Information for Departments

• Departments will be allocated 40 GB of additional Google Workspace and 75 GB of additional Microsoft 365 storage for each employee with an A5 license within their department. This additional storage is assessed based on department employee counts at the start of each contract period and will be reassessed at future renewal dates.
• In cases where employees split their time between two or more departments, storage assignments will be provided to the primary department based on Banner data. 
• Departments may distribute this storage as needed, either
  • to support Google shared drives, Microsoft SharePoint Online or Teams sites they manage, or 
  • to increase storage allocations for individual employees within their department.
• Departments will have the option to purchase additional storage to meet their needs in 10 TB increments, renewable yearly, through the Software Service Center. Information about purchasing Google Workspace storage in 2024 is now available.

• Departmental approval is required for employees to create a new Google shared drive. Requests can be made through the IT Service Catalog.
• Students, alumni, and retirees can no longer create Google shared drives, but may be added to a shared drive by a department. 
• Departments must now sponsor shared drives by making sure at least one faculty or staff member in the department has the Manager role on each shared drive — a minimum of two is preferred.
• Shared Drive Managers may add students to shared drives.
  
• Unclaimed shared drives (i.e., where there is no departmental sponsorship) will be deleted on or before July 1, 2024.

• New Google Auxiliary Email (GAE) accounts can no longer be created. Users are encouraged to learn about GAE alternatives.
• If you have any questions regarding GAE accounts, you can request a consult at CCS General Services Consultation (vt.edu).
• Beginning in fall 2023, current GAE accounts will be converted to another service offering, such as: 
  • Exchange Online Virginia Tech Personal Access for Collaborative Email (VT PACE accounts)
  • A Google Groups-backed VT PACE account
  • A collaborative resource such as a shared drive, SharePoint Online site, or Teams site.
  • If you have a scripted process in Google, you can ask for a temporary extension using CCS General Services Consultation (vt.edu).

• Google Groups will continue to be supported at Virginia Tech.

• Departmental approval is required for employees to create new SharePoint Online or Teams sites. Requests will be made through the IT Service Catalog (in progress).
• Students, alumni, and retirees will no longer create SharePoint Online or Teams sites, but may be added by an Owner. 
• Departments must now sponsor SharePoint or Teams sites by making sure at least one employee in the department has the Owner role on each site — a minimum of two is preferred.
• Departments may add students to sites or teams, as long as there is at least one faculty or staff member in the Owner role.
  
• Unclaimed sites or teams (i.e., where there is no departmental sponsorship) will be deleted.

Departments will have several decisions to make regarding how use their allotted storage, as well as how to manage the creation of shared drives, sites, or teams within their department. Changes to Google Workspace will continue through July 1, 2024. Please see the timeline for important dates and deadlines. 

The timeline for changes to Microsoft 365 has yet to be determined.

We suggest that departments take the following steps to assess their storage and develop a strategy best suited to their needs: 

• Schedule a meeting with your employees and departmental units to discuss your plans for storage usage going forward.
  
• Work with your IT personnel and use MyCAT to determine if you have an organizational unit (OU) within the Hokies Active Directory (AD) for your department. If you do not, it is important that you create your OU as soon as possible. Use this request to get the process started. You will need to provide departmental approval for this request.
• Work with your OU administrator to:
  • Ensure that membership is current and correct within your OU
  • Get a sense of your department’s current storage usage through CAT: 
    • My Drive reports are updated nightly
    • Shared drive reports are updated weekly
  • Use CAT to identify your shared drives and indicate what you intend to do with them as part of the Google changes (i.e., keeping them in VT Google Workspace, moving them to SharePoint Online, removing them, etc.). 
  • Plan out the usage of your department’s storage allocation. In Q3 2023, Collaborative Computing Solutions (CCS) will release a tool to help departments with this.