OU Help Desk

Kresge Library, Room 202
100 Library Drive
Rochester, MI 48309-4479
(location map)
(248) 370-4357 (HELP)
Fax: (248) 370-4863
[email protected]
Office Hours: M-F 8:00am - 5:00pm

University Technology Services

Dodge Hall
118 Library Drive
Rochester, MI 48309-4401
(location map)
[email protected]

G Suite

What is G Suite?

Oakland University participates in G Suite to offer a single email service for the university. Google offers to educational institutions a core suite of services, email, calendars, and other productivity tools, through G Suite, an integrated communication and collaboration solution. Oakland University has entered into agreement with Google to provide the Core Suite of services to Oakland University students, faculty, and staff members. This solution enables OU to provide OU-branded, advertising-free access to a variety of popular cloud-based tools at a low cost to the university. Please review the FAQ documentation to review the list of Core Suite applications and additional information in the Core Suite, including Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Hangouts, Meet, and Classroom. Some features, such as Google Templates, may require approval from a moderator by sending a request to [email protected].

G Suite terms and conditions are available for review as the G Suite for Education Agreement.  Please note these are modified from time to time by Google. G Suite for Education is authorized for university work; this is different from personal Gmail accounts, which are not authorized for university work.

Compliance with Section 508 and the Americans With Disabilities Act is ongoing. Compliance can be checked here: G Suite Administrator Guide to Accessibility.

Review the current status of G Suite services on the G Suite Performance Status Web Site.

Specific details about webmail services are posted under Webmail Gmail Services.

August 2019

Transfer Your Account

If your account is scheduled for termination, please take steps to preserve your content in a persona account. The easiest way is to use the Google service to Transfer Your Account. Other information about transferring data is posted in Google Help under the topic Transfer Data between G Suite Accounts.

Core Suite and Additional Services

Google offers the Core Suite through an agreement between Oakland University and Google. Core Suite services include: Calendar, Classroom, Contacts, Docs, Drive, Forms, Gmail, Hangouts, Keep, Meet, Sheets, Sites, and Slides. Other services, called Additional Services, may be enabled, and those services require individual agreement from you as an individual. Please review the FAQ documentation to see a copy of the Terms of Service that require your agreement. To enable Additional Services for the OU domain, please send a request to [email protected]. Additional Services are not covered by the G Suite support terms and are not covered by the G Suite uptime guarantee SLA (service level agreement). Services may not be available in all areas and may be subject to change without notice. Please review the Technical Support Guidelines before deciding to use Additional Services.

Gmail Branded as OU Webmail

A primary service through G Suite is Gmail, branded as Webmail at Oakland University. See the Webmail Gmail Services page for more information.

Gmail Help Center provides information here: Google Gmail Help.

Bulk Senders Guidelines and Email sending limits are controlled by Google. If you are having issues sending bulk email or have exceeded the daily sending limit, please review the information below.

Accessing G Suite

Access your Google services:

Restrictions

Faculty and staff are reminded to review Policy #860 Data Management and Information Security before storing data in any cloud services, including any G Suite product. Please note the account termination guidelines and the termination date for the account on the Access, Accounts, and Password Guidelines page. Access and recovery past termination is restricted and not possible.

Google Hangouts Chat should not be used for official Oakland University business. Please note that room chats the history is stored.

Training

We recommend reviewing Google's posted free training resources at Google for Education Training Center.

Google Consumer Apps Process

Google offers the Core Suite through an agreement between Oakland University and Google. Other services, called Additional Services, may be enabled within the oakland.edu domain, and those services require individual agreement. The overview is presented to the client via the CAS login, which links to the Common Good Core Resources page. The following process is the documentation to enable Additional Services.

Request for enablement of the service for the oakland.edu domain

Requests for enablement may be submitted by anyone with an identity in the oakland.edu domain. Requests are submitted to [email protected] and assigned to the CIO for coordination.

Functional Review

The CIO will identify the appropriate functional advisory group from the Governance structure. Data Stewards from University Policy #860 Information Security will also be engaged in review and approval, as appropriate. The CIO will coordinate review. If approved, the CIO will document and advance the process.

Technical Enablement Review

The CIO will identify the appropriate technical review team. The technical review team will determine how to enable the service, and will provide documentation on the implications of the technical enablement. Technical review will include:

  • Do the services work with LDAP, CAS, Shibboleth (SAML), and the general University identity management process?
  • Are there network bandwidth and performance implications?
  • Are there any other technical dependencies that require review simultaneously?
  • Are there risks based on review of the risk management practices posted with UTS Policies and Guidelines, IT Risk?

Security Advisory Team Review

The CIO will advance the process by delivering the functional review results and the technical review results to the UTS Security Advisory Group. The team will assess technical risk and advise the CIO of the risk and any appropriate mitigation. The CIO will decide next steps based on the risk assessment. If the service enablement is not recommended, the risks will be reviewed with the governance areas and the individuals requesting the service.

Enablement of Application

If appropriate, the CIO will enter a new ticket in Footprints to enable the service. The ticket will be assigned to the UTS Technical Services and Support team to implement. When the work is ready to launch, the ticket will be marked Change Management for final launch review and development of the appropriate Communication Plan. Once the service is enabled, the original client ticket will be updated with results and returned to the client.