Target Audience: IT Employees, University Staff and Faculty, 3rd Party Vendors

Strategy: A significant amount of our communication within IT is used to support one another in our efforts to provide excellent service to our university customers. We are focusing on ways to effectively manage communications within IT so as to not interfere with productivity (In the Zone), yet to be available to initiate communications and respond in a timely manner based on urgency. Communication to the university staff and faculty should be in conjunction with the Vice President of Business Administration (VPBA) Communication Plan. Last, our external communications with 3rd party vendors is covered in the VPBA Communication Plan. Additional efforts to record communications in email, minutes, or summary documents should be in place for tracking purposes. 

Business Rules: In an effort to effectively manage our communications, there are certain rules that must be in place and adhered to by IT personnel:

• Business hours are Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 5:00pm.
• All communication received outside of business hours should be treated as communication received at 8:00am the next business day.
  • Exceptions:
    • IT personnel scheduled to work outside of standard business hours
• IT personnel are required to respond to emails and voice messages within 1 business day.
  • Exceptions:
    • Communications with service desk personnel - their communication response time is governed by SLA's. 
    • Communications with on-call personnel - IT personnel are expected to follow on-call policies and procedures.
    • Communications with IT personnel that are scheduled to work outside of hours require an immediate response with a course of action or resolution
    • Urgent matters that require an immediate response
• Communication of matters urgent in nature must be communicated as urgent or will be treated as non-urgent.
• Communications should include clear expectations on response and completion date/times if not for informational purposes. 
• Communications via email should be done through business email - not personal emails.
• Communications via phone should be directed to your business phone unless there is approval by a manager to use a personal line.
• On-campus and off-campus IT personnel must have access to the approved IM tool and have it installed.
• IT personnel are required to post their availability status on the IM tool.
• IT personnel must keep their calendars up to date with scheduled meetings.
• IT personnel are required to activate email rules that include their manager as a point of contact with contact information when out of the office during business hours.

Preferred Communication Channels: We understand the importance of responding in a timely manner, so the channel used for communications identifies different channels to use based on urgency, location, and relationships.

IT on Campus

1. Email non-urgent items
2. Face to face for urgent items
3. IM or phone

IT off Campus

1. Email non-urgent items
2. IM for urgent items
3. Phone

University Communications

1. Face to face
2. Phone
3. Email

External - 3rd Party Communications

1. Phone
2. Email
   • Always follow up with an email when communicating with a 3rd party so there is an audit trail of your communications.