Last Updated: January 18, 2023 10:43:17 AM PST
History
Free enterprise versions of Google's collaboration and communication tools have long been in use by schools and universities and have been broadly available to UC San Diego faculty, researchers, students, and staff since 2014. These tools include:
- Gmail
- Google Calendar
- Google Drive
- Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides among others.
In February 2021, Google announced G Suite for Education would be renamed to Google Workspace for Education. The most significant impact of these changes are:
- Unlimited storage will no longer be available in Google Workspace.
- Between now and June 2024, UC San Diego will migrate to a managed storage model in which faculty, researchers, students, and staff will have limits on the space available across their Google Workspace services.
Campus response
Because of the extensive use of Google Workspace, UC San Diego signed a favorable, seven-year, UC negotiated agreement for the top-tier Google Workspace for Education Plus edition. This will include many new and enhanced features, and ensure the continued availability of Google's collaboration and communication tools as a campus-wide enterprise service.
The migration to a managed storage model will have minimal effect on the vast majority of UC San Diego faculty, researchers, students, and staff. However, a small number of people storing large volumes of data will be impacted by the new space limits. Outreach efforts have begun to determine the best path forward for each individual case.
Transition support
Our goal is to ensure the entire campus community is informed and supported during this transition, which will be complete in the second half of 2024.
ITS will facilitate continued, effective use of Google Workspace now and in the future, across a wide variety of collaboration and communication scenarios. The project team's focus includes:
- Communicating to the campus community about the impacts and timelines for the changes coming to Google Workspace.
- Working with the campus community to determine and plan for storage quota policies, procedures, and appropriate use guidelines for Google Workspace.
- Working with campus partners that have a UC San Diego branded Google Workspace sub-domain, and transitioning these into the campus domain as necessary.
- Retiring inactive accounts, including those of users no longer affiliated with UC San Diego, and optimizing storage for current accounts.
- Identifying those accounts associated with large amounts of storage, analyzing this usage, and developing appropriate mitigation/migration options.
- Developing and implementing a detailed storage management strategy consistent with the collaborative capabilities of Google Workspace, specifically for Shared Drives.
Stay up to date on the project
This page will be updated as more information becomes available. As details and timelines are clarified, we will send call-to-action notices to account holders with specific guidance. At any time you are encouraged to contact the project team directly with questions or concerns.
Timeline
This timeline is subject to change as the project progresses and new guidance becomes available from Google.
| Milestone |
Target Completion Date |
| Appropriate use guidelines and space quotas complete |
November 30, 2022 |
| Transition people storing large volumes of data and removal of inactive student accounts complete |
December 31, 2022 |
| Removal of inactive faculty and staff accounts complete |
January 31, 2023 |
| Subdomain migration complete |
December 31, 2023 |
| Storage remediation complete |
December 31, 2023 |
| Project closeout complete |
June 30, 2024 |
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What does this change mean for me?
For the vast majority of people on campus, this transition to a managed storage model will have no impact. IT Services and our campus IT partners are working directly with units that make significant use of Google Workspace to evaluate how they may be impacted by the new storage limits and develop specific plans, as appropriate. Divisional IT support will begin reaching out beginning Q4, 2022 to understand possible impacts and a path forward as needed.
If you are using Google Workspace, particularly Google Drive, in one of the following ways, there may be an impact.
- Housing large volumes of research data
- Archiving substantial quantities of video or image files
- Storing backup data from local systems
My department doesn’t use Google very much. How does this impact me?
While Google Workspace is used heavily in various units on campus, if yours isn't currently one of these, the change to a managed storage model is unlikely to impact you at all. If your unit anticipates making use of Google Workspace in the future, the impact may still be negligible, but your planning should include consultation with Divisional IT support or IT Services (servicedesk@ucsd.edu).
My department is a heavy user of Google. I’m concerned that this will impact my work.
IT Services and our campus IT partners are working directly with units that make significant use of Google Workspace to evaluate how they may be impacted by the new storage limits, and develop specific plans, as appropriate. Your Divisional IT support will be reaching out to you to understand possible impacts and a path forward as needed.
My department is considering using Google more heavily in the future. Should we stop this?
Not at all. Google Workspace will remain a fully supported collaboration, communication, and storage service at UC San Diego. If you are considering a new or expanded use of the service, particularly one that involves a transition from another campus service, we encourage you to reach out to the
ITS Messaging and Collaboration Team (servicedesk@ucsd.edu) for a consultation. They can assist you in reviewing your needs and options, and can even get you started on your migration.
Are there other storage options available at UC San Diego?
Yes, there are both local and cloud-based resources well suited to support a variety of storage and collaboration needs. Please reach out to your Divisional IT support or
ITS (servicedesk@ucsd.edu) for assistance in finding and making the most effective use of the storage options that best meet your requirements.
What is pooled storage and what counts towards the limit?
Pooled storage is a single allocation shared across all of UC San Diego. Affected content includes all files and other items in Workspace services such as Google Drive (My Drive and Shared Drives), Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Google Photos, etc.
How much storage will I have?
In the new Google Workspace pooled storage model, the default amount of space allocated to UC San Diego is based on our student enrollment. Although the vast majority of customers are below any likely individual quotas, historically unlimited storage has led to an aggregate usage currently beyond our future, default allocation.
At this time, the project team is working with stakeholders and the campus community to determine appropriate individual quotas. Important factors being considered are current and projected organizational use of Google Workspace, the unique collaboration and communication needs of key campus demographics, planning to ensure that pooled storage allocation aligns with long-term growth, and support models for campus units to purchase and manage space on behalf of their user community.
What are some best practices everyone can try that will help?
As the campus transitions to a managed storage model for Google Workspace, proactively deleting items you no longer need will help the university reclaim space in the finite storage pool shared among all campus users. This may also be an opportunity for you and your colleagues to revisit how you organize and curate shared data to most effectively meet your collaborative research, teaching, and administrative needs.