As you know, Google has placed restrictions on Drive storage available to universities like Miami. Throughout the past year, we have been providing information to the University community about the actions we are taking and the changes that will take place at Miami due to these restrictions.

Previously, it was stated that by the end of the Spring 2024 semester, all university users will need to be within their allotted storage quotas. That time has come! On May 22, 2024, we will be turning on quotas.

The steps we have already taken

Throughout the past year, IT Services has partnered with organizations across the university to more fully understand the impact that this change will have. Our mission has been to get within our institutional quota with the least amount of friction. Some business processes have needed to change, but we believe that we are still operating successfully within that goal.

So far, we have:

• Removed alumni and former student accounts.
  • This has allowed us to free up the lion’s share of our allotted storage space and given us the opportunity to more readily focus on the needs of current students, faculty, and staff.
• Empowered advisors and administrators with the ability to create Shared Drives for students.
  • As students graduated and otherwise exited Miami, we were finding that they were leaving unorganized data in Shared Drives that contained no MiamiOH account holders. By empowering faculty and staff to create Shared Drives in place of their students, we can help ensure the integrity of student data stored in Shared Drives.
• Provided resources for Miami community members to find files that have been shared with them.
  • With the removal of alumni and former student accounts, many Miami users may find that documents they could access were, in fact, owned by someone no longer associated with the University. Video tutorials, Knowledge articles, and various announcements have been provided to educate about how to find and claim those files.

What’s next: May 22 deadline

As we have said in previous communications, quotas will be applied to our Google domain. That means a couple of things:

• If you are over quota, you will still be able to send and receive emails, but you will not be able to create new files or add new ones to your Google Drive.
• You will retain the ability to view your files and will still be able to move files out of Drive.

The good news is that there are very few Miami users who are impacted by these quotas, and we have reached out personally to ensure they will still have access after May 22. We ask that you keep your quota in mind (which is based on your primary role at the University). A list of quotas and more resources for data management in light of the Google storage transition can be found at the IT Services website.

Next steps for the Miami community

This is a big change from our previous practices, and we know that things are in flux for everyone at Miami right now. What we are asking you to do is help us out by starting to practice good data management hygiene now, proactively, rather than retroactively when the quotas go into effect.

• Go through your Google Drive after every semester or fiscal year. Make it part of your end-of-season routine as you start to wind down classes or financial quarter.
• Check out our helpful walkthrough of your Google Drive to find files that have been shared with you by current and former members of the Miami community.
• Be on the lookout for further info from IT Services. We will be adding some helpful badges to your Google Drive in the very near future, to help identify files that will be deleted.

Thank you for your patience, support, and understanding as we work to strengthen our data stewardship and improve our technological environment. We are all going through this transition together. It’s a big change for Miami, and not all change is easy. Any help you can provide by continuing good data management decisions is a step in the right direction for everyone.