1. Implement federation if needed

2. Make any required provisioning or synchronization changes

3. Do any Exchange Online tasks you identified before upgrade

4. Get everybody ready

5. Configure Office 365

1. Implement federation if needed

The Live@edu SSO Toolkit version 4.5 will continue to work until December 31, 2014. After that, you’ll need to use a single-sign-on solution that is supported in Office 365.

See Single sign-on to plan for and implement federation in Office 365.

2. Make any required provisioning or synchronization changes

If you determined that provisioning or synchronization changes are required, implement them and then verify that provisioning is working.

• For instructions about how to set up directory synchronization, see Directory synchronization options.

• If you were using Exchange Control Panel (ECP), continue using ECP or see User accounts and permissions for instructions on provisioning by using the Admin page of Office 365. 
  • Note: When you add new mailboxes in Office 365 by using ECP, you also need to assign an Office 365 license to each mailbox. For more information, see Exchange Online differences and Manage licenses.

• If you plan to use Windows PowerShell, for information about the new Office 365 cmdlets and cmdlet differences in Exchange Online, see Windows PowerShell.

3. Do any Exchange Online tasks you identified before upgrade

If you identified any differences in Exchange Online that apply to your educational institution, do the after-upgrade tasks in Exchange Online differences.

4. Get everybody ready

• Remind your users that they now have two separate accounts:
  • An Office 365 account that is managed by your educational institution and used to access email and other Office 365 services.
    • Office 365: https://portal.microsoftonline.com/.
    • Outlook Web App: Use any of the following addresses:
      • http://mail.office365.com/
      • https://www.outlook.com/[DOMAIN]; for example, https://www.outlook.com/contoso.edu
      • An address that you created using a CNAME record.
  • A personal Microsoft account that is no longer managed by your institution and retains access to existing SkyDrive files, Messenger contacts, and other Microsoft services.
    • Microsoft SkyDrive and Messenger: https://skydrive.live.com/.

• For a template you can use to send to users, see Sample notification emails.

• If you created custom addresses in Windows Live Admin Center, go to your domain registrar website, and then remove any CNAME records that point to go.domains.live.com. Tell your users not to use these custom addresses, as they no longer work. For more information about working with DNS records, see Domains.    

5. Configure Office 365

Subscribe to academic plans, set up administrators, and configure SharePoint Online and Lync Online.

1. To get started, sign in at https://portal.microsoftonline.com/, and then click Admin.
   The automated upgrade subscribes you to Exchange Online Plan 1 for Students.
2. If you want to subscribe to the free A2 plan, or to a paid academic subscription, on the Admin page, in the left pane, under Subscriptions, click Purchase. As part of the subscription process, you’ll be prompted to sign a new service agreement.
3. To learn how to subscribe to an additional plan, see Buy subscriptions for your company.
4. Appoint other administrators, including a billing administrator. For details, see Assigning administrator roles.
5. If you are using SharePoint Online and Lync Online, configure them. For information about how to configure these tools, see SharePoint Online and Lync Online.
6. To learn more about administering Office 365, see Office 365 for enterprises: a tour for administrators. To learn more about Office 365, see Get started with Office 365. This is also a good resource for your users.