Information for Departments

• Departments will receive 50 GB pooled OneDrive storage per A5 license purchased, as well as 50 GB OneDrive storage per graduate student assigned to their Organizational Unit (OU).
• Departments may distribute this pooled storage as needed, either
  • to support Microsoft shared resources they manage, or 
  • to increase OneDrive storage allocations for individual employees or graduate students (after Aug. 29) within their department.
• Departments will be able to purchase additional storage in the Microsoft environment; purchases may be made in 100 GB increments.

• Departmental approval is required for employees to create new Microsoft shared resources (SharePoint, Teams sites, Groups, or Viva Engage communities).  OU admins may create new shared resources in Microsoft 365 using the CAT Tool
• Departments should 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, alumni, or retirees to employee-owned shared resources, as long as there is at least one faculty or staff member in the owner role.
• Students may own up to five 1-GB Teams sites. They may select from existing sites to "claim" them by 5 p.m. on Sept. 30 or create new ones until they reach the five-Team limit. Departments do not manage student-owned shared resources, and their storage limit cannot be increased.
• Unclaimed shared resources (i.e., where there is no departmental sponsorship or the resource has not been claimed by a student) will be deleted starting Oct. 1, 2025.

Departments will need to decide how use their allotted storage, as well as how to manage the creation of SharePoint sites or Teams within their department.

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 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: 
    • One Drive reports are updated nightly
    • Shared spaces reports are updated weekly
  • Use CAT to identify your shared spaces and indicate what you intend to do with them as part of the Microsoft changes. 
  • Plan out the usage of your department’s storage allocation.