Data Management Guidelines at UniSA

Avoid nested folder structures deeper than 3 levels

Deeply nested folder structures impact user experience by increasing the number of clicks and making it harder for users to remember where to find content. 

Use short and meaningful names

Short and meaningful names ensure documents are easy to find and purpose is known without having to open the document. 

Avoid spaces and special characters (%, +, @, ^, ~, etc.). 
Use “-“ and “_” instead of spaces

Use of special characters in document names can result in the documents not opening in some software.  

Add dates to the end of a filename in a consistent format (e.g. YYYY-MM-DD) where appropriate 

Assists with easy sorting of documents in specific scenarios such as regular meeting related documentation. Should not be used as a convention for all documentation. 

Use default security groups to easily manage access in SharePoint and avoid individual user-based permissions. 

Managing user permissions using the default security groups allows for easier management and auditing of user access.  

Limit use of folder permissions and consider SharePoint subsites where appropriate. 

SharePoint subsites are an effective mechanism to faciliate collaboration and access for specific user groups as opposed to granular folder/file based permissions. 

Consider creating a file in the old file share location. Describe what data moved and where to and key contacts.  

Consider naming the file ‘00-Readme.txt’ so it appears at the top position in the folder. 

Update any references or links to files being moved in business process, documentation, web pages, systems, email templates etc. 

Conduct periodic reviews and archive or delete documents no longer required. 

Conduct periodic review of user access to information. 

Feature

SharePoint

File Server

Type of File

SharePoint

File Server

Word files 

Collaborative simultaneous editing available on SharePoint. Files later than 15GB should be stored on file server. 

Excel files 

Collaborative simultaneous editing available for files smaller than 15GB, otherwise store on file server. 

PowerPoint files 

Collaborative simultaneous editing available for files smaller than 15GB, otherwise store on file server. 

Project files 

No collaborative simultaneous editing. 

Publisher files 

No collaborative simultaneous editing. 

Photos 

Photos can be easily shared as well as viewed within SharePoint. 
Store on file server if the photo is larger than 15GB. 

PDF files 

PDFs can be easily shared as well as viewed within SharePoint. 
Store on file server if the PDF larger than 15MB. 

Video files 

Video files larger than 50MB should be stored on the file server.  Files with embedded video (Word, PowerPoint, may need special consideration) 

Research data 

See best options for research data here. 

Personal data (work related) 

The U: drive is for work related personal data, see best options for storage options here. 

Access databases 

Access requires the database to be downloaded from SharePoint in order to function well. 

Personal data (non-work related) 

Personal data should be not be stored on the university system.