Google Docs and Office 365 trainers required

[ass17]

Hi,

 

Our SMT would like some qualified enough to deliver a presentation on google docs and office 365.

 

If anyone can share some contacts of people best suited that would be great.

 

Thanks

[Michael]

I'm not sure about anyone who's qualified as a trainer, but you may be just as well to approach a neighbouring school who are using one of the above for feedback.

 

I'd say it's mixed on this forum - some Office 365 and some Google with no clear winner.

[ass17]

Has anyone got a good comparison guide or conclusions on choosing one or the other?

[JSchlackman]

We have both so I have a fair bit of experience comparing the two.

 

It depends a lot on what features are your priorities, who will be using it, and what type of school you are. For example:

 

• Our staff prefer Exchange to Gmail (and I wholeheartedly agree). That may differ depending on your staff.
  
• If you want pupil email and you need to be able to have a list of words to monitor for (e.g. swearing, bullying terms), that is much easier to do in Google Apps than in Office 365.
  
• If you are planning to use ADFS, however, it's easier to log into a pupil email box with Office 365 than with Google Apps because the security delegation is easier to set up and use.
  
• If you aren't using ADFS, then the tools for synchronising usernames and passwords are better for Office 365 than for Google Apps. (Google Apps Password Sync does not support domains that have even a single DC running as a Server Core install, for example).
  
• For document collaboration, the Office Web Apps are superior to Google Docs, in my opinion. You also get to use the normal Office desktop apps and still have multiple people working on 1 document simultaneously. That said, for web document collaboration, Google Apps seemed a bit more responsive to updates from large numbers of people when we tried it.
  

 

What I'm getting at is there is no simple answer. Are you looking for a trainer as per your subject, or someone to come and talk through the options with SMT? What area are you in?

[ass17]

Hi, thanks for the info. We are an independent school which has introduced firefly VLE and we are looking to do everything in the cloud to offload the onsite services.

 

We currently use mdaemon for our mail server and I would been looking to move our mail domain to either gmail or outlook. I assume I can only use one with the existing domain because we can only point the DNS to one ip. We also use shared calendars and folders.

 

The draw back of office 365 is the fact that you cannot create a spreadsheet or presentation via web apps. You have to upload the file first before you can open it. Where as google docs will allow creation. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Ideally we need someone to talk about the pros cons.

We are based in the stoke-on-Trent area.

 

Not to mention the whole backup issues, to backup google apps over the cloud for 1000 users costs around 25,000 a year!!

 

We don't want to backup on site due to bandwidth on the network and the need for lots disk storage.

 

I really comes down to being able to use tablets and associated apps.

 

So far we have used the google apps sync tool to recreate our AD structure, users and groups. But like you say, passwords are not transferable. Seems easy to manage once up.

 

In a nut shell from the student/teaching side.

 

VLE is the core, it does allow google apps and office 365 file integration. So the choice is down to features either provide a and ease of use.

 

Then with regards mail, I'm not sure if there is a real benefit to moving on the cloud because of the costs involved to backup.

 

The SMT would like to collaborate but currently think google docs feature set is poor, when working on iPads.

 

If you can through anything else into the equation then please do.

 

Thanks

[CyberNerd]

Google quoted me $10 per member of staff per year to back up our gmail domain (students are free) using Google vault.

 

Google is currently stronger on collaborative features.

Google has a mass of applications such as Google+, Picasa, groups built in as well as an open api so there are a lot of 3rd party apps integrated. The forum/email options are also strong (no more mailing all teachers!).

Ultimately MS really wants you to still buy office (ideally for your students too), so editing word documents collaboratively is out unless you buy the higher grade packages.

[JSchlackman]

Stoke is a bit far for me to pop in or I would offer.

 

We currently use mdaemon for our mail server and I would been looking to move our mail domain to either gmail or outlook. I assume I can only use one with the existing domain because we can only point the DNS to one ip. We also use shared calendars and folders.

 

It is possible to have split delivery. We currently have Gmail via Google Apps for our pupils and on-premises Exchange for our staff, all though the same domain. It's not as tidy as I would like it but it is technically possible.

 

The draw back of office 365 is the fact that you cannot create a spreadsheet or presentation via web apps. You have to upload the file first before you can open it. Where as google docs will allow creation. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

It's true that the Word Web App has no File > New menu, but when you are in a SharePoint/SkyDrive Pro folder in the browser there is a very prominent New Document link that produces this menu:

 

 

So basically you create the document in the folder and then open it, no upload required.

 

Ultimately when it comes to functionality, both of these have free plans. You've already got Google set up to see what it can do. There is nothing stopping you from setting up Office 365 as well and putting it through it's paces on the A2 plan. @CyberNerd is right that Google Apps gives you a sign-in to the whole suite of Google applications, but what we've found is that, frankly, no-one cares to use them. If you have forward thinking staff, or drive from the top, Google has a wider feature set, but if your needs are quite focused then it may not matter.

[ass17]

Thanks for more info, also have domain on office 365, free one of course. I logged into the sky drive pro app on ipad but it doesn't connect to bring down random files/folders. Login is fine, strange!

 

 

I don't have access to a page like you do on an ipad, on the blue nav bar I can tap on skyydrive or my site but both take me to my share point site.

 

We have the A2 licencing.

[ass17]

Just out of interest his did you achieve split delivery?

[CyberNerd]

Just out of interest his did you achieve split delivery?

 

Configure split delivery - Google Apps Help

[funkyfin2000]

Hi @ass17,

 

We are based in Staffs - we are a support unit that currently supports Office 365 and can certainly come and talk to you about the benefits. We link Office 365 to RM Unify and utilise all the provisioning tools through this.

 

In terms of Google apps - our experience is slightly limited as we are pushing forward with 170 schools to O365 but if you want to have a chat or for us to come and see you in the first instance, being close by might make it worth looking at.

 

Let me know.

 

Rich

Edited September 30, 2013 by funkyfin2000
my poor grammar!!

[ass17]

Thanks Rich,

 

Can you email me your details across. Please PM me for my email address

 

Thanks

[funkyfin2000]

Done for you mate. Look forward to hearing from you.

 

Rich

[tj2419]

Thanks for more info, also have domain on office 365, free one of course. I logged into the sky drive pro app on ipad but it doesn't connect to bring down random files/folders. Login is fine, strange!

 

 

I don't have access to a page like you do on an ipad, on the blue nav bar I can tap on skyydrive or my site but both take me to my share point site.

 

We have the A2 licencing.

 

For the new Skydrive pro firs to all you have to be on the upgraded office 365, which I'm guessing you are as you have the blue bar but you also have to manually update your share point site in the share point settings to get the new create document stuff.

 

Have a look here

 

http://community.office365.com/en-us/forums/685/p/192109/569125.aspx#569125

[funkyfin2000]

Just found this for the Office 365 / Google Apps arguments - yes it's pro MS but interesting none the less:

 

A Day in the Life: Sales

 

Rich

[funkyfin2000]

and this link too although slightly business related: 10 comparisons between Google Apps and Office 365 - TechRepublic

[bede]

Just a note to say that Google Apps Password sync (GAPS) allows AD-Google password synchronisation. (as opposed to GADS for directory sync - which you have already)

[jamesbmarshall]

Just found this for the Office 365 / Google Apps arguments - yes it's pro MS but interesting none the less:

 

A Day in the Life: Sales

 

 

Perhaps more relevant to this audience:

 

A Day in the Life: Student

 

A Day in the Life: Teacher