OPENHive & Office 365

[Chuckster]

As OPENHive users will know already their e-mails are hosted on the Office 365 platform, but is accessed through OPENHive as a gateway portal.

 

Can anyone tell me how I can transfer the school's e-mails to Office 365 completely without ever going through the nonsense that is OPENHive?

 

Someone told me as a school need to take the tenancy agreement. However, I cannot find this info anywhere online - both on Microsoft's website and on OPENHive.

 

If anyone has done this please let me know.

[Edu-IT]

That's correct, it starts here. https://products.office.com/en-ie/academic/office-365-education-plan

 

HOWEVER your domain won't be able to exist on two tenants on Office 365. So, you've either got to plan to use a completely different domain or have Capita release everything.

[Chuckster]

@Edu-IT, since we're already on Office 365, would I need to apply for setting up a new account?

 

RE domain, would that not be a case of notifying the LA to alter their MX record in DNS to point to Microsoft from Capita?

 

Also, assuming you are/were using OPENHive, to whom do I write to to get complete control over our e-mail system?

 

Sorry for asking so many questions. We're having too many issues with OPENHive and, more often than not, our requests to Capita tend to go unanswered.

[cheesypete]

Did you get anywhere with this Chuckster?

 

Literally just come out of a meeting where we raised the question of whether we are still paying for OPENHIVElive now that its O365 based. The latest Capita invoice doesnt give a breakdown of costs so need to chase that, but if (when!) we move away from Openhive it would be great to retain the accounts and have ability administer them

[Chuckster]

We didn't get anywhere with this. It is something I still want to do but haven't had the time to do so. We have just paid for another year's subscription, so that gives me up until at least summer to figure something out.

[rypowell]

Hi All,

 

When OpenHive made the announcement last year about their restructuring we made the decision to ditch them and 'go it alone'. I could say we've never been happier. Our email, spam filtering and sharepoint costs are now £0 and reliability is extremely high.

 

My only suggestion to migrate would be to register a new tenancy (as a new domain name) with O365 and set this up - you can use ADFS if you want true single sign on with AD. Dir Sync (which is called something like Azure Sync now) replaces OpenHive Bridge and is free (you can Salamander as described elsewhere in the forums if you need syncing of class lists to email groups etc).

 

Once you have O365 set up and working you can then request Capita release your domain from their tenancy and you can then import this into your own one. Emails can be received on multiple domains. Our biggest problem in migration was moving mailboxes from Capita OH into O365. However you may find that simpler now that your emails are already on O365.

 

I hope the above helps / makes sense. We're based in Nottingham if you'd like to come and see how we have things configured or need a look at Office 365 away from the Capita system of working. Feel free to PM for more info.

 

Ryan

[Chuckster]

Just an update regarding this, I have e-mailed Capita and signed the document to request they transfer the tenancy agreement back over to the school. Their turnaround time is 30 days, but I have heard on the grapevine this could really mean 60 days. Either way we won't be having to pay them any monies come April.

[Chuckster]

My only suggestion to migrate would be to register a new tenancy (as a new domain name) with O365 and set this up - you can use ADFS if you want true single sign on with AD. Dir Sync (which is called something like Azure Sync now) replaces OpenHive Bridge and is free (you can Salamander as described elsewhere in the forums if you need syncing of class lists to email groups etc).

@rypowell, re domain, do I need to alter the MX record to point to Microsoft, and if so, do you know specifically what this is? Currently this is pointed at Capita.

[rypowell]

@rypowell, re domain, do I need to alter the MX record to point to Microsoft, and if so, do you know specifically what this is? Currently this is pointed at Capita.

 

Hi @Chuckster sorry for long reply - Microsoft provide good instructions for adding MX record information to your public DNS when you add the domain into O365. There's about 4 records you'll need to add (if you also want Skype for Business to work).

 

If you need better instructions feel free to PM me.