Communication is essential for the success of a migration project. After saving the migration project, you can prepare and schedule email messages which:
- inform the users about the migration project and guide them through the migration process,
- if necessary, remind them of the migration,
- confirm that the migration of the device is completed.
This is done by using the Email Content Tool which is automatically opened after saving the migration project.
After leaving the Email Content Tool you can access it again at any time: To do so, go to the EBF Onboarder dashboard and click on ‘Migration Details’ to access the migration project dashboard:
Then click on ‘Email Content’:
05.1. Invitation email
The invitation email will be sent to users to inform them about the migration. It includes a link or a start button to initiate the migration at the mobile device. Each invitation is unique and will associate one user email address with one single mobile device.
ATTENTION:
- As each invitation is unique and associated with a certain device, it is important that the migration is started exactly from the mobile device that is associated with the invitation. For that reason, it is recommended to indicate the device name and the serial number in the subject of the invitation email. In case the user has several devices to migrate, this allows him to select the right invitation email for each mobile device.
- It may happen that a user clicks on the link or start button when he is using a laptop instead of the mobile device where the migration should actually be initiated. In this case, a QR code appears, which can be scanned by the user from the device which is named in the subject of the migration mail. In case the user still starts the migration with the wrong device, the mobile device will be retired from the source UEM server, although the migration process was not started from it. The migration process will stop, and the mobile device won’t be registered on the target UEM server. The migration process has to be restarted from the mobile device to finish the process and register the device properly on the target server.
05.1.1. Default or rich templates
The Email Content Tool offers templates which help to setup an invitation email.
NOTE: You need to make sure that the email includes a ‘Start Migration’ button or a link that will enable the device to start the migration. If you don’t do that, the EBF Onboarder will automatically add a start button or link to the invitation, but you cannot control the style of it.
Follow these steps to setup the invitation email:
- Go to the migration project dashboard, open the Email Content Tool and click on ‘Invitation Email’:
- Edit the subject. It’s recommended to include the device name and the serial number.
- Add the email content by using the basic WYSIWYG editor.
- By clicking on <>, you can edit the HTML source code.
- By clicking on {}, you can insert variables or a template that can be used as a basis to create your own message. You can change it with the help of the editor:
Variables {HTML}
Decription Migration-Button {link}
Button to start the migration Device-Serial {serial}
Serial number of the device Device-Name {device}
Name of the device Device-Phonenumber {phone}
Device phone number Migration-Link {url}
Unique link for the device migration Migration-Shorlink {shortUrl}
Short link for the device migration QR-code {qr}
QR-code for the device migration Template:Default n/a Small text sample for the invitation email Template:Rich n/a Full text sample for the invitation email Template:Android Companion n/a Android Enterprise managed devices require an Android Companion App to migrate (see chapter 05.1.2). This sample is for the use of the Android Companion App
- Save the changes.
05.1.2. Android Enterprise template
By default, only Android Legacy devices can migrate with the link which is automatically generated by the EBF Onboarder. Android Enterprise devices (previously Android for Work devices) cannot use the regular EBF Onboarder link for migration, but require an Android Companion App: the EBF Onboarder Helper App.
NOTE: The EBF Onboarder Helper App works for Android Enterprise BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) only and for none of the Device Owner modes.
The Email Content Tool includes a template for this purpose which guides users to install the EBF Onboarder Helper App.
To use the template, you can proceed in the same way as described in chapter 05.1.1. The only difference is that you need to choose the template ‘Template:Android Companion’ which will look like this:
NOTE: You have to make sure that the users will take the following steps on their Android Enterprise devices:
- The users have to follow the invitation email on the Android Enterprise device.
- The users need to install the EBF Onboarder Helper App in their personal profile (not in the work profile).
- The users have to start the migration by opening the EBF Onboarder Helper App.
- The app will collect the device’s information (Device ID, IMEI, phone number, Mac address) and then get the migration information associated to this device from the EBF Onboarder portal. If the app cannot find the user’s device automatically, the user needs to enter his email address and the PIN which is included in the invitation email he has received. Once the device has received the migration information from the EBF Onboarder, the migration of the device will start by retiring the device from the source UEM server. The device will be preregistered at the target UEM server.
ATTENTION: It is important that the EBF Onboarder Helper App is installed outside the work profile. Otherwise the migration won’t be completed, the work profile container will remain on the device and the migration will fail.
NOTE: There might be special reasons to send the invitation mail to the users, but the mail should not contain the migration link. To be able to create a mail without a migration link, use the ‘Template: Android Companion’. Other templates force to include the migration link.
05.2. Reminders
It is recommended to remind users who have not yet started or completed the migration to do this. There are two ways to send reminders to your users:
- Manual reminders (default): You can manually send another invitation to your users. For this, you have to select the users/devices manually and click on ‘Send Invitation’ (see chapter 08). A reminder will then be sent immediately to the selected users/devices.
- Automatic reminders: You can also prepare reminders for your migration project which will be triggered automatically after a certain time. You can schedule several automatic reminders with the Email Content Tool.
There are two types of automatic reminders:
- Reminders which are sent to users who haven’t started the migration yet (Status ‘Incomplete’, see chapter 05.2.1).
- Reminders which are sent to devices where the migration process was interrupted and which still need to register at the new UEM system (Status ‘Partially Complete’, see chapter 05.2.2).
ATTENTION: If you have activated automatic reminders, you cannot send an invitation email to specific users manually anymore (see chapter 05.2.3).
05.2.1. Regular automatic reminders (default)
Follow these steps to create an automatic reminder:
- Go to the migration project dashboard, open the Email Content Tool and click on ‘Reminder 1’ to create the first reminder which the user receives if he did not start the migration after a certain time:
- Check the box ‘Automatic’ below the text filed and enter when the reminder should be sent to the user.
- Keep the box ‘Incomplete’ checked at the bottom right of the text field.
- Edit the subject.
- Edit the email content and keep it similar to the invitation email.
- Save your reminder.
If you want to add a second reminder, click on ‘Reminder 2’ and proceed in the same way as for Reminder 1. If you want to add further reminders, click on ‘+Add Reminder’ and proceed in the same way as for Reminder 1 + 2.
NOTE:
- The timer for the automatic reminders will start on the day the first invitation is sent (the first one of the whole migration project). So, if you send the first invitation email on March 1, March 2 counts as ‘day 1’. A reminder which is scheduled to be sent 5 days after the invitation was sent, will be sent on March 6.
- The reminder will be sent exactly ‘n’ days after the invitation was sent. If the invitation was sent at 9 am, the reminder will be sent at the same time ‘n’ days later.
05.2.2. Automatic reminders for interrupted migration processes
Usually reminders are sent to remind users that they should migrate their devices. But it also may happen that a user starts the migration process, but does not finish the migration process and does not register at the target UEM server – e.g. because of a lack of time, a wrong device used, network issues or missing credentials. So, a reminder can also be useful to help users to finish the migration they already started. Often the device was already retired on the source UEM and the migration must be restarted on the device again to finish the registration at the target system. Thus, you should create another reminder for the above-mentioned situations for each regular reminder.
Follow these steps to create another automatic reminder:
- Select ‘Partially Complete’ at the bottom right of the text field:
- Edit the subject and refer to the migration which was interrupted.
- Edit the email content and refer to the migration which was interrupted.
- The settings for ‘Automatic’ do not need to be changed and can be the same as for the regular reminder.
- Save your reminder.
- Proceed in the same way for other reminders which you have set-up with the box ‘Incomplete’ checked.
05.2.3. Consequences of automatic reminders
If you have already activated automatic reminders (‘automatic’ box still selected), you cannot send an invitation email to specific users manually. But there are ways how you can handle this which are described in the following two chapters.
Devices with the status ‘Pending’
If you want to send a reminder manually to selected devices with the status ‘pending’, which means that they have not started the migration yet, you can unselect the check box ‘automatic’. Then you will be able to select users one by one to send your reminder manually. The content of this reminder will be the one of the reminder which was supposed to be sent next.
You can switch back to the automatic mode again by selecting the check box again. The reminder which was originally planned to be sent next will then be sent to the user.
EXAMPLE: If you have created three different messages for reminder 1, 2 and 3, and reminder 1 has already been sent automatically, then reminder 2 would be the next reminder to be sent. If you decide to send a reminder manually instead and uncheck the ‘automatic’ box, the manual reminder will use the content of reminder 2.
Devices with the status ‘Partially Complete’
For devices that are in the middle of the migration process, which means that the migration was interrupted (status ‘Partially Complete’), you cannot send a reminder manually as you won’t be able to select the users in the list anymore – even with the ‘automatic’ box unselected. But you can still add a new automatic reminder for the upcoming days which addresses all the devices that need to be reminded.
Follow these steps to add a new reminder:
- Click on ‚+Add Reminder‘:
- Check the box ‘Automatic’ below the text filed and enter when the reminder should be sent to the user.
ATTENTION: The number needs to be higher than the number of days that have passed since the first invitation was sent.
EXAMPLE: If a migration was started on February 1 and today is February 21, 20 days have passed. If you want to send another reminder to a specific user, you need to update the migration, add a reminder and use 21 days or more as a setting for the sending date. In this case not only the specific user, but all users who have not started the migration yet (status ‘Incomplete’) or all users where the migration process was interrupted (status ‘Partially Complete’) will receive the reminder.
05.3. Welcome email
When the device was successfully migrated from the source to the target UEM and is fully registered at the target system, EBF Onboarder can confirm this by sending a welcome message. This message can also provide further instructions to the user.
Follow these steps to create a welcome email:
- Go to the migration project dashboard, open the Email Content Tool and click on ‘Welcome Email’:
- Edit the subject and the email content.
- Check the box ‘Enable’ to activate the sending of the welcome message once the device migration is complete. You can deactivate the box, when you want to save the content, but don’t want the welcome message to be sent.
NOTE: The longest timeframe for a device to migrate is 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, EBF Onboarder cannot ensure to send the welcome message when the device is finally registered.
05.4. Test email
After setting up the different emails, it is recommended to test the different messages. The emails will be sent to the admin’s email address.
Follow these steps to send a test email:
- Open the different emails in the Email Content Tool.
- Click on the envelope icon:
- A test email will be sent to the admin’s email address.
- Check if the content is correct.
- Change the email content if necessary.
NOTE: A test with the invitation mail will not count for license management.