Four IT policy revisions have been approved by the September session of President’s Cabinet.
IT Analog Line Policy – On August 2, 2019, the United States Federal Communications Commission granted Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECs) forbearance from price caps established in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. ILECs are no longer required to unbundle services or resell service to competitors at wholesale prices. With very few incentives to maintain analog lines as existing infrastructure degrades due to age and decreasing use, the price and availability of analog line services are expected to become increasingly unpredictable. Therefore, Georgia Highlands College considers analog lines a functionally obsolete, “best-effort” technology that should be routinely reviewed for replacement.
IT Change Control Policy – Change management, from an information technology perspective, is the process of guiding a change to an information system or information technology resource to fruition, from the earliest stages of conception and preparation, through implementation and, finally, to resolution. An effective management strategy is necessary to ensure the continuity of college operations as changes are requested during the provisioning, normal operations, and discontinuation/replacement of an information system. This policy defines the institution’s strategy for the submission, review, testing, approval, implementation, and closure of change requests.
IT Problem Management Policy – Georgia Highlands College utilizes issue tracking systems for departments that support students and/or provide routine administrative support to employees. Users who need assistance with an issue should be directed to submit a ticket to the appropriate issue tracking system. A support ticket should include the minimum information necessary for the account involved and the issue encountered.
IT Physical and Environment Protection Policy – This policy aims to define the minimum requirements for data center physical security and the environmental protection mechanisms necessary to prevent a loss of integrity, availability, and/or confidentiality of data due to damage, misuse, and/or destruction of equipment. This policy also establishes physical security requirements for networks that support Georgia Highlands College information systems.
Two older IT policy documents (IT Analog Line Standard and IT Mobile Communication Device Policy) have been discontinued and removed from our Intranet policy website.
All GHC IT policy documents are publicly available on the GHC Policy Manual website available online at https://sites.highlands.edu/policy-manual/