Education

Universities, colleges, and even high schools are home to constantly-changing IT environments. In terms of data, undergraduate and graduate students and faculty create millions of files annually for original research and course work, administrators constantly update student and organizational files, and additional space is utilized by reference and course-specific folders as well as resources created by student organizations. In terms of users, constant turnover among students – whether due to course-transfer, graduation, or semesters abroad – in addition to fluctuation among faculty and administration create a truly volatile permissions structure across both institutional Exchange and Active Directory implementations.

The vast amount of unstructured data on the file systems and servers paired with the number of users and groups needing varied access to it results in a complex situation that requires restricted yet modifiable entitlements. Adding to the challenge is the fact that a majority of original research, specifically in Science and Engineering departments, requires strict access controls. Finally, in terms of infrastructure, IT departments are often responsible for managing clusters of public computers and printers, in addition to ensuring that the thousands of laptops and mobile devices across campus can easily gain access to specific networks and files with minimal downtime for users, but maximum security for data such as faculty payroll, student accounts, and personal identification information.