Deliberation, decision and deployment

1. Deliberation, decision and deployment Michael Pickett Vice President and CIO Brown University

2. - Agenda • Why did we consider a cloud-based option? • What factors did we consider? • How did we make a decision for a) students, b) faculty/staff? • What difficulties/surprises did we encounter? • Experiences with Google Apps for Education (GAE) thus far and lessons learned

3. Why Change? • Exchange 2003 system out of support • Inadequate quotas (email 200 mb, attachments 10 mb) • Data center limitations made BC/DR critical • Significant improvements identified as strategic plan priority for Fall Term 2010

4. - Requirements • Significant email and attachment quota (> 2gb and > 10mb) • Affordable – staff layoffs and budget cuts a reality • Standards-based, integrated tools - preserve flexibility for faculty use, include full business functionality for staff, respond quickly to technology change - integrated email and calendar a key requirement • Reasonable risks – Privacy, confidentiality, data ownership, compliance, cost exposure, service continuity, service lifespan, BC/DR capabilities key factors • Ease of use – speed to functional use time important, low annoyance factor important • Preserve naming conventions – no one’s email address should have to change

5. Student Options • Students had to be upgraded first and quickly because of BC/DR costs • 2008-2009 Email assessment team led by John Spadaro (Director, Technical Architecture /Outreach) identified 3 viable student options: • Microsoft BPOS • Microsoft Live • GoogleApps for Education

6. Student System Decision • Microsoft & GoogleApps options piloted in 2009 • Campus technology advisory committee involved – faculty consulted • General Counsel and Chief Security Officer reviewed risks & approved contract • Students expressed preference for GoogleApps for Education (60% already forwarded to Gmail) • Rollout – September 2009

7. Faculty Staff Options • Upgrade dedicated Exchange service & add BC/DR (onsite & hosted options considered) • Convert to Microsoft hosted Exchange service (Live@edu or BPOS) • Migrate to GoogleApps for Education

8. Faculty, Staff, Decision 2009-2010 • Vendor meetings/evals • TCO financial analysis • Input sought from Brown stakeholders, peers, businesses • Email assessment paper with options and GoogleApps recommendation

9. Key Factors for GAE • Significant quota allocations: 7.4GB/user for email, 25MB attachments, 1GB for Docs, Sites • New features and improvements added nearly daily • Brown undergrads GoogleApps experience was positive. More collaboration opportunities w/faculty • Cost avoidance - significant new funds required for any other viable option • Standards-based, integrated tools (Gmail, Docs, Calendar, Sites (web), Chat, and more) – ability to read email from anywhere using almost any email reader or mobile device • Reasonable risks – Reviewed by University Counsel and Chief Security Officer. Same protection as Google Apps for Business. Optional tools available for e-discover and end-to-end encryption (Postini) • GoogleApps used by over 8 million faculty, staff and students worldwide - over 2M businesses including Intel, Motorola Mobile, Konica Minolta, National Geographic and Jaguar Land Rover entrust their business to GoogleApps.

10. Seeking Input and Deciding • Academic Technology Steering Committee • IT Advisory Board (3 discussions) • IT Project Review Committee • Graduate Student Council • Academic dept stakeholders • Faculty Executive Committee • Sr. Deans • External IT Advisory Council • President’s Cabinet • University Hall admin assistants • Academic Department Chairs – DECISION MADE • Based on Chairs feedback, sent out pre-announcement of intent to Brown • Held open campus forums and demonstrations to identify issues/showstoppers • Roadshows to departments and groups seeking input

11. Success Factors and Lessons Learned • Strong senior executive sponsorship - President, Provost and EVP firmly behind initiative • Strong, professional project leadership (Geoff Greene, Director of IT Support Services) • Skilled rollout team of central IT staff, departmental staff • Google Guides – students and dept staff experts • Engaged Appirio - had significant experience in GoogleApps migrations in higher ed environments • Promoted full range of GAE features and function to realize maximum benefits of the change • Allowed departments and users not currently intensively using Exchange calendaring to be early adopters . “Just get out of the way (but don’t let anything break).” • Built a high level of campus awareness, repeatedly trained in a variety of venues, provided online resources, tracked progress on migration website. • Responded quickly to misinformation with facts and adjust FAQ documents accordingly • Identified real issues and enlisted help to solve • Watch out for calendaring on non-standards based mobile devices! – be prepared to replace and retrain • Key users: admin assistants – don’t allow them to fail • Timing is important and will impact whether a flash cutover or a phased rollout works best – intensive calendar use creates biggest constraints • Set realistic expectations • It is ok if it is fun!

12. Status • Governance groups established • All departments moved in June/July 2010 • ~ 11,370 out of 13,900 accounts moved so far • Exchange server to be moved offline in mid-September

13. Sticky Points • Differences in UI and workflow • Calendaring on Blackberries • Policy – required opt-in and click thru on AUP • Persistent FUD about ads, privacy, data ownership and security • Google and China (and others) • MX record and elimination of Proofpoint virus/spam • Consolidation of all Brown addresses into Google contact list • Translating group mailbox approaches into Google tools • Google Groups administration, • Google Sites • Many, many new features + labs

14. Warm Fuzzies • Many, many new features + Labs • Access from any browser almost anywhere in the world – No VPN required • Freeing up resources for new use • Powerful collaboration tools gaining traction • Google’s informal mission statement – “Don’t be evil” • Responsiveness of Google (delegation, FERPA support)

15. Q&A?