University Business - November 2006 - (Page 74)

BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY software, and support cost approximately ber begins teaching at another university software flags alert users to sensitive in- $1.25 monthly for each user at a site with without securing appropriate approval, formation and tell any employee how to 10,000 users. Others, like netReplay, rep- the university could launch an investiga- view the information. resent a new system. Its costs include the tion and tap the employee's inbox. The Similarly, the post-9/11 SEVIS Stu- price of the appliance, a fee per user moni- university might turn on surveillance dent and Exchange Visitor Information tored, and an annual maintenance fee. functionality if a faculty or staff member System requires all colleges and univer- Chronicle Solutions, a provider of net- is engaged in activities that conflict with sities receiving government funding to work monitoring solutions, says it extends the university's mission. monitor foreign students' e-mail commu- a significant higher education discount. In addition to e-mail monitoring, the nications and transmit student informa- system can create rules to scan for specific tion to the Department of Homeland Se- BEST PRACTICES curity. Surveillance programs could help We monitor for investi- Employee surveillance can be a touchy colleges comply with SEVIS by tracking subject. Poorly defined and communi- and organizing online communication gative purposes only. cated policies could have a negative im- and activities, says Chronicle Solutions pact on employee relations or lead a to Chief Operating Officer Sophie Pibouin. James Hammond, Winthrop University a media fiasco. One need only recall the But sweeping changes and a draconian recent Hewlett-Packard corporate scandal objectionable words or block attachments monitoring system may not fly at most to imagine the media and public relations or certain addresses. We don't monitor e- colleges and universities. Instead, higher nightmare that can occur in the wake of a mail as a preventative measure, nor do we ed may be best served by adapting surveil- poorly conceived surveillance program. regulate objectionable words or contents. lance solutions and developing policies to And like any technology, surveillance We monitor for investigative purposes meet their unique needs rather than sim- systems are not perfect. It is possible to only, says Hammond. The combination ply mirroring corporate practices. increase the odds of a successful deploy- of policy and technology is a good fit for ment. Insiders offer the following advice the university's needs. THE SOLUTIONS about optimizing a monitoring system: Another software option is Chronicle Colleges and universities do have a num- http://www.chroniclesolutions.com http://www.mirapoint.com http://www.softwaresecuritysolutions.com http://www.sophos.com http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - November 2006

Table of Contents
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Editor's Note
Stats Watch
People Watch
Sense of Place
Viewpoint
Marketing
Human Resources
Money Matters
Community Colleges
Wireless: The "n" is Near
TECH Central
Rising Stars
Coming Back from Katrina
Business Technology
What's New
Calendar of Events
Direct Connect
End Note

University Business - November 2006