- April 27, 2012
- 1:15 pm
- Steve Christensen
Microsoft migration project to continue this summer
The Microsoft Migration Project, a University-wide software upgrade bringing Windows 7 and Microsoft Office 2010 to all computers on campus, will continue through the summer as remaining departments are moved to the new program versions.
Close to 1,000 lab and classroom machines were upgraded last summer for the start of the 2011–2012 school year. Since that time, the focus has been on migrating faculty and staff computers, with nearly half of the 2,500 administrative and academic machines complete. The project team will continue to schedule upgrades throughout the summer until all departments are migrated, according to Susan Malisch, vice president and CIO of Information Technology Services.
“The project is going well so far, and we’re encouraged by the positive feedback about the new tools available in both Windows and Office,” Malisch says.
The software upgrades bring the University to more current releases and features, and are part of a larger initiative that will also include an assessment of Loyola’s e-mail system. A 30-person committee, comprised of a diverse group of faculty, staff, and students from throughout the University and Health Sciences Campus, has begun identifying the major requirements to be considered as part of the e-mail review. A recommendation on e-mail is expected early this summer to the IT Executive Steering Committee.
“The landscape for e-mail has changed significantly, and while GroupWise remains a stable and solid product we want to assess how we can best position Loyola to take advantage of new collaboration tools and unified communications in the future,” says Malisch. The platform ultimately chosen will need to provide for sophisticated collaboration tools and compatibility with mobile devices, among other criteria, she added.
Information about all phases of the migration project, including the August schedule of Windows 7 and Office 2010 training classes, will continue to be shared online at LUC.edu/windows7. Questions can be directed to the ITS project team at windows7@luc.edu.
