POLICY PROJECT

Information Technology Division Services: Rules and Procedures

Broadcast e-mail at NC State

SOP#900. 31. ###
Issued by Vice Provost, Information Technology
Audience: NC State campus

Service Name

Broadcast e-mail

Brief description of service

Extraordinary circumstances, such as crime alerts or other urgent news, may warrant the sending of an e-mail message to all members of the NC State community. E-mail is a valuable and ubiquitous tool for conducting University business, and mass e-mailings put a heavy burden on university e-mail systems, servers and clients. The Information Technology Division (ITD) and Network and Client Services (NCS) will broadcast e-mail to all Eos/Unity and NCS e-mail account holders only after receiving receiving official approval (see below)..

Clients Eligible for service

Authorized University officials

Type of use

University business only

University Policy, Regulations, Rules and Procedures

All NC State computer and network resources are governed by Administrative Regulations - Computer Use. Section IV. D states:

"University computer account holders may not "broadcast" e-mail messages without prior approval from a University official with the rank of chancellor, provost, vice chancellor for finance and business, or their designees."

To implement these Regulations, all campus-wide broadcast e-mail messages must be approved by an authorized University Official. The message and accompanying information (see below) will be submitted by authorized staff of the approving official into the NC State Emergency Broadcast Email & Crime Alert Submission System.

University officials authorized to approve broadcast e-mail and their contact information. Please email your request as indicated below.

• Chancellor
  • PJ Teal
• Provost
  • Katie Perry
  • Vicki Walton
• Vice Chancellor for Finance and Business
  • ann_pease@ncsu.edu

Designees of these officials must be documented in writing with a memorandum to ITD and NCS.

Procedures for submitting a message for approval for broadcast e-mail:

If you wish to obtain approval for a campus-wide broadcast e-mail message, contact one of the University officials listed above. Send the official an e-mail that includes

• Your justification for a campus-wide broadcast delivery of the message (note that e-mail broadcasts may delay the delivery of other University e-mail).
• The following information:
  

  Confirmation Address: (requires a valid e-mail address)

  Enter your preferred e-mail address or the valid e-mail address of the person who is to receive confirmation that the broadcast e-mail process has been successfully initiated. This address will also be used for notification if problems develop in subsequent steps in the delivery process.

  Phone:

  Enter the phone number to be called in case a problem develops in the e-mail delivery process.

  Name of Sender:

  The name that is to appear as the Sender on the broadcast e-mail. In most cases, this should be the name of the university official who authorized the sending of the e-mail.

  From Address: (requires a valid e-mail address)

  The e-mail address that is to appear as the Sender address on the broadcast e-mail. In most cases, this should be the e-mail address of the university official who authorized the sending of the e-mail. This is also the e-mail address to which replies from recipients will be directed.

  Subject:

  The text that will appear on the Subject line of the e-mail.

  Expiration Date:

  Most emergency broadcast e-mail messages have no relevance after a certain date. Specify an appropriate expiration date for your message. If an addressee has not accessed their e-mail during the period between when the message was available and the expiration date, the message will not be delivered to that address. A period of less than three months is typical.

  Body of Message:

  The text of the message to be sent. For greatest efficiency, messages should be as concise as possible. Enter a blank line between paragraphs. The system will automatically add the required NC State broadcast e-mail disclaimer to the end of your message.

  Priority:

  Priority 1 messages are the most urgent and warrant the interruption of other university e-mail delivery for several hours. To ensure quickest possible delivery of these messages, other e-mail delivery will be stopped until the Priority 1 message has been processed. ITD and NCS systems staff will be called in to work if the message is initiated after normal working hours. Under normal circumstances, a Priority 1 message will be available to campus e-mail addressees within 4 hours after submission.

  Priority 2 messages are for critical messages that are less urgent than Priority 1. ITD and NCS systems staff will be called in to work if the message is initiated after normal working hours, but other e-mail message delivery will not be suspended to speed Priority 2 message delivery. Under normal circumstances, Priority 2 messages will be available to addressees within 14 hours after submission.

  Priority 3 messages are messages that are not time critical and can wait until normal business hours (8-5, M-F) to be processed. Normal e-mail message delivery will not be suspended to facilitate delivery, and ITD and NCS staff will not be called in if the Priority 3 message is initiated after hours. Priority 3 messages will be available to addressees within 2 business days after submission.

Additional service procedures/restrictions

Additional notes/comments

Approved broadcast messages will be delivered in the most efficient manner possible based on the technology available. ITD supports over 35,000 e-mail accounts; NCS supports over 2,000. Due to the volume of messages, broadcast e-mailings may delay delivery of other e-mail.

Last modified: June 4, 2004, jd

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