1 Outsourcing a case study Ira Winston CIO School of Arts & Sciences University of Pennsylvania

2 School of Arts & Sciences (SAS)  Penn (est. 1740) is an Ivy League university in Philadelphia ranked #5 by US News and World Reports  SAS is the largest of the four undergraduate schools at Penn  500 standing faculty in 26 academic departments  6500 undergraduates in 52 majors

3 Before - Spring environment  Spring environment IMAP/POP/Webmail (IMP) 75mb quotas 5 year old Sun hardware heavy webmail usage 30% of students forwarding to ISP’s

4 Rationale for Outsourcing  Outsourcing and other communications functions is an acknowledgement that the outsourced providers have a better product than most universities offer.  Given that most incoming students (90% in our case) are already using Gmail, Windows Live/Hotmail/MSN, Yahoo or AOL they are quite comfortable with these systems and anything we provide would have to better.  They are mostly looking for the.EDU address, which can be provided without providing an actual account.  The resources freed up can be used to provide services that can uniquely be provided by universities.

5 Outsourcing mechanics  Penn Live (Windows Live) is an OPTION for all students. Webmail continues to be an option for existing students but not incoming students.  Segmented Marketing Gmail – don’t expect them to switch, perhaps mention lack of ads and non- services Hotmail/MSN – same client, no ads, real technical support Yahoo – comparable client, no ads, real technical support AOL and others– better client, no ads, real technical support, non- services SAS webmail – quota, better client, non- services

6 Outsourcing mechanics  Extensive documentation on accessing the service using clients (FAQ with screen shots)  Very responsive help desk, call students back on the phone to follow up.  migration procedures not heavily used but important to have documented.

7 After - Fall environment  Penn Live (Windows Live) added as an option for existing students in July 2007  Incoming students offered Penn Live or forwarding but NOT the school service  62% of upperclassmen forwarding to ISP’s  78% of all students forwarding to ISP’s

8 After - Fall environment  Of the students who forward: 27% to Gmail 28% to Penn Live 20% to mail.sas.upenn.edu (school service) 6% to AOL 4% to Yahoo 5% to Hotmail/MSN

9 Is your campus a good candidate for outsourcing? Q1. What system do you current use for (exchange, imap/webmail, etc.)? A1. Those with heavy webmail (IMP, squirrel mail, homebrew) systems

10 Is your campus a good candidate for outsourcing? Q2. What are the storage quotas for student ? A2. Anything under 250mb

11 Is your campus a good candidate for outsourcing? Q3. Do you allow forwarding and, if so, what percentage of students forward their ? A3. Those who already allow forwarding and have a significant percentage of students forwarding.

12 Is your campus a good candidate for outsourcing? Q4. How old is your current system? A4. Anything older than 2 years

13 Is your campus a good candidate for outsourcing? Q5. Which clients do your students use to access your current system? If the data is available, break the usage down by client? A5. Heavy webmail – GMY have excellent webmail clients

14 Is your campus a good candidate for outsourcing? Q6. Do you support POP, IMAP or both? A6. POP only – gmail, Windows Live and Yahoo (GMY) do not support IMAP

15 Is your campus a good candidate for outsourcing? Q7. Do you have a calendaring system for students? A7. no calendaring system – GMY provide calendaring

16 Is your campus a good candidate for outsourcing? Q8. Do your university administrators want/need access to individual student s for personal safety and student judicial inquiries? A8. universities that prefer NOT to have access to individual student s

17 Is your campus a good candidate for outsourcing? Q9. How effective is your current antispam solution? A9. bad antispam – GMY have good antispam because their large user bases categorize spam

18 Is your campus a good candidate for outsourcing? Q10. Do you have a disaster recovery plan for your service? A10. no disaster recovery plan – GMY have geographically redundant data centers