FYI...Things to Know When Using
the Maricopa E-mail System

Changes were recently made to the administrative regulation concerning the District's Electronic Communications and its Technology Resource Standards. Here are some important points to keep in mind when using your employee e-mail account.

A COMMUNITY OF COLLEGES-Electronic messaging allows our family of colleges to stay in touch, either through person-to-person communication, or by sending announcements to the entire District. Events that are sponsored by the District or a college, or that have received prior approval by a designated authority, are appropriate for announcing over the e-mail system. Sponsorships include an employee acting as an agent of the District or college and within the scope of his or her employment as the organizer of the activity. Any activity in which an employee is acting on his or her own behalf, and without college or District approval, is not considered an MCCCD event.

TWO DISTRIBUTION LISTS-Two distribution lists are now available for posting messages districtwide: DL-Maricopa Business (for posting business-related messages essential to conducting actual operations of our District- those related to administrative, academic and functional operations), and DL-Maricopa-Announcements (for posting messages of a general nature such as promoting a college activity). These lists were created to help users manage the e-mails they receive. Now, through filtering, you can redirect general announcement messages.

MESSAGE FILTERING-Maricopans can filter their e-mails. The filters are designed to route your incoming e-mails to a designated folder other than your inbox. You can, for example, filter all your DL-Announcement e-mails to a folder for later review, freeing up your inbox to receive only DL Business-related messages. For assistance on activating filters, contact your local help desk.

BUSINESS USE-To help determine the appropriateness of sending a message districtwide, a process has been established, and a series of prompts will assist you in determining whether or not your message should be sent via the DL-Maricopa Business list.

PERSONAL USE-Districtwide posting of personal or commercial messages (such as selling private season tickets, finding homes for pets, announcing privately organized social events, etc.) is prohibited. While some incidental use may be acceptable in person-to-person e-mail communication-much the same as using the telephone-remember that our e-mail system is a public resource made available to conduct official Maricopa business.

7600-When a message is sent through either the Business or Announcements distribution lists, it reaches approximately 7,600 persons, not all of whom are Maricopa employees; it also reaches others such as bookstore and food-service vendors. Remember, once a message is sent it has the potential to be redistributed by all recipients.

PUBLIC RECORD-Messages created with your employee e-mail account are considered records open to public inspection. With the exception of certain personnel or student-related issues, most messages written by District employees would be released upon request.

MAINTENANCE-Every employee should have a routine maintenance schedule for clearing out non-essential messages. How long a message should be kept depends upon the individual and the type of work each performs. Messages that chronicle or serve as an official record should be maintained for the same time period that a paper record would be filed or stored. Nonessential messages should be routinely deleted. Spring Cleaning Rule of Thumb: Keep what you need to keep in the ordinary course of doing business. Otherwise, delete.

PRIVILEGE TO USE-Because our e-mail system is considered to be a public resource, any violation of the Electronic Communications or the Technology Resource Administrative Regulations can result in the loss of access privileges or other disciplinary action as appropriate.

REGULATIONS-Every Maricopan should be familiar with the regulations governing the use of Electronic Resources and Technology Resource Standards Regulation.

Published in the Spring 2005 Edition of In Brief