ARCHIVED: Types of Box accounts at IU

This content has been archived, and is no longer maintained by Indiana University. Information here may no longer be accurate, and links may no longer be available or reliable.

On this page:


Individual and non-individual accounts

Important:

IU's Box cloud storage service was retired on May 10, 2021. For information about cloud storage options available at IU, see Storage at IU.

Individual accounts

In Box at Indiana University, an individual account is an account that is associated with an individual's IU username. All students, faculty, staff, and affiliates can log into https://box.iu.edu to access their individual IU Box accounts.

You can use your individual account to:

  • Save your own files
  • Share read-only access to files with others (within or outside IU)
  • Invite others (within or outside IU) to collaborate on folders or files you own
  • Access folders and files that you have been invited to collaborate on

When you log into your individual account, you will see folders and files you have been invited to collaborate on alongside your own files and folders, and this is where you will do all your work with documents (uploading, downloading, editing, etc.).

Non-individual accounts

Important:

To request a new institutional storage account, fill out the Institutional storage request form.

UITS strongly recommends that all institutional data be owned by non-individual Box accounts. Non-individual accounts provide the following benefits:

  • Clarity of ownership: The group/lab/department owns the files, not any one individual.
  • Permission flexibility: Because account ownership is not directly tied to any one individual, it is easier to give all users the appropriate collaborator permissions.
  • Minimize disruptions of access when there is personnel turnover: Upon the departure of a staff member, or the graduation of the leader of a student group, access to shared data in folders owned by the individual account of the person leaving may be lost. By storing this group/organizational data within a folder owned by the non-individual account, you avoid that disruption.

You will access the content owned by non-individual accounts by logging into your individual Box account.

The following types of non-individual accounts are available:

  • Group Accounts: Group Accounts are the main storage container for non-sensitive data for student groups or small teams. For some research labs that will not be storing any sensitive data in Box, Group Accounts may be appropriate. However, researchers should consult with their IT Pro to see if there is already an Organizational Account in place that could host the lab's data. Group Accounts are requested through self-service.
  • Organizational Accounts: Organizational Accounts are the main storage container for general (that is, non-sensitive) content for schools, organizations, or regional campuses. Organizational Accounts are set up by the unit's IT Pro.
    Note:
    UITS recommends that each unit use a combination of an Organizational Account and a Box Entrusted Data Account (see below).
  • Box Entrusted Data Accounts: Box Entrusted Data Accounts are the appropriate storage container for Restricted data for schools, organizations, or regional campuses. Box Entrusted Data Accounts are set up by the unit's IT Pro.
  • Box Health Data Accounts: Box Health Data Accounts are the authorized Box storage location for ARCHIVED: approved PHI data for groups working with data regulated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Box Health Data Accounts are set up by Health Technology Services (HTS).

Where to store data

When determining where to store your files, you need to consider the IU Classification levels of institutional data. (When storing personal files in Box, you may store any files you deem appropriate in your individual Box account.)

Important:
Not all institutional data is permitted in Box at IU; see ARCHIVED: Types of data appropriate for IU Box accounts.
Institutional data of the classifications listed below should be in folders owned by the indicated types of accounts
Classification Individual account Group Account Organizational Account Box Entrusted Data Account Box Health Data Account
Critical - not PHI No No No No No
Critical - PHI No No No No Yes1
Restricted No No No2 Yes Yes
University-internal Yes3 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Public Yes3 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Notes:

1 Only ARCHIVED: approved PHI may be stored in Box.

2 While Restricted data was previously allowed in Organizational Accounts, UITS and the Data Stewards recommend that all Restricted data be moved to a Box Entrusted Data Account.

3 Although you are permitted to store University-Internal data and Public data in folders you own, best practice is that all institutional data in Box be stored in folders owned by a non-individual account.

If you are uncertain which account type best suits your needs, contact boxinfo@iu.edu.

This is document bdhb in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2021-02-26 10:56:21.