DP and FOI office

Good Practice and Information Guidance
No. 6
Good e-mail Management - a checklist for staff

Purpose

To help you compose, manage and dispose of email messages within the context of good business practice and relevant legislation. E-mail is an important communication medium for the University. 

Rights & Responsibilities

Individuals have a right of privacy in their personal lives and a right to know what their employer's position is with regard to monitoring of communications.  The University, as an employer has the rights and responsibilities to ensure the quality and legality of its activities and the security of its systems. 

In common with the principles for managing any University information, those using e-mail systems should only keep e-mails if the message:

  • proves you have taken a particular action.
  • proves some action has been taken by another individual
  • provides the best way of keeping the information (e.g. if you want to keep a reference to a person’s contact details save the information to your contact list rather than retaining an exchange of e-mail messages)

Remember that all your e-mails may be open to scrutiny so create only for what is needed to move an issue on and retain what is needed for proof that you have completed an action or someone else has acted.

To maintain a sufficient record of exchanges about a major issue or project you should:

  • Decide what the salient records to retain are and be rigorous about weeding out draft documents and discursive exchanges from the final selection
  • Decide who will be the recognised records keeper for a particular issue – even if the emails are kept on a shared drive, one person should have responsibility for providing access to them on receipt of a request

Create e-mail messages with care

  • E-mails are a form of official communication and should therefore be written with the same care as letters or memos.
  • Use your University e-mail address for University business.
  • Check the content for clarity and to make sure that they contain nothing which will embarrass the University, make it liable to litigation, or defame an individual.
  • Use meaningful subject lines – so that they reflect the content of the message accurately.
  • Keep e-mails as brief as possible.
  • In the interests of information security and saving resources, you must heed the advice on e-mail format from IT Services
  • If possible only address one topic per e-mail.
  • E-mails may have to be disclosed when requested as evidence in cases of discrimination, harassment, or defamation.
  • Information about a living individual is disclosable to them under the Data Protection Act 1998.
  • General information exchanged by email may be disclosable to anyone who asks through the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
  • When replying to an e-mail, only keep the relevant parts of the original text as part of your response so that the context of your message is clear. As emails are potentially disclosable you need to make it clear in the reply that you had edited the original text.  For example, use “>” to indicate original text.
  • Set up separate folders for your personal e-mails and weed regularly
  • Establish structured file directory (by subject / activity/ project). For more information and guidelines about how to organize your files see “File Classification & Naming Guide” available from http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/information/
  • Use folders to store messages for reference and delete any messages you no longer need
  • Remember to delete your sent messages folder regularly!
  • Users of MS Exchange and Outlook in University Services can delete messages without the option of recovery by using the “Shift+delete” key. If you just use “Delete” key remember to also empty the “Deleted Items”/ “Trash Bin” regularly, and in addition use “Tools”, “Recover Deleted Items” then “Select All” (ctrl+A) then “Purge”.
  • Delete the copy in your sent messages folder too!

Sharing of information via e-mail

  • Don’t allow backlogs of unwanted e-mails to accumulate in your “in box” or “deleted Items” folder as this slows down finding the information you need (and reduces the speed of the server for everyone else).
  • Before you send messages to individuals, understand how to use “Carbon Copy” (cc) and “Blind Carbon Copy” (bcc) functions.
  • Don’t copy e-mails to people unless they need to see them, especially if the content is confidential. Make it clear to the recipient they should not pass on the message without first contacting to you (or the original sender).
  • Use shared drives, servers or websites to give access to a joint documents rather than sending it as an attachment.
  • Or, simply send as part of the text in the email message (this can be useful when sending messages to multiple recipients “for information”).
  • Be consistent about the use of appropriate use of “sensitivity flags” or security marking. Use “confidential” or “high priority” when it reflects the nature of the content rather than as a matter of routine.  Be aware that using this flags may serve to draw attention to the message and does not give confidentiality to the message.
  • Don’t create long lists of names in the “to” field, if you send messages to a group of people IT Services can create a distribution list for you. Contact the IT Services Helpdesk via http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/it/helpdesk/
  • Whatever your e-mail system, don’t rely on the “Recall Message” function – there is no guarantee that it will work because it is dependent on the way that the recipient’s server is configured.

Security of e-mail systems

  • Ensure your computer is locked or logged out when you leave your desk, as someone else could send messages in your name.
  • Never reply to unsolicited “spam” e-mail, even when given an option to remove your name from their mailing list as this just a trick to confirm to that your e-mail address is valid.
  • If you subscribed, then it’s safe to use the instructions given by the host.
  • Keep you passwords or log-on code secure and ensure they are not visible to the casual observer.
  • Remember that e-mail is not a secure form of communication, it may be sent to the wrong person inadvertently and your communications may be intercepted.  It is the electronic equivalent of sending a postcard. See http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/it/regulations/emailguide.shtml
  • If you need to send confidential information (e.g. examination questions or results, sensitive communications) contact IT Services and ask about encryption.
  • If your role that requires you to deal with large volumes of e-mail correspondence consider setting an “autoreply” message giving alternative contact details when you are away for more than a week, or arrange for someone else to check your e-mail. In MS Outlook these are called “out of office” messages.

Handling e-mail attachments

  • Avoid clicking on links / attachments in unsolicited e-mails as this is a common way to spread computer viruses.
  • File important e-mails so that they are accessible to other people e.g. in a public folder or shared drive.  For advice about how to set this up, contact the IT Services Helpdesk http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/it/helpdesk/

Further advice

For further advice on managing e-mail, please contact the:
Records & Information Management Service (R&IMS)
tel: +44 (0)141 330 3111
e-mail: recman@gla.ac.uk