Email Policy For Staff and Students Document Version Date Policy Owner Approval Email Policy V1.2 Dec 2011 ITS Reviewed - KPMG auditor V1.3 Feb 2012 Approved - elit committee March 2012 Approved Management Committee May 2012 Update approval section
CONTENTS PAGE 1. INTRODUCTION. 3 2. PURPOSE.3 3. SCOPE...3 4. AUTHORIZED EMAIL USERS... 3 5. STANDARDS OF ACCEPTABLE USE. 4 6. RESPONSIBILITIES OF EMAIL USERS..6 7. OFFICIAL EMAIL CORRESPONDENCES WITH STUDENTS....6 8. QUOTA & LIMITS....7 9. USEFUL PRACTICES AND HELPDESK SUPPORT 7 10. ENFORCEMENT..8 ITS Email policy document Page 2
ITS Email policy document Page 3
1.0 INTRODUCTION This Email Policy is developed in response to the need for guidelines describing the acceptable use of email services. It applies to IMU Education Sdn Bhd ( IMU ), which includes International Medical University ( the University ). The Policy will be reviewed on a periodic basis and if necessary, updates will be made to reflect changes to the email services and technology standards. 2.0 PURPOSE The Email Policy provides guidance on acceptable use of email, for the purpose of sending or receiving messages and attachments. It describes the standards that users are expected to observe when using these facilities for email, and ensures that users are aware of the legal consequences attached to inappropriate use of the email facilities. 3.0 SCOPE This policy applies to all members of the faculty, staff and authorized users entitled to email facilities provided by IMU. It also applies to students using the Microsoft Outlook Office 365 registered under the University s domain name, and provided by Microsoft. 4.0 AUTHORISED EMAIL USERS IMU owns the email accounts and data transmitted or stored using IMU email facilities, subject to underlying copyright and other intellectual property rights under applicable laws. Any use of IMU email facilities in an unacceptable and inappropriate manner may be treated as a disciplinary offence or a matter of legal action depending on the seriousness of the offence. Faculty and Staff Email services are available for faculty and staff to conduct and communicate University business. Contract workers, part-timers and/or guest visitors may be provided with email facilities, as approved by the Dean/ Corporate Head of Department. Incidental personal use of email is allowed with the understanding that the primary use should be job-related, and that occasional use does not adversely impact work responsibilities or the performance of the network. When a faculty or staff member leaves IMU by retirement, resignation or termination, the email account and contents of the mailbox will no longer be accessible to the person. The account holder is expected to clear all personal correspondence before leaving. If required, ITS Email policy document Page 4
the account holder s supervisor will be given access to the account, up to a period of 3 months, and will notify Information Technology Services as to when the account can be terminated. Students and alumni Email services are available for students and alumni members to support learning and for communication between IMU and themselves. During the orientation week, the Information Technology Services department will assign every student with a unique email account on Microsoft Outlook Office 365, e.g. studentname@student.imu.edu.my. Students will access the email system by logging in to http://portal.microsoftonline.com via any popular web browsers for Windows, Mac or Linus operating system. 5.0 STANDARDS OF ACCEPTABLE USE The main purpose for the provision of email facility is for the use in connection with teaching, learning, research and business activities of IMU. The use of IMU email address, mailbox and facilities must be lawful and professional at all times. If users are in any doubt about what constitutes acceptable and appropriate use of email facilities, they should seek the advice and guidance from the Information Technology Services department. 5.1 Unlawful use of email facilities Unlawful use of IMU email address, mailbox and systems may lead to criminal or civil legal action being taken against the individual users. Where there is evidence of a criminal offence, the issue will be reported to the police for them to take appropriate action. IMU will co-operate with the police and other appropriate external agencies in the investigation of alleged offences. Unacceptable uses of the email facilities include, but are not limited to, the following: 1. transmission of materials that infringes on the copyright laws, including intellectual property rights 2. using the email facilities for any purpose that violates federal or state laws 3. using the email facilities for conducting personal business 4. sending / forwarding e-mails that are libelous, abusive, defamatory, derogatory, threatening, offensive or contains obscene or indecent materials 5. unauthorized transmission of confidential material concerning the activities of IMU 6. creation or transmission of anonymous email messages or using someone else s identity/password 7. creation or transmission of material which is designed or likely to cause annoyance, harassment, inconvenience or needless anxiety to the recipients ITS Email policy document Page 5
8. provide unauthorized use of IMU email facilities to 3 rd party 9. transmission of unsolicited commercial or advertising material, chain letters, spam mail or other junk-mail of any kind 10. email activities that can corrupt other users information or cause network interruptions, such as unauthorized broadcasting or mass mailings 5.2 Preventing the Spread of Malicious Software (Viruses) Users of IMU IT facilities must take all reasonable steps to prevent the receipt and transmission by email of malicious software e.g. computer viruses. In particular, users must not transmit any file attachments which they know to be infected with a virus must ensure that an effective anti-virus system is operating on any computer which they use to access University IT facilities must not open email file attachments from unsolicited or untrusted sources 5.3 Spam mail A SpamTitan Anti- Spam software has been installed on IMU email gateway server to protect the email system from Spam mail. Spam can be defined as "the mass electronic distribution of unsolicited email to individual email accounts". All incoming emails will be checked by the Spam Titan system and any suspected spam mail will be moved to the Spam Titan server and a notification sent to the recipient user. The user has the option to review/download the email and must be responsible to blacklist the sender if it is a spam mail. 5.4 Mass mailings Mass electronic mailings are permitted only for official communication to IMU staff, faculty and students by the appropriate offices such as Chancellery, Corporate Communication, Faculty and corporate departments. Other than the above, users may not send mass emails without prior approval from Provost (or designee) for distribution to staff and/or students. 6.0 RESPONSIBILITIES OF EMAIL USERS All email users must familiarize themselves with the contents of this Email Policy. Failure to comply with the policy may lead to serious consequences, which include IMU taking necessary disciplinary action and/or legal action depending on the seriousness of the matter. ITS Email policy document Page 6
Every faculty member, staff member and students will be provided with IMU official e-mail address. This will be the formal email address for all communication between students and IMU and among the members of IMU. The format for this official email address is as follows: For staff & faculty (IMU Exchange Outlook) For students (Microsoft Office 365) : <username>@imu.edu.my : <studentname>@student.imu.edu.my 6.1 Individual users are expected to assume full responsibility and accountability for their actions and mailbox when using IMU email facilities. The use of email facilities by individuals at IMU assumes and implies compliance with this policy, without exception, and every user of email system has a duty to ensure they practice appropriate and proper use and must understand their responsibilities in this regard. 6.2 Senior management of IMU will be responsible for ensuring heads of Faculties, Departments and Business Units are aware of this policy; and they in turn will be responsible for informing their people of this policy. 6.3 The Information Technology Services department is responsible for providing and maintaining central email systems. The email server will be back-up as per standard backup and recovery procedures. Should there be any email database corruption due to failure of the system, the Information Technology Services department will recover the data loss to the best of their ability. 7.0 OFFICIAL EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE WITH STUDENTS All official communication between students and the University will be via the official email address as stated in section 6.0. Students are expected to check e-mail on a frequent and regular basis in order to stay current with University-related communications, recognizing that certain communications may be time-critical. It is recommended for e-mail to be checked daily, but at a minimum, twice per week. Regular e-mail management will also minimize the risk that the inbox will be full, causing the e-mail to be returned to the sender with an error. Undeliverable messages returned because of either a full inbox or use of a "spam" filter will be considered delivered without further action required of the University. It is the responsibility of every student to keep the University informed of changes in his or her official e-mail address. Consequently, e-mail returned to the University with "User Unknown" is not an acceptable excuse for missed communication. 8.0 QUOTA & LIMITS ITS Email policy document Page 7
8.1 The mailbox storage capacity is determined by IMU. Users may apply for additional storage space with a written recommendation from the Executive Dean/ Head of Department, stating the purpose and reason to justify the additional storage space request. The standard allowable storage limits are set as follows: For staff & faculty For students (under Microsoft Office 365) : 1GB : 25GB Once the quota has been reached, no further email can be delivered to an individual's inbox until he has have reduced his storage to below the limit. Users will receive an email notification when they are approaching their quota limit. It is the responsibility of the users to clear/maintain their mailbox according to the limit provided. 8.2 The maximum size of an email that can be transmitted or received via IMU email account is <25MB. Any email exceeding this limit will not be accepted by IMU s server. However, whether an email sent to external party is received by them will depend on the file-size limit set by the external party s email servers. 8.3 All email messages on IMU Exchange Outlook system, which is more than 90-days old, will be auto-archived to the Archive folder and removed from the Active folders. This auto-archive function assists users in managing their allowable email storage capacity. The Archive folder is still accessible via the Outlook email system but the physical data file is moved to the user s computer on C:\Documents\Outlook Files\ <archive filename>. It is the responsibility of IMU staff to back-up the file to external drive. Please contact Information Technology Services should you have require further information on the archiving procedures. 9.0 USEFUL PRACTICES AND HELPDESK SUPPORT 9.1 IMU considers email as an important means of communication among its community and as well as to external parties. Below are some useful practices on email usage : Do not send large files attachments. If possible, send a link to the content page or compress attachments larger than 200K before sending them. Read all email messages regularly and delete unwanted messages to maintain adequate storage in your mailbox. Download and save important messages and/or associated attachments into network drives or your computer. Activate the Auto-Reply function when you are away from office for a period of time. Do not send a REPLY ALL if you only need to respond to the sender and/or selected persons. Be responsible and courteous in your email correspondence as the message can easily be forwarded beyond the initial circle of recipients. 9.2 Disclaimer ITS Email policy document Page 8
An email disclaimer is added to outgoing email and forms a distinct section which is separate from the main message. For all outgoing email from IMU email server, the following disclaimer is as attached: "The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify us immediately by return e-mail or telephone +603 8656 7228 and destroy the original message without delay." 9.3 Helpdesk Services All queries on IMU email facilities can be forwarded to helpdesk@imu.edu.my or call us at (+6)03-27317318. 10.0 ENFORCEMENT IMU may, at its discretion, apply automatic message monitoring, filtering and deny transmission of messages with content that is unacceptable in the terms of this Policy. Violations of this policy will be handled consistent with IMU disciplinary procedures applicable to the relevant persons or departments. IMU may temporarily suspend, block or restrict access to information and network resources when it reasonably appears necessary to do so in order to protect the integrity and security of IMU resources or to protect IMU from liability. ITS Email policy document Page 9