Fordham University uses Groupcast software to more easily send mass electronic mailings to all faculty and/or staff members. Although this software simplifies the process of distributing email to a large group of people it should be remembered that email still comes at a cost: disk space, processor resources, increased backup time, bandwidth and man-hours. 

 

·       Because of these costs it is essential that emails be manageably small in size and free of attachments. A one-page memo would be the proper guideline for size limitation. This is roughly equivalent to two thousand characters in length.

 

·       For management purposes, it is also critical that this type of email be restricted to communications that are pertinent to the entire set of either faculty or staff or both and that these communications be approved by an area Vice President before being sent. This last guideline is important as many of our University members consider unsolicited email an intrusion and an annoyance and are sensitive to the amount of time spent dealing with it. This process of relevancy checking and approval will help limit complaints by the community.

 

·       Though the identification of the sender is merely a label within the Groupcast environment, Lotus Notes will still resolve the sender’s name if it appears in the Name and Address book. To avoid an onslaught of unwanted replies it is therefore recommended that a clear identification of the Area Vice President with title and department appear as the correspondent of the message. This will prevent a recipient from using the reply button but still informs the recipient which office to contact for further information or clarification.

 

·       Ideally, any sizable amount of information meant for mass consumption should be put on the University Intranet allowing authorized users to gain access to it as needed. This is more efficient because information is stored in one location and can be easily managed/edited by the person(s) responsible for its accuracy and timeliness. Since it is less efficient to have thousands of copies of the same information in thousands of locations, an ideal use of mass mailings would be to send a link to where information may be obtained now and in the future. The recipient is free then to bookmark this site and visit it regularly to check for new information. Recipients might also be allowed to download forms, participate in an interactive discussion or take advantage of any of the other possible benefits afforded by our intranet site that are impossible via email.