What's Happening?

**THIS TRANSITION HAS ALREADY TAKEN PLACE - THIS KNOWLEDGE BASE ARTICLE IS BEING LEFT OPEN FOR HISTORICAL PURPOSES.  PLEASE CONTACT THE ITS HELP DESK IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS**

The University of San Diego is transitioning all Torero Mail accounts to the new Google Apps Identity Infrastructure (sometimes called GA+). This transition will add new features and accessibility to your Torero Mail account.

As part of the transition, Torero Mail uses are no longer be able to use an @sandiego.edu email address for your private consumer account (very few people ever did this - for more information see below).

This change was being made so that Google Apps accounts can start accessing dozens of Google services beyond the core suite of messaging and collaboration apps. This change allowed users access to many new services such as Blogger, Reader, Google Drive, Google Voice and calling-in-Gmail (US only), and other apps from their Google Apps accounts. Previously, these Google products were available only in personal Google Accounts.

For additional information (or if you want to provide feedback) please open a request with the ITS Help Desk.

Is it going to impact me?

For most users, the impacts are small.

1. You'll have access to lots of new services.
2. You will be able to access multiple Google Accounts from the same browser in the same way you used to (more below). This includes access from mobile devices like iPhones and Andriods.
3. There are some small changes to the way you login (more below).

A small subset of users will have additional impacts - these users will receive additional information.

Logging in to your Torero Mail account and a personal (@gmail.com) account is rather easy...

For most users, we strongly recommend you keep your Torero Mail and Gmail accounts in different browsers after the transition to Google Apps+ (GA+). For example, consider using Internet Explorer/Safari for your Torero Mail account and Firefox for your personal Gmail account. Keeping multiple accounts open in different tabs will no longer be straightforward after the transition - using multiple browsers is easy and will help you keep things straight.  You can read more about this in our tutorial on How To Sign in to Multiple Accounts at the Same Time.

Note that this applies to mobile device (e.g. iPhone) users who access Gmail from the web browser (e.g. Mobile Safari) too. If you previously accessed your Torero Mail and your Gmail accounts from the web browser, you'll need to download a second browser or just work with one account at a time on your smartphone.

HOWEVER, users are now able to keep your Torero Mail and Gmail accounts in the same browser by using the option to "Add Account" under the drop down menu located in the upper right hand corner by clicking your "username."

There are some small changes to the way you login to Google services.

You can now use the Google login screen to access your Torero Mail account. Just enter your @sandiego.edu email address as your username and DO NOT ENTER A PASSWORD. You'll be redirected to the Torero Mail Login Page where you can securely enter your password.

What do I need to know?

Can I still have a personal Google Account?

Absolutely!  Personal Google Accounts will still be accessible, and will be a preferred way to access Google applications that are not supported by USD.  There might be specific data you want to keep on your own personal account.  While you can keep your @sandiego.edu account for life upon graduation, USD is not able to support users moving mail and other data from your @sandiego.edu account if you leave the university without graduating and the account is closed.

Some of the new services aren't managed by USD and the ITS Help Desk won't be able to provide you with support for them.

Services like Google Drive, Google Reader, and Google Code will be accessible with your Torero Mail Account, but they are provided to you under separate terms of service and the ITS Help Desk can't control them in any way. We want to offer you the ability to use these services if they're useful to you, even though we can't assist you with them at this time. There is plenty of information available from Google on how to use their services, just click the Help link in the upper right hand corner of most Google services.

For a list of all Google services and notes about what is supported, go here.

(Note:  Any application that has a commercial/business aspect to it such as adwords, will not be included for @sandiego.edu - but this list does give you the big picture view).

Which services are supported?

The core applications that are supported include: Mail, Calendar, Documents, Sites, Talk, Contacts, and Groups (an improved version comes with GA+, so we will start to make this available).

Even though we can't help you, the information you put into these services is subject to USD policies and ownership.

Things you do using your Torero Mail Account are subject to our terms of use and policies - and to access by USD IT staff subject to our policies. Think carefully about keeping your personal life separate using a personal google account if required.

For example:

1. You post comments that violate our policies on your favorite blog using your Torero Mail Identity. You don't want to do this because your Torero Mail Identity is subject to our policies.

If there is a transition issue with my account, what is my next step?

What are the possible causes?

There are two likely causes ("username" replaces your real email account):

1. You have associated username@sandiego.edu to an existing Google consumer account (probably as an alternate contact email); or
2. You have a standalone Google consumer account (example)  username@sandiego.edu (if you did not need a Gmail account, it is possible you associated the service with your lab email address).

For situations like the example with Google Picasa, Google prompts you to change the association to a different email address and still accomplishes the transition of your lbl account to the new environment.  If you have a a Google Voice or Analytics account, the transition just fails and nothing changes for you.  These one-off situations have to be dealt with before we try again.

In the meantime, the easiest way to track this down is to go to the Google accounts management page (https://google.com/accounts/) and see if you can log in as username@sandiego.edu

When you do that, check the email addresses tied to the account.

• If the username@sandiego.edu account is the primary account, cleanup may be difficult (you may have to rename your personal account to something that does not conflict with your lab email address).
• If it's not (it might just be an alternate email address associated with the account) , you'll just need to delete the email address. After than we should be able to transition you.  For more information, go here.

For a list of Google Applications you might have used with a conflicting account (and cause issues with transition), go here.

If I have a problem after transitioning, what should I do?

Please see google:GA+ Transition issues - and solutions, which includes "Access to LBL and personal Google accounts in the same browser"

If you can't seem to log in after we transition you, what should you do?

As of 4/25/11 - we have not seen this surface with our Pilot users.  Should we experience a problem we will work with you to resolve it.

We can also provide some troubleshooting tips from Google.

Where Can I Learn More.

Google's Pages on the Migration

(Portions of this article are courtesy Berkeley Lab Commons, 2011)