Data Collection, Storage and Collaboration Tools

Data collection, storage and collaboration tools are used to maintain departmental/team/group, and individual information and resources. These tools can be used as a respository for files, projects, processes and solutions for Western faculty, staff and, in some cases, students.

Western Technology Services supports the following data collection, storage and collaboration tools for general use on campus:

Confluence
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft OneDrive
Qualtrics
Microsoft Forms
WTS Central File Storage (formerly called Walter)
Laserfiche

In addition to the above WTS supported tools, the following storage options are also available on campus and may be applicable for research data:

Western Libraries Secure Data Archive
- for Long-term data archival and retention
Western University Repository on Borealis
- Online repository for storage and sharing of non-confidential research data

Data Security

Storage of sensitive and confidential data in the cloud is acceptable and protected by our existing licensing agreements; however you need to be aware that local synced copies of your data do not meet Western's data classification standard or data handling procedures for sensitive and confidential information.

Sensitive or confidential data in Microsoft Office 365 needs to be protected from being locally synced as you work across different computers at home or in the office. Laptops and workstations that are using Microsoft Office 365 and syncing data locally, must use a Western login to access the laptop or workstation and the local drive where sync folders are created must be hard drive encrypted. More information about securing your data in OneDrive can be found at https://wts.uwo.ca/microsoft_onedrive/securing_data.html .

Common Use Cases

In order to help you make an informed choice on which tool to use for your specific use case, we have provided an overview and feature comparison table. While some core functionality is the same, each tool has different feature sets and constraints which should be considered during your evaluation. We have also included some common use cases that you may want to consult as you conduct your tool evaluation.

Published on and maintained in Cascade.