Information for Departments
Important information for departments regarding Microsoft changes
Upcoming changes to Microsoft services impacting departments are outlined below. For important dates and deadlines, please see the timeline.
- Departments will receive 50 GB pooled storage per A5 license purchased.
- Departments may distribute this pooled storage as needed, either
- to support Microsoft shared resources they manage, or
- to increase storage allocations for individual employees 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). Requests should be submitted through the designated IT Service Catalog item.
- Students, alumni, and retirees may no longer create Microsoft shared resources, but may be added as members by an owner.
- Departments will need to sponsor shared resources 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 shared resources, as long as there is at least one faculty or staff member in the owner role.
- Unclaimed shared resources (i.e., where there is no departmental sponsorship) will become read-only on June 2, 2025, and will be deleted starting July 14, 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.
Where to get support
Support will be available to assist departments with planning for future storage needs. You can also consult the following resources:
- Read our FAQs.
- Schedule a consultation with the Collaborative Computing Solutions group.
- Contact 4Help for individualized assistance.