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By Loren Malm, Ball State University
The cloud scorecard working group, convened by Internet2’s NET+ cloud services program, is pleased to release its final report and invite Internet2 members to participate in the second phase of the cloud scorecard working group focused on the implementation of the scorecard.
The working group final report is a recommendation for the development of a cloud scorecard to help research and education (R&E) institutions quickly assess the degree to which cloud services meet common requirements for operating in the complex technology, security, compliance, and legal environments in R&E. After a community consultation period, the final report is now available.
Phase 2 of the Cloud Scorecard Working Group will kick off in early March to develop the format and tools to launch the program in Q2 2021. We are seeking community members to join the working group and invite higher education, affiliate, regional networks, and industry members to join community members in this next phase as we develop the scorecard online presence and work with cloud service providers on a pilot. If you would like to join this group, please let Tara Gyenis know by Feb. 28, 2021.
When we started discussions to launch an assessment process for cloud services in late 2019, never did we imagine a global pandemic would rapidly accelerate the need for and use of cloud services on our campuses. It is our hope that the cloud scorecard will help peer institutions understand the risk profile of services already being used on campus and help assess future services reducing the workload on stakeholders like IT, procurement, individual academic departments and more.
We greatly appreciate the contributions from all of the members of the NET+ Scorecard Working Group Membership and others in the community who provided comments.