This summer we are switching our email and calendaring system. We currently use Communigate Pro* (See note below) for email and a homemade version of Apple’s iCal for calendars. Both are outdated in their feature sets, difficult to support, and increasingly unreliable.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION for all CCSD62 staff that have name@d62.org accounts:
- Our old email & calendar servers will be taken offline in mid July (exact date forthcoming)
- If you need to keep d62.org email you must save it yourself
- The new Exchange server will already be online when the old one goes down, providing for a seamless transition
- Email addresses will remain the same, supported programs and webmail will change
- Entourage will be our primary & supported email & calendar program
- The webmail address will be simpler to remember
On the heels of licensing Microsoft Office for district and staff home use, we are going to adopt Microsoft Exchange as our new email & calendar server solution. Our license agreement with Microsoft Office makes this a very affordable option. Entourage, a program bundled with Office for Mac, supports the Exchange email & calendar solutions. Entourage will be our primary application solution for email & calendars. Those of you crafty enough to know how to set up a mail program will have no problem setting up Mail if you prefer, but the Tech Department will primarily support Entourage.
For those of you that use our webmail, I think you are in for a pleasant surprise.
Take a look at the above screenshot & notice how Exchange’s web access keeps everything ordered just like your desktop. Email on the web will reflect email on your desktop, even if you use multiple mailbox rules. What’s more, all your calendars & email address are right there too. The combination of the desktop & web-based solution should help keep us better connected.
There will be training at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year for the new email & calendar system.
* Communigate Pro and Exchange are both email servers. Mail and Entourage are email clients or programs. You use Mail or Entourage (programs) to connect to Communigate Pro or Entourage (servers).
I’m so excited that we’re moving to a more current, reliable system.
How will we be informing everyone about the issue of saving their own d62.org emails? Will this have to happen before July?
Thanks Cathy-
Email will have to be saved before July. I’m working with the Tech Department on the easiest way for individuals to do this. I will post those soon.
The district webmaster is going to forward this post to the district staff.
S
Thanks for giving us a mail program that’s going to combine other functions we work with daily. As a traveling teacher with a laptop, are you going to want all of these back for the summer to update, or is this something we can do on our own. Thanks again,
Steph
Stephanie
Tech would like all staff with laptops assigned to them to check in with their lmc specialist. We will give them instructions on how we will update your laptops for the new year.
MK