Policies
Scenarios for non-standard registration
Introduction
We describe below a number of common scenarios where additional registration is required, along with some related situations where the desired outcome is achieved in other ways. Please use the registration form provided to ask for these arrangements to be set up. The scenarios are not exhaustive - if your requirements are different, please contact the IT Services' Service Desk IT.Services@lboro.ac.uk, 222333 for assistance.
1. Reception Desk
A situation where multiple individuals carry out a particular role at a specific place, perhaps on a rota basis. The role-holder changes frequently (e.g. hourly or daily). The role could additionally be the focus for enquiries and replies sent by e-mail. Examples might be a departmental store, a sales, reception, or enquiry point.
One person (e.g. the Reception Desk Supervisor) is responsible for the account. The staff involved, to whom the username and password are given, are registered users of University IT services, with their own registration as well as the "desk" one. The password must be changed when any member of staff leaves. The responsible person ensures that e-mail is answered and housekeeping undertaken.
2. Regular casual staffing
Here we are looking at a permanent (or perhaps cyclic, e.g. annual) role that is always filled by temporary staff. In the case of University departments these staff are paid by claims form or through an agency, rather than through the four weekly or monthly payroll. In the case of other organisations, the staff are not permanent employees, but taken on for a few weeks.
This is a scenario very similar to the one above, but the temporary staff do not have an individual e-mail address because of the very short term nature of their employment. In this case the manager has an additional responsibility to ensure that they read and understand the University IT Acceptable Use Policy and that their conditions of employment bind them to it. The manager takes personal responsibility for any acceptable use transgressions that take place and for changing the password when temporary staff leave.
The permanent role is key. In other situations where temporary staff are used, they should be temporarily registered as staff of the university. They should never be allowed to use the individual registrations of other people. They can use a "registration desk" type of account (above) if it exists, but the manager needs to note the additional requirements for acceptable use management when using temporary staff.
3. Automated Login
In this situation a registration is needed for an automated login by a piece of equipment (e.g. a networked till). In this case the responsibilities of the individual concerned will be identical, but no e-mail account will be set up.
4. IT Administrators
In some circumstances IT staff require an extra registration giving them a username with extra IT privileges, used only for particular functions.
5. E-mail Address for Enquiries
A department or service has a need for an externally visible address, which can be used for enquiries, admissions and so on. There will be a separate e-mail address and account for storing e-mail and files associated with the account. Several people read and respond to the e-mail sent to this account, and e-mail replies are sent from the account rather from than their individual accounts.
This scenario differs from the above in that the staff involved are not necessarily staffing a fixed physical point and they use their own individually defined University account for other parts of their work.
The main purpose is usually e-mail and this scenario differs from the one below in that e-mail is sent to one address, not distributed to multiple individuals. E-mail is managed, often via webmail, from the one account.
All the staff involved to whom the username and password is given must be registered users of University IT services, with their own registration as well as the "enquiries" one. The password must be changed when any member of staff leaves. The responsible person ensures that e-mail is answered and housekeeping undertaken.
6. Reception of Incoming E-mail
An e-mail address needs to be advertised. E-mails are answered by a single specified person, typically changing infrequently, or received by a group of people who can devise between them a method of ensuring e-mails are replied to when necessary, with e-mail replies coming from individual staff e-mail addresses. No record needs to be kept of these incoming messages or replies. In general this solution can lead to more management problems than the one above, so should only be used where logging into a separate e-mail account to receive the e-mail addresses to this address would be prohibitively inconvenient.
7. Supervised Access for Visitors
We normally expect students on short courses, conference delegates, short-term staff etc. to be registered individually, see the various options at the link above. However there will be occasions when a special registration is needed to log in a computer that will be used by, for example, members of the public at an Open Day, other supervised visitors, or very short term trainees attending a one-off training course. In this case the responsible individual must undertake to ensure that the activities carried out under this registration are supervised at all times. E-mail accounts will not normally be used for accounts registered via this option.
8. Permanent Supervised Visitor Access
This is similar to the option above, but the arrangement needs to be in place for an extended period of time. An example would be a computer in a public area where prospective students need to access a particular Website, or where a rapid succession of students need to use a form very briefly.
9. Role Based Registration, history needed
This option is provided for when there are serial incumbents of a defined role, where the individual has a separate University role for which their personal registration is used. In this situation the role-holder varies with time, over a timescale usually of months or years. E-mails and replies received in the role need to be available to the next incumbent. Examples might be health and safety adviser in a department, or Head of Department, where this rotates. Normally, only the person concerned will have the username and password. (Manager / secretary working could be an exception, but there are other ways to help facilitate this - please ask.) There will be a separate e-mail address and account for storing e-mail associated with the account. When the incumbent of the role changes, IT Services should be notified, and a new password will be issued.
This solution either requires the person to use webmail for one of the e-mail addresses (personal or role-based) or to use advanced e-mail client functions to manage two e-mail identities.
10. Role Based Registration, history not needed
Similar situation to the above, where the incumbent wishes to log in and use e-mail from his or her individual account, but have an incoming e-mail address associated with the role. Records of e-mails sent and received will be held under the individual's e-mail account, and not available to the next incumbent.
11. Change of individual e-mail address
Staff e-mail addresses are automatically set up in the form a.b.surname, using initials and surname taken from the Trent Human Resources system. Where a combination is already in use, a distinguishing number is added at the end, e.g. a.b.surname1. In normal circumstances the form of the e-mail address is not subject to choice, but it can be changed if there is a pressing reason, e.g. to protect an individual from harassment or where large numbers of e-mail being misdirected to similar addresses. It may also be changed when an individual changes their name e.g. on marriage. In this case a mail alias may be set up for the person's previous e-mail address.
You can use the Registration form 11 to request a change of e-mail address, but in this case you do not need to get the form countersigned by your Head of Department.
12. Extra e-mail address for an individual
Similarly we will set up an extra or alternative e-mail address for an individual if there is a pressing case.
You can use the Registration to request an extra e-mail address.
13. Manager / Secretary working and Confidential e-mail
Managers often wish secretaries to be able to deal with their e-mail in their absence. To comply with the Acceptable Use Policy individuals should never divulge their personal passwords to others. However there are ways to enable manager / secretary working.
A Web interface allows staff to automatically forward their e-mail to others, either short term to cover an absence, or perpetually. So a manager can simply forward all e-mail to their secretary. The secretary will receive a second copy of the e-mail, and should reply from their own e-mail address, remembering to copy in the manager where necessary. Systematic e-mail filing can be done by either the secretary or the manager, by agreement, and the other can simply delete. If the secretary wishes to keep e-mails to the manager separate from other incoming e-mail, this can be achieved by setting up a filter to place all the manager's e-mail in a separate folder.
An alternative, if it were necessary to keep the manager e-mail separate from the individual accounts of both the secretary and the manager, would be to set up a "Role Based Registration, history needed" (see above) - a dummy username for e-mail address e.g. LawHOD@lboro.ac.uk for which both the Head of Department of Law and their secretary would have the password.