This article provides information on Chromebook functionality post transition into NDP.

Due to financial and technical support constraints SSAFA does not provide IT hardware to volunteers as a matter of course. However, in 2021, some Google Chromebooks were bought at the request of branches for use by volunteers, with varying levels of use in reality.

With NDP, Office365 is not required by the majority of volunteers to perform their roles, and GoAssemble (the new Volunteer Management System) provides email functionality, as well as access to other required resources. Therefore, as part of the transition into NDP, Office365 accounts will be closed for all volunteers, except branch executives and those volunteers who require Office365 for a role they hold with another service.

Office365 accounts will be closed 4 weeks after migration onto GoAssemble, for the majority of volunteers. There are further details on Office365 closures and actions that need to be taken here.

Chromebooks require an Office365 account for access, therefore volunteers who currently hold a Chromebook will not be able to use it once they have transitioned into NDP and their Office365 account has been closed.

All SSAFA owned devices have to comply with ‘Cyber Essentials’ and this means they can’t be decommissioned from SSAFA IT control, otherwise we are in breach of this requirement, essential for contracts such as the service SSAFA supplies to the RAF for welfare support. This means that Chromebooks can’t be used with personal email addresses and must only be linked to a SSAFA Office365 account.

If you have a Chromebook that you no longer require please contact [email protected] to organise it’s return to Central Office.

Should you have queries on the removal of O365 please refer to this article.

If you have any general queries on NDP please review our FAQs or contact the project team [email protected].