ACT BY TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2026

• The CIT e-List Service is moving to a new platform, based on Simplelists.
• You own a Lyris e-list. CIT has made a clone of your e-list in Simplelists to make migration simpler for you. Your options include:
  • Use the cloned e-list, which renews it for the coming year after giving the CIT e-list team your decision. 
  • Rename your e-list by requesting a new one and shutting down the clone. The new e-list is renewed for the coming year. More details under Alternative Migration Options.
  • Re-implement your e-list outside the CIT e-List Service.
  • Shut your e-list down.
• Only Simplelists e-lists will continue to operate after June 30.
• All Lyris e-lists will be disabled at the end of June 30.
• The timing of the transition off of Lyris to whatever you choose to replace it with is determined by you as long as it is done by June 30.
• Implement and then give the CIT e-List team your decision (on the Workflow Step Assignment email you will receive) by June 30.

Overview: Evaluate, Decide, Implement, Attest

Most e-lists can migrate to Simplelists, CIT’s new e-list platform. For those few that require features that Simplelists does not provide, there are options outside CIT's e-List Service to meet your needs.

The following guide will help you determine the correct path for your e-list (whether it's migration to the Simplelists clone, conversion to an EGA, renaming, re-implementing the e-list elsewhere, etc.) and how to fill out your TDX Workflow Step Assignment ticket to attest that you've completed migration off of Lyris. 

Is My E-List Compatible With Simplelists?

• Yes, if postings to your e-list are, or could be, submitted by email. Simplelists only accepts postings by email. Also, Simplelists supports these commonly used Lyris features:
  • Bounce management
  • Moderation
  • Parent-child relationships with other e-lists
  • Web-based joining and leaving
  • Web-based administrative management of members and e-list configuration
  • Automation for managing members
• No, if posting via the Lyris web interface is essential for your operations because you use advanced Lyris features (which Simplelists does not provide) including:
  • Engagement analytics (tracking opens and clicks)
  • Editor for creating elaborately formatted email
• Maybe:
  • Mail-merge for personalizing mailings – this feature, recently added to Simplelists, is meant to work with postings by e-mail. We recommend that you try it out with the test version of your Simplelists e-list to see if the feature meets your needs. Contact us if it does not.
  • Segments – In most cases, using multiple e-lists rather than one e-list with segments works fine. Contact us to explore the best way to implement in Simplelists what you have been doing in Lyris.
  • Digest memberships are not supported, so if digest memberships are critical for you, then Simplelists won’t be your best option. However, in many cases, members can create a rule in their email client to file all email from the e-list to its own folder by Creating a Rule Based on a Message.
  • Archives – just like Cornell’s Lyris deployment, Cornell’s Simplelists deployment does not support archives of e-list postings. You can use an external archive if you need this feature and still use Simplelists for your e-list.

If Yes, Migrate (Unless Alternative Migration Options Apply)

If none of the Alternative Migration Options below apply to your e-list, use the Migration Checklist before Tuesday, June 30, 2026 to complete migration. 

Alternative Migration Options

The transition from Lyris to Simplelists is a great opportunity to consider whether your e-list(s) should be renamed, restructured or converted to something else, such as an Exchange Group Account (EGA). No matter what choice you make, people will have to learn to post to a new email address — the Lyris posting address is going away – so consider the possibility that you might better align the new address with your activity and intentions.

SHOULD YOUR E-LIST BE AN EGA?

If the purpose of your e-list is to allow anyone to email you, you should switch to an EGA. E-lists are for sending announcements and/or facilitating discussions among people with a shared interest or business concern. Also, logging by email to e-lists from automated processes is no longer supported – please use an EGA or a proper monitoring system.   

To switch to using an EGA:

1. Create an EGA.
2. Notify anyone who regularly emails to your e-list of the new EGA address, and update any documentation that tells people to contact you via the e-list.
3. Optionally, place an auto-notification on the Lyris e-lists to remind people of the new contact email address.
4. In the TDX Workflow Step ticket, choose as appropriate: Shutdown A or Shutdown B.

SHOULD YOUR E-LIST(S) BE RENAMED/RESTRUCTURED?

Perhaps you have multiple e-lists, but they have a variety of prefixes. You might consider renaming them to all begin with the same prefix (ex. Dept-…), making it easier to see what e-lists your department operates. Or maybe you want to reorganize your e-lists? If you want to rename/reorganize your e-list during this migration/renewal process:

1. Request a new e-list … as many as you need, using the new name(s) you've chosen.
2. Optionally, export the members from your existing e-lists so they are available for you to import to your new e-lists.
3. Notify anyone who regularly emails to your e-list of the new e-list(s) address(es), and update any documentation. If your old e-list is a discussion e-list just post a message to it informing the members of the posting address(es) of the new e-list(s).
   1. Optionally place an auto-notification on the Lyris e-lists to remind people of the new posting address or structure.
4. In the TDX Workflow Step ticket, choose as appropriate: Shutdown A or Shutdown B.

If No, What Do I Do?

Option 1: Simplelists for the moment, and something else in the future.

If you can operate your e-list temporarily without the advanced Lyris features you were using, then scroll up to the If Yes, Migrate section above. Later, once you have another tool in place, you can ask us to shut down your Simplelists e-lists.

This is a good option if you could use Simplelists until Cornell's Marketing Cloud is available for your group. Marketing Cloud is a mass communication and marketing platform with robust features which is being rolled out across Cornell. 

Option 2: Use Simplelists in addition to alternative advanced formatting tools.

Formatting your emails can be achieved in several ways. Some groups use a creation tool and paste the results into Outlook or Gmail, others integrate https://beefree.io, and some use Gmail plugins. If it has been a while since you looked at what can be achieved with formatting in Outlook, it may be worth checking again. If this works for you, then scroll up to the If Yes, Migrate section above.

Option 3: Third-Party Mailing Senders

If you can’t operate your e-list without the advanced features, then you may want to use a third-party solution immediately. 

Learn more about Official Mailings and Third-Party Mail Senders.

Test E-Lists: Learn and Evaluate Simplelists Without Interrupting Members

Two test e-lists are available for you to experiment, learn, and evaluate if Simplelists is the right platform for your e-lists. 

Using them will not affect your existing Lyris e-list(s), nor the copy of those lists that CIT created in Simplelists. You are the owner of these test e-lists. You can add other people on your team as additional administrators for the test e-lists, enabling them to learn as well.

1. Log in to Simplelists.
2. Select the test e-list.
3. Learn the basics of operating a Simplelists e-list.

Complete Your TDX Workflow Step Assignment Ticket

There are four choices available in your TDX Workflow Step ticket:

RENEW A: I’ve switched; please activate the standard notification.

• This renews your e-list for the coming year.
• This choice involves the least amount of extra work for you.
• You attest that you are fully operating on the CIT provided Simplelists clone of your e-list, and that you want any posting to the old Lyris email address to bounce to the poster with a reminder of the correct new posting address (through August 3, 2026).

RENEW B: I’ve switched; no notification, delete the Lyris e-list now.

• This renews your e-list for the coming year.
• You attest that you are fully operating on the CIT provided Simplelists clone of your e-list, and that you want any posting to the old Lyris email address to bounce to the poster with no additional information, as if the e-list is gone.

SHUTDOWN A: Remove it; please keep my custom notification active.

• Use this option if you renamed or re-implemented your e-list elsewhere.
• This shuts down the original e-list. it will no longer exist in any CIT e-List Service.
• This is based on the name of the e-list; if you renamed the e-list, the new e-list won't be affected.
• You attest that you will not be using the CIT provide Simplelists clone of your e-list, that you want it deleted now, and that you want any posting to the old Lyris email address to bounce to the poster with the custom message you installed on the Lyris e-list (through August 3, 2026).

SHUTDOWN B: Remove it; no notification, delete everything now.

• Use this option if you want to shut down the e-list entirely.
• This shuts down the original e-list. it will no longer exist in any CIT e-List Service.
• This is based on the name of the e-list; if you renamed the e-list, the new e-list won't be affected.
• You attest that you will not be using the CIT provide Simplelists clone of your e-list, that you want it deleted now, and that you want any posting to the old Lyris email address to bounce to the poster with no additional information, as if the e-list is gone.