You can ask your sysadmin to setup Autoconfig in your DNS to make the process of setting up Thunderbird much easier.
To open the setup window for a new email account, you have multiple options:
The Set Up Your Existing Email Address window will show.
Enter the user's display name, full e-mail address and password:
Click on Continue. Thunderbird will automatically find the proper server names if you have set the Autoconfig record in your DNS.
If Thunderbird doesn't automatically find the server names, please use the details from the Server & Ports page.
Click on Done to finish the account setup. Wait for Thunderbird to synchronize the data.
Note that Thunderbird will automatically setup the account as IMAP. If you want to set up the account as POP, you have to setup the account manually. IMAP is recommended, as it´s a protocol made to support several devices accessing one same account, with all folders synced at our server, which also guarantees that our backups will be executed.