Spring is coming and so is ShredFest
By Randy Hollowell, information technology services
Believe it or not, spring is right around the corner, so there is no better time to start thinking about spring cleaning and removing some of the clutter in your office, home or residence hall.
ShredFest 2017
Shredfest is your opportunity to bring your confidential office and personal documents for secure, on-site shredding. (It is advised that you separate your personal and Miami documents before you bring them to the shred event.)
A mobile shredder from Document Destruction will be at the Oxford campus Thursday, May 11, (during finals week) between 12:30 and 3:30 pm at Cook Field (near the Pulley Tower).
The shredder will also visit the regional campuses on Tuesday, May 9. It will be at Middletown in the parking lot outside of Johnston Hall from 9-11 a.m. and at Hamilton in the parking lot outside Wilks Conference Center from 1-3 p.m.
Last spring 175 people attended the event and shredded nearly 8,400 pounds of documents. That surpassed the previous year’s mark of more than 6,900 pounds at this annual event, co-sponsored by IT services and the office of general counsel.
According to Connie Johnson, data security analyst within IT services, outdated paper documents can pose a significant risk for identity theft. “Anything that has a signature, an account number, a social security number or medical information poses a risk. During ShredFest people drop off old bank statements and checks, ATM receipts, credit card receipts, address labels from junk mail, old utility bills, and outdated tax forms just to name a few items,” noted Johnson.
Please note that university documents must have reached the end of their retention period and be accompanied by a signed Records Disposal Form. The Miami University Records Retention Schedule and disposal forms are available from the office of general counsel website. Please note that there are changes to some portions of the records retention policy, including how long you are required to keep job search documentation (now three years instead of six).
For more information on the ShredFest event, please visit MiamiOH.edu/UIT/ShredFest or contact Johnson.
Electronic Recycling
If you have institutionally-owned computers or peripherals that you would like to have removed and recycled, please complete the Request Computer Recycling form. For information about where to recycle personal electronics such as computers and televisions, as well as fluorescent light bulbs and batteries, please visit the Butler County Recycling website.
Security Change Coming to Qualtrics Surveys
Qualtrics will be transitioning all of their services to HTTPS (a more secure internet protocol) starting on March 30, 2017. Because of this, Qualtrics will soon be reaching out to survey creators, providing them with instructions on how to change their survey content in preparation for this change.
Qualtrics will email survey owners, specifying which surveys are impacted and providing instructions for updating to the more secure settings. Qualtrics has assured us that their support team is willing and able to provide help or answer any questions you may have. Please be aware that these changes will need to be made no later than March 30, 2017.
If you receive an email from Qualtrics and have any questions about the changes, please contact Qualtrics Support.
