Seminars planned to prepare for Box migration

More than 11,500 people completed a recent questionnaire about how they use Box in preparation to migrate date to Microsoft One Drive, according to a message from Mark Henderson, chief information officer, and Rob Rutenbar, senior vice chancellor for research.

Most of those who responded said they had the flexibility to utilize alternatives to Box, while about 3 percent said Box is a requirement of grant proposals or funding agreements.

Responses also revealed that the Box features used most frequently by the Pitt community — Box Drive, Box Sync, Comments, and File Request — align closely with similar features provided by Microsoft OneDrive.

There are five upcoming opportunities to participate in a live, one-hour webinar titled “Making the Move to OneDrive.” The workshop will help users learn about how common Box features translate to OneDrive, and how they can begin taking advantage of OneDrive today.

Click on the dates below to register.  

Pitt Information Technology’s is leveraging its partnership with SkySync to ensure all facets of Box migration are transferred securely and accurately with minimal disruption to individual’s work. 

The switch to OneDrive was precipitated by a huge increase in the cost of Box. Historically, Box has given a 95 percent discount to academic institutions, Henderson said in August 2020, but will stop doing that next year. He said Pitt currently pays $242,000 a year to Box and will be able to renew at that rate for another year through August 2021. After that, “our costs will go up by at least a million dollars a year. … And given the financial headwinds that we’re facing as a result of COVID and resulting budget cuts, we simply cannot afford to retain Box.”

In February of this year, Pitt did decide to extend its contract with Box until August 2022 to give Box users more time to learn the process of switching from this file storage method to the newly offered OneDrive — or to alternative storage of their own choosing, from Google Drive to Dropbox or Apple’s iCloud.

If you have complex workflows or unique circumstances that you believe might be better served by a solution other than OneDrive, please contact the 24/7 IT Help Desk to discuss your needs and review options. However, be aware that Google Drive is not a viable, long-term solution for most users, as Google is making changes that will soon eliminate options for storing flexible, large volumes of data. In addition, Google Drive cannot be used to store Protected Health Information (see Pitt IT’s Data Risk Classification matrix). 

Visit Pitt IT’s cloud storage migration webpage for the latest migration details. 

— Susan Jones

 

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