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Effective
November 8, 2000
Statement of
Policy:
This policy is established by the Clerk of Superior
Court to standardize the procedures for the acquisition, usage, care, repair and
maintenance of all technical computer hardware and software purchases or leases.
This policy will continue to evolve as our technical resources expand and
change.
Coverage of
Policy:
1)
Master Plan and Inventory
2)
Maintenance, Care and Repair of Computer Equipment and Peripherals at Your Job
Site
3)
Help Desk Support
4)
Installation of software on your personal computer
5)
Personal Computer Desktop Themes, Wallpaper and Screen Savers
6)
Operating System and Software Passwords
7)
Internet Access and Internet, Intranet and Mainframe E-mail
8)
Mainframe Access
9)
Network Systems, Applications and Connectivity
The following procedures are established to provide
proper management and maintenance of the Clerk of Superior Court’s computer
resources, networks, equipment and
software. These procedures will set standards of equipment and software
purchases or leases and create levels of responsibility for computer maintenance
and repair.
1.
Master Plan / Inventory
A. Based
on the department’s master computer plan and inventory, purchases of identical
software and compatible computer equipment will be recommended for all similar
job functions in all department divisions. This will create staff development in
computer software, provide easier cross training of comparable job duties, and
reduce the work load by providing staff sharing of computer developed files.
B. It
is the responsibility of the Data Systems division to maintain an in-house
inventory system of all computer equipment and peripherals assigned to each
division. This inventory will provide the type of equipment, serial and model
numbers, date purchased or leased and service / maintenance records of the
equipment.
C. The
Data Systems division is the only division that can install, relocate or remove
any piece of equipment - monitors, CPUs, all printers, keyboards, mice,
scanners, and cables.
2.
Hardware - Maintenance, Care and Repair of Computer Equipment /
Printers
All
computer equipment, maintenance and repair procedures will follow these
procedures:
1.
All computer equipment must be properly maintained by keeping the
equipment:
a.
Clean,
free of dust, dirt, foods, liquids, cosmetics and office supplies such as paper
clips, staples, etc. or any other potentially damaging clutter.
b.
Do not
write on the computer equipment with ink, ballpoint or felt tip pens, pencils,
magic markers etc.
c.
Do not
scotch tape pictures, notes, memos etc. to your computer equipment.
d.
Do not
use network printers as desk tops for organizing papers, removing paper clips or
staples.
e.
Do not use your computer mouse without a mouse pad. Dirt and
debris will get inside the mouse and prevent the mouse from interacting with the
computer.
f.
It is the employee’s responsibility to clean and protect the computer
equipment assigned to them. It is the responsibility of the division manager to
provide the employees with proper cleaning supplies for the computer equipment
and to monitor the care and maintenance of all equipment assigned to their
division. Failure to follow this procedure is in violation of Fulton County
Personnel policy PR-1800-2, Article 9.
2.
All personal computer equipment installed at an employee’s workstation
must be properly shut down and turned off at the end of the workday. It is the
employee’s responsibility to shut down and turn off the CPU, monitor, printer
and scanner if applicable. It is the responsibility of the division manager to
verify that this maintenance and care of the computer is being properly done on
a daily basis.
3.
It is the responsibility of the division manager
to assign the task of properly maintaining public access computers assigned to a
division’s area to an employee within the division. This employee’s
responsibility will be the same for shutting down and turning off public access
computers and restarting public access computers as personal computers assigned
to an employee’s workstation. These computers will need to be maintained,
cleaned and monitored for repair as any other equipment assigned to the division
or an employee in the Clerk’s office. (The exception to this procedure is the public access personal
computers in the Record Room. This is a joint operation between the Record Room
staff and the Data Systems division staff for shutting down and restarting the
public access computers.)
3.
Help Desk Support
The Data Systems Help Desk has been established to assist all divisions and
employees of the Clerk’s office with the provision of computer and equipment
support.
- Requests for computer equipment repair will first be made to the
Clerk’s office Data Systems Help Desk. This telephone number is (404)
730-6571. It is the responsibility of the Data Systems Help Desk to
contact the assigned technical systems support staff to respond to any
employee or division’s call for assistance. This procedure must be
followed before any service can be provided to any employee or division
within the Clerk’s office.
- It is the responsibility of the division managers to establish a
policy within their division if there is a chain of command as to who can
place Help Desk calls or who should be notified within the division
concerning requests for assistance from the Data Systems Division. The
Data Systems Division will respond to any reasonable request for
assistance from any employee within the Clerk’s office.
- The Data Systems Help Desk will track equipment repairs and
software assistance requests on all computer equipment by division. If any
employee in any division repeatedly requests extensive repairs or
training, the division manager will be notified so that proper training or
computer maintenance instruction can be provided at the division level.
4.
Software
Software applications, legalities, licenses, use, and maintenance have
become a prominent issue with the expansion of personal computers. These
procedures are created to ensure proper legal measures are met in order to
protect Fulton County and the Office of the Clerk of Superior Court.
A. Software Applications and License
1.
All
software applications on all Fulton County owned or leased equipment must
meet the criteria of being legally licensed and authorized by Fulton County
before being installed on any computer equipment. The legal requirements for
software licensing are that the purchaser of the software application is limited
to installing that particular software package on only one (1) computer system
for one (1) user. A legally
licensed software package is required for each software application installed on
each personal computer in a division or department.
2.
Due to the expense of software applications and the need for software
compatibility and technical support among Fulton County departments and the
Clerk’s office’s divisions, the Data Systems division will review software
purchases and leases. It will be
the responsibility of the Data Systems division to work with the various
divisions within the Clerk’s office to resolve software needs and make
recommendations of appropriate software applications for the division managers.
It is the responsibility of the division managers to follow the recommendations
of the Data Systems division and purchase software that is compatible with
Fulton County’s and the Clerk’s office’s existing software applications
and technical support capabilities.
3.
Due to the complexity of network system designs and the sensitivity of
network software applications, Fulton County owned or leased computer equipment
operating on a Local Area Network (LAN), will not have any extraneous software
installed on the computer equipment. It
is the responsibility of the Data Systems division to install all
software on all computer equipment in the Clerk of Superior Court’s
offices. Employees or supervisors or managers within the Clerk’s office on
Fulton County or Clerk’s office computer equipment will install no software.
It is the responsibility of the division managers to advise their staff of this
policy. There is no exception to this procedure as licensing, compatibility,
viruses, or system / database corruptions are an issue every time software is
installed on a piece of computer equipment.
4.
It is the responsibility of the Data Systems division to maintain all
master media of all software purchased or leased for the Clerk’s office. The
Data Systems division will record all software licenses and make all software
resources available thru the Clerk’s office’s network. Instruction manuals
that are enclosed with the master media will be distributed to the application
user with the understanding that
the user is responsible for the care and return of the training manuals.
B. Software Diskette / CD-Rom
Maintenance
1.
The use and maintenance of software diskettes or CD ROMS is similar to
the use and maintenance of computer equipment. It is the employee’s
responsibility to maintain clean, virus free, computer diskettes. Do not insert
computer diskettes or CD ROMs into the Central Processing Unit (CPU) that have
food, liquid, dirt, or grease on them.
2.
When sharing diskettes or CD ROMs within the
office or bringing diskettes from home, always check your diskettes or CD ROMs
for viruses with the virus detention software program that has been installed on
your personal computer. It is the
responsibility of the employee to check all diskettes or CD ROMS for viruses
before using the diskette. Viruses can be very destructive to a computer system
and the Clerk’s Office will discipline employees who are lax in this area of
computer use and care.
C. Computer Software Games
Computer
software games are no longer permitted on Fulton County leased or purchased
personal computers, per a memorandum from the Board of Commissioners. Therefore
no employee will play computer software games on County work time, breaks or
lunch hours.
5.
Personal Computer
Desktop Themes, Wallpaper and Screen Savers
Due to the complexity of network designs and the
allocations of personal computer memory resources, there will be no personal
computer desktop themes or wallpaper on the Clerk’s office computer
equipment. Screen Savers, which have been developed by the operating system
manufacturer and are installed on the computer, are acceptable and
recommended. There is no exception to this procedure as licensing, file
compatibility, or system / database corruptions are an issue every time
software is installed on a piece of computer equipment and are at issue
anytime an additional network system is added to a personal computer.
6.
Operating Systems
and Software Passwords
A.
Operating Systems Passwords
All operating system
passwords (commonly referred to as boot up passwords) will only be installed by the Data Systems division personnel on any
personal computer in the Clerk’s office. A list of operating system passwords
by employee’s name and location will be secured and maintained in the Data
Systems division. The purpose of this action is for Data Systems to be able to
access a personal computer in the absence of the employee for maintenance or
upgrade operations. No passwords will be installed at the computer operating
system level without the authority of an employee’s supervisor / manager. The
Data Systems division will remove unauthorized operating system passwords.
B.
Network Logon Passwords
Network log-on passwords
should be secured and maintained by the Clerk’s office employees, as this
password is your identification to and on the network server applications. It is
very important that you not share this information indiscriminately with other
Clerk’s office employees. Your log-on access tracks your whereabouts on the
computer network system. This tracking provides network security to the user and
the department. The Data Systems
division will not maintain a list of these passwords. If an employee should forget their network log-on password,
the employee should contact the Data Systems Help Desk for assistance. A
technician will contact the employee and assign a generic password for the
employee to use or change when they sign back on to the network.
C.
Screen Saver Passwords
Screen saver passwords are acceptable on personal
computers in the Clerk’s office. The Data Systems division will not maintain
a log of screen saver passwords. If Data Systems has to work on an
employee’s personal computer during the employee’s absence, the Data
Systems division will remove the screen saver password. If the Data Systems’
staff needs to remove a screen
saver password, this task is accomplished
without viewing the password. It will be the responsibility of the
employee to restore the password if a screen saver password is still required.
D.
Document Passwords
Word Processing documents
can and probably should be password protected if the document has sensitive or
personnel information. Document passwords are at the discretion of the employee
/ supervisor / manager and are not maintained by the Data Systems division. If
these file document passwords are forgotten or the password misplaced, the Data
Systems division does have the capability of restoring your records. Please use
this form of document password security carefully.
E.
Mainframe Passwords
The Information Technology Department assigns
mainframe system log-on names and passwords. Employees who mis-place or forget
their mainframe log-on identifications and passwords will need to contact the
Information Technology Help Desk to request that their password be changed.
7.
Internet Access and
Internet, Intranet and Mainframe E-Mail
A.
The purpose of this policy is to outline the responsibilities of the
Clerk of Superior Court’s employees in the use of electronic communication and
information resources, such as electronic mail (e-mail) and access to the
Internet and other electronic communication and information services.
1.
This office provides Internet and E-mail as tools to assist employees in
conducting county business. Just as written letters, memos, and reports,
produced during business hours and equipment are property that belong to the
county, so are Internet and e-mail communications. E-mail records are subject to
be subpoenaed through the Open Records Act.
2.
This office may restrict access to Internet sites that it deems
inappropriate. For example, pornography, gambling, racism and hate sites are
inappropriate and unrelated to county business. Employees who intentionally
access inappropriate sites are subject to disciplinary action, including
termination.
3.
Certain personal, minimal use of the Internet and the e-mail systems is
permissible if the personal use of these resources does not create additional
costs for the county, interfere with work duties, or violate laws or company
policies.
4.
This office may monitor Internet use and access and disclose e-mail
communications when a demonstrated business need exists. This demonstrated need
is determined at the sole discretion of appropriate personnel in the Clerk’s
office.
5.
Management has a responsibility to protect and conserve county resources,
including e-mail and will take actions necessary to fulfill its responsibility.
Accordingly the Clerk’s office reserves the right to access, examine, and
disclose e-mail, documents, files, or Internet usage, “with or without
notice,” where a demonstrated business need is determined to exist by
appropriate personnel.
6.
E-mail and Internet access are provided for business use. All employees
have a responsibility to use these resources appropriately in conducting county
business. Any personal use of these resources should not create additional costs
for the county, interfere with work duties, or violate laws for county policies.
7.
Personal use of the Internet or e-mail systems for purposes of conducting
or promoting a personal business is prohibited.
8.
Electronic information including all e-mail must be readable by
authorized personnel. Storage of electronic information on Clerk’s office or
county resources in an encrypted format unreadable by authorized county
personnel is prohibited.
9.
The use of other person’s electronic identification and password to
gain access to unauthorized information, including information residing in the
e-mail system, is prohibited.
10.
Employees with authority to access other employees’ electronic files or
to monitor their Internet use may not execute that authority except in
management’s direction based on a demonstrated need. Any unauthorized access
can result in disciplinary action, including dismissal.
11.
Terminated employees’ electronic files, including e-mail, will be
reviewed to determine if any files should be saved. Following the review,
employees’ identification and all nonessential files associated with them will
be purged from the system.
B.
Guidelines
1.
Internet users should be aware of the current Internet security practices
within Fulton County when sending information across the Internet. Employees
should not send confidential information across the Internet. Contact Data
Systems for any further information.
2.
E-mail communications – though county resources– generally are
confidential; however, the county cannot guarantee and employees should not
expect confidentiality in these communications on the Internet.
3.
The failure of any employee to adhere to any of the requirements or
guidelines of the policy can result in disciplinary action up to and including
discharge.
C.
Implementation
1.
All employees are responsible for managing department / county
information and resources in a manner that supports this policy. Management at
all levels is responsible for compliance with and enforcement of this policy.
2.
Examples of behavior that could result in disciplinary action are:
a.
Illegally downloading electronic files (we must obey copyright laws).
b.
Sending threatening messages or files.
c.
Sending foul, improper, or offensive messages, pornography or slurs which
might offend specific classifications of individuals including those belonging
to certain racial, sexual, age, religious, disabled, or national groups or
backgrounds.
d.
Accessing Internet sites that contain written or graphic material that
denigrates or shows hostility, violence or aversion toward an individual or
group because of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual
orientation, age, disability, or veteran status.
e.
Accessing Internet sites that contain information advocating illegal
activities.
f.
Do not send chain letters through the e-mail without verifying that this
course of action does not offend the person (s) who are receiving this form of
correspondence. Some people may view this type of correspondence as intimidating
or threatening if certain actions are not followed.
g.
Attempting to access any computer system without proper authorization.
h.
Sending or posting confidential information.
i.
Refusing to cooperate with management concerning Internet access.
j.
Using county time and resources for personal gain, including conducting
or promoting a personal business through use of the Internet or e-mail systems.
8.
Mainframe
Requests for access to the Fulton County Mainframe
system are to be directed to the Data Systems division Help Desk.
All requests must be in writing, include the employees full name, social
security number, telephone number and type of access. You should also include in
your request that the access should mirror another employee who is already a
user on the system. (Insert employees name).
9.
Network Systems,
Applications and Connectivity
The purpose of this policy is to describe the
necessary steps to give an employee access to the network systems and software
applications in the Clerk’s office. All network systems and software
applications are available at the Clerk’s office courthouse location, but
may not be available at all remote locations.
- All personal computers requesting network systems’ applications
require connectivity through a network cable and port jack located on the
wall in the various office sites. If a
port jack is unavailable, then a request for a cable drop will be
required before network access can be obtained. In addition, software
licenses for the applications must be available before applications can be
installed on an employee’s personal computer. License information for each
application by division is available through the Data Systems Division to
any manager or supervisor.
- The following applications are available through the Clerk’s
office network:
a.
Civil Case Management
b.
Clerk’s Authority Real Estate Records
c.
Criminal Case Management
d.
E-Mail Internet and Intranet
e.
Ex parte Minutes
f.
Intangible Tax
g.
Intranet
h.
Internet
i.
Law Library
j.
Mainframe Applications (E-mail, Finance, Personnel and Purchasing)
k.
Notary Public
l.
Quick Books
m.
Real Estate
n.
Transfer Tax
- Access to the various network system applications are requested
through the employee’s supervisor / manager by e-mail or memo to the Data
Systems Division’s manager. Please indicate which system application(s) is
/ are being requested and what level of access you are wanting your employee
to acquire. It is helpful if you profile a new employee the same as an
existing employee. This information should be provided in your e-mail along
with the employee’s full name, middle initial if applicable and social
security number.
- Data Systems is responsible for setting up your employees on the
network server and installing the system applications on the employee’s
desktop. It is the responsibility of the division’s supervisor / manager
to train the employee in the correct use of the network applications.
- It is the responsibility of all division managers
/ supervisors to notify the Data Systems Division by e-mail when an employee is
hired or terminates their employment with the Clerk’s office. The purpose of
this action is to release our application software licenses on the server so
that our computer resources can be deployed to the new staff that is being
hired.
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