“ALL” MAILING LIST MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES


Date approved:	31 March 2005	Date Guidelines will take effect:	31 March 2005	Date of Next Review:
Approved by:	Chris Edmondson
Custodian title & e-mail address:	Senior Manager, Business Services Unit michele_grange@uow.edu.au
Author:	Michele Grange
Responsible Faculty/ Division & Unit:	Business Services Unit, Information Technology Services
Supporting documents, procedures & forms of these guidelines:	Requirements for All_Academic and All_General Emails
References & Legislation:	IT Acceptable Use Policy (including the Requirements Governing the Use of IT Facilities)
Audience:	Public – accessible to anyone
Expiry Date of Procedure:	Not applicable

Contents

1 Introduction / Background 2
2 Scope / Purpose 2
3 Definitions 2
4 Authorisation 2
5 Format and Content of Bulk Emails 2
6 Conditions for Delivery 2
7 Appealing a Decision 4
8 Roles & Responsibilities 4
9 Version Control Table 4

1 Introduction / Background

1. In January 2005 the decision was taken to implement direct management of bulk emails submitted for transmission to the University of Wollongong “All” mailing lists.
2. This document details the guidelines that apply to the authorisation, format and content for postings to these lists.
3. The requirements for postings to the “All” mailing list emails are summarised in the “Requirements for All Academic and All General Emails”.

2 Scope / Purpose

Not Available.

3 Definitions

Not Available.

4 Authorisation

1. The following authorisation criteria apply to messages sent to the bulk mailing lists maintained by ITS including the All general and All Academic lists.
2. All messages are checked to ensure that:

only messages submitted using the intranet staff messages interface are accepted.

messages are submitted by the nominated sender (Senior Executives, Deans and Directors may delegate this responsibility to the executive and personal assistants).

messages are submitted by current sponsored user account holders of the University of Wollongong.

5 Format and Content of Bulk Emails

1. Messages sent to the “All” mailing lists:

can only be supplied in text format only, not HTML.

should be limited to one page in length or less (if possible). Where the email would otherwise be lengthy, provide a URL to the additional information.

cannot include attachments. Any information that would normally be sent as attached should be directed to a URL.

cannot be submitted from a computer with an address located outside of the University’s network. Emails submitted from the Staff Messages interface are internal.

2. The content of emails for distribution over the “All” lists is the responsibility of the sender. Personal views, opinions or sentiments may not be appropriate for communication via this medium and may be denied.
3. Emails submitted for transmission via the “All” mailing lists are not published automatically. Upon submission a posting to an “all” mailing list is retained with a “held” under conditions for delivery below.
4. Emails posted to the All Lists by the Vice- Chancellor, Members of the Senior Executive, Deans, Directors, and the University Librarian, are released for publication immediately.

6 Conditions for Delivery

1. Each email submitted to an “All” mailing list is assessed by a Senior ITS Manager and one of the following steps will be taken:

1.1. If requested and appropriate, the email will be published to the list membership immediately.
1.2. If not requested or denied for immediate release, but still appropriate for the List, the message may be delayed until a quiet processing time (outside the busier 9am to 5pm window), and then published.
1.3. If not appropriate for the List, the sender will be notified with a request for modification or notification of an alternate method of disseminating the information.
1.4. If the email is not appropriate, as in the case of SPAM, the email is discarded without any return notification.

Emails for immediate release

2. The types of All List emails that require immediate release are those that have a bona-fide role in informing the University Community of important issues that should be brought to ITS attention as soon as possible. Examples include the following:

an email providing important information that urgently affects the University’s ongoing business;

an email concerning security or the safety of members of the University Community and its guests.

an email containing important news about the University and warrant immediate publication.

warnings of service failures that have an impact across the Community.

Delayed emails

3. The types of All List emails that would be delayed are those that do not request immediate release or which contain information of importance, but which have no immediate urgency. Examples include:

emails where immediate release is not specifically requested;

emails concerning news that broadly affects the University Community but is not of an urgent nature;

important business timetables that affect the broad University Community but do not impact immediately;

University academic or business related emails which do not have an immediate requirement for circulation;

requests for voluntary support for important education/research activities; and/or

advance notification of pre-planned service outages affecting large parts of the University Community.

4. Publication of such emails will be delayed until processing pressures on the Email system are minimal (outside the busier 9am to 5pm window).

Emails denied publication

5. Emails that will not be published beyond the moderation process include the following.

a. technically inappropriate emails (refer below for information);
b. all virus/SPAM generated emails that can be identified as being of that nature;
c. personal notifications (including farewells) or advertisements;
d. job advertisements, excluding those submitted by Personnel Services or those that have been approved by Personnel Services.
e. emails whose content is more appropriate for a alternate method of disseminating information;
f. emails that fail the criteria set out in the University’s IT Acceptable Use and other related IT Policies (accessible at http://www.uow.edu.au/about/policy/it.html).

6. If not appropriate for the List, the sender will be notified with a request for modification or notification of an alternate method of disseminating the information. Emails that fail the IT acceptable use criteria will be referred to the appropriate authority within the University for review and possible disciplinary action.

SPAM/Viruses

7. Where emails are obviously SPAM or virus related they will be destroyed and the gateway by which they entered the University email system will be closed where possible.

7 Appealing a Decision

1. Any sender will be able to initially appeal a decision to delay or deny publication with the Associate Director (ITS). In the case of a denial, ITS will provide an explanation of why the email was denied, and if appropriate will advise of:

a. The changes necessary for it to be sent; or
b. The alternative mechanisms for providing the University Community with the information it contains.

2. If there is an academic or business issue affecting the appropriateness of the email for publication, the Associate Director ITS may seek the advice and direction of the Vice Principal (Administration) and/or the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic). Any appeal lodged against a decision taken by the Associate Director ITS to deny publication, will also be reviewed by these two office holders.

8 Roles & Responsibilities

1. Roles and responsibilities are as detailed in these guidelines.

9 Version Control Table

Version Control	Date Effective	Approved By	Amendment
1	31 March 2005	Chris Edmondson	Initial version
2	19 July 2005	Chris Edmondson	Revised given upgrade of mailman
3	12 September 2006	Chris Edmondson	Revised given intranet interface for submitting “all” academic & general emails. Revised to warn about reformatted html as well as other changes.
4	24 June 2008	Associate Director, Information Technology	Updated
5	6 May 2009	Vice Principal (Administration)	Migrated to UOW Procedure Template as per Policy Directory Refresh

Last reviewed: 12 June, 2009

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