Timeline

• Departmental approval is required for employees to create new Google shared drives.
• Students, alumni, and retirees can no longer create new Google shared drives.
• No new Google Auxiliary Email (GAE) accounts can be created. Existing GAEs will work until they are migrated to another account type (details TBD). 

• Organizational Unit administrators (OU Admins) build departmental storage allocation plans using CCS-provided tools to prepare for upcoming storage limits.

• New* students receive: Microsoft 365 services, including Exchange Online mailboxes and Outlook calendar; Google Workspace accounts with 5 GB storage and no access to Gmail, Google Calendar, or Google Photos.
• New* employees receive: Microsoft 365 services, including Exchange Online mailboxes and Outlook calendar; Google Workspace accounts with no access to Gmail, Google Calendar, or Google Photos.

*Individuals who are receiving a Virginia Tech account for the first time.

• Intermediate 5 terabyte (TB) storage cap set for all alumni, student, and retiree Google Workspace accounts.

• Existing student email migration from Gmail to Exchange Online. After students migrate, Gmail and Google Calendar are turned off. 

• Google Photos app turned off for all VT accounts; users must have no data stored in Photos by this date or it will end up counting against their storage allocation, and they will no longer be able to remove the data on their own.
• 5 GB storage allocation for student Google accounts; over-limit accounts will go read-only.
• 5 GB storage allocation for alumni Google accounts; over-limit accounts will go read-only.
• 10 GB storage allocation for existing retiree (retired on or before 6/1/23) Google accounts; over-limit accounts go read-only.
• Google storage for new retirees (retired after 6/1/23) set at 0 GB; over-limit accounts go read-only.
• Virginia Tech Google accounts held by users who no longer have an active relationship with the university (e.g. former employees who did not retire with Virginia Tech, former students who did not earn a degree, etc.) will be deleted.

• Employee email and calendars are migrated to Exchange Online (including existing GAE accounts). Data migrations will be conducted in phases; a detailed schedule is available here. After users migrate, Gmail and Google Calendar are turned off. 

• All unclaimed Google shared drives (i.e., those with no Organizational Unit ownership/departmental sponsorship) become read-only.

• University begins deleting data from unclaimed (no Organizational Unit ownership/no departmental sponsorship) alumni-managed shared drives.

• Grace period ends at 8 a.m. for ineligible accounts and Photos data removal.

• Departments implement storage allocation plans for individual employee Google Workspace accounts and for shared drives.
• Google services other than Gmail access turned off for alumni.
• Google services other than Drive access turned off for new retirees (retired after 6/1/23); these individuals retain M365 services.

• Deletion of data from unclaimed (no Organizational Unit ownership/no departmental sponsorship) retiree-managed Shared Drives begins.

• Deletion of unclaimed (no Organizational Unit ownership/no departmental sponsorship) employee-managed Shared Drives begins.
  

• Deletion of unclaimed (no Organizational Unit ownership/no departmental sponsorship) student-managed Shared Drives begins.
• Final actions to reach storage allocations: any Virginia Tech Google accounts that remain over their assigned storage allocation and unclaimed (no departmental sponsorship) shared drives are subject to data removal. In some cases, accounts exceeding their assigned storage allocation may need to be deleted and recreated with zero data and default settings to ensure compliance.

• Virginia Tech Google services operate under new cost-based licensing model; all accounts must be within their allocated storage amount.
  
• Departments confirm FY 2025 storage purchases.