• Host a briefing with key decision-makers (e.g., leadership, IT leadership, program owners) to align on priorities.

• Define a small set of measurable outcomes, such as adoption or time saved.

• Confirm scope, funding, and visible executive endorsement to ensure organizational commitment.

• Develop an AI Use Policy: Draft a clear, one-page policy outlining permitted and prohibited uses. Review publicly available policies from peer institutions to inform your approach.

• Secure Legal and Compliance Approval: Obtain sign-off from legal and compliance teams to ensure alignment with institutional standards.

• Establish Oversight: Form a governance group responsible for monitoring use, reviewing cases, and handling escalations.

• Define Escalation Protocols: Document clear steps for addressing potential misuse or policy violations (ex: If a student misuses ChatGPT to plagiarize, who handles this?)

• Appoint a Project Lead: Designate a Project Lead with clear authority to make decisions and drive implementation forward.

• Form a Cross-Functional Team: Assemble representatives from IT, communications, and stakeholder groups to ensure broad alignment.

• Establish a Shared Tracker: Create a centralized tracker to manage tasks, deadlines, and responsibilities.

• Build a Common Foundation: Ask stakeholders to watch ChatGPT 101 to gain a baseline understanding of ChatGPT Edu’s features and capabilities.

• Leverage Peer Resources: Encourage sign-up for OpenAI Academy and participation in the Higher Education community to connect with peers and access curated resources.

• Develop an Internal Communications Plan: Create a plan with clear announcements, FAQs, and talking points tailored to different audiences. Use OpenAI's AI Communication Toolkit as inspiration.

• Ensure messaging emphasizes why the institution is adopting AI and proactively addresses common questions.

• Review Workspace Configuration: Begin by understanding and selecting the appropriate workspace settings to align with your institution’s governance and access requirements.

• Evaluate Single Sign-On (SSO) Options Familiarize yourself with the available SSO options across OpenAI services to determine which approach best supports your security and user experience needs.

• Understand Roles and Permissions: Review the different roles within ChatGPT to clarify how administrators, faculty, staff, and students will interact with the platform.

• Define a User Management Strategy: Establish a clear approach to user management, including how accounts will be provisioned, maintained, and deactivated over time.

• Set Up Single Sign-On (SSO) and Domain Verification Configure SSO and complete domain verification to ensure that only authorized users within your institution can access the platform.

• Prove Domain Ownership: Add TXT records to your DNS to validate institutional ownership of the domain.

• Integrate with Identity Providers: Configure SAML or OIDC with your institution’s identity provider to enable secure authentication flows.

• Test Authentication Flows: Conduct a pilot test with a small administrative group to validate login processes and identify any adjustments before broad rollout.

• (Optional - Advanced) Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Configure RBAC to manage permissions based on user groups. RBAC can be implemented independently or in combination with SCIM for greater automation.

• (Optional - Advanced) SCIM Integration: Enable SCIM integration to automate user provisioning and deprovisioning based on HR or student information systems.

• Synchronize account creation and removal directly from institutional systems

• Map roles (e.g., faculty, students, staff) to appropriate access groups to enforce role-based access controls.

• Update Support Systems: Add a dedicated ChatGPT Edu category to your help desk or ticketing platform to streamline support requests.

• Provide a Troubleshooting Guide: Publish a guide with common issues and solutions to reduce support load and enable self-service.

• Set Up Monitoring: Define success metrics and monitor adoption using your analytics tools or available in-product analytics in ChatGPT Edu.

• Finalize tailored launch announcement emails for each stakeholder group.

• Publish a centralized intranet page with FAQs, policies, and resources.

• Host an introductory webinar for all users (and record for on-demand access).

• Translate or localize key materials if needed.

• Launch a Resource Hub with training materials, policies, and use cases.

• Create a dedicated feedback loop (e.g., Slack/Teams channel, form, or inbox).

• Offer weekly office hours or drop-in sessions for Q&A.

• Position ChatGPT Edu as a supportive tool that enhances productivity, learning, and creativity.

• Provide leaders with talking points and templates to reinforce adoption in their own communications.

• Ensure all messaging clearly addresses “why we’re adopting AI” and answers anticipated FAQs.

• Identify priority user groups (e.g., instructional staff, administrative staff, learners)

• Offer short role-specific sessions focused on practical use.

• Record and publish all training sessions in the Resource Hub for on-demand access.

• Provide role-specific prompt packs (ready-made examples of how to use ChatGPT for tasks like grading or course prep) tailored to faculty, staff, and student needs.

• Offer quick video tutorials (<5 minutes) to address common workflows and frequently asked questions.

• Maintain an evergreen library of guides, best practices, policy documents, and exemplar use cases.

• Distribute a simple onboarding checklist to new users (e.g., login, introductory video, review policy, try three starter prompts).

• Monitor completion rates and follow up with targeted outreach to ensure all users are successfully onboarded.

• Share OpenAI Forum talks so users can learn directly from education leaders already adopting AI at scale.

• Offer advanced training opportunities, such as OpenAI Presents: Build Advanced GPTs & Custom Actions, to support power users, innovators, and faculty champions.

• Run a small, time-boxed pilot with an initial cohort and clear success criteria.

• Assign someone to coordinate logistics and collect feedback.

• Invite an initial cohort of early users and leverage their feedback to refine onboarding, training, and support processes before wider rollout.

• Identify 3–5 participants to develop tangible outputs with ChatGPT Edu (e.g., a policy draft, study guide, or research summary).

• Document each case clearly with step-by-step instructions, screenshots, and lessons learned.

• Publish short case studies for each deliverable, showcasing value and enabling replication across departments.

• Use lightweight surveys and periodic small-group conversations to gather insights.

• Track support tickets and recurring issues to identify gaps in training, documentation, or product usability.

• Roll out access in manageable waves to ensure smooth adoption.

• Provide each new group with a kickoff email, training link, onboarding checklist, and policy reminders to establish consistency from the start.

• Host a campus-wide launch event or virtual showcase to mark the transition from pilot to institution-wide adoption.

• Share success stories from the pilot phase to build credibility and momentum across departments.

• Introduce recognition programs for early adopters (e.g., “AI Innovators” spotlight) to encourage champions and peer-to-peer advocacy.

• Invite champions to the OpenAI Forum to connect with the broader educator community.

• Expand Tier 1 support capacity by training additional staff to handle common questions and troubleshooting.

• Share a short list of common issues and resolutions based on your environment.

• Maintain clear escalation paths to vendor or institutional expert support for more complex issues.

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