The university is now continuing its journey to adopt new storage solutions.

The Strategic File Storage project (announced in 2019 and put on hold in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic) has now resumed. Last year the focus was on the migration of Z: drive to OneDrive and the relocation of the X: drive (Application data). This work was successfully completed.

This spring, the project is moving onto the continued relocation of S: and R: drives with the aim of moving data to Microsoft 365 where possible. We are currently in the process of reviewing user guidance, setting up engagement conversations and arranging a series of workshops.

In April, we will communicate how and where to move data along with workshop dates.

What are the benefits?

Using Microsoft to store data offers us:

• better flexibility – access data anytime anywhere (less hassle than connecting to the current file store)
• more capacity – each Microsoft Team has 1TB and this can be expanded on request (up to a maximum of 25TB)
• better collaboration – work on files simultaneously with multiple editors
• enables sharing options and access controls – choose who has access instantly and easier to share data externally
• more secure – a greater degree of security now that MFA is required to access Microsoft services

We will also be using this opportunity to improve data management and encourage teams to review and delete data that is no longer needed. This will help the university in our GDPR compliance.

What are the timescales?

The target date to complete this work is by Sunday 31 July 2022.

Can data be kept on university hosted storage?

We acknowledge there will be use cases and specific requirements for keeping some on-site storage solutions. If teams are aware of a reason to retain access to the File Store, we’d kindly ask that you inform the project team by filling in this Microsoft Form.

Further communications will be issued in April along with user guidance and the opportunity to ask our specialists questions and seek support.