Exchange E-mail - General
Staff E-mail Storage Policy
Context
The essential business of the University is now conducted largely through the medium of e-mail and it is essential that appropriate record management processes are in place. Staff need easy and rapid access to a repository of relevant e-mail records so that they have the information to do their job. These records could be in the form of e-mails sent to, or by, staff other than themselves. The purpose of this policy is to:
ensure that staff can access information needed to undertake their everyday activities effectively;
help ensure that information is adequately safeguarded from accidental or malicious deletion, loss or corruption;
make provision for e-mail records to be retained and deleted for an appropriate period of time, depending on their nature.
Dealing with incoming and outgoing e-mail takes considerable amounts of staff time, and the archiving system is designed to minimise effort in this respect, by providing an easy method of archiving selected e-mail.
Consideration is given to the demands of individual privacy, whilst ensuring that the University retains ownership of records that are important to its business. Account is given to different preferred working styles.
In order to provide a fast, responsive storage system for e-mail in transit, the volume of Live e-mail storage must be kept relatively small. This enables it to be backed up frequently and restored quickly in the event of system failure. Archives, in contrast, are less heavily accessed, can tolerate a longer target restore time, and can thus be held on slightly slower and cheaper technology. This means that more generous allocations can be made to store information that does not need to be accessed frequently or restored rapidly.
Staff are allowed to use the University e-mail system for non work related use, providing that this usage falls within the acceptable use policy. However, it should be noted that the University e-mail system is provided primarily for the University to conduct its business, and the University therefore has ownership of e-mail sent and received by staff and students. Even "personal" e-mails may be subject to disclosure, for instance as a result of requests under Freedom of Information and Data Protection legislation. Deletion of e-mail held centrally is not a guaranteed method of circumventing this, as the University is required to make reasonable efforts to disclose information held for backup purposes and held locally on staff computers that are owned by the University. The University does not make provision for staff to store long term quantities of e-mail that is not work related.
Policy
(a) Individual Staff will ...
... ensure that any e-mails they send or receive that need to be retained by the University are saved into the University e-mail record management system, where they are made available to other staff needing to use them, in accordance with defined departmental and University access policies.
... undertake e-mail management activities (filing and deleting) to ensure that their e-mail storage stays within a relevant quota.
(b) Departments and Sections ...
... will designate staff whose responsibility it is to define filing structures for e-mail to be retained ("file plans") as a series of hierarchical categorised folders, each of which has an associated list of staff who have access to read the e-mail stored it and a defined retention period, according to the legal requirements for that type of content (financial, personnel, student affairs etc.).
... may designate departmental e-mail administrators whose role is to directly undertake the tasks needed to set up and maintain this information structure. Alternatively, departments and sections may request IT Services to undertake the tasks to their requirements.
(c) IT Services will ...
... provide the technical systems to support three types of storage: the Live e-mail storage system; a structured long term archive for selected e-mails, organised by department; and additional fixed term (two-year) storage for use by individual staff as overspill storage.
... provide training, guidance and information to staff on use of the systems, including both end-users and departmental e-mail administrators.
... undertake the tasks of the departmental e-mail administrator in setting up and maintain the shared archive information structure, for departments and sections who do not wish to undertake this directly.
(d) The University Records Manager will ...
... set up a file plan for information that needs to be held at a University rather than department level.
... maintain the University records retention policy and provide training, guidance and information to staff on the appropriate length of time to keep various categories of information (financial, personnel, student affairs etc).
Agreed by E-mail Advisory Group, October 2006.