Appendix E - 3: Policies and Procedures (Samples): Electronic Mail Policy

(Rhode Island Department of Education)

User Responsibilities

These guidelines are intended to help you make the best use of the electronic mail facilities at your disposal. You should understand the following:

The agency provides electronic mail to staff to enable them to communicate effectively and efficiently with other members of staff, other companies, and partner organizations.

When using the agency's electronic mail facilities you should comply with the following guidelines.

If you are in any doubt about an issue affecting the use of electronic mail, you should consult the IT Services Manager.

Any breach of the agency's Electronic Mail Policy may lead to disciplinary action.

DO     Do check your electronic mail daily to see if you have any messages.   Do include a meaningful subject line in your message.   Do check the address line before sending a message and check you are sending it to the right person.   Do delete electronic mail messages when they are no longer required.   Do respect the legal protections to data and software provided by copyright and licenses.   Do take care not to express views that could be regarded as defamatory or libelous.   Do use an "out of the office assistant" to automatically reply to messages when you are not available. DO NOT   Do not print electronic mail messages unless absolutely necessary.   Do not expect an immediate reply; the recipient might not be at their computer or could be too busy to reply straight away.   Do not forward electronic mail messages sent to you personally to others, particularly newsgroups or mailing lists, without the permission of the originator.   Do not use electronic mail for personal reasons.   Do not send excessively large electronic mail messages or attachments.   Do not send unnecessary messages such as festive greetings or other nonwork items by electronic mail, particularly to several people.   Do not participate in chain or pyramid messages or similar schemes. Do not represent yourself as another person.   Do not use electronic mail to send or forward material that could be construed as confidential, political, obscene, threatening, offensive, or libelous. Please note the following: All electronic mail activity is monitored and logged. All electronic mail coming into or leaving the Company is scanned for viruses. All the content of electronic mail is scanned for offensive material.