O365... Training Needed?

[Gongalong]

Hi folks,

 

We're possibly switching from an LA (simplified) version of O365 to the full MS version.

 

For those who've done it would training have been useful? There are obviously courses out there, and the one I've looked at is 4 (!) days.

 

I have very little Exchange experience, assuming there are even parallels with it.

 

TIA

[funkyfin2000]

Hi Mate,

 

We did the Novotronix 5 day training for O365 which was really useful to my team (who are supporting our schools in use of Office 365) but it mainly covered off SharePoint and Websites which is our concentration at the moment, not Exchange presently.

 

What's your plan for O365 now? Just email or are you looking at RM Unify etc?

 

Rich

[jamesbmarshall]

Have a look at IT Academy - great training resource.

 

Microsoft IT Academy

[Gongalong]

What's your plan for O365 now? Just email or are you looking at RM Unify etc?

This is with Unify integration, so I'm not sure how much that reduces the complexity e.g. automatic email account provision, albeit I'll still need to create some manual accounts.

[Edu-IT]

This is with Unify integration, so I'm not sure how much that reduces the complexity e.g. automatic email account provision, albeit I'll still need to create some manual accounts.

If you use AD integration it's quite simple. Otherwise you use CSV files.

[Gongalong]

How about the rest of it though, is it something that can be blundered through, or is it best to have training? I was surprised to discover it's a 4 day course, so not sure whether that's just money for old rope, or whether it's genuinely a complex beastie.

[Edu-IT]

How about the rest of it though, is it something that can be blundered through, or is it best to have training? I was surprised to discover it's a 4 day course, so not sure whether that's just money for old rope, or whether it's genuinely a complex beastie.

I blundered through it using information from EduGeek and online and my own perseverance and it's working.

[funkyfin2000]

If using Unify - dead easy and self explanatory! All your accounts will be auto created anyway..... manual accounts you need to be careful with - they will need to be run through Unify because if you created say a manual account for BobtheBuilder - as soon as he goes the Microsoft Portal and puts his email address in, it will fire him to the Unify login page....

 

Are you going to use SharePoint? If so, have you bought Site Creator with it? If so, again you don't really require much SharePoint additional knowledge unless you are going to do some very advanced stuff.

 

Hope that helps - fire away if you need more questions answering.

[Gongalong]

The manual accounts will be for some administrative mailboxes, that are then shared out to various users. Does that mean they need to be created through Unify?

 

Does Unify distinguish between staff and student mailboxes when created? Currently we have staff as initial surname, and students with date of entry to education followed by first name and surname. Hence they are all sorted in an easy to understand way.

 

We'll use Site Creator if we go the Unify route. We're somewhat miffed with RM as they expect us to pay for it while we still have Kaleidos. Seems rather petty.

[funkyfin2000]

My thoughts are yes, they would need creating in AD as a user - that then feeds Unify which then feeds O365. Unless you were going to attach those mail boxes to another user already created.

 

Unify will distiguish users from your AD - it will know which schools are in the Student Group and which ones are in the Teacher Group. Their username in AD you describe will then become their email address@domain

 

Hmmm, yeah, Site Creator is an additional extra which as previously mentioned we are paying extra for as well in our contract with schools but it's a joy to use. Out at a school using it today and it's working very well to build the SP structure. All done and dusted in an hour today and now adding content and customising look and feel.

 

Rich

[jamesbmarshall]

The manual accounts will be for some administrative mailboxes, that are then shared out to various users. Does that mean they need to be created through Unify?

 

Just create Shared Mailboxes in Exchange Online, and give users permission to access those mailboxes.

 

Create and use shared mailboxes - office365 suite - Office.com

[Gongalong]

My thoughts are yes, they would need creating in AD as a user - that then feeds Unify which then feeds O365. Unless you were going to attach those mail boxes to another user already created.

Yep, they will only be viewed by other users, so will never need to login. I'm thinking that creating them in AD might be more of a problem, IYSWIM.

Unify will distiguish users from your AD - it will know which schools are in the Student Group and which ones are in the Teacher Group. Their username in AD you describe will then become their email address@domain

How do they then appear in the GAL, are staff and students kept separate? It could be a showstopper if they aren't.

 

Also, can we add aliases to the email accounts, whether in Unify or Office 365 itself? Our existing email addresses are a different format, so it would be great to add those as aliases. (Sorry, I'm trying to think of every aspect that could go wrong!)

 

Hmmm, yeah, Site Creator is an additional extra which as previously mentioned we are paying extra for as well in our contract with schools but it's a joy to use. Out at a school using it today and it's working very well to build the SP structure. All done and dusted in an hour today and now adding content and customising look and feel.

I saw RM's YouTube video. It looked a bit too simple to me, but we are polling staff on what they want from a VLE, and based on that we'll see if Unify matches.

[Edu-IT]

How do they then appear in the GAL, are staff and students kept separate? It could be a showstopper if they aren't.

 

You'd use Office 365's Address List Policies for this.

 

Also, can we add aliases to the email accounts, whether in Unify or Office 365 itself? Our existing email addresses are a different format, so it would be great to add those as aliases. (Sorry, I'm trying to think of every aspect that could go wrong!)

 

You'd do this within Office 365 itself. You can specify aliases for each Mailbox.

[Edu-IT]

Just create Shared Mailboxes in Exchange Online, and give users permission to access those mailboxes.

 

Create and use shared mailboxes - office365 suite - Office.com

If you're using the RM Unify solution and want all your accounts to show in the Unify management area then you'll need to create distinct mailboxes rather than shared ones through Office 365.

[Fruity]

We took part in the 3 MS 365 courses that were being offered by QA.

 

I found them to be useful and the instructors were very knowledgable.

[funkyfin2000]

Yep, they will only be viewed by other users, so will never need to login. I'm thinking that creating them in AD might be more of a problem, IYSWIM.

 

How do they then appear in the GAL, are staff and students kept separate? It could be a showstopper if they aren't.

 

Also, can we add aliases to the email accounts, whether in Unify or Office 365 itself? Our existing email addresses are a different format, so it would be great to add those as aliases. (Sorry, I'm trying to think of every aspect that could go wrong!)

 

 

I saw RM's YouTube video. It looked a bit too simple to me, but we are polling staff on what they want from a VLE, and based on that we'll see if Unify matches.

 

Others have answered a lot of the questions there, but Staff and Students are in seperate GALS as I understand, like I say though we are yet to really dig in to Exchange with our schools.

 

Aliasing accounts in Office 365 will be the way forward for those email addreses.

 

Site Creator is designed to be just that - simple - get your structure set up in SharePoint and then use it again to add further elements to it for your content. Believe me, after having SP2007 in RM's LP our schools are very pleased with site creator as it makes it so much easier to get to grips with building your online collaborative sites for teachers/students. That said, if you want to use the real nitty gritty of SP, Site Creator still allows you to do this, think of it as a wizard on top that you can choose to use if you wish, or not if you don't.

 

EDIT - Not sure if you meant Unify was too simple or Site Creator - Unify is also simple and very easy to use - it's not a VLE though of course (nor is Office 365 in that way)

 

Hope that helps.

 

Rich

[Gongalong]

Site Creator was rather simplistic vs. Kaleidos. Of course one is not a direct replacement of the other.

[funkyfin2000]

Site Creator was rather simplistic vs. Kaleidos. Of course one is not a direct replacement of the other.

 

Yeah, not really a like for like replacement at all. SC is a wizard to help build elements of Kaleidos to make it far more user friendly that using raw SPoint (if we think of it in old terms!)

[Gongalong]

Yep, I've heard raw Sharepoint is a nightmare, so best avoided...

[jamesbmarshall]

Yep, I've heard raw Sharepoint is a nightmare, so best avoided...

 

How will you know if you avoid it?

 

SharePoint Online in the new Office 365 is actually a breath of fresh air compared with some of the more enterprise-centric themes of previous iterations.

[Gongalong]

OK, that's good to hear. We may have no choice but to use it if we go with Unify, although the Site Creator will take some of the grind out it seems.

 

This is part of why I think we ought to get O365 (and related Sharepoint) training ahead of going forward.

[funkyfin2000]

How will you know if you avoid it?

 

SharePoint Online in the new Office 365 is actually a breath of fresh air compared with some of the more enterprise-centric themes of previous iterations.

 

 

 

Going to say don't avoid it - its a fab tool and it's come on SO much since SharePoint2007 in RM's Kaleidos and SP2010. It's far more user friendly and great for staff/students to get on with now - including things like the web apps and Sky Drive. Trying to create large structures and etc is where it gets more complicated using raw SP and that's where SC comes in handy as it does it all for you.

 

I think what we liked is, RM's LP was obviously hosted by them and cut down to make it as easy as possible to use, Office 365 is more user friendly anyway to start with and at the same time, if we want to use the more complex areas of it then it's there if we need.

 

Rich

[funkyfin2000]

OK, that's good to hear. We may have no choice but to use it if we go with Unify, although the Site Creator will take some of the grind out it seems.

 

This is part of why I think we ought to get O365 (and related Sharepoint) training ahead of going forward.

 

TBH Mark, I would say more indepth O365 training for yourself would probably be beneficial if the school does decide to go whole hog O365 as it gives you that depth of knowledge if you need it (depending on how well you retain it of course )

 

SC will take A LOT of grind out of it!

[Gongalong]

I won't be the Content Manager, but I will have to administer the whole O365 side. One of the training companies we've contacted seems to break their O365 course out into 3 modules (at least email and Sharepoint) so we'll see how that goes. I don't know if RM offer any training (?).

[funkyfin2000]

Exactly - from a management perspective I think some admin training is probably worth it. @Novatronix did ours in Summer. 1 day Admin training, 3 days SharePoint and 1 day Public Spaces.

 

Not sure about RM - they certainly didn't in the summer when we asked - in fact took training from @Novatronix the same as us as I understand