Administrative Cloud Storage Guide

Purpose

Faculty and staff create and receive many files while carrying out Rutgers business. Some files are personal working materials that only one person needs. Others are institutional records, shared work products, or materials that support a department, program, committee, course, project, research, or recurring business process. This guide is intended to help faculty and staff decide whether a file belongs in a personal Box or OneDrive folder or in an institutionally managed folder, shared drive, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint site, or other managed location.

The goal is to preserve continuity, reduce the risk of lost information, and make sure important institutional work is not dependent on one individual account.

Personal vs. Institutional

In Box and OneDrive, everyone receives "personal" space in the account. This space isn't really personal because it's stored in the Rutgers system.  Personal means that you are the only one who has access to this space by default.  If anyone else needs to see the information in this space you would have to explicitly share it with them or store it in a location they can access.  That's why this space is referred to as personal.

Institutional space refers to information stored in locations that aren't owned by an individual.  This type of space would include a Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive or Box folder that was created for you by SAS IT.  Since these folders aren't owned by an individual, they aren't impacted if someone changes roles or leaves Rutgers. This guide is meant to help you decide which storage location is appropriate.

If you have questions about how to identify personal vs institutional space, please reach out to SAS IT.

Simple Rule of Thumb

Use your personal OneDrive or Box folder for files that only you need and that do not need to outlive your role. 

Use an institutionally managed folder or managed team for files that belong to Rutgers, SAS, a department, a program, a project, a committee, a course, or a shared business process.

If the file would still matter after you changed roles, left Rutgers, were unavailable, or stopped being responsible for the work, it should probably be stored in a managed location.

Why This Matters

Files stored only in a personal OneDrive or Box folder may become difficult for others to find, manage, or continue using when the file owner is unavailable or leaves a role. Even when files are shared from a personal account, that sharing may not allow for long term access. Personal folders are useful for individual drafts and working materials, but they are not the best place for institutional records or shared operational work.

Managed storage locations provide better continuity because access can be assigned to a department, role, team, or group rather than depending on one person. They also make it easier to manage permissions, preserve records, support transitions, and ensure that shared work remains available to the people who need it.

Start With These Questions

Before deciding where to store a file, ask:

1. Am I the only person who needs this file to do my work?
2. Would anyone else need this file if I were out sick, on vacation, or unavailable?
3. Would my successor need this file if I changed roles or left Rutgers?
4. Does this file support a department, program, committee, course, project, or recurring business process?
5. Is this file part of an official record or ongoing institutional work?
6. Would losing access to this file create a problem for other people or for the institution?
7. Is this file something others may need to update, review, approve, reference, or reuse?
8. Does this file contain shared decisions, procedures, reports, planning materials, budgets, schedules, or documentation?
9. Was this file created as part of my personal work process, or as part of a role, function, or responsibility that belongs to the institution?
10. If I shared this file with others today, would that sharing need to continue after I leave the role?
11. Is there already a managed folder or managed team for this department, project, program, or purpose?
12. If there is no managed location, should I ask SAS IT to create one?

If several answers point to shared responsibility, continuity, institutional ownership, or recurring use, the file should be stored in a managed location.

Use Personal OneDrive or Box When

A personal folder is usually appropriate when:

• You are the only person who needs the file.
• The file is a personal draft, note, reference item, or working copy.
• The file does not support an official department, program, committee, course, project, or business process.
• The file does not need to remain available after you leave your current role.
• The file is not the authoritative copy of a record, decision, report, budget, schedule, procedure, or shared document.
• Losing access to the file would not create a problem for others.
• Any sharing is temporary and does not need to continue after your role changes.

Examples may include personal notes, early drafts that are not yet ready to share, temporary working files, individual reference materials, and documents that only support your own short-term work.

Use a Managed Folder or Managed Team When

An institutionally managed location is usually appropriate when:

• The file belongs to a department, center, program, committee, course, project, grant, service, or administrative function.
• More than one person needs to access, manage, update, approve, or rely on the file.
• The file supports recurring business operations or shared institutional work.
• The file contains decisions, procedures, reports, meeting materials, planning documents, budgets, schedules, forms, inventories, documentation, or other institutional records.
• A successor would need the file to continue the work.
• The work should remain available when the current file owner is unavailable or no longer in the role.
• Access should be managed by role, group, department, or function rather than by one individual.
• The file is part of a process that SAS IT, a department, or another office may need to support over time.
• Sharing should continue beyond the involvement of the person who originally created the file.

Examples may include departmental procedures, committee materials, shared reports, program documentation, event planning files, research files, budget planning files, administrative schedules, shared forms, recurring operational records, grant administration documents, and files used by multiple people in a business process.

Common Examples

Personal Storage Is Not a Substitute for Institutional Storage

Sharing a file from a personal OneDrive or Box folder can be useful for temporary collaboration, but it does not automatically make the file institutionally managed. If the file belongs to a department, project, program, committee, course, or recurring process, storing it in a personal folder and sharing it with others may still create continuity and access problems later.

If the work belongs to the institution, the file should be moved to the appropriate managed location as soon as practical.

When No Managed Location Exists

If there is no existing managed folder, shared drive, Microsoft Team, SharePoint site, or other approved location for the work, contact SAS IT. SAS IT can help determine whether an existing location should be used or whether a new managed location should be created.

Good Practices

• Store the authoritative version of shared work in the managed location.
• Avoid keeping the only copy of institutional work in a personal folder.
• Use clear folder names that reflect the department, project, program, or function.
• Grant access by group or role when possible, rather than by individual exceptions.
• Review permissions periodically, especially when staff change roles or leave.
• Move files from personal working space to managed storage when they become shared work products.
• Contact SAS IT before creating ad hoc storage structures for sensitive or recurring institutional work.
• Do not use personal storage as the long-term home for official records or shared administrative files.