Microsoft 365 Storage Roadmap

Background and Approach

As cloud storage utilization has increased, vendors have responded by re-configuring their service offerings and storage pricing, making providing free storage no longer sustainable for higher ed institutions. To better manage our storage growth, ITS conducted a formal review of our Microsoft 365 (M365) system storage and will be implementing changes this year.

The educational, research, and business needs of the institution were considered in the approach to ensure that the service continues to be configured in a way that enables users to create and maintain their data to meet their needs. The analysis of our Microsoft environment found the following:

  • Over 90% of OneDrive, Exchange (email), SharePoint, and MS Teams spaces are using less than 5GB of space
  • The consumption of storage has accelerated drastically in recent years
  • Retention of data beyond the appropriate duration outlined by George Mason and the State of Virginia is a security risk
  • Storage options outside of M365 may be more appropriate for certain types of data
  • There is a need to educate the community on the MS Office suite, best practices for using the tools, and taking ownership of data

Implementation

​In-Scope​

  • George Mason M365 environment (OneDrive, MS Teams, SharePoint, Exchange) assessment
  • M365 retention and deletion policies, storage limits, and management tools
  • Identification of storage options provided by ITS
  • Potential purchase of additional Microsoft storage

Out-of-Scope​

  • Purchasing additional external storage
  • Manual file clean-up of customer files
  • Microsoft Azure storage management

Timeline

Phase I (In Progress)

  • Reduce allowable versions of documents
  • Implement OneDrive, Exchange, MS Teams, and SharePoint storage quotas
  • Implement a request process for storage increases

Phase II

  • Policies for Exchange retention
  • Investigate alternative Microsoft storage options

Phase III

  • Refine the account lifecycle process
  • Provide updated resources for OneDrive, Exchange, SharePoint, and MS Teams
  • Document retention lifecycle policies

What to Expect

All updates will first be applied to accounts and spaces that are new or will not notice changes (I.e., OneDrive accounts already under the new storage quota). Impacted users will receive direct communications from ITS about any changes to their accounts throughout the project.

How to Prepare

Storage Quota Changes

Users who fall under the following established quotas will not be impacted:

Employee Classification Service & Quota
  OneDrive Exchange SharePoint Workspace MS Teams Workspace
Faculty/Staff 50 GB 50 GB 100 GB 100 GB
Students 50 GB 10 GB 100 GB 100 GB
Wage Employees 20 GB 10 GB 100 GB 100 GB
Contractors/Affiliates 20 GB 10 GB 100 GB 100 GB
Emeritus 20 GB 10 GB 100 GB 100 GB

Users whose storage exceeds the above limits will be assigned a quota just above the amount currently in use to prevent further growth. When a user nears the limit, they will get an automated warning message from Microsoft.

If the quota limit is reached for OneDrive, or a SharePoint or MS Teams workspace, your documents will be put in read-only mode, and you will be unable to save, edit, or create documents until data is deleted. If you reach the quota limit for Exchange, sending and receiving email will be unavailable until the existing email storage is deleted.

Users are encouraged to review the data in their George Mason email, OneDrive, and any managed SharePoint or MS Teams spaces. If possible, begin to delete old data, duplicates, versions, or documents that are no longer needed.

Policies & Retention

All data on Mason systems are required to meet retention policy requirements and ITS will be assessing our lifecycle and retention policies throughout the project. To prepare for changes, please assess your data with the retention guides and information provided by the Office of Records Management.

Frequently Asked Questions

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How will I know when and what changes impact me?
The majority of the George Mason community will not be impacted and will not notice any change. For those who are impacted, ITS will communicate directly with the user. General information will also be provided directly to IT personnel across the university. If you receive messages regarding changes from ITS, please read and follow any instructions given to ensure you retain the necessary data. Visit this roadmap page frequently for project updates and the Microsoft Changes page for general updates related to Microsoft services at George Mason.

How should I prepare for storage changes?
Review the data in your George Mason email, OneDrive, and any SharePoint or MS Teams spaces you manage. Visit the Records Management webpage to review data retention policies and understand what types of documents need to be maintained, for how long, and what is eligible for deletion. Delete old data, duplicates, or documents that are no longer needed.

Get Support

If you have questions about the project, please contact the project team at [email protected].

To provide further support, the Collaboration Collective MS Team – Microsoft Storage Project channel is available as a forum for collaboration with peers regarding changes to M365 cloud storage.

If you have other questions or need assistance, please contact IT Support anytime at 703-993-8870, live chat, or submit a ticket.

Last modified: May 16, 2025