Communications for companies and people at home and across the world have improved because of email.  It is in no way streamlined since there are numerous software packages, and service providers in existance.  Company and educational institutions sometimes transition into new systems in hopes of streamlining and simplifing usage.  George Mason University is a example of a large group which was on multiple platforms, and their plan for moving to one universal email package.

George Mason University had numerous offerings for its different audiences.  To the students they offered access to a VAX systems, as well as UNIX systems.  On both of these platforms there were email applications such as:  mail, elm, and pine.  For faculty and staff they had othering offerings such as NOVELL groupwise, Microsoft exchange accounts for departments with Microsoft NT servers, and desktop software applications like Eudora for individuals who installed that software application.  These were not the only email applications in use as individuals would have other software preferences (eg. hotmail, yahoo, etc.).

The use of multiple email clients creates concern in terms to the accessibility, storage, translations/protocols, and the quality of support.  The support staff, field technitions, server administrators, and email administrators were having a very difficult time.  There was the dispersement of budgetary funds for maintainence, upgrades, and licensing.  In addition was the time and communication which had occur to troubleshoot where the problems where with users, and between systems.  Mulitple groups provided training on the different email systems, but students and faculty alike were having to learn multiple applications and had to have accounts on various systems.

The University created a task force which would assess the needs of the university, and test out numerous email packages.  After looking at the needs of the academic environment, five package were chosen for testing.  Volunteers and people on the task force would play with Groupwise, Exchange, Pine, Netscape, and a fifth package.  They would narrow down the choices based on user friendliness, and what the software "bells and whistles" were.  The next step would be to look at the hardware requirements and cost, and licensing.  This would be done by the department who would be purchasing the equipment and software, and supporting it.

The decision was made in favor of Netscape.  One of the reason was the ability to offer a web version, which means a website which would allow people to access their email from any system connected to the world wide web.  This would be the main form of access which students would be encouraged to use.  In addition Netscape messanger can also be setup to connect to the mail server, and copy down the account information and mail.  This option would be encouraged amoung the faculty and staff who have desktop systems assigned to them.  Another selling point on the Netscape package was the fact that they offered a Calendar option.  The calendar they offer can be made available to all other persons on the system, and allow them to view another persons itinerary and schedule meetings with them.  It would simplify the scheduling of meetings, or sharing of information.

With the decision on the package made, UCIS would then work with Netscape representatives on purchasing equipment and getting installed.  As George Mason University (GMU) was not the only University transitioning in the area, networking between GMU, Georgetown, and Marymount began taking place.  They worked separately and together with Netscape to troubleshoot problems, and assess the actual web package which was provided.  They would discover the shortcomings and develop methods of overcoming them, and share the information.  New needs assessments would be made, and those would be directed to Netscape.

As Georgetown went first into the transition they were able to provide steps and guidance to the GMU.  They would also give them feedback on the student populations responses.  GMU was able to then alter their plan, and make changes before the actual implementation.  They would also be able to prepare for complaints from students on the web package, such as, the inability to create groups in the addressbook.  Limitations like this and the fact that the web version does not provide the News feature which students could setup in the old PINE package, would mean having to offer alternative means.

A new MEMO (Mason Messanging Enterprise Online) Task Force would meet to discuss testing, concerns, rollout, and timelines.  This would go on while the technitions would be setting up the system, and creating preliminary accounts for volunteer testers.  Documentation was written and rewritten, as well as announcements to the community that this new system was coming.  Meetings were held with technical coordinators from each department.  In these meetings the schedules for departmental rollovers were discussed.  They would setup a one year calendar with the listing of Support services, Administrative services, and the individuals colleges/school.  The coordinators would be given training and information on what changes faculty and staff members would have to make to their accounts.  The steps for migration had been outlined, and as problems arose documentation would be rewritten to include information about those.  Faculty and staff on groupwise would have steps outlined on the changes they needed to make to their folders of stored mail before they would be migrated.  They had to clean up the information stored, and then setup their folders of mail prior to migration o that the information would not be lost in the transfer to the new system.  The complication with groupwise arose with those people who used the calendar software.  There was difficulty experienced in having this be migrated over without lose of information, or incorrect formating.

The UCIS LRO would also be developing trainings programs to outline both the web access, and the Netscape messanger (using IMAP) choice provided to Faculty and staff.   The preliminary training sessions would be offered to those people who helped with the initial testing of the software package, and technical coordinators.  This would give them the feedback they needed from people who already had experienced the system and encountered problems.  They then redeveloped and began to offer the training to the general faculty and staff which had been migrated.

Faculty are given the choice of using the web access to the new MEMO system, just as students, but they also have the option of using Netscape messenger on their office desktop system.  The messanger client is setup as with IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol), which means that the desktop makes copies of all the email in their account on the server.  The original messages still on the server, therefore can be accessed later through the web in case a person is away from their computer and needs to refer back to a message they received.  Students are not advised to use the Netscape Messanger Client because this would leave copies of their personal email on any desktop system which they setup to download their email.  It potentially would give other people access to their account.  Students are encouraged to use the messanger client on their dorm room system, or personal home computer.  The advantages of using the client are all the additional features the client has, including full access to the GMU directory.  This feature allows people to look up the email address of a GMU person, or to look up the name of an GMU address.  The client addressbook doe allow for group addressbook settings, which the client does not.

It is important for the user to understand that if they are going use to Messanger client that they use IMAP and not POP.  The reason IMAP is encouraged is for a number of reasons.  IMAP allows you to access a number of servers, so if you have an account on MEMO, as well as one on hotmail you can copy down and access both of those accounts.  It is a more secure option because it uses real authentication.  The other nice feature is that whether you are online or offline you can still do work on the account.  Even though POP does work, it downloads the email in an unsecure fashion, and does not leave it on the server.  Everything is now only accessible on the local system.

The transition has begun for faculty and staff, only new students have been placed on the new MEMO system at GMU.  The rest of the student population will be migrated over once the faculty, staff, and administration has been moved over.  They are schedule to begin in the fall of 2001.  Students will be given the ability to migrate themselves over to the new system prior to their scheduled date.  This means that their account will be created, but moving their PINE email and folder to MEMO can be done with the instruction provided on the web (http://mason.gmu.edu/migrate/netmain.html).  The instruction walk you through set by step.  The UCIS Support Center has staff which can also help walk students through from home, and troubleshoot problem which they may encounter.  If students don't migrate themselves, they eventually are migrated by the email system administrators.

The complete migration of the full university will take close to two years.  Solutions have been found to existing problems, but new problems will be discovered as the transition continues.  Some of them will be solved when an upgrade is done to the current web client in teh future.  Training will help resolve a lot of the questions, as well as the continually updated documentation.  Just as the transition will take a long time, so will the adjustment to the students, faculty, staff, and administration to the new offerings, and limitations of the new email package.  The problems of multiple software applications and email servers to support has been cut down.  The unfriendly email package PINE has been replaced with a GUI (Graphica User Interface) package which cuts down on the time students take to learn the software.  Finally everyone will be on the same page, and there shouldn't be any more confusion about learning different email packages, or how to FTP an attachment, or why the email looks so different from one system to another.  The University will be standardized.