Moving to Exchange Online
About This Project
Southwest Allen County Schools
Client
7,500+
Students
Fort Wayne, IN
Location
Partner Technologies Used
Microsoft Exchange Online, Outlook (Windows & Web), Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 Security & Compliance
Project Highlight
Migrated 7,500+ users during COVID, reduced end-user disruption, improved spam filtering, enabled mobile + Teams integration, simplified IT management with cloud-based tools
Overview
District: Southwest Allen County Schools
Location: Fort Wayne, Indiana
Students: 7,500+
Graduation Rate: 96.3%
State Grade: A
The Challenge
"For me, it was reliability and redundancy ... The ability to have a reliable email system that was not affected if our Internet pipe were to go down. That reliability factor was huge for me."
With a small IT team and growing demands for reliability, mobility, and cloud integration, Southwest Allen County Schools needed to modernize their email infrastructure. They sought a secure, reliable, and user-transparent migration to Exchange Online—without disrupting faculty and staff.
Key Concerns Before Migration
In school districts, email is a form of public record, so making sure that data is held private was an area of concern.
I think I am comfortable now that it is secure. If our administration, passwords, and security measures are in place, then it is a secure location to keep our email.
Don Chase (Director of Technology, Southwest Allen County Schools)
The Solution
Exchange Online with eGroup
eGroup brought structure, expertise, and a collaborative approach to execute the migration.
“The first thing that became quite apparent to me was their organization,” said Chase.
“The number of people involved—not only the engineer doing the work, but also the planning person and the project manager. That was huge for us.”
“eGroup’s engineer was able to do more than he would have in a complex environment. That eliminated some work and let me focus on smaller details, or specific user accounts that needed a little more tweaking and adjustment.”
The Migration Process
The migration was executed in strategic phases:
Started with heavy email users (IT staff) to learn and adapt.
Developed a training and communication plan.
Gradually scaled up:
Moved 10, 20, 30 users at a time
Migrated by building (middle schools, elementary schools, etc.)
“We identified the steps that we were going to take... We started doing an entire school at a time. By the end, we were able to take big chunks to the cloud.”
End-User Experience
The transition was seamless for end users, with no need for retraining.
“Our end-users primarily used the Outlook client. Once their email was migrated, it was ‘Carry on!’ The fact that it was just all there, and nothing changed, and nothing was missing was huge.”
Lessons Learned
Communication
“The biggest thing I learned with this process was to over-communicate,” said Chase.
“Let people know what’s happening and when. Overall, I would just have over-communicated the process.”
When DIY Isn’t Worth It
“It’s not something I would have tackled without help,” said East.
“In a school system, we juggle so many responsibilities, and no one specializes in just one area. Having someone who does this every day to guide us was invaluable—I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.
Doing it ourselves would’ve taken five times longer. We’d have to research everything from scratch, and we’ve never done this type of migration before. Yes, there’s a cost—but the time saved and the smooth transition made working with eGroup absolutely worth it.”
Doing it ourselves would’ve taken five times longer. … Yes, there’s a cost—but the time saved and the smooth transition made working with eGroup absolutely worth it.
Mark East (Network Administrator, Southwest Allen County Schools)
User & IT Benefits After Migration
Less spam with improved control over junk folders
Unified cloud-based management interface
Better integration with mobile devices and apps
Enabled new capabilities through Microsoft 365 & Teams
Moving our emails to the cloud has opened up more functionality that we just simply would not have had before.
Don Chase (Director of Technology, Southwest Allen County Schools)
Now everything is in one location for management… the interface is the same for end users, so it really wasn’t a change there, which is always helpful.
Mark East (Network Administrator, Southwest Allen County Schools)
Experience with eGroup
The staff we worked with at eGroup Enabling Technologies was very responsive
Don Chase (Director of Technology, Southwest Allen County Schools)
I worked with an engineer, John, quite extensively. He is very knowledgeable and was available pretty much 24/7/365.
Don Chase (Director of Technology, Southwest Allen County Schools)
I sent email to John and within a half hour I was getting responses back from him. He was very responsive and answered our questions.
Trevor Hanson (Network Administrator, Southwest Allen County Schools)
Advice to Other School Districts
Go ahead and do it! From an IT perspective—just do it. Yes, there are concerns, but if you plan it right, over-communicate, and manage the process… the functionality and the features far outweigh any concerns.
Don Chase (Director of Technology, Southwest Allen County Schools)
It’s not something I would tackle without somebody’s help. There’s just too much on the back end. … To have that person that you know this is what they do every day—to rely on and guide you down that path—it’s invaluable.
Mark East (Network Administrator, Southwest Allen County Schools)
What's Next?
“Our next step is to expand our use of Microsoft Teams,” Chase shared.
“Now that email is in the cloud, Teams is our next big initiative.”
See the Story in Action:
eGroup Can Help You Too!
Whether you’re planning your first move to Exchange Online or expanding your Microsoft 365 environment, eGroup Enabling Technologies provides the expertise, planning, and support to ensure a smooth, secure transition—just like we did for Southwest Allen County Schools.
