Why is the upgrade happening? What are the benefits?
As you are aware, technology continues to advance and continually grow, in doing so the UCOP community must do so also. The upgrade will help with better security and also upcoming integrations with new services and future Microsoft products yet to be released. Microsoft has posted the key benefits of Office 2007 for easy review. Within UCOP, we have tested Office 2007 with over 150 test users and all seem to be pleased with the upgrade and the new interface and functionality. Especially Excel 2007 increases the maximum number of rows per worksheet from 65,536 to over 1 million, calculation improvements, sorting and many other advantages over the previous Excel 2003 version.
What happens to all my current data in Outlook?
All data in your current version of Outlook will appear in the newer version. Most of the data is stored on the server and all other data is migrated over by the installation. This data includes email, personal folders, calendar entries, contacts, service account access and shared calendar permissions. All of this information will be brought over to the newer version.
What happens when upgrading?
The upgrade process will be updating the current Microsoft 2003 Office applications to the newer Microsoft Office 2007 version. The older applications will be replaced with the new updated 2007 versions of Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, & Access. If other additional Microsoft Office applications are installed (ex: Visio2003 and\or Project 2003), we will need to address those upgrades separately.
How long does the upgrade take?
The upgrade process can vary from approximately 35-60 minutes depending upon different computer hardware factors, such as memory, hard drive read and write speed, network connection, etc. The installation method used is a "silent install" and no user interaction is required for the installation to occur, also do not have to present, the computer must be on and plugged into the UCOP Network here at the UCOP Oakland offices, or via VPN client.
(You do not have to be present when installation occurs, the laptop however does need to be powered on and connected to the UCOP network, here at Oakland offices via docking station or Ethernet cord. If working remotely, the upgrade can occur over VPN, but be aware that the upgrade process takes considerably longer to complete, approximately 1 hour.)
** During that installation time frame, the computer can continually be used writing emails, using Word, etc. However, if you are working on ANY documents, please SAVE your documents often (every few minutes) during mentioned installation window. Once the Office upgrade completes an automatic restart maybe initiated to complete the Office 2007 upgrade process. Not all systems will exhibit this type of behavior, but please be aware & save regularly as this can have an adverse effect on productivity.
What if I miss the announced installation time?
You are going to be out of the office or out of town during the announced installation time for your department? The installation will still occur once your laptop or desktop is identified on the UCOP network. This applies to both VPN Client connections offsite and user returning to the office. Note: the installation for Office 2007 will upgrade over the VPN connection however it does take considerable longer time to complete the installation, approximately 60 minutes due to the VPN encryption, ISP and or type of internet connection (WiFi, Ethernet, BroadBand card, etc).
If you would like to schedule an installation time due to being out of the office during the Office 2007 deployment, please email techdesk@ucop.edu with your name, tentative date and time to have the installation performed after returning to work and details you feel should be known prior to installation.
What if I am at a remote office or work offsite?
The upgrade process will also happen for users that work offsite at remote locations, such as Sacramento, etc. However for the upgrade to occur the offsite system must be connected to the UCOP network during the fore mentioned installation time frame; if the system is not on and connected to VPN, the upgrade will not occur until that VPN connection is established. The VPN connection will need to be established and left connected for at least 2 hours to allow time for the Office upgrade to download and install on the remote system.
If you miss the time period mentioned for installation, the next time you connect to VPN the installation process should begin, however if you do not receive the update after 2 hours of VPN connectivity, please contact techdesk@ucop.edu for help.
What if I am traveling and will have limited network connection or slow dial up connection?
If you are traveling during the scheduled installation dates, please contact techdesk@ucop.edu and inform of the dates you will be out of the office, so that the installation is not queued for your computer and attempts to start the download while on a slow dial up connection.
What happens if the install does not finish or I shut my computer off and think it was in the middle of the installation?
No worries, if the computer is powered down or shut down during the installation, the software distribution server will know where it stopped and when the system is back on the UCOP network, installation will begin where it left off. Note: When the computer is brought back online either by VPN client or UCOP Local Area Network (LAN), the software distribution server will take some time, approximately 20-30 minutes for the system to be detected and resuming the installation.
Can we install Office 2007 on my personal computer?
The installation of Microsoft Office 2007 is for UCOP owned systems and not personal computers due to the MCCA Licensing Agreement. The UCOP MCCA Licensing Agreement does NOT include the "Work at Home" rights for a copy to be installed on personal home systems. An Office 2007 license for your personal computer must be bought separately. Pricing ranges vary depending upon retailers; however here is an estimated retail price for the various Office Suites available. UCOP uses the Office Professional Plus 2007 version; however the Standard or Home and Student version are compatible and the least expensive.
Why is Outlook 2007 slower?
The Outlook 2007 client is NOT supposed to be slower when compared to the previous version, Outlook 2003. The newer version of Outlook 2007 includes several new features, such as RSS Feeds, new "Ribbon" interface, and other new features. If you are experiencing slow performance when using Outlook 2007, such as switching between folders, or you are typing however the text does not keep up with the typing. Other reported behavior is slowness when opening or replying to an email, or composing a new message, the compose window takes some time to appear, etc. If you are experiencing any performance issues within Outlook, please inform techdesk@ucop.edu or complete the online Technology Service Desk Problem Form and state the performance issue being experienced with the Outlook 2007 client.
Does this upgrade affect my Blackberry or other PDA devices? (iPhone, Palm, etc)
No, the Office 2007 installation does not affect your PDA devices; however it can possibly break the "wired "connection (USB) established between your work computer and the PDA. The Blackberry Desktop Manager and the Palm Desktop software suites could possibly be affected by the Office upgrade as they are "linked" with Outlook for syncing contacts, notes, etc. If this occurs, please contact techdesk@ucop.edu for assistance.
