UW-Milwaukee HD Knowledgebase

The purpose of this document is to inform UWM students, faculty and staff of the options available for document storage and work group collaboration using campus provided resources.

Contents:

• Introduction
• Overview of Document Storage and Collaboration Services Available at UWM
• uFiles Storage
• OneDrive for Business
• SharePoint Online
• Comparison of OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online Features or Usage by Task
• CampusPress WordPress
• PantherSync (OrgSync)
• D2L
• Document and File Storage and Collaboration Services Attributes
• Use Case Guidance for Storage and Collaboration Tools

Introduction

The purpose of this document is to inform UWM students, faculty and staff of the options available for document and file storage and work group collaboration using campus provided resources. Services are provided for both individuals and groups. Some of these services are suitable for storing restricted or sensitive data, and some are not. Some services are baseline university IT services (requiring no additional user fees), and some are fee-based services. The following guidelines will help the campus community to select the option that best fits their requirements in order to assure information confidentiality, integrity and availability.  Access and use of storage and collaboration services establishes an obligation on the part of the individual to use these resources responsibly. Students, faculty, staff and other constituents are responsible for reading and understanding this guide and understanding UWM policies and practices for storing data.

The document and file storage and work group collaboration services decision is based on several considerations:

• Types of documents and files to store,
• Content of documents and files, including the criticality and sensitivity of data being stored and shared,
• Individual, multi-purpose, or departmental/group file sharing and usage requirements, and
• Accessibility requirements.

Overview of Document Storage and Collaboration Services Available at UWM

The following storage services are provided for UWM students, faculty and staff.  Faculty and staff have all these options available to them. While enrolled, students have access to OneDrive for Business through their ePanther account and to D2L through their instructor. Students may also be included in one or more of the other options upon request. The request for access to other services will be handled on a case by case basis.

uFiles Storage

The uFiles Storage service provides storage capabilities for individual and group based file shares that can be used by faculty and staff (through their ePanther account). These file shares are available on university owned computers that have been properly configured. These file shares appear as mapped drives and behave like other folders and files that exist on the client computer. The file shares are accessible remotely through the campus VPN service.

The uFiles Storage service has the following features:

• Individual and group access to file shares.
• Mapped folders that utilize your computer’s operating system (no other software needed).
• Available for Windows, Mac and Linux client computers.
• Regular backup of files.
• Per gigabyte charges may apply. Please consult University Information Technology Services (UITS) for details.

Be aware that uFiles Storage:

• Is not accessible from a web browser.
• Cannot share files with off-campus individuals.

OneDrive for Business

Microsoft OneDrive for Business provides cloud based file storage and sharing services that are available to UWM students (while enrolled), faculty, and staff as part of the Office 365 offering.  OneDrive for Business is meant to be an individual’s personal data storage service, a document library, where files are private by default, with the capability to share documents with others.

The OneDrive for Business service has the following features:

• All UWM students, faculty and staff have an OneDrive for Business space established for them.
• Online “cloud” file storage accessible anywhere via the internet.
• Ability to use your ePanther login ID and password to sign into OneDrive for Business.
• Integrated with the Office 365 Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook).
• Capable of storing almost all file types. Exceptions are listed on Microsoft's site.
• Provides document management capability (create, delete, move, rename, download, version and share) as needed.
• Provides capability to grant access permission to a folder or a document on an individual-by-individual basis, i.e. light-weight, informal collaboration.
• The OneDrive desktop sync client is available for those who prefer a desktop application instead of an Internet browser application.
• Backups are for service recovery purposes only. Users should not expect to have individual files restored. Deleted files are recoverable from the recycle area for up to 93 days.

When you leave UWM:

• Current student, faculty, or staff accounts are disabled and the files are automatically deleted.
• Faculty and staff accounts are disabled after 14 days.
• Student accounts are disabled after one academic semester.
• Emeritus faculty accounts remain enabled.

The OneDrive for Business service, aimed at enterprise users, is not the same as the OneDrive service offered by Microsoft to individuals. Microsoft’s official explanation of OneDrive for Business can be found on their website.

SharePoint Online

SharePoint Online is also part of Microsoft’s Office 365 product suite. SharePoint Online combines content and document management features with advanced capabilities that include collaboration, workflow, work management, metadata, taxonomy, and search. SharePoint’s capabilities enable a work group to store, share, and manage digital information through the creation, deployment, and management of team websites. SharePoint Online provides a more structured place to organize, share and collaborate on documents. SharePoint Online is meant to be an organization’s or team’s data storage and collaboration service, providing a central location for people to work together on documents. It is also the integration point for Microsoft’s other collaboration products including Yammer Social Collaboration Platform, Skype for Business, Visio and Project.

In general, SharePoint Online sites are more robust, better governed and have more features than OneDrive for Business and should be used for team based, formal and structured collaboration.  SharePoint Online should be the preferred storage option for any valuable documents, structured collaborations or formal document management.  SharePoint Online requires knowledge about its capabilities to configure correctly and effectively.

The SharePoint Online service has the following features:

• Targeted toward departmental/group/team document management and storage.
• Capable of storing almost all file types. Exceptions are listed on Microsoft's site.
• Online “cloud” file storage accessible anywhere via the internet.
• Provides basic document management capability (create, move, rename, download, share, and delete) as needed.
• Provides advanced document management capability (version control, taxonomy, metadata, views, search, task lists and workflow) as needed.
• Backups are for service recovery purposes only. Users should not expect to have individual files restored. Deleted files are recoverable from the recycle area for up to 93 days.