General Guidelines to follow

1. Any data or files that your colleagues may need to access should be stored in a shared location where other users can access them. SharePoint, Project Directories in Box, and the S-Drive are good places to do this. More information on SharePoint and Project Directories in Box can be found below.
2. Google Drive and DropBox are not supported by UW and shouldn’t be used.
3. Restricted data should be stored in either a SecureBox folder or Restricted Drive. More information on those options is in the Storage Options section below.
4. Local storage (desktop, downloads, documents folders on your computer) should not be used to store files without a backup solution (OneDrive). You run the risk of losing these files if anything happens to your computer.
5. When someone leaves UW, their files stored in OneDrive or Box will be deleted after a certain time. It is important for departments and supervisors to be aware of this, and to coordinate with outgoing employees to transfer file ownership if necessary. See the ‘Offboarding employees’ section below for more information regarding this.

Storage Options

SOHE staff members have the following storage options available to them:

1. OneDrive
   • OneDrive is Microsoft’s cloud storage platform that integrates with Office and other Microsoft services. It is our recommended cloud storage option and comes with 2TB of storage space. It can also be configured to back up your local files such as your desktop folder (information on how to set that up here).
   • You can share files with other members of your team using SharePoint, which integrates with OneDrive. Information on setting up a SharePoint for your team can be found here.
2. Box
   • Box is another cloud storage platform offered by UW. It can be a good option for users who need to share or store sensitive and restricted data and has a 50GB file limit. We recommend OneDrive over Box for most users, but Box is still an acceptable option.
   • Information on SecureBox found here
   • Definition of restricted data here
3. S-Drive
   • The S-Drive is our file server for internal SOHE usage. SOHE staff are set up to have access to their departments folders, as well as a personal storage space (automatically mapped to U: for Windows users, other users can find their personal folder under the ‘Users’ folder).
   • S-Drive is a good option for storing files that other SOHE employees may need access to. The downside is that it requires you to be on our network (usually via the VPN), and users outside of SOHE cannot access the system.
   • Instructions on accessing the S-Drive can be found here.
4. Research Drive (Restricted Drive)
   • Research Drive is a file server managed by DoIT that can be used by researchers. They have a version for research that uses restricted data, called Restricted Drive. This is our recommended option for researchers that need a place to store their research, particularly ones that will have collaborators from outside SOHE or UW.
   • Information on Research Drive here

Collaborating using Box and SharePoint, and Offboarding Employees

When staff members and faculty depart from the University, their access to cloud storage will go away, and with it files and folders they have saved. It’s important for staff and departments to be aware of this, so you don’t lose access to important documents when employees leave. If your team primarily uses the S-Drive, you will have no issues with data loss when offboarding staff members.

The best practice to mitigate these issues is to use a Project Directory in Box or SharePoint (for OneDrive users). Project Directories are a shared folder in Box that aren’t tied to a specific NetID, so that files will remain there after users leave the university. Information on Project Directories in Box can be found here.

Similarly, Microsoft has a SharePoint service that allows teams to store files in a central location. It works similarly to OneDrive, but when users leave UW their files will still remain in the SharePoint site. Instructions on setting up a SharePoint site can be found here.

DoIT has some documentation on the best practices on file backup when someone is leaving the university. In short, department chairs and supervisors should coordinate with departing employees in your department to make sure any files you will need access to are copied to a shared project space (Project Directory or SharePoint) or uploaded to the S-Drive. If you need any assistance with setting up shared Box directories, SharePoint, or S-Drive folders, please reach out to us at bits@sohe.wisc.edu and we can help get you started.

Guidelines for Research Data

• Stewardship and Retention: PIs should organize, access, and retain research data for at least seven years after project close-out. Longer retention is required for protecting intellectual property, resolving allegations, supporting student contributors, or if a legal agreement requires a longer period.
• Disposal: Data disposal is the PI's responsibility, including for their students.
• Transfer: Researchers leaving UW–Madison may take copies of data with PI approval, but original data must stay at UW–Madison. Data transfer to another institution requires approval and guarantees of custodial responsibility and access. Contact Sarah Marcotte for assistance with putting a Data Transfer Agreement in place.