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Requesting a Shared Folder for Your Department or Workgroup

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Purpose

The purpose of this procedure is to ensure that shared folders created on our Storage Access Network (SAN) are authorized, created, maintained and deleted in an effective manner.  

Description

At the University of Houston-Clear Lake, there are occasions when the members of a department, work group or project team need to work collaboratively, sharing group-related information among themselves. While this task could be managed by one of the group members setting up a shared folder on his or her own computer, this approach has its drawbacks.  Primarily, the effectiveness of this approach relies on:

  • The continuous availability of the computer on which the shared folder has been created
  • The continued membership in the group of the shared folder’s owner whose role includes maintaining the shared folder’s access privileges.

To facilitate file sharing among members of UHCL’s departments, work groups and project teams, shared folders on the University’s shared folders may be created on OIT's centrally-managed SAN upon request. The benefits of this approach include the following:

  • The SAN is managed to be highly available
  • Files and folders are backed up regularly
  • The member of the group who owns and manages privileges on the shared folder can be changed quickly in cases where the owner leaves the group or the University

To request a shared folder on our SAN, the UHCL faculty or staff member in the department, work group or project team who will manage the access privileges for the shared folder must follow the procedure specified below. 

Procedure

  • Download Form RM002A: Shared Folder Request
  • Fill-in the proposed shared folder name, the business justification for creating the shared folder, your computer account user name, your printed name, and signature in the spaces provided
  • Your supervisor must also sign and date the form, signifying his or her approval
  • Once the request form is completed to that point, submit the form to the OIT Support Center
  • The appropriate OIT representative will review the information on the form for completeness and will determine if the proposed shared folder name is available
  • If the proposed shared folder name is unavailable, you will be asked to pick another name
  • If there are no issues with the form's content and the proposed shared folder name is available, the OIT representative will sign and date the form and enter any comments that he or she may deem necessary
  • The OIT representative will then submit the form to the University's Information Security Officer (ISO) for approval
  • If the ISO has any issues with the request, the ISO will contact you to explore alternatives
  • Once all of the identified issues are resolved, the ISO will sign and date the form and will enter any comments deemed necessary.  The ISO will keep the original version of the form as a record
  • A copy of the approved form will be returned to the appropriate member of the OIT staff who will ensure that the shared folder is created