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Email Policy
Background
A policy surrounding the retention of email at NSCC is now needed for the following reasons:
- The email messaging system is the primary method of communication within the College. Although email improves the quality of communication, there can be over use (spam) or abuse of this tool.
- We strive to make our email systems as reliable as possible. Presently there are numerous people who do not manage their email.
- Users are generally not aware of how much space their email takes. Guidelines on storage limits and periodic reports to users will make them more aware of the space they use.
Email Account Responsibility
As the holder of an NSCC email account, the individual is responsible for all email that passes through that account. All other policies regarding appropriate computer usage and harassment apply to information that is in an individual's email account.
Email Account Privacy
All email contained on the NSCC email system is the property of NSCC and can be inspected given just cause.
You should not post or share your email addresses on the internet. Posting your email address on websites leaves them susceptible to spam. Not all websites take precautions against email address harvesters. If you must post an email address on a non-college website please use an alias or a hotmail address.
Obtaining an Email Address at NSCC
Email addresses and computer accounts will only be issued to current employees, consultants or seconded individuals who are registered in the NSCC Peoplesoft system and have valid employee ID's (EMPLID). Students will only be granted email and computer accounts when they are matriculated (registered in a core program) in the NSCC PeopleSoft system.
Guiding Principles in an Email Storage Policy
The NSCC email storage policy is size based. This means that there is a limit in the total size a user's mailbox can be. Listed below are the guidelines that will apply to email at NSCC:
- The mailbox size for staff is as follows: 150mb before you start getting warnings about your account, 160mb before you can no longer send, and 170b before you can no longer send and receive.
- The mailbox size for students is as follows: 40mb before you start to get warnings about your mailbox size, 45mb before you can no longer send, 50mb before you can no longer send and receive.
- The maximum allowable size of attachments is 10 megabytes. Attachments larger than this value will not be processed.
Email Distribution list policy
College distribution lists are available for staff convenience for electronic communication. A person can create their own private distribution list. The distribution list for "All staff" is restricted to senior leadership members. The distribution list for "All students" is restricted to the President, Academic Vice President, and the Director of marketing and communication department. The campus staff or student distribution lists are restricted to senior leadership and campus staff (with campus management approval).
In most cases, a private distribution list or address book "filter" will be sufficient for staff. If a distribution list is only used by a handful of people to send email, then it should be private. There will be occasions when a new public distribution list should be created. If employee wants to create a new public distribution list, they must obtain their management approval. In addition, an "owner" must be identified to electronically maintain the members of this new group. This request must be submitted by the campus principal or College director to the Information Technology helpline (www.nscc.ca/helpline/). This request will be reviewed by both the Information Technology and Communications and Marketing department.
Resources
Resources, like rooms, can be entered in the new system for management and scheduling. These resources will found in address book beginning with the "~" character. These resources will be identified as Location.ResourceName.
Archiving/Local PST Files
Staff who maintain archives or "PST" files (the Outlook equivalent of archives) on their local hard drives are personally responsible for the backup of those files. Please assume that your archive is local and you must provide your own back up.
Archives and PST files that are stored on file servers will however be backed up. This must be separately requested and there may be a College cost for such a service.
Email Distribution Guidelines
NSCC is taking steps to reduce the number of unwanted messages (spam) that get sent to all NSCC email users. There will be limits on the number of recipients to which a message can be sent. Students will be limited to a maximum of 10 recipients per email message. Faculty and staff, require management approval, to send mass mailing email including within a campus. There is a Classified sub - folder within the NSCC public folder for personal advertisements or notices.
Retention of staff email upon termination of employment or retirement
- Email accounts will be set to forward email to an external account for 60 days.
- Login privileges for the account will be disabled once the employee is terminated.
- Email will be retained for 90 days after employee termination.
- The information on standalone PCs will be retained for 2 weeks after termination.
Retention of student email upon program completion or withdrawal from a program at NSCC
- Login privileges for the account will be disabled 30 days after the student leaves a program (30 days after the end of spring term for non-returning students)
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