CF/NYH/IT/1998-……..
				15 April/1998
		[par numb checked Dec 1998]

[This Information Circular will be edited to reflect the overall policy issued in an Executive Directive [CF/EXD] and/or an Administrative Instruction [CF/AI]. The last Draft of the two page Policy Document was registered as CF/NYH/ITD/RAM/1998-320]

UNICEF E-Mail, Electronic Records and Internet User guidelines 
[With Focus on: Access, Authority, Responsibilities and Protection of Electronic Records]

This instruction follows CF/EXD/1996‑015 of 03 October 1996 (Use of Electronic Mail)..  Please also refer to CF/IC/1996‑017 (A Guideline on Using cc:Mail), CF/IC/NYH/1994‑011 (E‑mail etiquette) and CF/EXD/1983-2867 (Records and Archives)..

The Instructions on the maintenance of electronic record messages follow closely those which describe the types of paper records which need to be saved for permanent or long term retention.  Staff should be reminded that the maintenance of electronic records is every bit as important as that of paper records.  As electronic records are increasingly becoming by default the official records of the organisation, it is important not to delete what may be considered the record copy of important documents from a user's e-mail system unless it has been transferred to more secure location or media.  

Specific types of Near and Off line storage used by UNICEF change based on the technology available. Backup procedures related to electronic storage will be adjusted to reflect the system available in a specific office. Contact ITD for details.

A.	Main Points:
	01.	Introduction
	02.	Authority, Access Privileges 
	03.	Security and Passwords
	04.	Work-related and private messages 
	05	Content responsibility
	06.	E-Mail Records: Filing and Storing
		[On-line, near-line, off-line]
	07.	Appraisal and long term storage
		[Preparing for Electronic Digital Archive 1999-2000]

B.	Related Matters
	08.	Size of Messages and Attachments
	09.	What not to Send
	10	Messages to all Staff
	11.	CC & BCC
	12.	Out of Office
	13.	Mailing Lists
	14.	E-mail Bulletin Boards
	15.	More on Filing
	16	Consolidated points for General E-Mail Etiquette
17.	Sharing & changing passwords
18.	Mobile E-mail procedure 
19.	Officer-in Charge messages 
	20.	Short List Archive Guideline:

C.	Other Documents of interest:

	CF/EXD/1996‑015 of 03 October 1996 (Use of Electronic Mail).
	CF/IC/1996‑017 (A Guideline on Using cc:Mail)
	 CF/IC/NYH/1994‑011 (E‑mail etiquette)
	CF/EXD/1983-2867 (Records and Archives)..

01	Introduction

01.01	The use of electronic mail and Internet access in UNICEF has increased significantly over the last few years, as most offices are now data connected with e-mail facilities  

01.02	E-mail has high strategic value for UNICEF.  It empowers staff, through more rapid communication, to convey the right information to the right place at the right time whilst not being limited by traditional hierarchical structures 

02	E-mail Authority and Access Privileges 

02.01	All staff members in UNICEF offices should be granted access to e-mail facilities, where they exist, as a basic working tool.  Where an office has a LAN, an individual e-mail address should be given to each staff member with an account on the LAN.  

02.02	Short and long‑term non‑regular staff may have access as business needs require and with the sponsorship of the organisational unit for which they are working. Access restrictions may apply.  Affiliated contractors may be given access under the respective contractual arrangements governing their work.  The sponsoring office is responsible for notifying the system administrator when access should be terminated

03	Passwords and Security

03.01	Each office should have an appointed security administrator for electronic systems; this will normally be the IT Officer for those offices having such a function.  The security administrator will provide staff with E-mail access by issuing them an id and generic start-up password. 

03.02	Users should change the generic start-up password immediately when you first begin using E-mail.  Avoid using easy-to-detect passwords, such as your birthday or the name of your spouse or pet.  Security on a network depends largely on all of us keeping our passwords to ourselves, not choosing passwords that can easily be “hacked” and changing our default “start-up” password immediately.

04	Work‑related and private messages

04.01	The main purpose of UNICEF e-mail and Intranet or Internet access is for official work-related activities. There is minimal direct cost to the organisation when these tools are also used in a reasonable manner for unofficial private matters.  Therefore, it is also not cost effective to institute controls and attempt to collect costs from staff for personal use of E-mail.  Staff should follow the guidelines below to limit personal use of E-mail and guard against inadvertent abuse.

04.02	Personal messages and Internet casual browsing should be kept to a minimum especially during the peak use hours. During office hours time spent on any private concerns should be brief. For example, long or multiple private messages and browsing the Internet for personal enrichment should be strictly limited during the time counted towards the official working hours of the staff member.

04.03	Staff are absolutely not to use E-mail for any personal commercial purpose.  Conducting private business, perpetuating chain letters and playing games over the UNICEF networks is not permissible. 

04.04	These and the other guidelines below on appropriate use of E-mail must be observed. Users of UNICEF e-mail system will be held accountable for unauthorised and inappropriate use on a post factum basis.

05	Responsibility for Content of Messages

05.01	Users of the official UNICEF e-mail mail system are responsible for the content of their messages. E-mail is subject to all rules and regulations governing the conduct of official business through conventional methods. 

05.02	E-mail is often a more informal means of messaging than traditional alternatives.  However, staff should be mindful of the need to be polite, avoid abusive or insulting language and generally comport themselves correctly in the content of their E-mail messages.  For courtesy and clarity, inter‑office E-mail messages should always end with the name and office of the correspondent.  This practice can also avoid confusion with forwarded e‑mails

05.03	Special caution should be exercised when drafting messages on sensitive subjects that could be in interpreted as accusative, discriminatory and/or derogatory to any party. An office may specify some types of messages that require clearance of content. 

05.04	Staff members are authorised to send e‑mail messages to anyone within UNICEF.  However, no one should systematically bypass the normal chain of command just because the E-mail system makes it easy to send messages directly to the "top”.  Except exceptional cases [some confidential personal matters], if you do choose to address a higher level, it is best to copy those who are responsible for the subject or functional area. 

06	E-mail Records: Filing and Storing

06.01	E-mail provides four basic folders for each user.  These are called In‑box, Drafts, Message‑Log and Trash and their use is self‑evident.  Additional subject matter folders can be created for storing incoming and outgoing E-mail messages - arranged by subject.  It is possible to duplicate the most effective parts of our office-filing scheme in E-mail, but some additional discipline is required.

06.02	Much e-mail server disk space can be taken up by e-mail messages in the system. It is important to be aware of where messages are stored and the impact 

06.02.a	On-line: Message are considered “on-line” until they are filed off the e-mail system. Having many e-mail messages  “on line” can slow the overall response time of the system.

06.02.b	Near-Line:  Personal hard [“C”] drives and centrally or locally controlled storage devices [e.g cd-towers] are considered “near-line” devices.  E-mail items moved to these storage devices are not directly in the e-mail system. However messages stored “near-line” can still be searched for and retrieved back into the “on-line” system as required without manual intervention.

06.02.c	Off-line: Removable media [tapes, disks, CD-ROM] which are not directly available from the users workstation, with out physically reconnecting [inserting a disk in a drive, running a tape] are considered Off-line.  Official records and important messages can only be stored off-line or near line if they are  backed up in a controlled environment. 
-	,
06.03	IN-BOX:	Filing on Receipt: After initial reading, messages should either be, moved to an on-line folder, a “near-line” or “off line” device; or deleted. It is useful to at have at least one subject folder that is marked pending. Move messages that have been read to the pending file if you have not completed action within 3 days of reading.  This will keep your in box manageable 

06.04	Outgoing MESSAGE LOG:	Users should enable the Message Log feature.  Any message you send or reply to will automatically be listed in the Message Log.  This container functions as an electronic Chron “out file”. Messages in a user's outgoing Message Log can be an invaluable resource for important information which did not necessarily get copied to a folder or for which the exact subject folder is not recalled.  However, the contents of the message Log should be moved to “near Line” at least every month 

06.05	FOLDERS: E-mail Should be considered temporary-working files.  At regular intervals, items in the folders should be moved to near or off- line.  It is possible to set the e-mail “Rules" to automatically move messages from folders to near-line at regular intervals

06.06	TRASH:	Staff members should select settings from the User Set-up menu to have E-mail automatically empty their Trash at least every 30 days.

07	LONG TERM ELECTRONIC RECORDS PROTECTION:

07.01	Legal title to records: All records regardless of physical form, created or received by UNICEF staff in connection with or as a result of the official work of UNICEF are the property of UNICEF. [CF/AI/1983/359 para. 9]

07.02	The rules, which apply for certain types of paper records, apply just as well for electronic records - especially where there is no paper copy. 

07.03	How long to keep: Electronic records must be protected. Consult Financial Circular 025/Revision 1 [CF/FC/O25/R01] and the UNICEF Records Appraisal Grid for the time periods records should be kept.

07.04	Until a centrally controlled and certified backup digital archive [near-line or off-line] is available, regularly back up your local near-line or off-line devices.

07.05	Similar to traditional records, staff members are expected to exercise reasonable care in protecting the electronic records.  They must turn over to their successors any relevant electronic files

07.06	Inviolability of records: Prior to separation from UNICEF or transfer to another post, staff members shall make arrangements for the transfer of those records in their possession not retained for their successor and shall not remove any records from the UNICEF premises…  Staff members to be separated are entitled to … retain their private papers. . [CF/AI/1983/359 para. 10]

07.07	Private Papers: The private papers of UNICEF staff members are those that have no connection with their official work for UNICEF, but which have been filed in the office by a member of the staff.  They may also include duplicate copies of official documents related to or reflective of personal performance, but not subject to restrictions.

07.08	Private records: It is suggested that personal messages be placed in a separate folder or directory. In this way which the staff member can either delete or take with them the contents - should they be transferred or separate.  Staff are expected to respect the confidentiality of other staff members personal records.  However, UNICEF can not be responsible for protecting the copies of personal messages or private records the staff member leaves in an office or on the hard drive upon transfer or separation.

07.09	Is it a Record? At present, e‑mail is not universally recognised as a statutory record of the message.  Thus messages that need to be retained for official record or archive purposes should be printed out and filed in the office record filing system.  Such messages include policy; procedural or decision making related matters.  As noted above, messages involving financial or legal commitments on behalf of the organisation should be conveyed in paper with an authorised signature

07.10	Ease of USE: Since electronic records can be much more easily accessible, important records which are in electronic format should not be lost to the organisation for reuse in that format, simply just because we have a paper copy.

08	Message Size & Attachments
[Summary: Keep messages under 200 KB. Limit the use of attachments since they often don’t transmit well across systems or between locations.  Use standard extensions for attachments, so standard viewers can easily read them. Wherever possible transfer attachments to an e-mail text file and send longer messages in separate numbered parts.]

08.01	The maximum size of a message to be transmitted via E-mail is 200 KB.  Large messages will not successfully transmit to most field offices because of the quality of the international telephone lines and the length of time needed to complete transmission of these files.  Smaller messages can and do get blocked in the queue behind these large messages, degrading the performance and reliability of our E-mail system.  In addition, it is not cost effective to send larger messages over E-mail because of the transmission times required.  Other means of transport should be used.

08.02	There are several suggested solutions should you have a message larger than 200 KB, which you wish to send to someone over E-mail:
•	Compress the attached files; see your IT Focal Point for instructions on how to use PKZIP/PKUNZIP utility.
•	Eliminate logos, graphics and images from your attachments.
•	Do not use the UNICEF correspondence forms (available in WordPerfect).
•	Convert long WordPerfect documents to “plain text” or ASCII files.

08.03	Send large messages (even if under 200 KB) only to those who absolutely need them.  Consider posting large attachments to a bulletin board rather than e‑mailing it to a large number of users.  You could then notify those users with a short message that you have posted the attachment where they can have access to it without sending it to them individually.

08.04	Users should avoid sending large messages with attachments to staff members who they know are travelling.  Those who are travelling and accessing their mail remotely via E-mail Mobile should set up filters to block out large messages.

08.05	If you are unable to find a solution to get your message (with attachments) to less than 200 KB, you should not, under any circumstances, go ahead and send it anyway.   Consult with your IT focal point for assistance and other options. 

08.06	Size of Stored Mail: Electronic mail takes up a lot of disk space and any unofficial mail should be deleted as soon as possible.  For reference purposes:
	
	1 Kilobyte	1,000 Bytes			= Half a typewritten page
	1 Megabyte	1,000,000 Bytes		= A small novel
	1 Gigabyte	1,000,000,000 Bytes	= 30ft of shelved books
	1 Terabyte	1,000,000,000,000 Bytes = A small academic research library

Attachments

08.07	E-mail messages can be sent to virtually any e‑mail system in the world to be easily viewed by the recipients.  Attachments however, are documents, spreadsheets or graphics prepared completely outside of the e-mail creation facility and then simply attached to the actual e-mail message.

08.08	Some e‑mail packages (including cc:Mail) have “viewers” which can interpret many different internal file formats and thus automatically display attachments.  We must remember that no viewer, however sophisticated it may be, can display every type of file that could be attached to an E-mail message.

08.09	Messages should be prepared using e-mail creation facility.  Limit the use of attachments as much as possible.  Files can not be larger than 200 KB.

08.10	Use standard file extensions for your attachments (for example, .DOC for Word, WPD for WordPerfect 6.1 or .WB2 for Quattro Pro 6.0), and identify the software needed to view or run the file in the body of the message.  This will make it easier for your correspondents to read your attachments.

09	What to send via E-mail and what not to send

09.01	An E-mail message is considered equivalent to a formal memorandum for internal UNICEF business purposes.  

09.02	All offices should now use E-mail to attach their regular submission of GFSS transactional data to Headquarters (Reference CF/AI/1996‑001 Guideline for Data Exchange using E‑Mail).  This reduces the lags of recording office data in headquarters systems and enables more timely reconciliation of accounts between HQ and offices.  The great majority of offices now have E-mail capability, and if they have not already done so, should plan to implement this electronic transmission of GFSS data early in 1997.  E-mail will be the means by which Programme Manager System (ProMS) transmits data between offices.

09.03	Avoid using e-mail to communicate confidential information.  Although the UNICEF LANs are fairly secure, mistakes can occur which could jeopardise the confidentiality of your messages.  Your messages could inadvertently be forwarded to others by the recipient or viewed by someone with access to your correspondent's Inbox.  Messages can inadvertently be sent to a network printer elsewhere in the building, or simply viewed by persons with authorised read access to a colleague’s mailbox (many secretaries have such access).  We must remember that the Internet is inherently more insecure than the internal UNICEF LAN.  These are all innocent mistakes that subsequently can cause considerable embarrassment.

09.04	Communications involving financial/contractual or legal commitments on the part of the organisation to third parties require authorised signatures, which at this time must continue to be applied to paper.  Electronic signatures have not yet been legally recognised and contractual or other commitments to third parties must continue to be made under manual signature.  

09.05	As a rule, it is advisable to keep messages short and to the point (maximum one screen).  Attachments should be used sparingly and should be avoided (if possible) if the message is destined for an Internet address or E-mail Mobile user.

09.06	We need to train ourselves to think before we send a message (e.g.  not replying “thanks” to a message that was sent to all staff and copying that reply to all staff)

09.07	We must remember that recipients of our messages may be at home or travelling and receiving their mail via E-mail Mobile.  It is very time consuming (and expensive) if long messages with multiple attachments have to be down loaded.  It is also extremely frustrating for the E-mail Mobile user.
		
09.08	What should be sent and what should not be sent via E-mail depends partly therefore on whether the message remains internal (within the UNICEF LAN) or is destined to travel via the Internet or other “information highway”.  It also depends on whom the message is being sent to.  Long complex messages with sophisticated attachments should obviously never be sent to a mailing list such as “all NYHQ staff”, whilst they may well be sent back and forth by a small group of people working tightly together on a specific project.

10	Messages to All Staff in Office or in UNICEF

10.01	Think twice before sending a message to everyone at headquarters.  Ask yourself if this is the type of message you would want to have broadcast over the public address system were E-mail unavailable or if you would photocopy and distribute it to all New York staff members in paper form.  If so, send away.  Otherwise, consider who in particular would most benefit from the information contained in your message and create a more narrowly defined mailing list.  Or, if the information is of a general nature and does not require immediate or specific action, post it on a bulletin board.

10.02	Officer‑in‑Charge messages:  These messages should not be sent to all staff nor should they be posted on public bulletin boards.  What matters is simply that the acting person acts.  In a well managed office, when an officer is away, the “officer‑in‑charge” automatically takes over and work continues normally.  Only a small handful of people really need to know that X will be OIC whilst Y is away.  The appropriate distribution list for an OIC message should be:  The OIC; the assistant/secretary of the officer who is away; the manager of the officer who is away.

10.03	Junk Mail?  What is a truly important message for some, is “junk mail” for others.  Thus it is difficult to categorise any given message as being junk or not junk.  There are surprisingly few messages however that really do interest all staff and we should carefully consider this when we are tempted to communicate so broadly.

10.04	Messages broadcast to all staff should be used very rarely again to avoid message congestion.  Every office should establish E-mail bulletin boards so that staff may post special interest messages and establish a process of administration of such bulletin boards including elimination of messages after a period of time.

10.05	When responding to an item broadcast to all staff, do not send your response to all of the original recipients.  Address your response to Sender or to a select group of recipients for whom the information you are conveying is absolutely essential—not All Addressees.

10.06	Do not request a receipt for general messages that are being broadcast to all users.  With more than 3500 individual users in the system, the originator of such a message would wind up with 175 screens of receipts!

10.07	Do not broadcast information to all staff that has already been posted on a bulletin board.

10.08	E-mail messages to all staff should not be used for soliciting donations or for advertising theatre, concert or sports tickets.

11	Appropriate Use of  “cc:” and “bcc:”

11.01	E-mail gives us great flexibility to contact virtually anyone in the organisation regardless of location or rank.  Whereas bypassing established hierarchies is generally a good thing, the ability to reach hundreds of people at the press of a button will, if abused, clog everyone’s in tray and eventually the efficiency of the system.  We must resist the urge to “cc:” our messages to too many people just to “be seen” or simply because it’s so quick and easy to do so.  In order to avoid message congestion, staff should be judicious in the use of “cc:” of e‑mail and when responding to a message should not automatically respond to all those originally “cc:”‑ed.

11.02	Some have a tendency to send messages to many more correspondents than necessary; this clogs up in‑boxes and the E-mail system in general.  The practice seriously undermines the benefits of E-mail as a communication tool.

11.03	Messages should be addressed to a single recipient as we do in memo format.  The use of “cc:” should be limited to those who really need to be kept informed and those who are mentioned by name in the body of the message.

11.04	Under normal circumstances, using “bcc:” is impolite and should be avoided (for example, sending a request addressed to a staff member and a “bcc:” to that person's supervisor).  “bcc:” messages are not tagged as such by the Internet, which can lead to misunderstandings if such messages are subsequently responded to or forwarded back to the original recipients.

11.05	If a message is sent to a large distribution list, every recipient is listed whenever the message is printed.  The list could be two or three pages long.  To overcome this, send the message to all the recipients using “bcc:”.

12	Out of the Office

12.01	When staff are away from the office and do not pick up their e‑mail by means of E-mail Mobile, then they must make arrangements to pick up important messages in their absence.  Until E-mail upgrades allow automatic routing of messages to another staff member, it is necessary to arrange for secretaries/assistants to logon to the absent staff member’s E-mail and review and route important messages for action by another staff member.  In such cases, staff members should change their passwords for this purpose and a strong element of trust in the secretaries/assistants is implied.

12.02	If you are responsible for your supervisor's E-mail while he or she is away and are having difficulties managing the large volume of messages received each day, you may want to set up a series of folders labelled, for example: 'Urgent', 'For Action', 'Personal' and 'For Information' and move relevant messages to them on a daily basis.   Delete messages that are duplicates of those posted on bulletin boards.  You can also create folders by subject if you regularly receive messages on specific projects.  When the traveller returns, he or she can simply review the messages, which you have conveniently sorted for them.

13	Mailing lists (Private and Public)

13.01	There are two kinds of mailing lists in E-mail; public lists and private lists.  Public lists are created by IT Office and maintained centrally within divisions, whilst private lists can be created and maintained by anyone with access to E-mail.  Internet addresses cannot be included in a E-mail mailing list at this time.

13.02	The central E-mail directory contains the names and electronic addresses of everyone connected to the UNICEF network.  There are occasions when it is necessary to send mail to a specific group of people as for example to “all Programme staff”.  If this becomes a regular occurrence it is far more convenient to create a private mailing list to which a message can be addressed rather than repeatedly having to remember, search for and select individual names.

13.03	As with other facilities offered by E-mail, mailing lists can be, and frequently are, misused.  We should all make an effort to evaluate the true usefulness of sending certain messages to a large mailing list such as, for example, “All NYHQ Staff”.  We should be particularly mindful when including staff in field offices on a mailing list; it is time consuming, costly and extremely frustrating for field office staff to be submerged in mail intended for NYHQ.  Once again, over‑enthusiastic use of mailing lists and “cc’s” not only congests our in‑trays but diminishes the usefulness of E-mail as a common communications tool.
	
13.04	When creating a mailing list, don’t include all field offices if the information contained in your message is relevant only to headquarters staff or to specific field offices.  This not only wastes the time of those in the field who have to sort through the incoming mail, but it can also involve considerable cost to the organisation.

14	E-Mail Bulletin Boards

14.01	Electronic bulletin boards on E-mail are created by IT staff upon request.  Each bulletin board can be made public or can be restricted to a specified E-mail post office.  A person from the requesting office is designated as the bulletin board administrator.  It is this person’s responsibility to maintain the bulletin board and delete items when appropriate.

14.02	Bulletin boards are valuable as long as the information posted on them is current and remains pertinent to our work.  Out-of-date or irrelevant postings clutter up bulletin boards, degrading their quality and usefulness.  They also take up space on the server, reducing system resources and potentially affecting the overall functioning of the system.  

14.03	What to post to a bulletin board.  Typically the E-mail bulletin boards are designed for posting items such as Vacancy Notices, Exchange Rates, and other general information that could be useful to the community at large.  Although not its primary “raison d’être”, in some cases a bulletin board can be used by a small group of people as a forum for exchanging ideas and information.  This is really a simulated electronic conference.  For large groups, a bulletin board may be used for posting ideas as opposed to exchanging ideas.

14.04	What not to post to a bulletin board.  Information with a very short life span, such as the announcing of a snow day at 1 p.m.  or a short closure of the medical service should not be posted to a bulletin board (a general broadcast message to all staff should be sent in this case).  Officer‑in‑charge messages do not belong on a bulletin board although a bulletin board announcing who is travelling, where to and when could be useful.  The standard office E-mail bulletin boards should not be used for private postings or advertising of any kind. Similar to the traditional Bulletin Boards in Buildings, there are special  E-Mail Bulletin Boards for general staff information or educational activities and non-formal personal announcements or items to share.

14.05	If you have posted information on a bulletin board, only you can remove it.  This is as it should be, as the person who has posted a message is usually the one most capable of judging the continued relevance of the information it contains.  Please remember to remove the information once it is out of date.  Also, if a bulletin board was created for a specific purpose or project of limited duration and is no longer needed, please let us know by sending a message to the Help Desk.  They will see to it that the bulletin board is removed. 

14.06	[merge with previous paragraph] Users maintain responsibility for messages that they post to a bulletin board.  The only person who can delete a message on a bulletin board is the user who posted it there.  Therefore, it is the responsibility of everyone posting such messages to ensure that they are removed once the information becomes irrelevant or out of date.  If a specific bulletin board is no longer needed, the Help Desk should be informed so that they can see to it that the bulletin board is removed.

15	 More Tips on Filing E-mail & costs:

15.01	Deleting Incoming: Messages from your Inbox can be deleted as soon as you have responded to it if the Message Log is enabled.  If you need to refer to it at a later date, you will find a copy stored in the Message Log.  Make sure that you have retained the text of the original incoming message in your reply, and saved any attachments before deleting the original incoming message.  The advantage of creating folders and systematically moving correspondence to them is that the In‑box remains empty except for newly received messages.  It is much easier to deal with one’s mail this way

15.02	Pending Folder:  The Pending Folder should contain  only those items, read or unread, that require action—whether a reply, storage or deletion.  Their presence in your Pending Folder will remind you to decide what action to take.  

15.03	Where paper not required: UNICEF is trying to capture more information electronically [via scanning, text capture] at the earliest time in the life-cycle of the record, therefore it is counterproductive to be printing out extra paper copies where a signature, specific masthead or hand-written notes or image are not required.

15.04	Costs of Disk to store information must be compared to other costs of not having the records in electronic form on-line, near-line or [delayed accessible] off-line. Some examples of hidden costs, which result from not having information are:
-	printing out paper again [just to be sure].
-	Time spent searching because not sure if sent or not.
-	Request more temporary/secretary/clerk assistance to file and retrieval
-	Other things not being done by middle managers because they can no longer count on the quick information retrieval.
	
15.05	Consideration might be given to the cost of having each, Division, Sect, Unit chief's log for last 2-5 years  - compared to not having. .Consultants to recreate information are between $ 60-90,000 per annum,  temp GS Staff are Between $30-45,000 per annum.  Even “on line” disk space is considerably less.

15.06	In this context it is easier to evaluate the cost of having e-mail messages [especially those segregated by subject folders] as reliable/ protected/ accessible as paper records files for all staff as compared to not having. [in office, in common area, off-site records centre or archives] [See also Annex F and G for relation to parallel retention destruction schedules]

16	General e-mail Etiquette

16.01	Provide a clear and comprehensible subject line.  Keep it as short as possible and try not to use too many acronyms and abbreviations.

16.02	Address your correspondents by name in the body of the message.  Sign your messages.  If your message is short, sign it at the end.  If the message is long, use the "From: To:" approach.  An e‑mail message is never anonymous, as the sender's identification is always included in the header.  This ID can sometimes be confusing however, especially when a message has been forwarded from another e‑mail system or through the Internet.

16.03	Keep messages short and to the point.  Address only one subject per message.  This makes it much easier for people to respond quickly, to maintain focus and greatly facilitates future electronic filing and retrieval.

16.04	Limit the number of “cc:”'s you send.  Be especially careful when using distribution lists, as these sometimes include people in field offices and on other e‑mail systems outside the organisation.  

16.05	Append the original incoming message to your response if the latter is not completely self-explanatory.  This is especially important if you also “cc:” your response to others.  

16.06	Inform recipients of any attachments that you have included with your message.  Depending on the recipient's local e‑mail system, attachments could otherwise go entirely unnoticed.

16.07	Be careful when using special or accented characters in your message even if your e‑mail system allows for them.  These could well be lost when your message is received by a different e‑mail system.  

16.08	Avoid sending emotionally charged messages.  E-mail messages are easily forwarded (sometimes inadvertently) and such comments or feelings can quickly lead to misunderstandings and embarrassment.  

16.09	Make an effort to communicate mood accurately.  Short, quick replies can sometimes be misinterpreted as being aggressive when in fact they were not at all intended that way.  Sarcasm and humour can also lead to misunderstandings.  Insert a “smile graphic” into your text or even a “frown graphic” if applicable.  In e‑mail these are represented by  :‑)  and  :‑(  respectively.  You can also communicate mood by inserting an appropriate word, such as <smile>, into your message text.  

16.10	Avoid using capital letters.  A message written entirely in upper case letters is not only difficult to read but also gives the reader the impression that he/she is being SHOUTED at.  To highlight a word, enclose it in *asterisks* rather than use capital letters.

16.11	Do not systematically bypass the normal chain of command just because the E-mail system makes it easy to send messages directly to the "top".  Use the facility, but use it judiciously.  Remember to “cc:” any colleagues you refer to by name in your messages.

16.12	Respect copyright and licensing agreements.  Distributing publications and software via electronic mail is no different from distributing the same materials as hard copies or on diskettes.

16.13	Do not respond to chain‑letters, unsolicited offers, advertising or any other such "junk mail" that periodically may find its way into your electronic mailbox.  Please report repeated abuses of this kind to IT Office.

16.14	Respond to incoming messages promptly (within 24 hours), even if only to acknowledge receipt.  Your correspondent should know that his/her message has been successfully delivered and has not been "lost" somewhere in the system.  This also saves on "backup" telephone calls, faxes and telexes.

16.15	Keep your electronic "in‑tray" clear.  As soon as you have read and/or replied to your incoming mail, file important messages to appropriate electronic subject folders and delete the rest.  An in‑tray containing hundreds of messages is completely unmanageable.  You may wish to consider setting up a series of electronic folders that mirror your paper‑based folders.

16.16	Delete your "trash" folder and review your outgoing "log" folder at least once a month.

16.17	Review your electronic subject folders every six months and transfer to your backed up hard drive or a centrally administered “near-line” store the older messages that you wish to keep.

16.18	Set up a series of "rules" to help you file and manage your electronic mail.  It can be very useful to have the computer automatically file all incoming messages from your director into your "Correspondence with the Director" file, or have all incoming messages from a certain person automatically and immediately forwarded to a colleague.

16.19	Log on to your E-mail systems frequently (at least once a day) to check your electronic in‑tray.  Once your name appears in the E-mail directory, people will start sending you messages and will naturally expect you to read and answer these.  

16.20	E-mail is often a more informal means of messaging than traditional alternatives.  However, staff should be mindful of the need to be polite, avoid abusive or insulting language and generally comport themselves correctly in the content of their E-mail messages.  For courtesy and clarity, inter‑office E-mail messages should always end with the name and office of the correspondent.  This practice can also avoid confusion with forwarded e‑mails.  

16.21	Don't forget to review your messages before sending them.  One of the advantages of e-mail is that it can be a much quicker way of communicating than a traditional letter or memo.  Therefore, you may not want to spend large amounts of time editing and revising e-mail messages, but you should carefully proofread messages before sending them, especially to people who are not familiar with you or your work.  By doing so, you will avoid embarrassing errors and possible misinterpretation of your message due to a tone you did not intend to impart.  In addition, messages containing a large number of typos can come across as casual or unprofessional, and the recipient may not take what you have to say as seriously as you would like.  Set the “Spell Check” function to automatically review your messages before they are sent.

17.	Sharing & Changing passwords

17.01	Your E-mail password should not be shared with other staff.  [Exception:  Assistants or colleagues who are given access to manage your Inbox while you are out of the office (on mission, on leave).  In this circumstance, you should change your password and leave it with your assistant/colleague before leaving the office and then change it again upon your return.]

17.02	All staff are asked to change their passwords at least every quarter.  It may be easiest to change your password monthly at the same time that you are required to change your LAN user password.  If you've changed your password in E-mail it will not automatically be changed in E-mail Mobile.  Be sure to change your password on your laptop's E-mail Mobile or it will not work.

18.	Mobile E-mail procedure [see: most recent Information Circular e.g CF/IC/NYH/1996‑004]

18.01	All UNICEF Offices are encouraged to provide staff with laptops and E-mail Mobile access to e‑mail while away from the office where work needs make this useful and within budget limitations.

18.02	Staff who use UNICEF laptops may request IT assigned staff to configure the basic e-mail package on them and then use them from home or while travelling.  Staff wishing to have the office e-mail package installed on private laptops or PCs must ask their directors to authorise this before the IT assigned staff will install the software (See).

19.	Officer-in Charge messages

19.01	Each office may establish a policy to be followed for officer in charge messages.  Only in emergencies or on special occasions should a message need to go to all staff concerning these maters.  If an office so desires a special bulletin board can identify those scheduled to be on duty travel or personal leave for designated periods.

19.02	For Officer‑in‑Charge messages the most important thing is that the acting person acts and it is known where to address questions.  In a well managed office, when an officer is away, the “officer‑in‑charge” automatically takes over and work continues normally.  Only a small handful of people really need to know that X will be OIC whilst Y is away.  The appropriate distribution list for an OIC message should be: The OIC; the assistant and/or secretary of the officer who is away; the manager of the officer who is away.

20.	Short List Archive Guideline:
See below details for points to remember for Archiving electronic files and messages:
20.01.   ARCHIVING ‑ BACKUP & RULES at WorkStation:
20.02.   APPRAISAL ‑  Policy, Procedure & Precedent files
20.03.   WORK PLAN ‑ Schedule time/responsibility for backups
20.04.   BUDGET  ‑ for Personal Drives and LAN Backup
20.05.   TRANSFER  ‑ Disks or Back up drives off site

20.01.	ARCHIVING, BACKUP & RULES at Work Station:
[until a centrally controlled and backed up near-line device is available]

20.01.a	Archive outgoing message LOG and Folders to C drive at least once a quarter.

20.01.b	Once every four months [or more regularly if possible] back up The C drive to 1 gigabyte disk using the portable external drive. 

20.01.c	If due to limited space on C drive, it becomes necessary to remove older files, first make copies on two separate one-gigabyte disks. Keep one copy in a secure place registered with the divisional focal point.  The other should be kept in the work unit.  Label each with work unit name, date and key information contained.

20.01d	Rules can be set to transfer messages automatically to a file on the c drive from the Chron log of specific files that are beyond a certain date [4 months].

20.02	APPRAISAL: Policy, Procedure & Precedent files

20.02.a.	Make distinction between Policy/Procedure/Precedent file and other types of folders [transaction and temporary].  Plan extra backups of the Policy Procedure files.  These files from substantive activities are the only files that automatically must be kept for more than 10 years total retention time.

20.02.b.	All rules that apply to paper also apply to same information contained in electronic files. Consult the appraisal grid available from the RAM unit RAM/1994‑174/176. [For policy refer also to executive Directive CF/EXD/1983‑2867]. For paper files of substantive activities, which have not been completely printed out and kept in an accessible manner, the responsibility to protect the electronic files also exists.    

20.03	WORK PLAN ‑ Time Management

20.03.a.	Every quarter, schedule the focal point to assist each head of section and work unit to make the appropriate backups of the C drive, until the staff in the unit can take over.  

20.03.b	Consider the time invested in making backups ‑ compared to overall cost of not doing. For example consider the benefit of searching electronically compared to finding paper and having to retype if necessary.

20.04	BUDGET for LAN & Individual Drive Backup

20.04.a	Divisions are encouraged to buy one drive and back up disks for each focal point [Estimated cost $200 per drive and $20 per disk]. 

20.04.b	Indicate to ITD if your work unit requires additional on‑line or near‑line central storage so that the required backups could be scheduled and performed on a regular basis without interrupting the work of the unit [indicate if there are funds available for special backups].  Alternatively indicate if a separate server and backups could be administrated within the division/office.  If so, budget for server and near‑line storage etc.

20.05	TRANSFER DISKS or Back up drives off site

20.05.a	If information files and logs are only being archived to individual C drives, at least every two years send the properly labelled archive disks [1 gig] to RAM unit or other identified ITD work unit for filing [either the focal point copy or work unit copy]

20.05.b	If division is maintaining its own backups for the LAN, inform ITD of procedure used and logs kept.  Be especially vigilant about storing copies of annual/quarterly backups.  Mark clearly “as of date” and consider keeping one copy off site.