Maricopa Community Colleges

Public Stewardship

Online Policy Manual

4.15 Electronic Communications Retention and Records Requests

INTRODUCTION

The Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) regards electronic messaging and voice communications as vehicles for delivery of information and not as primary mechanisms for the retention and archival of such information. Reasonable efforts will be taken to maintain the integrity and effective operation of the electronic message and voice systems. These systems should in no way be regarded as a secure medium for the communication of sensitive or confidential information.

As a public organization, Arizona law establishes that communications sent electronically by MCCCD personnel may constitute "correspondence" and, therefore, may be considered as records subject to retention and public inspection.

RETENTION AND RECOVERY

Electronic mail will be retained on tape for one month after the date of a system backup. It is the responsibility of the electronic mail user to determine what information is essential to his or her official activities and should be retained or archived in his or her e-mail account, and retain that information locally.

Voice mail communications may be erased or otherwise destroyed after taking the required action. Voice mail backups will be retained for one month after the date of a system backup.

Upon formal request, every attempt will be made by MCCCD to recover the contents of electronic communications from tape backups that fall under this retention schedule. For an electronic message to be available on a backup tape, it must reside in a mailbox or file on MCCCD's central service system for 24 hours.

REQUESTS FOR COPIES AND INSPECTION OF ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS AND HARDWARE

If there is a local hardware or system failure, employees may request that electronic communications created by them or written directly to them be restored from backup. All requests for copies or searches for electronic communications created and maintained by other account users of MCCCD's electronic communication systems and that may involve a specific content or topic area must be reviewed and authorized by the General Counsel.

MCCCD expects to cooperate fully and expeditiously with law enforcement or government officials when information from its computing resources is required for investigative purposes. Information that is requested by a lawfully issued administrative summons or judicial order, including search warrants and subpoenas, must be submitted to the Office of General Counsel. Requests made by members of the general public should be directed to the District ombudsperson.

After review and authorization by the General Counsel, requests for copies of electronic communications will be forwarded to ITS security services. ITS security services will comply with the request and coordinate retrieval of the information within seven business days.

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Adopted through the Administrative Regulation approval process on February 24, 2004

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