Google FAQs
No, you’ve essentially got unlimited data. Obviously there is eventually a ceiling to be hit but there’s videographers working within Cru getting nowhere near that. This DOES NOT mean you’re free to put your personal files into your Google Drive.
I assume if you’re asking this question it’s because you use Google for your personal life. The best way to manage multiple google accounts is to use Chrome and use profiles to keep them separate.
No, the aim is to have one single Okta account with one single Google licence attached to it. You can have multiple email addresses tied to your account so if you already john.smith@cru.org that account will gain the address johnsmith@agape.org.uk and the migration of your stuff will be pointed at the john.smith@cru.org account. You will be able to set up filters to keep things separate so you can easily identify what emails have been sent to what address and there are settings to make sure you always reply from the address the email was sent to.
There are some exceptions for accounts in a secure instance.
There’s Google Chat. It has instant messaging like Teams but will also be tied to the Global staff directory so you will be to connect to none UK staff as well that are in our Google environment.
Google Chat also comes with Google Spaces, Spaces are similar to a Team, although a Space is a lot more simple. In a Team, you can have multiple channels, a Space is one single channel. If you want more than one channel you need to create a Space for each channel, you can then create a section and put all the associated Spaces in the section. So the section would act as the Team name and each Space would act as each channel. This is just a suggestion and you’re free to organise Chat the best way for you.
In terms of migration of Microsoft Teams, each channel in a Team will have its files sent to a Google Shared Drive and the conversation sent to a Google Space.
The chats within the instant messaging portion of Teams WILL NOT migrate. If you have anything important that you have available to you within a Chat (not the conversations you may have within a Team Channel) please make sure you have it available elsewhere, like your One Drive for example or if it’s a link, bookmark it. Whilst instant messaging tools are great for connecting with people quickly it is best practice to not use them as a means of storing important information or files.
No, the Google Suite all works online. I recommend once you have your account, sign into Chrome with it and use that profile exclusively for work relating to Agapé UK/GAiN UK.
No, and as of next year there won’t be a Microsoft version of it either as it’s being retired. There are alternatives such as Canva but I would suggest you talk to us within Operations and Comms about what you’re trying to do and we can suggest the best way forward.
Because Google is web based the licensed fonts aren’t available. Canva will have the fonts and has tools for documents, presentation etc. Please talk to Comms about this if you have any questions.
Your email address will stay the same. On the weekend before the go live date emails sent to our domains will be directed towards Gmail instead of Outlook. Existing emails (excluding those in your trash bin/spam) will get migrated over. Any folders you may have in Outlook will become labels in Gmail. Any mailbox rules you have won’t migrate so please make a note of any you have so you can recreate them in Gmail, if you have any autoresponses you may want to copy the text and save it in a document to save time having to type it out again.
Yes, the main thing to look out for is any appointments that involve a Teams link within our instance of Microsoft. Those links won’t update to Google ones so you will need to edit those meetings.
Files in your One Drive will migrate to your Google Drive. If you have shared anything with anyone external to Agapé UK you will need to reshare those files. On the reverse of that, anything that’s been shared with you externally will need resharing with you.
Files in Sharepoint will migrate to a Google Shared Drive.
One Note files will migrate to your Google Drive. There is no Google app that can handle One Note files but you will be able to open them from your Google Drive in One Note and save them to your Google Drive.
If you want to move away from using One Note but have a similar format for note taking Google Docs does offer a tab and sub-tab feature.
For quick notes and lists Google also offers an app called Keep that is integrated within Google Chat.
…..that’s not a question but it does deserve an answer.
I do hear you. Change always comes with pain points, even for those who may welcome the change in hand.
If it was just a question of which is better, then we probably wouldn’t even be considering migrating. But that isn’t the only question. We are part of a global movement, one that predominantly uses Google. If you were in Berlin, hopefully you caught a glimpse of us being part of something bigger. Being on the same platform makes collaboration easier and more natural. Staff transitioning from one country to another will be more straightforward. And it will improve the overall security of Cru’s Google instance for staff working in closed countries by us being on the inside.
As national ministries go, the UK is at the maturer end of the scale, what’s known as a stage 3 national ministry, and so we should endeavour to be a good example for other national ministries. The more preferred global tools we utilise, the better an example we become. It also puts us in a better position to help other national ministries, if we’re on the same platform the knowledge we have to share becomes more relevant to others. As a stage 3 national ministry we should endeavour to do what we can that has a positive impact on the global movement and, from a technology perspective, this migration is something that will have a positive impact on the global movement.
This is the heart motivation behind the migration, I appreciate migrating won’t come without its pains, I’m sorry about that, as the technology lead for the UK I have a duty of care to you when it comes to technology so I will endeavour you get the help you need for the transition.