First migrations from Box to OneDrive go smoothly

By MARTY LEVINE

Pilot migrations of files from Box to Microsoft OneDrive have been accomplished for three Pitt responsibility centers — the School of Dental Medicine and a pair of labs — Pitt IT’s deputy chief information officer, Adam Hobaugh, reported to the University Senate Computing and Information Technology Committee on Sept. 28.

Employing SkySync to automate the process, the migration brought over both the files and their metadata successfully, he said.

Pitt IT will next migrate student Box accounts, and then move through each responsibility center systematically, with the goal of finishing in August 2022, when Pitt’s Box agreement ends.

Migration means the files are copied to the new location but remain in Box, although they can no longer be edited in Box, nor can new files be uploaded to Box. However, existing files in Box can still be shared with collaborators in a project, Hobaugh said, until Pitt’s Box agreement expires.

Hobaugh also noted that active Box access may be retained at $250 each, annually (see details here).

Other business

Work toward a new University computer access and use policy has begun, reported Michael Spring, emeritus faculty member in the School of Computing and Information. He said the policy committee has thus far decided to “view computer resources as more similar today to using a pencil and paper 50 years ago.” For instance, the University’s paper and pencil (or computer and network) could be tools to help form ideas that the Pitt employee, and not Pitt, owns (with the obvious provisos that employees still can’t use such tools to open a personal business or store porn, for instance).

Mark Henderson, the University’s chief information officer, reported that Pitt and UPMC, alongside trying to allow employees who work for both places to integrate their software, are investigating ways for such employees to share calendars and set meetings with colleagues from both institutions, no matter which institutional account is used.

Marty Levine is a staff writer for the University Times. Reach him at martyl@pitt.edu or 412-758-4859.

 

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