New email and calendaring system for faculty and staff next year
Say goodbye to UnivMail and Oracle Calendar. Say hello to Exchange.
Over the next year McMaster will replace the UnivMail email and Oracle calendar systems used by many faculty and staff members. Planning for the new system is underway and the switch is expected to be completed by the spring of 2015.
The new system will be called “MacMail” and will use Microsoft Exchange Server, a calendaring, e-mail and contact management server. It will be compatible with many common email clients, but will offer additional functionality to those who access it through Microsoft Outlook or via a web-based interface.
The project is the result of collaboration between University Technology Services (UTS) and Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) Computer Services Unit (CSU), which already uses Exchange to provide email and calendaring services to FHS. CSU’s experience operating Exchange at McMaster will make this transition easier.
The new system will bring a number of benefits
- Unified email and calendaring on a single platform
- Better support for common mobile devices
- A consistent calendaring system for the majority of McMaster staff and faculty will make it easier to coordinate meetings
- Greater compatibility with calendaring systems outside of McMaster
- Combining University email services is more efficient and makes support easier
“This project marks a major step towards the Unified Communications and Collaboration Strategy identified in Vision 2020,” said John Kearney, the University’s Chief Information Officer. “This partnership between UTS and CSU reduces the number of duplicate services and the competition that often exists between departments by providing an enhanced model for service delivery and support that directly benefits faculty and staff across the institution.
“This is a great collaboration between different McMaster groups to leverage existing expertise to provide an improved, cost effective and robust service,” said Rocco Piro, Director of CSU.
More details will be provided in the fall of 2014. Questions and requests for additional information should be directed to: ExchangeProject@mcmaster.ca
WARNING
McMaster employees often receive malicious “phishing” email messages purporting to be from “IT” and suggesting that, due to an email upgrade, the recipient needs to follow a link and submit their personal information. These are fake messages. Please look to the McMaster Daily News for future information about the real McMaster email system change.
