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Next step in the conversion of Microsoft licenses at the University of Erfurt

The University of Erfurt is now taking the next step as part of the changeover of Microsoft licenses necessitated by the new usage agreement between Thuringia's universities and Microsoft, which has been in effect since May 2021:

All employees will now be provided with a personal license, which will be required in the future for the use of the Microsoft products already available at the University of Erfurt (Windows, Office products such as Word, Excel). The additional use of Office 365 on private devices offered in the old licensing model is being phased out and will be merged into one usage model under the term Microsoft 365. Microsoft products can generally be used on up to five devices per user. These can be devices at the workplace or private devices. However, use is limited to business purposes.

For employees with devices centrally administered by the University Computer and Media Centre (URMZ), this serves only as information. In the coming year, the Office products will be gradually updated to Microsoft Apps for Enterprise. These products, which are basically identical in terms of functionality, automatically use the personal licenses provided in the background. For users, therefore, nothing further needs to be done at this point.

For employees and students who currently use Office 365 on private devices or self-administered service devices, action is required. With the provision of the license or the registration (opt-in), which has been possible since October 6, a new account is created at Microsoft via the company e-mail address. In the future, Office products must be obtained and managed via this account. The account currently used for Office 365 will continue to run in parallel for a while, but will be closed during the first half of 2023. All affected users will be informed again by the University Computer and Media Centre.

For data protection reasons, the so-called "insecure services" are deactivated in the new Microsoft account. This means that in particular the use of "OneDrive" or the creation of own online meetings in "Microsoft Teams" is not (or no longer) possible via the account. As a consequence, the data currently stored with Microsoft must be backed up. With the closure of the Office 365 account, access is no longer possible later. Please note: There will be no automatic data transfer to the new account.

In order to enable you, the user, to process and store your data securely and in accordance with data protection regulations, the University Computer and Media Centre (URMZ) is currently working with the data protection officer to develop a corresponding cloud guideline. The University Computer and Media Centre (URMZ) has also compiled all important information on the changeover, the services offered and possible alternatives to services that are no longer available on its service pages. We ask you to pay attention - also to the news already published on this topic on our website.

Tags: Digital teaching

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