HSU considers new e-mail options
HSU is exploring opportunities to improve the effectiveness of its University-wide email and scheduling systems to benefit students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Last spring a sub-committee of the Information Technology Council was formed to explore this issue; they conducted a survey (receiving over 600 responses from faculty, staff and students) about campus priorities with regard to email and calendaring systems; and then released a Request For Information (RFI) to approximately a dozen vendors in July.
After comparing the priorities identified in the survey to what the six respondents to the RFI appeared to offer, the subcommittee settled on four vendors as probably providing the closest match to what we want. On-campus presentations by Google, Mirapoint, Microsoft and Zimbra took place in November.
We’ve spent the last few weeks compiling all we’ve learned, talking to other universities both inside and outside the CSU about (a) the future of campus email systems and (b) their experiences with the specific vendors we’re exploring, asking follow-up questions of the vendors, and coming to a tentative recommendation that we think reflects the best of everything we’ve considered. We’d now like to share what we’ve learned, explain our recommendation to the campus, and get your feedback before a final decision is made.
Please join us at one of the following open forums:
Monday, February 4 9:00 – 10:30am
Tuesday, February 5 10:00 – 11:30am
Wednesday, February 6 3:00 – 4:30pm
All sessions will be held in NHE106. Each session will have the same agenda: sharing of information and then opening the floor to discussion.
Our tentative timeline is to gather feedback from the campus community about our various options in early February; make a decision about which direction to go soon thereafter; spend the rest of spring term working out any budget issues, contract issues and an implementation plan; take the summer to bring up a new system; and be prepared for a roll-out of the new system when everyone returns to campus in August 2008.
Please join us in reviewing the information we’ve gathered and the recommendation we’re arriving at; your input is critical to finalizing this important campus decision!
Related Documents
- Summary of process, key issues, and recommendation
- Policy issues
- ATI compliance
- Security issues
- Technical product comparisons
- Cost comparisons (Only available on campus)
- Contract terms
- Demonstrations
