Archive & removal of 7-year-old content from My Dundee (2020)

We are beginning work to tidy up all modules and associated content in My Dundee that is 7 years old and over. This work is being carried out to lower our data footprint in Blackboard Learn and conform to university data policy. This is a new process that will be repeated on an annual basis as part of improved backend administration procedures. Read below to find out more about what we are doing and why.

What is happening?

Starting with the very oldest, we are systematically archiving and removing modules and associated content from My Dundee from academic year 2012-13 and earlier.

  • Removed content and modules will no longer be available in My Dundee (2004 – 2013)
  • Archived content will be retained for 6 months in separate storage area – nothing is being deleted permanently until the end of July.
  • If in the unlikely event you find you need to access any data from AY 2012/13 or earlier, you can notify us via Help4u before the end of July and it can be retrieved (time to retrieve may vary)

Will this affect me?

It is incredibly unlikely that anyone is still referring to content from 2013 or before. Some users may have links to files that they have somehow copied over every year into each new module but again this is very unlikely and would-be bad practice if they are in terms of the student experience.

Note that anything added or copied from September 2013, all the way to the present day will remain untouched.

What if something is missing that I need?

All information is being archived for 6 months.

If you do find that an old module or file goes missing that you realise you need access to for whatever reason, please let us know by reporting to Help4u with as much information about the module/file as you can give. Then we can retrieve it from the archive and restore it to My Dundee or simply share the file directly.

Why is this being done?

This is being actioned urgently due to increasing storage costs that must be kept under control. You can expect to see notification of other storage saving activities and best practice recommendations in the coming months as we continue this work.

The specific cut-off of 7 years is based on recommendations from the relevant university expertise and policy areas.

Annual Process

We will begin to perform this data archive/removal work on an annual basis. This work is being done to meet our immediate storage reduction needs but we do this work at the end of every academic year from 2021. Information about this long-term process will be given next summer.

If you have any questions about this process, please contact ctil@dundee.ac.uk

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