# Google Apps



## fredtgreco (Jan 29, 2008)

Does anyone have any experience with using Google Apps? I'm considering integrating it with our domain.

Thanks!


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## Semper Fidelis (Jan 29, 2008)

Yes, see Central Baptist Church, Okinawa, Japan

We use Calendars. We share spreadsheets. We share documents.

We even use the Google Groups as a "forum" for the deacons and other Church business because all the e-mails got too much. As an example, I've got the Church budget set up on a spreadsheet so that once one saves it, the doc is updated and people can go look at any time what the budget is.

Using Google Apps is highly preferable to e-mailing docs all over the place and facing the information management problem that attends it in a Church.


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## raekwon (Jan 29, 2008)

I switched our church's domain over to Google Apps over a year ago and we've been very pleased. Very reliable, e-mail can be used with existing clients (if one so chooses), and the calendar has been very helpful as a centralized place for scheduling (music teams, ushers, nursery workers, etc).

I recommend it, Fred.


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## Semper Fidelis (Jan 29, 2008)

I forgot to mention that another great feature is the ability to collaborate on documents.

None of this stuff is very new in terms of idea or technology but the ease at which you can do it for free is a great bonus.

I was actually thinking about posting a guide to all the things I've found useful about it.


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## raekwon (Jan 29, 2008)

*note to self - take a look at sharing docs as well . . . thanks, Rich*


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## panta dokimazete (Jan 29, 2008)

love it!


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## jaybird0827 (Jan 29, 2008)

Using it in conjunction with the Precentor blog.

Many of the links take you to Google documents.


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## jaybird0827 (Jan 29, 2008)

SemperFideles said:


> I forgot to mention that another great feature is the ability to collaborate on documents.
> 
> None of this stuff is very new in terms of idea or technology but the ease at which you can do it for free is a great bonus.
> 
> I was actually thinking about posting a guide to all the things I've found useful about it.


 
Write up a Google doc and give us the link!


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## Semper Fidelis (Jan 29, 2008)

Oh, and we have a Google group for the Pastor Search Committee. As the applications come in electronically, I cut and paste the applications into a new discussion on the Google Group (invitation only so only the members can view). We can then view the apps at our leisure and make notations on each application in it's own threaded discussion. It saves us from multiple meetings where we have to print out the apps, share with everyone and discuss line by line. This way, we're prepared ahead of time when we come into to meet over an issue.

Have to run but I could talk for hours about the benefits of a collaborative environment. I wrote a magazine article about it a couple of months ago that I'm hoping is published.


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## fredtgreco (Jan 29, 2008)

Ok. How did you get Google to recognize that you own your domain?

I'm having great difficulty with that.

Rich, care to help?


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## raekwon (Jan 29, 2008)

I'm glad Fred started this discussion. My brain is now abuzz with the possibilities we (as a Session) can take advantage of.


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## raekwon (Jan 29, 2008)

I'm fairly certain that when you sign up, Google gives you some settings changes to effect on your domain. After you change those settings with your webhost (and Google verifies it), they "flip the switch", so to speak.

It's been a while since I've had to do this, though, so I could be wrong.


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## crhoades (Jan 29, 2008)

Fred,

May be wayyyyy overkill but currently implementing SharePoint here at work. For collaboration on a network it is killer. Much of the basics are free with W2003 server in WSS 3.0. You can do some pretty killer work with Infopath and the rest of MS Office 2007. Again, probably way overkill - but great technology.


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## fredtgreco (Jan 29, 2008)

crhoades said:


> Fred,
> 
> May be wayyyyy overkill but currently implementing SharePoint here at work. For collaboration on a network it is killer. Much of the basics are free with W2003 server in WSS 3.0. You can do some pretty killer work with Infopath and the rest of MS Office 2007. Again, probably way overkill - but great technology.



Agreed on both points. Problem is - most of our people don't have the programs or know how to use them. We're not in a spot right now to buy a bunch of software - although that day may come and we can use MS charitable licensing.

I'm looking for (primarily) relief from spam and Gmail is awesome for that. I also need better calendar integration. And some of our folks are already using Google (outside of the Apps context) for document sharing and calendar items.


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## fredtgreco (Jan 29, 2008)

OK. So I finally got the domain verified. So how do I get the email, etc. switched over without completely messing up the email accounts I already have?

In other words - I have an email address (and so do a bunch of others) at cckpca.org. I want that email to now go through the GMail Google Apps. I'll set the settings to have POP3 (to go into my Outlook) and keep in Inbox (for web archiving).

Anybody done this?


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## Semper Fidelis (Jan 29, 2008)

Yes, I've done it Fred. I've even helped others switch from domain e-mail to Gmail.

1. Set up a forwarding rule so that your host forwards all e-mail to your G-Mail address.
2. You can then delete the POP3 account on your server.
3. Set up Outlook to log into POP3 (or IMAP) to download your mail from GMail.

Thus to the world, I might me [email protected] but my e-mail comes to [email protected]. I can set up Google to send from [email protected] and when users reply to that address it is forwarded by my server's forwarding rule to gmail. I have about 5-6 e-mail addresses that all go to the same G-mail address.

From Outlook you can set the "Reply To" address to your domain e-mail but you can only do a one-for-one there.

I hope that all makes sense. Let's get offline and I'll help you set it up if you're confused.


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## fredtgreco (Jan 29, 2008)

Rich,

Actually, I'm thinking of more than just "pointers" or "forwards". I want to actually route my mail through Google's servers (using Google Apps) to take advantage of Spam filtering. This is the link I am looking at, to actually change my MX records and make Google my email server:

Email Switch Guide

Then I would just change the POP3 settings in Outlook, and everything goes through Google, but Google Apps lets me retain the domain name (so I'm not [email protected])

Does that make sense? I have house guests in a few minutes, but I could call you (Vonage) later tonight or tomorrow - whatever is not the middle of the night for you!


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## Semper Fidelis (Jan 29, 2008)

Oh...I hadn't even seen this. You'd actually get the Spam filters by a forwarding rule but then your real address is a G-mail address. I think I like this because it would take some more load off my servers even for e-mail forwarding. I'm going to need to find out what kind of features it offers.

Set up on this is not terribly difficult but I'm always a bit nervous about DNS records. I don't know if you've seen that I actually "re-brand" people's Blogger accounts so they change from MENSAGEM to http://site.solideogloria.com but it's sort of the same idea here. It's actually a single CNAME entry for the Blogger thing while this might take an MX record.

Either way, you need to log into your domain control panel (do you use GoDaddy) and you should be able to make the changes desired. Drop me an e-mail. I have a Vonage phone at work and I'll give you a call after your guest leave. Try the Monty Burns thing where you tell your guests that they have 5 minutes to leave before you release the hounds.


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## Semper Fidelis (Jan 29, 2008)

crhoades said:


> Fred,
> 
> May be wayyyyy overkill but currently implementing SharePoint here at work. For collaboration on a network it is killer. Much of the basics are free with W2003 server in WSS 3.0. You can do some pretty killer work with Infopath and the rest of MS Office 2007. Again, probably way overkill - but great technology.



Sharepoint and a collaborative information environment is what I could spend hours talking about. I pushed to get Sharepoint integrated into our daily processes here and now we have Senior Officers throughout the Marine Corps coming to see how we perform Command and Control. There's lots of doctrine and thought on this subject but creating a decision support environment for a large organization is incredibly involved from people and processes down to the physical layer decisions you make for your networks.

I'm more of an "architect" kind of guy. The few hundred communicators in the organization do all the grunt work including setting the stuff up in austere environments. What we can do even from Bangladesh during a recent relief mission would spin your head.

Anyway, the long and short of it is that Sharepoint is overkill for a Church. I sort of integrated a Sharepoint-"like" thing for Fred before and it was too complicated. The learning curve is too steep. Google's document and other features aren't super sophisticated and I wouldn't rely upon them for what we're doing here but for a Church they are fantastic. When it boils down to it, usability is much more important than bells and whistles. Google docs has bells and whistles but, most importantly, it provides the toolset to get work done.


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## Semper Fidelis (Jan 29, 2008)

BTW, Fred. I need to take back what I said when you asked if I had played around with Google Apps. I was thinking you were talking of Google Docs. I'm incredibly intrigued by Google Apps now.

Very cool stuff. I might end up even paying for it since I can't qualify for the discount but might want to use it for my main solideogloria.com domain.


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## fredtgreco (Jan 29, 2008)

SemperFideles said:


> BTW, Fred. I need to take back what I said when you asked if I had played around with Google Apps. I was thinking you were talking of Google Docs. I'm incredibly intrigued by Google Apps now.
> 
> Very cool stuff. I might end up even paying for it since I can't qualify for the discount but might want to use it for my main solideogloria.com domain.



You could look into the "Educational" solution. That is what I signed us up for. Non-profits (churches) qualify. It is essentially a stripped down version of the Premium Plan - most of the same features, but less storage space, etc.

This really looks like it is going to be a good solution for backend stuff, since it works with the easy (and familiar) Google interface. I can even use something like OggSync to sync the Google Calendar and my personal Outlook calendar. Then I can have the church's GCalendar (which is embedded on the webpage through an API) and my calendar and our Associate's and then we can have schedule views.

Very neat.


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## fredtgreco (Jan 29, 2008)

The more I look, the neater it is:

Google Apps


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