Question DCTR-02

Are you generally able to accommodate storing each institution's data within their geographic region?

Standard Guidance

Please indicate which geographic regions you can provide storage in the Additional Info column.

Answering "NO"

Under what circumstances would institutional data leave a designated region or regions?

Answering "YES"

EDUCAUSE provides no guidance here

Reason for Question

An institution's location will dictate what laws and regulations apply to them. Because vendors may not know where all of their customers reside, it is imperative that vendors are able to accommodate geographic requirements for their customers. Although it is unfair to expect support for all geographic regions in common infrastructure/platform/software-as-a-service, vendors are expected to be absolutely clear about the regions they leverage and/or support.

Follow-Up Inquiries

If a vendor is unable to accommodate storing/processing institutional data within specific regions, ask them why they are unable to. Try to determine if it's an infrastructure issue (scalability), a cost-reduction strategy (size/maturity), or some other issue.

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