Concerns with ROT Data
All data storage has a carbon impact, is increasingly expensive, and can open the university to regulatory risk. ROT data is data that has little value and is oftentimes a liability. Minimizing ROT data helps our university be more sustainable, efficient and compliant.
Identifying ROT Data
The acronym “ROT” highlights three different types of low quality data:
Redundant data is duplicated data excluding backups or other necessary copies. An example of redudant data might be when members of a team download the same document to their individual OneDrives, instead of working on the same document together.
Obsolete data is data that is no longer accurate or in use. Examples might include files which no one has opened, saved to, or modified for the past five years.
Trivial data is data that is not necessary to store. This includes junk emails and incomplete documents.
Managing ROT Data
Two ways you can help with this rotten challenge are analyzing your OneDrive storage space (How to access and view OneDrive storage metrics?) and sharing what you’ve learned about ROT data with others. If you have further questions on how data quality helps our university, give OIT a shout at support@uidaho.edu.