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This Week in BPOS News 2/4

This week in BPOS news is a recurring segment on the Microsoft Online Services Team Blog that covers news from all sectors of Cloud Computing and the Microsoft Online Services business suite known as the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). You can read all past This Week in BPOS News segments here. For this week in BPOS news we take a look at six ways Microsoft Online Services can increase your business’ productivity, and we examine the new support lifecycle policy for Microsoft Online Services. 1. 6 Ways Microsoft Online Services Can Increase your Business’ Productivity This week’s first BPOS story identifies six ways that Microsoft Online Services can increase your business productivity. Michael Bayon breaks down Microsoft Online Services in six categories that he believes sums up increased productivity for businesses and business users. The six ways that Microsoft Online Services can increase your Business Productivity are listed below with a brief summary: You Don’t Need to Subscribe to All Services Subscribe to the services you need and you can upgrade your services as needed in the future. You Won’t Be Strapped for Cash No start-up costs and pay per user. Predictable Costs Fixed pricing makes it easy to anticipate costs. Software Uptime 99.9% SLA commitment with independent third party auditing. Employee Productivity Software that integrates easily with pre-existed tools and new collaboration software. Instant Upgrades Instant deployment of new versions. Additionally, Michael writes that Microsoft Online Services comes with Community Support. Once you join Online Services, you are joining a large existing community. The community is active and encourages participation and support. You can read the entire article with lengthier productivity descriptions here . Are there other ways Microsoft Online Services can increase your business’ productivity? Leave your comments below. 2. Microsoft Announces a New Support Lifecycle Policy for Online Services Microsoft Online Services is excited to welcome the next generation of BPOS , otherwise known as Office 365 . With this new product comes a new transition, and the Microsoft Support Lifecycle team is “focused on bringing the proven principles of predictable and consistent Support Lifecycle policies to Online Services provided via the cloud.” In our second BPOS news piece, we take a look at how the Microsoft Support Lifecycle team is planning on supporting Microsoft Online Services users. Their blog post entitled “Microsoft Announces a New Support Lifecycle Policy for Online Services” outlines how the transition plan will support users while creating a simple and undisruptive change. This is an essential read for anyone concerned about the Online Services Support Lifecycle policy. You can grab more information about transitioning here – https://www.microsoft.com/online/transition-center.aspx . To learn more about support timelines, they are available on the MSL website: https://support.microsoft.com/gp/OSSLpolicy . How do you feel about the next generation of BPOS? Are you ready? Leave your comments below. What are your thoughts about the stories we shared with you this week? Did you see a story you want to share with us? Let us know what other topics you’d like to see. You can comment on this blog post or send an email to our community mailbox . Follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page.

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4 New PowerShell cmdlets

Written by Stacia Snapp, Microsoft User Experience Writer. Four new Microsoft PowerShell cmdlets are now available for you to use with Microsoft Online Services. The first two cmdlets below let you manage alternate recipient settings for a user’s mailbox. The last cmdlets help you enable or disable POP access for a specific user’s mailbox. We first introduced the following Powershell commandlets in the January 2011 Service Update blog post. Admins will have to download the latest version of the migration tools ( 32-bit or 64-bit ) to use the new commandlets. 1. Clear-MSOnlineAlternateRecipient: By using this cmdlet, you can remove all alternate recipient settings for a user’s mailbox in Microsoft Online Services. Clearing these settings will stop incoming messages from being forwarded to a designated alternate e-mail address and will restore delivery to the original recipient’s mailbox. Get the Clear-MSOnlineAlternateRecipient cmdlt here. 2. Set-MSOnlineAlternateRecipient : Use the Set-MSOnlineAlternateRecipient cmdlet to set an alternate recipient for a user’s mailbox in Microsoft Online Services. The cmdlet supports the following delivery scenarios for incoming e-mail messages: Messages are delivered to the recipient’s mailbox and forwarded to an alternate e-mail address. Messages are forwarded to an alternate e-mail address without delivery to the intended recipient’s mailbox. Get the Set-MSOnlineAlternateRecipient cmdlt here. 3. Disable-MSOnlinePOPAccess: Use this cmdlet to disable POP3 access for a specific user’s mailbox in Microsoft Online Services. Get the Disable-MSOnlinePOPAccess cmdlt here. 4. Enable-MSOnlinePOPAccess: Use this cmdlet to enable POP3 access for a specific user’s mailbox in Microsoft Online Services. Get the Enable-MSOnlinePOPAccess cmdlt here. We hope these cmdlets are helpful for you and your organization. Are there other cmdlets that you often use? We want to hear from you in the comments section below or send an email to our community mailbox . Follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page.

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PRINCE2® Combined Foundation and Practitioner Course, (5 days) – 11th to 15th July, 2011

When: Monday, July 11, 2011 at 9:00 AM – Friday, July 15, 2011 at 5:00 PM (GMT) Where: Technology House Shottery Brook Office Park Timothy’s Bridge Road CV37 9NR Stratford Upon Avon United Kingdom Hosted By: Technology Associates International Ltd Technology Associates International ( www.techassoc.com ) is an Approved Training Organisation (ATO), accredited by the APM Group – the leading accreditation, certification and examination body – to deliver PRINCE2® courses.    As a Microsoft Gold Partner, we have over 18 years experience of delivering training solutions.   Our PRINCE2® trainers are skilled experts who take pride in guiding delegates through the PRINCE2® methodology and help them understand how the material applies to their specific personal and organisational circumstances. Register for this event now at: https://taiprince2110711-rss.eventbrite.com Event Details: The course provides a balance between a learning experince about structured project management and PRINCE2®, and maximising the delegate’s chances of passing the Practitioner examination. On passing the examination, the delegate becomes a Registered PRINCE2® Practitioner. The course starts with a period of directed self-study commencing approximately 2 weeks before the classroom event.   This brings everyone up to a common standard of basic familiarity with the language and underlying principles of PRINCE2®, and ensures that the course gets off to a smooth start. Delegates should plan their time for this self-study to ensure that they gain maximum benefit from this essential element of the course.   A minimum of 10 hours should be scheduled if at all possible. The first three days in the classroom follow the lifecycle of a project, explaining the use and benefits of the PRINCE2® processes, themes and techniques, and how these can be adapted to suit a variety of project types and scenarios.   Approximately 30% of this time is spent on practical work and discussion using a “continuous” case study as a basis for exercises that help to reinforce delegate learning.    The Foundation examination takes place on day 3.  The following two days are dedicated to reinforcing what has been learnt and to preparing for the Practitioner examination that takes place on the last afternoon.   Full explanation is provided of the types of question used in the examination, together with guidance on how to answer them to best effect. Evening work is provided (approximately one-hour) to enable revision and practice of what has been learned each day. Terms & Conditions of Booking: Payment is due on booking.   Cancellations and Transfers More than 20 working days notice before course commences – £50 cancellation fee is payable From 0 to 20 working days inclusive before course commences – 100 % of the course fee is payable   VERY IMPORTANT: If you are unable to complete a course due to illness or any other reason, you will have to pay the full course fee to attend a future course. No refund will be offered for failing to attend any part of the whole course.   A full copy of our terms and conditions of sale is available on request.                 PRINCE2® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other countries.

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