Faculty of Engineering

Safe Document Storage Guidelines


This guideline is to assist you with best practice on how to safely transport and store your Dalhousie Univerity documents.  It is always suggested that you refer to Dal Class advice on retention and destruction of documents.

Public

University Information approved for distribution to the public by the information owner, administrative authority or other valid authority such as legislation or policy.

  • Dalhousie’s and departmental websites, brochures, campus maps, etc.
  • Published marketing information and course descriptions
  • Published annual reports, strategic plans and financial statements
  • Dalhousie’s rates and fees
  • Faculty and staff directory information
  • Other published information about the University
Internal

University Information intended for use within a specific University workgroup or unit. Internal information is not approved for general circulation outside that workgroup or unit.

  • Office or unit-specific administration policies and procedures
  • Draft marketing information
  • Service provider contracts (unless covered by the ‘Confidential’ classification)
  • Internal communications regarding projects, etc.
  • Floor plans, access codes, etc.
  • Planning documents
Confidential

Highly confidential business or personal information; only disclosed to those who need to know the information by virtue of their role at the University; can only be used for the specific authorized purposes.

  • Personal Information, to the extent such information is not already covered by the ‘Specified 
  • Standard’ classification. For example:
  • An Individual’s name, address, telephone number or email address
  • Personal health information
  • Government issued identifiers (e.g. social insurance number, passport number, driver’s 
  • license number, health card number)
  • Individually identifiable financial account information (e.g. bank account or debit card)
  • Information specified as confidential under contracts or non-disclosure agreements
  • Application for employment, resumes, criminal record checks
  • infrastructure diagrams and data about sensitive systems
  • Patent applications and trade secrets
  • Drafts or unpublished strategic plans, annual reports and financial statements
  • Internal audit reports and working papers and files
  • Actuarial information and benefits
  • Proprietary information
  • Legal advice, materials related to legal proceedings, appeals and grievances
Sensitive

Information where there is a regulatory or contractual obligation to manage the information in a specified manner which exceeds the standards in the information classifications ‘Public, Internal or Confidential’.

  • University Information where there is a regulatory or contractual obligation to manage the 
  • information in a specified manner which exceeds the standards in the information 
  • classifications ‘Public’, ‘Internal’ or ‘Confidential’
  • Individually identifiable medical or genetic information categorized as sensitive
  Public Internal Confidential   Sensitive

Local hard drive

 Yes No No No

SharePoint / OneDrive

 Yes Yes Yes* Yes

Email 

 Yes Yes Yes** Yes**

O drive

 Yes Yes Yes Yes

Teams

 Yes Yes No No
*would not incude medical info or credit card information
**internal email only