VCU E-Mail Policy & Operational Procedures (#4196)

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VCU E-Mail Policy & Operational Procedures

In addition to the policies and procedures that follow, VCU also follows the "Use of Electronic Communications and Social Media." This State policy applies to all employees, including those not covered by the Virginia Personnel Act (e.g., faculty) and affiliates with access to VCU systems and resources; and it ensures the appropriate, responsible and safe use of electronic communications and social media by employees. This policy update incorporates changes that have occurred in electronic communications, which have evolved well beyond computers, email and the internet and now include such devices as smartphones as well as social media technologies (LinkedIn, Facebook, blogs, etc.).

 

 Issue

 Comments

 Implementation
1.Permit e-mail forwarding?
  • No control over remote systems (e.g., Yahoo).
  • Official University communications via @vcu.edu account.
  • Legal and records management requirements.
  • Student e-mail policy to not permit forwarding.
  • Require administrative approval* for faculty and/or staff forwarding.
 2. Supported client/browsers
  • Domino supports specific IMAP clients
  • iNotes web interface has close to full functionality of Notes client.
  • Department IT staff will continue to support users.
  • Notes client recommended for maximum functionality.
  • The following IMAP clients are supported: Windows: Outlook 2003/2007, Thunderbird, Windows Mail; Macintosh: Macmail 3/4, Thunderbird. 
  • http://www.ts.vcu.edu/kb/2240.html
  • No longer allow POP mail for faculty/staff.
  • PINE no longer supported.
  • iNotes standard Web interface.
 3. Quotas/Email Size Limits
  • Current quotas not enforced
  • Maximum email size limit is 25 mb.  This is enforced.
  • Establish and enforce quotas for UG, GR, faculty, staff, special groups.
  • Once quota is reached, user will still receive and send mail.
  • Require administrative approval* to exceed quota.
 4. Restoration of deleted mail
  • Recovery of accidentally deleted mail is a costly, manual process.
  • Notes has “soft delete” feature.
  • Require administrative approval* to restore mail.
 5. PDA/Blackberry support
  • Faculty and staff use multiple mobile devices.
  • Support costs per type of device are high (hardware, software, learning curve).
  • No published standards.
  • Central support provided for Blackberry devices.
  • PDA software that affects server performance will not be permitted.
  • Lotus Notes Traveler supported for Apple iPhone, iPod, and Google Android devices
 6. Duplicate accounts
  • Some users have multiple individual accounts on different systems (e.g., VCU versus VCUHS).
  • Many organizational e-mail accounts (e.g., ts@vcu.edu).
  • Permit one individual account per university user.
  • Dual-role faculty may have two accounts (one on VCU and one on VCUHS mail systems)
 7. Auto archiving
  • Domino allows automatic archiving of e-mail to off-line storage (still accessible).
  • May not work with non-Notes clients.  
  • Investigate further for future implementation.
  • Manual archiving is performed based on database size and number of documents. 
  • 90 days of data is maintained in the server based database, the remaining data is archived to the Domino archive server.
  • Only faculty or senior staff may be exempt from the 90 day or archive process, but this is based on business requirement only, not user preference.
  • Requires administrative approval.
8. Email Accounts    
  • University employees will have an email account on the university's Lotus Notes/Domino system.
  • Students will use the Google mymail.vcu.edu system for email.
  • Student workers will use generic Lotus Notes accounts.
  • Dual-role faculty may have two accounts (one for VCU and one for VCUHS usage).

9. Whitelisting/Blacklisting as relating to SPAM/Phishing attacks
  • The CIO, IT Division Director of Application Services, or Director of Email Services may approve/deny requests or exceptions regarding implementation of whitelist/blacklist rules for email routing, including those that may affect the university's Domain Name Server or Sender Reputation Score.
  • Reputation Scores or whitelist/blacklist rules will be adjusted by VCU Computer Center staff as requested by the CIO, IT Division Director or Director of Collaboration Services. DNS changes will not permitted to allow third party email services to assume the vcu.edu identity for the purposes of mass mail campaigns.

 

*Administrative approval: Requires authorization from dean or equivalent administrative position (or above) and approval from Chief Information Officer, Technology Services.

UITAC 11/3/2006  Rev: 2012

This article was updated: 02/05/2013