Governance





University of Wisconsin-Parkside
Mass and Targeted E-mail Policy
Policy #75

 

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to provide guidance to the campus community as the University transitions from paper to electronic mail as the primary communication method for events of interest to the University Community. The three types of mass emails covered by this policy are broadcast mass emails, targeted mass emails, and emails generated as a result of a business transaction with the University. Any mailing that is distributed via user-subscribed mailing lists is exempt from this policy.

The goals of this policy are:

  • To educate the campus community in the proper use of large volume emails
  • To provide a methodology for the campus community to target mailings as narrowly as possible, thus limiting the exposure of the faculty, staff, and students to mailings that are not important to their University role.
  • Provide as much emailing flexibility to the campus community while managing the availability and resources of the campus email system.

Requirements of email messages

To be in conformance with this policy, the following minimum requirements must be met:

  • The message body must be formatted as a text-based email.
  • The message must not contain any attachments.
    • Any “attachments” should be referenced by a URL in the message body instead.
  • The message must clearly indicate an on-campus email address that is capable of accepting replies.
  • The message must not contain any personal and/or confidential data from student or employee records.
    • The user should be directed to a secure site where their identity can be verified before such information is displayed.

Prior to being sent, the email messages will undergo the following modifications:

  • A subject category code will be pre-pended to the subject of the message.
  • The mass email message footer will be appended to the body of the message.

Approval

Prior to being sent out, the message needs to be approved by one or more of the following administrators as determined by the intended audience(s) of the message:

  • Chancellor
    • Authority to approve
  • Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
    • All mass mailings to students
    • Mailings to selected students about activities or student organizations
  • Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs/ Provost
    • Mailings to selected students about academic matters, financial aid matters, or university admission
    • Mailings to faculty and instructional staff
  • Vice Chancellor for Administrative & Fiscal Affairs
    • Mailings to staff, affiliates, and retirees

If a mass mailing is targeted to the faculty and staff in one organizational unit of the campus, the mailing can be approved by the dean or director of that unit.

It is permitted for the administrators above to provide pre-approval for more than one mailing on the same subject in advance. Such approvals should acknowledge and provide approval for the subject, number of mailings to occur, and the approximate schedule for the mailings.

Special consideration for mailings generated as a result of transactions

Emails generated as a result of a transaction with the University are normally sent by an automated, scheduled process. Such mailings need only the approval of the triggering condition and the body text of the message before the process or any revisions to a process are moved to production status.

Grandfather clause

Any mailings that were approved prior to the adoption of this policy are granted a special exemption. This exemption does not transfer to any newly developed processes.

Requirements for Senders

  • Senders are responsible for developing the message content and submitting the request to CNS. (Computer Network Services)
  • Senders should allow a minimum of three business days for broadcast mailings to be approved and processed.
  • Senders should allow a minimum of seven business days for targeted mailings to be approved and processed.
  • Any requests regarding transaction mailings must be made via a CNS project request form. Such request should be made as far in advance as possible.

Definitions

  • Broadcast mass email
    • This is an email message with identical content sent to one or more broad campus constituent group.
    • Some example of broad campus constituent groups:
      • all students
      • all faculty and staff members
  • Targeted Mass Email
    • This is an email message with identical content sent to one or more targeted group.
    • Such groups can be targeted by any attribute that is selectable from the campus enterprise directory or other data warehouse.
    • Some examples of targeted groups:
      • all Biology Majors
      • all Instructional Academic Staff
      • all seniors who have applied for graduation
  • Email generated as a result of a transaction with the University
    • These emails are notifications of important information or status changes in the student or employee administration systems
    • Examples of such emails:
      • Notification of Financial Aid Awards
      • Notification of account balance change
      • Notification of payroll earnings
  • Subject Category Code
    • A subject category code will be present in the subject line of all emails.
    • The list of codes will be maintained and published via the Computer & Network Services web site so that users may utilize the information to setup email filtering rules.
  • Mass email message footer
    • The footer will provide information on the type of mailing and the policy to the message recipient.
    • The following text will be used:

This <type> message has been approved for email to you under the University’s Mass & Targeted Email Policy. You can find out more about this policy at <URL>.

    • Type is one of “broadcast”, “targeted”, or “transactional”.
    • URL is the web address of the published policy, or optionally a Frequently Asked Questions list about the policy. If a FAQ is used, it must include a link to the text of the policy.

9/29/04