11. Data Types

Nexus supports the migration of four primary data types:
  1. Email
  2. Calendar
  3. Contacts
  4. Tasks

With each primary data type it is anticipated that some elements may not migrate from the source system to Nexus. The data may not map appropriately into Exchange or the migration tool in use may not have the ability to migrate that data element. It is the responsibility of the unit to determine the limitations of the migration process/tools and take appropriate decisions as the the value of any data lost during the process and to inform end users of any data-loss during the migration process.

For some systems a migration of existing mailbox permissions/sharing rights may be possible, but this will be a product of the source system, migration tool in use and the creation of an appropriate mapping between source and target accounts.

For example, in the migration from Herald, the tool used had difficulties migrating certain folder names and thus all users which folder names of this type on Herald needed to be contacted in advance and asked to modify their account to ensure it could be migrated.

There are two other data types which may also be migrated to Nexus, most likely outside of the mailbox migration process. These are:
  1. Address list (Global Contacts) meta-data
  2. Groups/Distribution lists
Address list (Global Contacts) meta-data: A system is currently being put in place to allow ITSS to update information in the Nexus Global Address List (GAL) for their users. It will allow the update of:
  • Display Name (Display names on project accounts must make sense in a whole-university context)
  • Street Address (overwritten if user moves department)
  • City (overwritten if user moves department)
  • Province (overwritten if user moves department)
  • PostCode (overwritten if user moves department)
  • Business Phone Number
  • Pager Number
  • Fax Number
  • Mobile Number
  • Job Title
  • Office
  • Manager
  • Assistant Name
  • Assistant Telephone Number
  • WebPage
All other data in the GAL is reserved for update only by Nexus automated processes.

Groups/Distribution lists: Groups should be evaluated to determine if they are also solely in a mailing list capacity or if they are also used for authorization decisions. The Nexus service is waiting on the central GroupStore service to deliver user-customizable groups to Nexus, as well as other central services. In the meantime groups/distribution lists will be migrated into Nexus only if they are used for authorization. Other groups, used only as email lists, should be migrated to the OUCS mailing list service. Group maintenance will be manual by a request to the Nexus Team. Units should be aware that they will be required to migrate their groups from Nexus to the GroupStore service as soon as it becomes available and some degree of reconfiguration may be required for their users at this point (re-granting calendar access for example).

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