Project Purpose

The purpose is to migrate from on-premise instances of Microsoft Exchange and Skype for Business to Microsoft (Office) 365 Exchange Online and Microsoft Teams. This will utilize Texas A&M's current subscription to Microsoft 365. The move will reduce on-campus hardware costs, reduce the amount of custom code necessary to maintain accounts and improve end-user experience with new features and functionality of Microsoft 365. 

Migration Timeline

June 2021 - Fall 2021: Texas A&M Exchange mailboxes migration to Microsoft 365. View the Migration Schedule Calendar.

  • Migration Completed
    • Technology Services - June 2, 2021
    • College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences - July 20-29
    • Texas A&M University at Galveston - July 30-August 2
    • College of Engineering - August 3-4
    • College of Architecture - August 9
    • Bush School of Government & Public Service - August 12
    • College of Geosciences - August 16
    • University Libraries - August 23
    • Texas A&M University Press - August 23
    • Mays Business School - August 25
    • Division of Student Affairs Department of IT - September 13
    • Transportation Services - September 14
    • College of Liberal Arts - September 15
    • Cyclotron Institute - September 15
    • International Ocean Discovery Program - September 21
    • Department of Chemistry - September 22
    • Department of Mathematics - September 28
    • College of Science Dean's Office - September 28
    • Department of Statistics - September 29
    • Department of Biology - September 29-30
    • Utilities and Energy Services - October 1
    • Department of Physics - October 5
    • Division of Finance and Operations - October 7
    • Environmental Health and Safety, Office of Safety and Security, University Police Department - October 13
    • Division of Student Affairs
      • Office of the VP for Student Affairs - October 11
      • Student Health Services, Music Activities, Corps of Cadets, Recreational Sports - October 12
      • Memorial Student Center, Multicultural Services, University Center and Special Events, Counseling & Psychological Services, Student Life - October 13
      • Children's Center, Student Life Studies, DSA Student Organizations, Student Activities, Residence Life - October 14
    • Department of Health and Kinesiology - October 19
    • College of Education and Human Development - October 21
    • Provost IT Supported Units - October 26 - 27
    • Office of the President - October 26
    • School of Public Health and HSC Administration - November 9
    • College of Nursing and College of Pharmacy - November 11
    • School of Law IT - November 15
    • Division of Marketing and Communication - November 16
    • College of Medicine - November 16
    • College of Dentistry - November 18
    • School of Law - November 18
    • Division of Research Sponsored Research Services - December 1
    • Unclaimed accounts - December 2
    • Division of Research - December 7
    • Group of Agriculture accounts - March 31, 2022

Training Sessions

Microsoft 365 Training

Technology Services has organized a series of Microsoft 365 training sessions available to Texas A&M faculty and staff. All sessions will be presented online by expert trainers via Microsoft Teams. Visit Microsoft 365 Training for details and event links.

Goals (Milestones)

  • Enable Microsoft Teams for Microsoft 365 Users – Completed 

Texas A&M previously disabled access to Microsoft Teams as Skype for Business was the official chat application of Texas A&M University. To prepare for the end of life for Skype for Business, all Texas A&M Microsoft 365 users have been granted access to Microsoft Teams.  

  • Switch Microsoft 365 Authentication – Completed 

Azure Active Directory, the backend identities for Microsoft 365, will switch from authenticating using Shibboleth on-premise to Azure Active Directory native authentication using password hashes synchronized from AUTH Active Directory. This method of authentication allows access to continue in the event of an on-campus outage, and allows Microsoft’s AI to analyze our logins for password spray and other identity-based attacks.  

  • Create Exchange Hybrid – Completed 

Configure Exchange environment to be a hybrid with Exchange 2016 on-premise and Exchange Online so that both on-premise Texas A&M Exchange and Microsoft 365 at Texas A&M work together as a single platform. Users may need to reauthenticate their mail/calendar clients. At this time, authentication to Texas A&M Exchange will switch to use Azure Active Directory (Microsoft 365). 

  • Migrate Users to Microsoft 365 – Completed

This should be transparent to end-users, as the migration from Exchange 2013 to Exchange 2016.

Information for Exchange Administrators

  • Preparations 

All email clients must support TLS 1.2, and Outlook for Windows will need to transition to the modern MAPI over HTTPS protocol. More information for IT administrators about these changes will be communicated directly to IT administrators.  

  • Business Processes 

This will not change existing business processes for Exchange mailbox lifecycle or management.