IT/PPS 04.11 - Information Technology Division Unplanned Service Interruption Communication

POLICY STATEMENT

Texas State University is committed to handling unplanned service interruption communication in a timely and effective manner.

1. SCOPE

   1. This policy establishes Division of Information Technology (IT) unplanned service interruption communication protocols.

2. DEFINITIONS

   1. Key Service – a service used extensively or regularly by all or many customers. Key services include email, telephone and voicemail, learning management system, financial and human resources system, student information system, web presence, wired or wireless network, internet service, file storage services (on premise or cloud), or authentication services.

   2. Service Interruption – a service outage or a loss or degradation of service affecting all or a subset of customers.

3. GUIDELINES AND PROCEDURES

   1. When a service interruption of a key service occurs, the appropriate service owner shall contact the IT Assistance Center (ITAC) once they have been made aware of an issue.

   2. ITAC shall, without significant delay, issue appropriate communications to the Texas State University campuses notifying faculty, staff, and if necessary, students acknowledging the state of the service, including any known information pertaining to the restoration of normal service.

   3. Appropriate communication shall be an email when:

      1. it involves many faculty, staff, or students; or

      2. when the university is closed.

      Otherwise, appropriate communication can include an email or other broadly distributed communication mechanisms, such as social media, webpage content via the IT Service Dashboard, push notification via the TXST mobile app, or other appropriate communication methods.

   4. If the service interruption involves the university’s web presence, the process of migrating to the emergency website will begin without significant delay after the service interruption is discovered.

   5. This policy is in effect 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

4. REVIEWERS OF THIS PPS

   1. Reviewers of this PPS include the following:

      Position	Date
      Special Assistant to the Vice President for Information Technology	March 1 E5Y
      Associate Vice President, Information Technology Assistance Center	March 1 E5Y
      Director, Information Technology Business Operations/Services	March 1 E5Y
      Director, Information Technology Business Operations/Finance	March 1 E5Y
      Associate Vice President, Technology Resources	March 1 E5Y
      Chief Information Security Officer	March 1 E5Y
      Director, IT Project Management Office	March 1 E5Y
      Executive Assistant, Information Technology	March 1 E5Y
      Vice President for Information Technology	March 1 E5Y

5. CERTIFICATION STATEMENT

   This PPS has been reviewed by the following individual in their official capacity and represents Texas State Information Technology policy and procedure from the date of this document until superseded.

   Vice President for Information Technology; senior reviewer of this PPS