Account & File Storage Set-Up

Setting up an account and file storage for your project

When you’re setting up your project it’s important to choose a system where you will store and access your files. The most commonly used systems are cloud-based meaning that you can access files from anywhere in the world and share them with whomever you want to. The two most commonly used options are Microsoft Office 365 and Google Workspace.

This document is to give you some guidance on how to set up an account and create folder structures that are going to help you as you run your project.

At Green Pastures, we use Microsoft Office 365 as our main storage system. With that said, our commitment to you is that we’ll work with you on whichever system you choose. We’ll give guidance on using both Microsoft and Google below, and ultimately it’s your choice on which you and your team will find easiest to navigate. You may find that it’s easier to interact with our documentation if you choose to go with Microsoft Office 365, but using Google can still work, too.

We only cover these systems in brief below - our advice is always to research yourself which system works best for you and how they work. If you need any guidance, let us know!

Definitions

Microsoft Office 365

The suite of software that Microsoft offers, including OneDrive, SharePoint, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and more. Microsoft Office 365 works both on the web as well as on the Desktop - this means that you can work on Microsoft Word documents on your internet browser (Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, etc.) or on the more traditional Desktop apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).

‍Google Workspace

The suite of software that Google offers, including Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Gmail and more. The Google Workspace is an almost entirely web-based product meaning that you access it through your internet browser and there are no apps to download onto your computer with the exception of a program that allows you to access your files on your desktop.

Account

An account is what gives you access to the software system of your choice.

OneDrive and SharePoint

OneDrive and SharePoint are the storage systems that come with Microsoft Office 365. OneDrive is the place where you store all your own documents that don’t need to be shared with the wider team, and SharePoint is where you can set up collaborative spaces where everyone in a team has access to the same files and folders. You can store almost any type of file in OneDrive or Sharepoint, from Word documents, to PDFs. 

Google Drive

Google Drive is the storage system that comes with the Google Workspace, and includes My Drive and Shared Drives. My Drive is where you store all of your own documents that don’t need to be shared with the wider team, and Shared Drives are where you can set up collaborative spaces where everyone in a team has access to the same files and folders. You can store almost any type of file in Google Drive, but it’s best to use the native programs - Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides.

Sharing

Both Microsoft and Google allow you to ‘Share’ files and folders so others have access to them. Sharing allows a specific list of people, of your choosing, to access your data, or allows you to create a link that anyone can use to access.

‍Links

On OneDrive and SharePoint, each file and folder can have multiple links so that you can control access to those folders depending upon who has the links. For example, you could have one link that you set up to allow anyone with the link to view your document, whilst another link can give specific people that you choose access to edit the document.

On Google Drive, each document has only one link which functions like a normal web address. You can control access to the document using this link and when you update the access it will affect that link everywhere that it’s shared.

Setting up an Account

It’s really easy to set up accounts on both Microsoft Office and Google Workspace. We encourage you to follow the guidance that’s readily available online which will also talk you through the fundamentals of how to use either system.

Our advice is to set up a business account for whichever option you choose so that you can create and control users (i.e., each of your team gets a new user) and make use of the shared document storage mentioned above.

Please note: There are non-profit discounts available for both systems which bring the costs down considerably!

Here are some initial guides that should help you: 

Microsoft Office 365

1. Setting up Microsoft 365 for business
2. Create files and folders
3. Creating a new document
4. Upload a file
5. Share a file or folder
6. Making a copy of a file
7. Sync OneDrive files
8. Sync SharePoint files
9. OneDrive help & learning - a key place with almost all the information you’ll need!
10. SharePoint help & learning - a key place with almost all the information you’ll need!

Most of the principles that apply to OneDrive also apply to SharePoint.

Google Workspace

1. Setting up a Google Workspace account
2. Activating non-profit status
3. Create files and folders
4. Creating a new document
5. Upload a file
6. Share a file or folder
7. Sync files using Google Drive for Desktop
8. Google Drive Help - a key place with almost all the information you’ll need

Setting up a folder structure for your Support Documentation

When setting up your project files, it’s really important to set up an ordered folder structure so that all of your data is kept tidy, as well as allowing easy sharing of files with your Partnership Manager. The following is guidance on how to set up your folder structure for your Support Plans and Contact Logs. It’s guidance only and you are free to come up with an alternative system if you feel something else would work better. 

If you do choose to go with another structure, the principles are: 

1. Make it ordered so that it is easy to understand and to locate files 
2. Ensure that all folders are shared with relevant members of your team 
3. Ensure that all relevant folders are shared with your Partnership Manager and our Support Documentation Guides (philip.parnham@greenpastures.co.uk & charlotte.herbert@greenpastures.co.uk) 
4. Ensure that once the structure is set up, you continue to use it and only upload relevant files into the correct folders so that no files get lost 

Recommended Structure

We recommend the following structure for your Support Plans and Contact Log folders: 

• Have a master folder called ‘Support Paperwork’ some text
  • Within this folder, have a separate folder for each of your properties. Name it with the address of the propertysome text
    • Within each property folder, have two further folders: some text
      • Support Plans - [Property Name]some text
        • In this folder, have a separate folder for each resident. Name it with the resident’s initials
        • In this folder, also have a folder called ‘Old Support Plans - Do Not Use’ and move Support Plans for previous residents into there. Periodically go through and delete old Support Plans in line with your privacy policy
      • Contact Logs - [Property Name]some text
        • In this folder, have a separate folder for each resident. Name it with the resident’s initials 
        • In this folder, also have a folder called ‘Old Contact Logs - Do Not Use’ and move Concat Logs for previous residents into there. Periodically go through and delete old Contact Logs in line with your privacy policy

This structure will allow you to easily locate the relevant Support Documentation quickly and easily, and will allow your Partnership Manager and our Document Auditor to have easy access to assist whenever they need to comment. 

Other files and folders

You will of course have many other files and folders aside from the Support Plans and Contact Logs. We encourage you to maintain a similar structure as above for all your folders and files - be guided by the principles above and you will find working through files and folders more efficient and productive.