POLICY:

All University information will be used with appropriate and relevant levels of access and with sufficient assurance of its integrity in compliance with existing University policies, laws, rules, and regulations.

Rationale:

Reasonable procedures need to be provided for the University community to follow to ensure that valuable University data can be utilized appropriately with guidelines for management and access to data. Roles and responsibilities need to be defined and applied to those in stewardship positions regardless of the actual purpose of the information system.

Standards & Procedures:

Standards:

This policy applies to University Information only (as defined below) and is intended to improve access to these data by employees for conducting University business. In all cases, applicable statutes, rules, and regulations that guarantee either protection or accessibility of institutional records will take precedence over this policy. While this policy is especially pertinent to information stored electronically, it is applicable to all information, such as paper, microform, and video, as well as the content of confidential meetings and conversations. This policy does not apply to notes and records that are the personal property of individuals in the University community and is not directed to data whose primary purpose is scholarly (e.g., instructional material, research notes)

University Information. A data element is considered University Information if it provides support to and meets the needs of units of the University.

Guidelines for determining University Information. Must meet one or more of the following:

a) It is used for planning, providing, managing, reporting, or auditing a major administrative function
b) It is included in an official University administrative report
c) It is used to derive an element that meets the criteria above

By default, all University Information will be designated as INTERNAL DATA for use within the University or to satisfy University external reporting requirements to the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, State, Federal, or other external agencies. University employees will have access to these data for use in the conduct of University business. These data, while available within the University, are not designated as open to the general public unless otherwise required by law.

Data Categories. Data stewards are responsible for categorizing all University Information data elements within their managed systems into one of three categories: Confidential, Sensitive, or Unrestricted.

Confidential data. Requires the highest levels of restriction due to risk of harm that may result from disclosure or inappropriate use. This includes information whose improper use or disclosure could adversely affect the ability of the University to accomplish its mission, records about individuals requesting protection under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), or data not releasable under the Georgia Open Records Act or the Georgia Open Meetings Act.

Sensitive Data. Users must obtain specific authorization to access these elements since unauthorized disclosure, alteration, or destruction will cause perceivable damage to the University. It is assumed that all administrative output from the central administrative systems is classified as sensitive unless otherwise indicated. The specification of data as sensitive should include reference to the legal or externally imposed constraint that requires this restriction, the categories of users typically given access to the data, and under what conditions or limitations access is typically given.

Unrestricted Data. No access restrictions. Available to the general public.

Data Access and Stewardship Procedures. Data users are expected to access University Information only in their conduct of University business, to respect the confidentiality and privacy of individuals whose records they access, to observe any ethical restrictions that apply to data to which they have access, and to abide by applicable laws, rules, regulations, or policies. Data stewards will work together to define a single set of procedures for requesting access to sensitive elements of University Information and to document these data access request procedures. Data stewards also have the responsibility for documenting the meta-data about their data so that users are aware of the definitions, restrictions, or interpretations, and other issues which ensure the correct use of the data.

Functional Data Classifications. Data stewards represent functional areas of the University as defined by the primary purpose served by the data. A functional unit may be given authority for data that is shared by many organizational units of the University.

Auxiliary Data. Supports the auxiliary and related enterprises of the University such as retail sales, central supplies, and other services.

Development/Alumni Data. Supports all aspects of alumni and development data. This includes personal data, demographic data, income, and giving data.

External Relations Data. Supports activities, which interface between the University and the rest of the community. This includes Event Ticket Sales, publications and public information.

Facilities Data. Supports the facilities and services resource of the University including space planning data, construction, maintenance and operational data, reservations and physical descriptive data.

Financial Data. Supports the management of fiscal resources of the University and includes accounting, budgeting, purchasing, accounts payable, accounts receivable, loans, investments, capital assets, inventory, and payroll information.

Human Resources Data. Supports the management of employee resources of the University. This data includes employee demographics, benefits, retirement and EEO data, vitas, employee evaluations, promotion and disciplinary data.

Information Technology Data. Supports the provisioning and management of the technology infrastructure provided by Information Systems and Technology. This includes email addresses, registry and directory data elements not belonging to another data type, network data, and systems data.

Library and Information Resource Data. Supports the management activities and information resource collection activities of the University libraries, including databases of purchased and locallyproduced information and digitized files of University archives and other special collections.

Person Registry Data. Supports the management of identity and authentication for individuals associated with the University, including the creation of unique data elements (such as CampusID, PantherCard number, Library Barcode) that provide unambiguous identification and resolution for merging of identity records. Person Registry data can be used to provision other applications that are managing privileges to authorized individuals or groups.

Student Data. Supports all phases of a student’s relationship with the University from application through alumni status except as noted elsewhere. This includes, but is not restricted to, demographic data, academic record, disciplinary and medical records, course information, admissions data, housing, and financial aid, as well as employment with the University, which is dependent on student status.

Procedures:
Request Access to University Data
Secure Your Workstation

Revisions:

Revised for compliance with ISAT Senate Committee recommended formatting
(January 2003)

Approval Date(s):

Reviewed by IST:
Reviewed by Information Security Subcommittee:
Reviewed by ISAT Senate Committee:
Approved by: University Administrative Council
Approved on: September 8, 1999
Version number: 2.0.0
Effective Date: September 8, 1999

SUMMARY OF CHANGES/ADDITIONS/DELETIONS

This policy was originally approved by the University Administrative Council on September 8, 1999. This revision re-validates the intent of the policy. This revision places the original policy into the ISAT Senate Committee recommended format for clarity and ease of reference and update. As a result of this reformatting, sections on Procedures has been moved to a separate Procedure document that is associated with this policy.

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