Many, many years ago, Google recommended the creation of separate Google Workspace domains for staff and one for students. This is no longer recommended, however there are quite a few districts who still have two domains.

This past summer I managed two domain merge projects for districts who decided to merge their staff and student domains into a single unified admin console. This blog post is a short reflection on the process and lessons learned during these two projects. If you are a two-domain district, hopefully this reflection will help you too! 

Should you merge your domains? 

Merging domains is a big, annoying project. Here are the reasons you should get it done NOW:

• Merging domains will never get easier…the more data you collect, the harder it becomes. 
• Managing Chromebooks across domains is challenging. 
• Upgrading to EDU plus is challenging with two domains
• Security is twice as hard when you have two domains to manage
• Data syncing tools like Clever, Classlink, and PowerSchool don’t work well when you have separate domains for staff and students. 

When done well, the domain merge process is nearly transparent to the end user. Accounts, Drive files, Emails, and devices work just like they always have. There will be a short period of disruption (1-2 days), so it is best to perform a migration during a non-instructional period of time. 

Planning your migration:

Here are some key questions to ask as you plan your domain merge: 

• Do you want to migrate STAFF or STUDENT accounts? 
• Do you want everyone to use the same domain, or do you want to establish a sub-domain? 
• Do you need to migrate user data? If so, which services (Gmail, Calendar, Drive, etc)?
• When do you want to schedule this migration (downtime can be minimized, but will exist)?

Most of the time, it is easier to move your students into your staff domain. This causes less disruption for your teaching staff and requires less data migration. You can migrate your student domain (e.g. gotigers.net) as a subdomain of your primary domain (e.g. myschool.org), or you can eliminate your student domain entirely and have everyone in the primary domain (e.g. myschool.org). 

I created a six step plan that outlines and describes the necessary steps required to merge your workspace domain. Each migration is unique, but this outline will give you a place to begin.  

Data Migration

One of the benefits of moving your student users into your staff domain is minimizing data migration. For one of the districts I worked with we decided not to migrate any student data. Instead, students received new accounts at the start of the new school year. We still have access to their old data and can retrieve anything that is vitally important, but as of October, we haven’t had any students ask for access to their old files!

Data migration tools are limited when migrating from Google > Google. At the moment, Gmail is the only product with a dedicated migration utility. If you want to move data from Calendar, Contacts, and Drive, you’ll need to manually merge your data, use a third party migration service or build your own migration utility using GAM or App Script. 

I ended up creating a custom app script with the help of Google Gemini to migrate contacts for one of my clients. 

Chromebook License Migration

One of the key steps to migrating a domain is moving your Chromebook licenses. You can not move a primary domain if Chromebook licenses are present. These licenses must be transferred to your new domain, which can only be done by Google support. Unfortunately, this process isn’t well documented and I had to work with several support agents before I was able to get someone who understood what we were trying to do! 

The good news is that this CAN BE DONE and Google WILL transfer your existing licenses to a new domain at no cost. You do NOT need to re-purchase your license, but you will need to re-enroll your Chromebooks in your primary domain. This can be a time-consuming process best done over the summer months. 

Other things that are easy to forget

While migrating users and devices is the most time-consuming aspect of a domain migration, there are lots of little things that are easy to forget: 

• Google Groups – you will need to re-create and re-populate your groups.
• Apps and Extensions – don’t forget to move your approved apps and extensions! You will also need to migrate your third party API policies. 
• Email sender lists – if you restrict student email, you will need to re-create your approved sender lists and any other email rules you have established. 
• License migration – you will need to notify any paid service providers about your domain change. This includes things like Securly, GoGuardian, Kami, IXL, Canva, Kahoot, etc. 
• Data Syncing Rules – if you are using Clever, Classlink, or a sync utility through your SIS, make sure you update your syncing rules to maps to your new domain and OUs. 

A realistic Timeline

A successful domain migration requires 2-3 months of planning and another 2-3 months for implementation. The ideal time to plan your migration is in the winter so that you can initiate your data and Chromebook migration as soon as the school year ends. 

This process isn’t particularly difficult, but it is tedious. If you are contemplating a migration and would like some expert help, get in touch! Having gone through this process several times definitely makes things easier. I’d be happy to chat about your project and give you a realistic timeline and budget for merging your domain together.

Learn more about this topic: 

• Writing custom App Script
• Domain migration plan
• How to change your primary workspace domain