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Email Management Guidelines

Appendices

Appendix A - Roles and Responsibilities

The following table illustrates who is likely to be involved in implementing this these Email Management Guidelines and related recommendations. The roles are:

User
System or network administrator (SYS)
Information management specialist (IM)
Operational manager (OPS)
Executive (EXEC)

For example, a check mark beside a guideline or one of the related recommendations, and under the User column, indicates that the user is involved in implementing the guideline or recommendation.

Guidelines	User	SYS	IM	OPS	EXEC
0. Introduction to the Draft Email Management Guidelines
0.2. Guidelines	X	X	X	X	X
0.3. Why do these Guidelines apply to everyone?	X	X	X	X	X
0.4. What is the expected outcome?	X	X	X	X	X
0.5. Why is email management so important?	X	X	X	X	X
0.6. Areas not covered by these Guidelines	X	X	X	X	X
0.7. Roadmap To Meeting the Guidelines	X	X	X	X	X
0.8. E-information Life Cycle	X	X	X	X	X
0.9. Definitions	X	X	X	X	X
1. Institutions must develop a plan to manage email
1.0. Recommendations
1.1. Manage email programs and systems in an integrated way	X	X	X
1.2. Provide email management awareness and training programs					X
1.3. Use a variety of media in email awareness and training programs					X
1.4. Verify that Email Management Guidelines, policies and procedures have been distributed, read and understood					X
1.5. Keep records of learning activities and attendance					X
2. Institutions must collect and capture all business-related email
2.0. Recommendations
2.1. Create, send and store email messages in an organized way	X	X	X
2.2. Receive and store email in an organized way	X	X	X
2.3. Manage individual mailboxes and folders on a regular basis)	X
2.4. Keep only one instance of an email message	X	X	X	X	X
2.5. Manage and store attachments to email messages		X	X
2.6. Treat email as property, under legal control of the GC	X	X	X	X	X
2.7. Use institution-wide distribution lists sparingly	X
2.8. Provide a signature block and contact information		X	X
2.9. Use a notice of confidentiality / disclaimer, if appropriate	X	X		X	X
2.10. Use a notice of personal opinion, if appropriate	X	X			X
2.11. Avoid using the "Reply to All" feature	X
3. Institutions must organize business-related email in accordance with a classification system relevant to each organization's business requirements
3.0. Recommendations
3.1. Maintain and use an organized and efficient filing system for email	X	X	X
3.2. Establish where to store the "copy of record"		X	X		X
3.3. Preserve metadata related to email		X	X
3.4. Classify (file) email messages systematically and frequently	X
3.5. Manage temporary on-line storage of email messages	X	X
3.6. Use shared mailboxes, public mailboxes and folders for a single purpose	X	X	X	X
3.7. Limit the content of email messages to one topic	X
3.8. Describe the subject of the message in meaningful terms	X
3.9. Provide for indexing of email messages		X	X
3.10. Provide for threading of email messages		X	X
4. Institutions must ensure that the use of email supports performance of work that is consistent with their business goals and objectives
4.0. Recommendations
4.1. Do not use email for sensitive, personal, protected or secret information except for authorized business purposes, and only with approved security measures	X
4.2. Use system logs to create an audit trail and monitor compliance		X	X
4.3. Display names in headers and email addresses		X
4.4. Be prepared to disclose email evidence in electronic form		X	X
4.5. Monitor discovery and disposition exercises or "drills" on a regular basis		X	X	X
5. Institutions must ensure that their email records are maintained, protected and preserved in accordance with appropriate retention schedules
5.0. Recommendations
5.1 Email systems should not be subjected to indiscriminate purges		X
5.2. Manage email records to allow access by authorized staff	X	X		X
5.3. Remove encryption before leaving an institution	X
5.4. Remove encryption before transferring email to Library and Archives Canada		X	X
5.5. Provide security for networks that support email		X
5.6. Use passwords, change them regularly and keep them secret	X	X
5.7. Protect the system against loss or damage		X	X
5.8. Use the appropriate security classification				X	X
5.9. Set up timely and mandatory processes to create, delete and suspend email accounts	X	X		X
5.10. Control access rights to email accounts and folders	X	X
5.11. Use message protection and authentication controls		X
5.12. Make regular and consistent backups for disaster recovery		X
5.13. Use digital signatures when appropriate	X	X	X	X	X
5.14. Remove digital signatures from email that is to be transferred to Library and Archives Canada		X	X
5.15. Do not use scanned signatures to sign messages	X
5.16. Use Encryption where appropriate	X	X	X	X	X
5.17. Manage longer term near-line storage of email messages		X	X
5.18. Avoid storing paper print-outs of email messages if an electronic original exists	X	X	X
5.19. Protect email against damage to the storage medium		X	X
5.20. Protect email against obsolescence		X	X
5.21. Create, maintain and preserve email system documentation		X
5.22. Keep email system documentation as a permanent record		X	X
5.23. Allow different retention periods for emails and attachments		X	X
5.24. Apply hold orders, when necessary, to delay disposition	X	X	X
6. Institutions must ensure that their email records are disposed of in accordance with all relevant legislation and policies
6.0. Recommendations
6.1. Obtain authorization for disposition of email information	X	X	X
6.2. Dispose of email, copies (and latent copies) on a timely basis		X	X
6.3. Prevent disposition or alteration of records required for legal, audit or ATIP proceedings		X	X
7. Institutions must periodically review the effectiveness of their email management policies and practices and identify and implement improvements when appropriate
7.0. Recommendations
7.1. Evaluate the effectiveness of email management			X
8. Everyone in a government institution must understand his or her responsibility with respect to the management of email
8.0. Recommendations
8.1. Responsibilities of Users	X
8.2. Responsibilities of network and/or system administrators (former 5.2)		X
8.3. Responsibilities of information management specialists			X
8.4. Responsibilities of operational managers				X
8.5. Responsibilities of executives					X

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