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IT Appropriate Use - Internal Mailing Lists Procedure

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Section 1 - Purpose / Objectives

(1) Victoria University uses internal mailing lists as an effective way of sending bulk email communications to VU staff and/or students.

(2) The purpose of the Internal Mailing List procedure is to support the IT Appropriate Use Policy and provide a framework for who can use the University's Internal Mailing lists and for what purpose as well define the process for creating new Internal Mailing Lists.

(3) The use of the University's email system to send unauthorised and unsolicited global or commercial email messages (spam or junk mail) is strictly prohibited. Mass electronic communications should only be sent in accordance with the IT Appropriate Use Policy and the VU Internal Mailing Lists procedure.

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Section 2 - Scope / Application

(4) This procedure applies to:

  1. VU staff, students and other authorised users of the University email system.
  2. Moderators of Internal Mailing lists as well as VU staff members authorised to send email to broadcast groups.
  3. Requests for new VU Internal Mailing Lists.
  4. Emails sent from VU Internal Mailing Lists.
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Section 3 - Definitions

(5) Digested: Bulk emails sent to each broadcast group is consolidated into a single email item with each email listed, showing the 'Subject' as specified by the sender of the item of bulk email. This means that if 10 bulk emails are sent to a broadcast group on a particular day, staff who are members of that broadcast group will receive only one email showing the subject and sender of the bulk email Staff may then choose which items on the consolidated listing of emails they wish to read.

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Section 4 - Policy Statement

(6) Nil

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Section 5 - Procedures

Part A - Roles/Responsibilities

Roles Responsibility
Broadcast groups Groups of staff to which particular categories of bulk email will be sent. Responsibilities of broadcast groups specific to mailing lists in procedure.
Moderators Responsible for reviewing bulk emails addressed to a particular broadcast group and approves its transmission to that broadcast group.
Senders University officers who are authorised to send bulk email to broadcast groups. Emails sent via Internal Mailing Lists must conform to the Appropriate Use of ICT Policy and IT Appropriate Use - Email Guidelines.
ITS Initial setup of new internal mailing list service.
ITS only supplies the infrastructure for list services. The list administrator provides the processing and management of the list.

Part B - Procedures

Use of Internal Mailing Lists

(7) Internal Bulk Email sent through VU Internal Mailing Lists is used to facilitate effective communication throughout the University and should be used only for official Victoria University business.

(8) Internal Bulk Email must not be used to communicate any activity that is illegal under state, federal or international law, advertisements of a personal nature, announcements that have no direct relevance to the University, items of a frivolous nature or any matter which would breach any University policy.

(9) University mailing lists are to be used only for the purpose for which they were created as outlined in this procedure.

(10) Email messages sent to the University Broadcast Groups and Urgent Campus Broadcast Groups are only accepted from within the VU network; as such they need to be sent using the sender's own account on the University's email system.

(11) In order to facilitate effective communication, messages must have a subject line that is relevant to the content of the message and clearly indicates what the message is about. Where possible, this should also contain information regarding the target audience if it is not likely to be of interest to the entire readership of the list to which it is sent.

(12) Emails sent via VU Internal Mailing Lists must conform to the IT Appropriate Use Policy and IT Appropriate Use - Email Guidelines.

Request for new Internal Mailing Lists

(13) Requests for a new internal mailing list can be made by providing the IT Service Desk with the following information:

  1. Proposed name of the mailing list.
  2. Purpose of the mailing list.
  3. Likely frequency for bulk email to be sent to the mailing list.
  4. The staff member who will be the moderator of the mailing list.

(14) If considered appropriate, the mailing list will then be established. Once the list has been created the list owners may send a global email to staff inviting them to subscribe.

(15) Note that these protocols for Mailing Lists apply to lists created for internal University staff communications. Mailing lists supporting external members (i.e. where individuals external to Victoria University can subscribe to VU mailing lists) and with content of an academic, teaching, or other approved nature is still available.

(16) Mailing lists set up for sending emails to University Broadcast Groups are used to make announcements to all VU staff members and can only be established with the written approval of the Director of IT Operations.

University Broadcast Groups

(17) University Broadcast Groups are used to make announcements to all VU staff members. Mailing lists include:

  1. University Announcements (announcements@vu.edu.au)
  2. Emergency Announcements (emergency@vu.edu.au)
  3. General Announcements (global@groups.vu.edu.au)

University Announcements (announcements@vu.edu.au)

(18) The purpose of the University Announcements Broadcast group is to communicate with and make announcements to all Victoria University staff.

Broadcast groups: University Announcements will be sent to all Victoria University staff email accounts. Staff cannot un-subscribe to this broadcast group and are expected to read these emails as soon as possible.
Senders: Comprises of the Vice-Chancellor, Principal Officers and Director IT Operations, as well as assistants authorised to make announcements on their behalf. Senders to this group are to be authorised by the Vice-Chancellor or relevant responsible officer. The responsible officer will maintain the list of officers authorised to send bulk email to this group.
Moderators: This bulk mailing list is not moderated.
Release: Mail sent to this group is released immediately. It is not moderated or digested.
Archiving: This group will be archived for at least 5 years.

Emergency Announcements (emergency@vu.edu.au)

(19) The purpose of the Emergency Announcements Broadcast group is to communicate and make critical and time sensitive announcements to all Victoria University staff in an emergency situation.

Broadcast groups: Emergency Announcements will be sent to all Victoria University staff email accounts. Staff cannot un-subscribe to this broadcast group and are expected to read these emails immediately as they will contain time critical information.
Senders: The University's Crisis Management Team will nominate a defined number of staff authorised to send email to staff in emergency situations. Senders to this group are authorised by the University Critical Event Committee or relevant responsible officer.
Moderators: This bulk mailing list is not moderated.
Release: Mail sent to this group is released immediately and will be marked as 'high priority'. It is not moderated or digested.
Archiving: This group will be archived for at least 5 years.

General Announcements (global@groups.vu.edu.au)

(20) The purpose of the General Announcements Broadcast group is to communicate and make announcements of a general nature that may be of interest to a wide number of VU staff. Types of announcements and messages may include farewells, absence from the University, acting appointments, announcements from employee associations or unions and surplus goods for sale.

Broadcast groups: General Announcements will be sent to all subscribed VU staff email accounts. Staff can subscribe or unsubscribe to receive global emails, giving staff the option as to whether they wish to receive these emails or not.
Senders: All staff will be able to send email to all other staff through global emails.
Moderators: Emails sent to General Announcements will be checked by a moderator within ITS to ensure that the email complies with University policy and procedures. The moderator will be an ITS officer approved by the Director of IT Operations.
Release: Emails sent to this broadcast group will be queued for release after 5pm each day and digested into a single email item.
Archiving: This group will be archived for at least 1 year.

Campus Broadcast Groups

(21) All staff will be allocated to a 'Home' campus and will receive the emails applicable to their campus.

(22) Campus Broadcast Groups are used to send email to staff members on a home campus:

  1. Urgent Campus Emails ('campus'-urgent@groups.vu.edu.au)
  2. General Campus Emails ('campus'@groups.vu.edu.au)

Urgent Campus Emails ('campus'-urgent@groups.vu.edu.au)

(23) The purpose of the Urgent Campus Emails Broadcast Group is to promptly advise VU staff on their home campus of important information such as the unforseen unavailability of a lecture theatre or a power outage.

Broadcast groups: Urgent Campus Emails will be sent to all VU staff email accounts allocated to the applicable University campus. Staff cannot un-subscribe from this group and are expected to read these emails immediately as they will contain time critical information.
Senders: Senders to this group are authorised by the Director of IT Operations or relevant responsible officer.
Moderators: Mail sent to Urgent Campus Emails broadcast groups are not moderated
Release: Emails to these groups will be released immediately
Archiving: This group will be archived for at least 5 years.

General Campus Emails ('campus'@groups.vu.edu.au)

(24) The purpose of the General Campus Emails Broadcast Group is to send email to VU staff on their home campus to advise them of general information relating to campus operations.

Broadcast groups: General Campus Emails will be sent to all subscribed VU staff email accounts allocated to the applicable University campus. Staff can subscribe or unsubscribe to this group.
Senders: All staff will be able to send email to all other staff on their home campus through general campus emails. Senders are advised that mail items are to be limited to a total maximum size of 500kb.
Moderators: The moderator of this group will be an ITS staff member approved by the Director of IT Operations.
Release: Mail to this group is queued for release after 5pm each day, moderated, digested.
Archiving: This group will be archived for at least 1 year.

Organisational Group Mailing Lists (eg. 'department'@groups.vu.edu.au)

(25) Organisational group mailing lists can be used to send emails to all staff members within a particular organisational unit.

Broadcast groups: Staff members will receive emails sent to their organisational unit (for example, School of Education or Finance Department). Staff cannot un-subscribe from this group.
Senders: Staff members that are part of the organisational group mailing list can send mail to other staff members within the group.
Moderators: These groups are not moderated.
Release: Emails sent to these groups will be released immediately.

Mailing List Broadcast Groups ('eg.gym'@groups.vu.edu.au)

(26) Mailing list broadcast groups may be created for specific purposes with membership, delivery times, content, and moderation defined by the rules created for that group.

Broadcast groups: These groups are based on subscription where staff can subscribe or un-subscribe depending on their interest.
Senders: Senders to mailing list broadcast groups are to be approved by the responsible officer.
Moderators: Each group created will require a moderator to be approved by the responsible officer.
Release: Mail to this group is queued for release after 5pm each day, moderated, digested.
Archiving: This group will be archived for at least 1 year.
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Section 6 - Guidelines

(27) Nil