http://www.itskeptic.org/itil-security-guidance Comments for "ITIL security guidance" en http://www.itskeptic.org/itil-security-guidance#comment-6614 <p>Dear Puzzled,</p> <p>Your point is out of scope of the ITIL service management best practices.<br /> First of all, the signature. The signature is no more than your business card references added at the end of your e-mail. This is for the business to decide (HR department and communication department), not IT alone. IT will only be eventually responsible for configuring it within the company/group messaging system.<br /> Secondly, the disclaimer. Once again, the disclaimer is no more than a statement the company wishes to add to all outgoing mails (outside the company or the company group) intended to specify or delimit the scope of rights and obligations that may be exercised and enforced by parties in a legally-recognized relationship (i.e. protecting content if received by wrong recipient). Once again, this is for the business to decide (HR department and communication department) and IT to configure within the company/group messaging system.</p> <p>For example, in my company, whenever I create a new mail, it automatically inserts my signature, a disclamer and an "Before printing, think about the environment" (all automatically present in my e-mail "signature" file). It is imposed by the company and the messaging system is setup so that you may not modify your defaut e-mail "signature". Of course, you may always overule the system by creating a personal signature than you could use instead of the official one (i.e. delete the offical signature from your mail and manually add you personal signature) but at your own risk (against company rules).</p> <p>At a client company of mine, I know that no defaut signature is automatically added to messaging system. It's up to the end-users to configure their Outlook "signature" based on a template provided by the communication department.</p> <p>Personally, automating the "signature" is the best way (imposed by the company). This avoid misuse of the signature (i.e. saying your are "IT manager" instead of "IT support specialist" ;-) and ensures the business knowns no one is making a mistake by inserting an erronous signature that could negatively impact the company image.<br /> Furthermore, many companies often use different terms for your internal and external job function (i.e. internal = unit manager ; external = Service director).</p> <p>So my suggestion would be - leave it to HR - only provide assistance for eventually configuring the messaging system for automation and providing guidance to the end-users to use the company electronic messaging system correctly.</p> <p>Regards,<br /> Cybi.</p> Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:43:11 +0000 Cybi comment 6614 at http://www.itskeptic.org