IT Project: Box Transition
Project Status
February 2021: Northwestern IT is preparing to conduct an evaluation of the migration tool, SkySync, beginning March 15. Preparation has begun to identify pilot partcipants and preparing their Box data to be copied to either OneDrive or SharePoint. The pilot is scheduled to conclude on April 15, 2021.
Information for pilot participants
Project Background
Northwestern Box is a cloud-based file sharing solution that has been centrally provided by the University since 2014. As the result of a recent shift in pricing at Box and as a substantial cost-saving strategy, Northwestern plans to migrate its data outside of Box to Microsoft OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams by the conclusion of the Box annual contract on August 31, 2022.
Through contracts the University has in place with Microsoft, Northwestern students, faculty, staff have access to a broad range of Microsoft Office 365 applications and add-ins.
Goals and Objectives
- Develop comprehensive strategies to manage University data.
- Gain in-depth analysis of the Box file structures, sharing, and standard user practices to provide a guided approach to data storage across the University in the new environment.
- Apply right-sized solution(s)—OneDrive, Teams, SharePoint, Research Data Storage Service (RDSS), and others—and manage the University’s active and inactive users and their data in the appropriate systems.
- Establish security settings in Microsoft solutions and RDSS, providing an adequate replacement for SAFER. This application interacts with Box to offer a more secure process for managing permissions to folders that contain sensitive data.
- Provide comprehensive training and support documentation to assist the University community in making the transition.
- Ensure that all files are migrated from Box by August 31, 2022.
Approach
The project will be achieved in a phased approach from June 2020 through August 2022.
Timeline
The target dates on the following timeline are subject to change as the project progresses.
Phase |
Target Date |
Status |
Discovery | June—August 2021 | Ongoing |
Building | September 2020—February 2021 | In progress |
Pilot | March—August 2021 | In preparation |
Deployment | October 2021—March 2022 | |
Completion | April—August 2022 |
Project Oversight
Project Role |
Name |
Project Sponsor |
David Carr |
Project Manager |
Jon Ford |
Leadership Team Member |
Mike Satut Curtis Hanawalt James Rich Scott Pitts Steve Christensen Stuart Nelsen Betsy Faxon |
Working Group Lead |
Caryn Carter Jon Ford Stuart Nelsen |
Last Updated: 19 February 2021
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