BCS/CVS migration to Office365
What exactly is Office365?
Office365 (or O365) is a cloud-based e-mail and collaboration service provided by Microsoft. Aside from e-mail, they offer things like calendaring, an online version of Microsoft Office, and contact management. It is important to note that some features are not available to UR users of O365, and others are only available via the service's web interface or a Microsoft mail client (ie: Outlook). Please see the information page provided by University IT for more details: http://tech.rochester.edu/services/office-365/
What determines my e-mail address?
The quick answer is your River Campus Active Directory account, often referred to as your "UR AD account".
All employees of UR have a couple different sets of credentials used for logging into various systems here at the University. We all know about our NetID accounts and what they're used for. You also have at least one Active Directory (AD) account...these credentials are used for logging into things like the wifi networks and other server-related resources.
Unlike our NetIDs, AD accounts are specific to physical locations. There are separate AD systems in place for the Medical Center and for River Campus...you log into Med Center resources using URMC credentials, and River Campus resources using RC credentials. There are exceptions to these general rules, but the important thing is that RC (UR) AD credentials are required for using Office365.
Although not required, it is often the case that your NetID and your AD credentials are synchronized, meaning you use the same username and password for both. That's why people may not realize they have both a NetID and an AD account.
The University has a website that will show you all of the various accounts you have, as well as allow you to change your password (changing your password results in ALL of your accounts having the same password, which is a good thing). That website is:
https://myidentity.rochester.edu
Does O365 have an antispam/antivirus system?
Yes. E-mail sent to/from your O365 account will be filtered by the University's ProofPoint antispam/antivirus appliance. More information about ProofPoint can be found here: http://tech.rochester.edu/services/spam-management/
Is there a webmail interface for O365?
Yes...it's located at http://owa.ur.rochester.edu/
How do I access my Office365 account?
You can either use the OWA webmail interface mentioned above, or you can configure a local mail client on your computer/device to access it. Instructions for configuring such a client can be found below.
Instructions for adding an O365 account to Thunderbird/iPhone/K-9Mail using the IMAP protocol are here: O365Imap
Instructions for adding an O365 account to Thunderbird using the POP protocol are here: O365Pop
If you do not know which protocol (IMAP or POP) is best for you, please read this primer: ImapOrPop
Are there any other things I need to look out for once I'm using O365?
Yes. Microsoft added a new "feature" to O365 called "Clutter", which has been causing a lot of problems and confusion. It's an automated feature that manipulates your incoming e-mail based on what you've done with similar e-mail in the past. This means that if Clutter is active in your account, it may move incoming e-mail to the Trash or to other folders automatically, possibly making it seem as if you never received the e-mail. Microsoft implemented this as an "opt-out" feature, meaning it is enabled by default. I would suggest you turn this off. Instructions for doing so are here: O365KillClutter
Is there any O365 documentation provided by University IT?
Yes...they have more detailed info about O365 and its various features here: http://tech.rochester.edu/services/office-365/
Who do I contact if I have problems with my O365 account?
First check my troubleshooting wiki to see if your answer is there: O365Troubleshooting
Your primary point of contact for O365 issues is the University IT Help Desk. I (Chris) have no access to O365 admin functions, so my ability to troubleshoot issues is severely curtailed.
Routine issues (setting up a mail client, changes to our mailing lists, etc.) should still be brought to me (Chris).
Problems with the mail system itself (such as missing e-mail, delivery questions, spam filtering problems, etc.) should go directly to the UnivIT Help Desk.