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1. When will I move to Office 365?

The IT department has already started moving some users to the Office 365 cloud service. Departments will be moved as a group. All users will be moved between April and July 2013. You will be notified of your specific department or group move date in advance of the move.

2. Do I need to do anything to prepare for the move?

Please read all the FAQs prior to the move and bookmark the Intranet Office 365 transition page so it is handy if you have questions. You will be asked to test your e-mail service after the move to ensure all your mail and other items converted to the cloud appropriately. The FAQs link is: http://cityweb/it/office365/default.aspx

3. What happens if I have a problem after the move of my mailbox?

Contact ithelp@hampton.gov or call 311 if you have problems after the move. In many cases we will have IT staff on your site check on each user's move success. In all cases, our staff will have the schedule of moves to Office 365 and will make problems with moves a high priority to be resolved very quickly. The IT department did an extensive pilot so we believe we know what to expect during the move.

You can access your email, calendar, and contacts by signing into Outlook Web Access (OWA.) The link is http://outlook.com/owa/hampton.gov. A link to OWA is also available from the FAQ page on our intranet http://cityweb/it/office365/default.aspx.

4. After my transition to Office 365 I am not seeing calendar detail entries for others outside of my department.

This is normal during the transition period. Users that have not migrated to the cloud are still on the City’s old mail server and their detailed calendar entries may not be visible to users on Office 365. You should be able to see if the person is free or busy, but not the details. As more users move to the cloud you will be able to see more user calendar entry details. Once everyone moves to the Office 365 cloud the calendar detail issue will be resolved.

5. I am a public safety user on the police domain. Will I transition to the Office 365 cloud?

Yes. Most public safety users will move to the Office 365 cloud service. Your transition process will follow the same pattern as all other City users. However, there are a few users in Public Safety that cannot move to the cloud due to FBI and State Police network restrictions. If you are one of these special users you will not migrate to Office 365. You will remain on the City’s e-mail system indefinitely and the IT department will continue to support e-mail for these users as we do today.

6. What about my mobile device? Will everything stay the same when I transition? Will I need to do anything special with my mobile device?

Most of the same functionality will be available on the Office 365 cloud service as you have today on your city or personal mobile device. One exception is that Blackberry devices will no longer have connectivity to the City’s Intranet. All other features and functions will remain available.

There are some things you may need to do to transition your mobile device to the cloud:

• Blackberry users may need to have their device wiped (cleared).
  
• Blackberry users who have stored pictures and files on their devices should remove the SIM card and reinsert it after the device has been returned to service.
  
• Other users with City devices should automatically sync with the new services with no user intervention.
  

Users needing to configure their devices to sync with the new Office 365 services should try the following:

Mobile Device Configuration

• Server: outlook.office365.com (PRIMARY) or m.outlook.com (ALTERNATE)
  
• Domain: not needed (if city is populated, no need to remove)
  
• User: username@hampton.gov
  
• If prompted for an entry in the “domain\username” format, enter your full email address...
  

iPad screen capture:

Users with personal devices that need additional support can go here: Link for outlook help

7. We use personal shared folders in out department. Will there be any changes to this functionality?

Yes. Some departments using personal shared folders will not have the same functionality. Unfortunately, newer versions of Exchange both in the cloud and on the City’s premise do not support this functionality. We will be working with each department that uses this functionality to find alternative solutions.

8. Will there be any impact on our distribution lists?

Distribution lists will remain the same. However, we encourage departments to clean up their current distribution lists by notifying IT of addresses that should be removed and also by notifying IT of outdated lists that should be eliminated.

Some current distribution lists include both external and internal e-mail users. Wherever possible, these distribution lists should be locked down to only City employees to reduce the risk of spam and the possibility of misinformation going outside our network. We encourage departments to review their distribution lists closely and to identify all that can be locked down to City employees only.

Users should also select the distribution list from the Address Book. There will be some title changes to distribution lists as we migrate to Office 365. Currently, some distribution lists use Hampton.com in their address. These will be changed to Hampton.gov. Selecting the distribution list from the address book versus typing it in will ensure you select the correct name.

9. Will there be changes to the Address Book?

The City’s Address Book will remain essentially the same with the ability to look up City employee e-mails. However, the City will be making changes to the school employees within the City address book. The school employee list will only have the most frequently used e-mail addresses in order to make searching and choosing more efficient. If you need to have ready access to school employee e-mails you can add them to your personal contacts list or contact IT and let us know who needs to be added.