The Statewide and UAF transition to Google Apps for Education for both email and calendaring continues. Approximately 86 percent (12,000) of all Statewide and UAF account holders have transitioned their email over to Google.

The deadline to switch from MeetingMaker to Google Calendar is Nov. 1. The Statewide Executive Group (SEG) and UAF Chancellor's Cabinet requested an accelerated� timeline in order to get everyone on a single calendar. OIT is currently updating Google Calendar with room resources from MeetingMaker. You will see those appear as you schedule events in the new calendar.

In order to set up your calendar, you must set up your Google email account, as they are one and the same. If you have not done so yet, you can activate your email account by visiting http://www.alaska.edu/google/opt-in/start.xml.

Once you have set up your new Google email account, make sure to update your online directory listing in EDIR at https://edir.alaska.edu/.

Existing addressses with the "alaska.edu" domain, such as harry.potter@alaska.edu will remain valid and will route to your new UA-provisioned gmail account. You do not have to change these. However, old Statewide and UAF account-based addresses, such as sxabc1@email.alaska.edu or fxpqr2@uaf.edu will not persist as valid email. You'll need to change those listings in EDIR.

There are many how-tos and helpful hints on OIT's Google Apps page at http://google.alaska.edu. If you would like training or assistance in converting, please contact the OIT Support Center at 450-8300.

OIT has recommended coverting all UAF and Statewide departments from MeetingMaker to Google Calendar, based on an evaluation of available calendar and meeting systems, technical reviews and a survey of users. The UAF Faculty and Staff Technology Committee concurred. The final decision came in mid-September from the UAF Chancellor’s Cabinet and the Statewide Executive Group. Unlike the email conversion, the calendar transition is taking place on a shorter timeline. Several UAF departments already have made the switch.

UAF Chancellor’s Cabinet requested all UAF MeetingMaker users switch to Google Calendar by Nov. 1. While this is an aggressive timeline, we believe we can accomplish it. To facilitate scheduling between SW and UAF, SW will make the switch concurrently. To minimize the frustration of straddling two calendars, OIT recommends that users wait until the last week of October to transition. If you choose to switch earlier, keep in mind that not all users and room resources will be available in Google calendar.

This will be a coordinated event to minimize the consequences of straddling two calendar programs. OIT is developing a timeline to include instructions and training. Charges for UAF MeetingMaker accounts will be prorated to reflect the mid-year change.

The new calendar program will use the same UA username and password as Google Apps email. Therefore, if you have not signed up for your Google email account, please do so as soon as possible at http://google.alaska.edu. You will need this to log in to the calendar program.

There are three steps to move to Google Calendar:
1.� Sign up for your Google Apps email account
2.� Export all events from MeetingMaker
3.� Import all events into Google Calendar

After Nov. 1, the UAF/Statewide MeetingMaker servers will remain active through March 30, 2010, to handle archiving or transferring of events.

To sign up for your Google Apps account, visit google.alaska.edu.

To sign up for upcoming training sessions regarding Google Calendar, visit: http://www.alaska.edu/oit/training/.

Please contact the Support Center at 450-8300 if you have specific questions or needs.

Due to a limitation in MeetingMaker, this method will not export your banners.

To export non-banner data from MeetingMaker:

• Within the MeetingMaker application; select File, Export as .ical by date (export a single file). This creates an *.ics file you will import into your Google Calendar. Select the date range you wish to transfer.

To import data into Google Calendar:

• From the Add button at the bottom of the calendar list, select Import Calendar
• Browse to the iCalendar file (*.ics from MeetingMaker export) that you created in your export
• Choose the calendar that you wish to import the data to
• Click the Import button
• You will receive a confirmation of the number of events that were imported

IMPORTANT: You must check the settings on your events.

Default copy will NOT keep a private event marked as private.

You will need to reset privacy settings and guest permissions on each event.

To change the privacy settings:

• Click the title of the event
• In the upper right panel Guests uncheck the options you do not wish to grant
• In the lower right panel, select the privacy option you wish
• On the option button bar just above the title: click the SAVE button to save your changes and return to the calendar.

The highlights this month are (4) one-hour sessions for Google Talk & Mail and Google Calendar & Documents, including an Elive offering for each. For the complete November training calendar visit: http://www.alaska.edu/oit/training/