If the Office of Information Technology proceeds with a recommendation submitted by the Student E-mail Task Force this week, students may be bidding farewell to Webmail by the spring 2010 semester.
The taskforce, which is comprised of students, faculty and OIT staff, has suggested the University implement Google Apps Education Edition, which includes Gmail, Google Docs and Google Chat, among other tools. The group examined options for e-mail outsourcing before selecting Google as the best option.
The Google suite is free of charge, and according to the report, could save the University $60,800 per year. Cyrus, the student e-mail program in place, costs about $235,870 per year including mail relays.
According to Stan North Martin, director of outreach, communications and consulting and taskforce member, students on campus clearly leaned toward Google over other options such as Microsoft Live.
In addition to student feedback, the taskforce also looked to institutions across the state and nation for comparison, including Appalachian State and UNC-Chapel Hill.
“Those who have implemented Google Apps that we have talked with have overall been very pleased with the service that Google provides,” North Martin said.
Awaiting a stamp of approval
Now that the taskforce has submitted its final report and recommendation, the next step toward changing student e-mail services lies with Marc Hoit, vice chancellor for information technology.
Hoit said he plans to meet with the taskforce by the end of next week in order to “dig deeper” into what the initiative detailed in the report.
He also wants to communicate with campus figures such as college deans and academic information technology directors to include their feedback in his decision.
But whatever his decision may be, Hoit said he is confident improvements will come from a switch in student e-mail services.
“The solution of outsourcing seems to be good for cost and effectiveness,” he said.
Putting the plan in action
If Hoit gives the taskforce the go-ahead, he said extensive planning will be imperative to ensure a smooth transition.
“Implementation is always a challenge in any it project,” he said. “It comes down to how much planning and communication you do with the affected parties.”
According to North Martin, the taskforce has a tentative plan in place for the implementation of the system.
“During the spring and summer, we’d be working on a lot of the process issues regarding how to roll out this service,” he said. “In the fall [we would conduct a] broader pilot than we did this spring.”
In the December 2009 to January 2010 timeframe, North Martin said OIT would ask for a subset of the student population – likely volunteers — to transition to the new e-mail system.
Under the tentative plan, North Martin said incoming students enrolling at the University for the spring 2010 semester – which would most likely be a small group – would use the new e-mail program. The rest of the student population, he said, would likely make the transition throughout the semester.
North Martin said communication with students and the campus community will be a priority for OIT during the potential e-mail transition.
Training may be necessary, Hoit said, to ensure students are familiar with a new system.
“Some students are used to the Cyrus-Webmail interface. There may be a learning curve and training [programs] we have to develop,” he said.
The results of outsourcing
By moving to Google Apps Education Edition, or a similar program, OIT will lose some amount of administrative control over student e-mail systems.
“That is something the task force members are comfortable with, given the information we know and the conversations we’ve had with other schools,” North Martin said.
And with funds saved by outsourcing, Hoit said there are multiple projects on the horizon that could be completed. Some include a collaborative calendar system for student organizations, technical support for classrooms, campus computer labs and new software, among others.
Hoit said the excess would also soften the blow of OIT budget cuts.