with Microsoft, several lab times have been provided for employees to have a quick tour of Outlook. So far, we have served 40 participants. During these labs, participants spent time finding needed features for their mailboxes as well as helping each other. It's been a great collaborative effort. Future labs for other Microsoft web apps will be after Christmas and will be offered virtually along with in-person lab times.

Students and Employee Microsoft accounts are ready for you to log in and check out the workspace. Please note that until February 5, 2024, we are in a testing environment. These web apps may not function as they will when we fully transition. Some apps, such as Teams and Sharepoint, are being configured, but we hope to have those available for training by the end of December or early January. Thanks for continuing to be patient with the configuration process.

If you have questions about this transition, please feel free to take a look at the "Google to Microsoft" help page. If the answer is not there, please create a ticket on help.nnu.edu by selecting the category, "Google to Microsoft Questions" and explain what you need.

Have a great weekend!

Todd Baker, Director
NNU Information Technology Department

Frequently Asked Questions

Answer: To be able to utilize the full potential of Anthology Student Information System, which is a Microsoft based system, by switching e-mail, calendar, storage and online apps to Microsoft.

Answer: All Gmail accounts are projected to be fully migrated to Microsoft by February 5th, 2024.

Answer: All accounts currently residing in the Google Workspace (@nnu.edu) 

Answer: Beginning February 5th, all users will login to their NNU or personal devices as usual. Then, using your preferred browser, go to https://login.microsoft.com. Enter your NNU username, e.g. gwashington@nnu.edu, followed by your NNU password. NOTE: The ability to log into Microsoft currently exists. However, many features and functionality of the accounts will not work. i.e. sending and receiving email, and creating Teams or SharePoint sites.

Answer: New students entering the Fall 2024 semester (and later) will only receive a my.nnu.edu email address.

Answer: The ability to send and receive Gmail will cease on February 5th. The Google Workspace and associated drives and applications will be supported until June 30th 2024.

Answer: Beginning February 5th, IT Administrators will start actively transferring all Google files to each user’s new Microsoft OneDrive. All Sheets, Docs, and Slides will be converted to Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. Due to the differences between Google and Microsoft, some converted files may not retain all formulas and formatting. File transfer will only occur once and will not overwrite any existing OneDrive files. Any subsequent changes to Google files or folders will not be replicated in OneDrive. Google Drive will be available for cross-reference of documents and supported until June 30th 2024.  

Answer: IT Administrators are working to establish baseline permissions and best practices for creation of SharePoint and Teams in the Microsoft Workspace. Early provisioning of Microsoft accounts without proper permissions will lead to an uncontrolled and unstructured Workspace. Policy, best practice, and proper permissions are needed first to ensure a successful transition. While maximum usage of Microsoft applications is encouraged beginning February 5th, Google Drive and Meets will be supported until June 30th 2024

Answer: IT Administrators must manually create all Microsoft “Shared Mailboxes” and replicate necessary access permissions for departmental and positional email accounts (e.g. marketing@nnu.edu and sgasecretary@nnu.edu). The IT office will be emailing all departmental and positional accounts to validate account necessity and verify delegated access. NOTE: Departmental and positional Shared Mailboxes are email only and do not have a SharePoint site associated with them.

To learn more about Shared Mailboxes and how to open them (after permissions are granted), please visit https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/open-and-use-a-shared-mailbox-in-outlook-on-the-web-98b5a90d-4e38-415d-a030-f09a4cd28207

Answer: IT Administrators are working to establish baseline permissions and best practices for creation and management of SharePoint Sites in the Microsoft Workspace. Each Office, Department, and Commission will be designated a SharePoint Site to house the over 1300 existing Google Shared Drives. Random SharePoint sites outside of NNU official Offices, Departments, and Commissions will not be permitted. All Shared Drives for each program, process, procedure, curriculum, etc, within a Department and sub-departments will be moved to the centralized Departmental SharePoint Site (e.g. Information Technology SharePoint Site will contain all Shared Drives data from IT Services, Net Ops, Security Manager, etc) with applicable inter-department folder permissions. Migration will retain existing folder and file permissions. IT is working to identify Department ownership of Google Shared Drives in order to successfully migrate all data to the correct SharePoint Site. Future communications will be sent to all Administrative Assistants and Program Coordinators to facilitate our efforts. NOTE: Folders and files for non-departmental Google Shared Drives shared only among a few individuals should be moved to a user's Google My Drive for migration to Microsoft OneDrive.