Communications Strategy Brief: OHSU`s Microsoft Office Migration

Communications Strategy Brief: OHSU’s Microsoft Office Migration Prepared by Bill Walters with input from CMO Kathy Dean, CFO Brad King, CIO Bridget
Haggerty, Trevor Larson, John Rasmussen, Susan Conrad and the Migration Steering Committee
Context and Challenges A migration of all managed computers to the newest version of Microsoft Office is happening at a
time when other matters—such as cutbacks and layoffs—may be foremost in employees’ minds.
Because many routine features in common applications will be arranged differently, employees
may find even basic tasks to be challenging at first. A sufficient number must learn, prepare and
adopt in the early, voluntary stages of the migration to avert a potential logjam during the later,
compulsory stages.
Sufficient voluntary adoption will preserve the IT department’s capacity to respond and support,
and ensure that the impact to productivity across the institution is minor.
Audiences The grass-roots audience is everyone using computers that fall within the migration scope,
regardless of role, level or mission—as many as 13,000 people. Some communications will
operate at a flat level, while others will cascade via an intermediary audience of directors,
managers, executive assistants, network contacts, and other influencers.
A subset of the grass-roots audience is more than 6,000 hospital and clinic employees who are at
greater risk because they must participate in a roughly concurrent rollout of Epic inpatient
information systems.
Goals •
Minimize or eliminate the impact to employees’ productivity.
•
Motivate a sufficient number of employees to:
o
Learn about and/or practice with Office’s revised features.
o
Upgrade during the early, voluntary stage.
o
Perform preparatory maintenance such as reducing archived email.
o
Move toward self-sufficiency.
o
Minimize the number of requested exceptions (migration delays or deferrals)
during the later, mandatory phase.
Messages •
The new version of Office can help employees do better work with greater ease.
However, many routine features are arranged differently. Employees should learn,
prepare and practice early.
•
The migration is a relevant part of a long-term strategy to upgrade infrastructure and
build a more collaborative institution.
•
Voluntary preparation and adoption is a concrete way for employees to pull together for
the good of all.
Metrics Communications must be in full swing by February 28. The goal for migration is voluntary
installation on 80 percent of the 13,000 target computers by April 2l.
If possible, communications after March 5 will report an automatically tallied or estimated
migration rate via a graphic display, as extra motivation to act. This will be accompanied at the
appropriate dates by graphics depicting the amount of file storage freed and the number of email
client transitions completed.
If agreed, memos to leaders from CFO Brad King and CIO Bridget Haggerty will include
encouragement for leaders to track and report their teams’ number of migrations after they
cascade migration messaging to their groups.
Deliverables Cascaded In Person February/early March: short presentations at staff meetings attended by directors, managers and
other leaders. Trevor, John and Susan of the IT department will deliver. See the table that follows.
On Paper •
Approximately Feb. 27: Memo from CFO Brad King to executive leaders via interoffice
mail, requesting a migration report when each leader has cascaded the information. Bill
will draft.
•
Approximately Feb. 14: How-to cards outlining the installation’s basic steps. (Designer
time is free via Creative Services, printing cost TBD.) Susan will draft.
Electronic •
Ongoing: Memos from the IT department to executive assistants. John will draft.
•
Ongoing: Memos from the IT department to its affinity-based Network Contacts group.
John will draft.
•
Approximately Feb. 28: Reminder memo from CFO Brad King to the DDDUA (deans,
department directors, unclassified and administrative) list, requesting a migration report
when each leader has cascaded the information. Bill will draft.
•
Weekly beginning March 5: Status updates with graph in the 5 Minute Manager
newsletter—how many/what percentage has/have upgraded, reminder for managers to
cascade messages to staff. Bill will draft.
Direct to Employees In the Physical Environment Fliers—and possibly table tents in employee dining areas: The first flier has been produced
but not yet printed. A precedent and process exist for deploying the flier’s content on table tents
at OHSU-run cafeterias. Bill will draft.
•
Approximately Feb. 14: Office migration
•
Approximately March 10: Office migration with adoption-rate graphic; new version
every two weeks as needed
•
Approximately Apri1 23: Outlook email
Electronic •
Approximately Feb. 8: Launch/overview memo from the IT department. Bill will draft.
•
Approximately Feb. 11-28: An article with the same content as the launch/overview
memo, appearing in the seven most widely read internal newsletters. Bill will distribute
to editors.
•
Approximately Feb. 14: A durable intranet home-page display with frequently updated
links to fliers, status updates and blog posts. Bill will draft.
•
Every two weeks beginning Feb. 28: Staff News blog posts corresponding with fliers
and linking to IT status updates. Bill will draft.
•
Approximately March 5: Status updates with graphs on the IT migration website: how
many/what percentage upgraded, admonishment to upgrade quickly for greatest benefit.
Susan or John will draft and coordinate.
•
Approximately March 15: Additional memo(s) from IT, if needed based on assessment
of metrics. Susan or John will draft and coordinate.
Draft: Talking Points for Leadership Meetings Why the Microsoft Migration Is Important Well before the institution-wide financial impact of the tort cap loss, IT pursued a plan to upgrade
technology infrastructure and build a better platform for collaboration to benefit all missions,
schools, departments and divisions.
The plan is to migrate to just one vendor—Microsoft—for network services, file sharing and
email, and to update the office applications we already use.
This migration is underway, with network services and file sharing being changed mostly behind
the scenes. Employee action begins March 3 with a voluntary installation period for the newest
version of Microsoft Office. Later in the spring, employees will move by department to
Microsoft’s Outlook email.
The Benefits It Brings The migration makes our IT system more like that of other large organizations. Employees will
be able to use previously acquired know-how and collaborate more effectively outside OHSU.
How We’re Reaching Out •
Months of communications with Network Contacts (the loosely organized group of
volunteers whose affinity for technology makes them informal advisors to their
colleagues)
•
Open labs, where employees can try the new tools and get help from experts
•
The steering committee, with which many of you are involved
•
The recently adopted communication plan, with messaging both direct and cascading
from leaders
•
Tutorials and other resources linked from the IT department’s migration website
•
Help-desk resources
What We Need from You Beginning March 3, employees can voluntarily upgrade to the newest version of Microsoft
Office, which has new features to help them do better work with greater ease. However, many
routine features in common applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint are arranged
differently. Employees may find basic tasks to be challenging at first.
Our goal is to have voluntary installation completed on 80 percent of 13,000 target computers by
April 21. We need you to promote the project’s benefits and influence your groups to begin
learning and doing now—to maximize the potential savings and benefits for everyone.
Later this spring, employees will move by department to Microsoft’s Outlook email. Any effort
you can make now—to delete old messages and reduce your email archives—will make for a
smoother process later.
We will send you suggested messages and other resources for the Office migration in the next
few days, and we ask that you pass them along to the groups you lead. We will send you another
set of resources as email migration approaches. [Questions]
Draft: Launch Memo from the IT Department Microsoft Migration: What to Expect The Microsoft Migration is bringing changes that will enhance speed, stability and collaboration.
Your participation will help maximize the benefits for all missions, departments and divisions.
Here’s what to expect.
Office (word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, database management)
Voluntary upgrade begins March 3. The new version of Office brings greater changes to Word,
Excel, PowerPoint and Access than its predecessors. The voluntary period lets employees learn,
explore and upgrade on their own terms. Our goal is for voluntary installation to be complete on
80 percent of the 13,000 target computers by April 21.
What to do: Attend an Open Lab (see the link at the end of this email) where you can take a test
drive, get help from experts and stay as long as you like.
Beginning March 3, a pop-up window will let you know that the new version of Office can be
installed. If you don’t get a pop-up, it may mean your computer isn’t managed by the IT
department. Departments that manage their own computers will be sent a tool to manually install
Office.
When you’re ready to install, [instructions TBD].
Network File Storage File storage migration on the network (such as the H, I and J drives) begins in mid-February and
continues through June 30. File sharing will be faster and more reliable.
What to do: Most people won’t notice a difference in their work. However, please delete
personal photos, videos, music and unneeded files to make the transition smoother.
Email Microsoft Outlook will begin replacing GroupWise by department in early May. Your archived
email will move to Outlook’s central archives.
Initially Outlook will have limited functionality. In early July when all departments have moved
from GroupWise, Outlook will gain full functionality.
What to do: Any effort you can make to delete old messages and reduce your email archives will
make for a smoother process later.
For More Information You’ll find tips, tutorials, event schedules and other resources at the Microsoft Migration website.
Questions? Ask your Network Contact or call the IT Help Desk at 503 494-2222.
Draft: Memo from CFO Brad King and CIO Bridget Haggerty To: OHSU Leadership Team members
RE: Making the Microsoft upgrade a success We’re pleased to tell you that Information Technology will begin the Office upgrade—the first
phase of Microsoft migration—in a few days. Later this spring, employees will move by
department to Microsoft Outlook email. These initiatives are important to our Strategic Plan, so
we’re asking for your help in ensuring their success.
When you’ve communicated the information below to your groups, please share how you spread
the word and how effective it was. Your feedback will help adjust and refine communications for
this and future initiatives.
Thanks very much for your contribution.
—Brad King, Bridget Haggerty
Microsoft Migration: Why It’s Beneficial Microsoft migration is part of a long-term strategy to upgrade infrastructure and build a more
collaborative institution. Because it makes our IT system more like that of other large
organizations, it supports the Vision 2020 tactic to “collaborate with…appropriate organizations
to better meet the needs of all Oregonians.”
How You Can Help Beginning March 3, most employees can voluntarily upgrade to the new version of Office, which
has new features to help you do better work with greater ease. However, many routine functions
in common applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint are arranged differently. You may
find basic tasks to be challenging at first.
Our goal is for voluntary installation to be complete on 80 percent of 13,000 target computers by
April 21. Please begin learning and upgrading now, on your own terms, to maximize the potential
savings and benefits for everyone. A schedule of open labs for practice and instruction is linked
from the IT Migration website, as are many online tutorials.
Later this spring, employees will move by department from GroupWise to Microsoft’s Outlook
email. Any effort you can make now—to delete old messages and reduce your email archives—
will make for a smoother process later.
Draft: Office Migration Flier