The University of Salford

 

PUBLICATION OF ‘MESSAGE OF THE DAY’

 

 

This is a Service Statement of Information Services Division (ISD).

 

1          OBJECTIVE

 

The purpose of ‘Message of the Day’ (MOTD) is to advise users of the campus network of important information relevant to their academic pursuits.  Entities within the University other than ISD may publish by this same means, subject to guidelines stated below.

 

2          SERVICE OUTLINE

 

ISD will ensure that motd is prominently displayed to anyone logging in to a campus networked PC running the ‘ISD Desktop’*, and that MOTD is visible on the University Intranet.  Other PCs will display motd provided the relevant School or Unit wishes them to do so.

 

(* That is a PC whose initial software set-up was performed by ISD or in line with ISD recommendations.)

 

ISD will classify messages contributed to MOTD into three categories, depending in their priority:

 

·        Urgent — where an item affects the network infrastructure or the core services delivered on it.  A temporary withdrawal of the University’s Internet connection, or an important Health and Safety announcement would be examples.

 

·        Important — where priority is still high but core services to the University are not threatened.  An announcement of a workshop to happen in several days’ time would be an example.

 

·        General — all others.

 

3          FREQUENCY AND AVAILABILITY

 

3.1       Frequency

 

Not applicable.

 

3.2       Availability

 

All PCs running the ISD desktop will show MOTD on each network login and through a desktop icon.  It will be available as long as the PC retains a viable connection to the campus network.

 

4          THE OBLIGATIONS

 

4.1       Upon ISD

 

4.1.1    ISD will review the MOTD at the start of each working day, or more frequently when an urgent message is added.

 

4.1.2    ISD will ensure that MOTD is visible on the University intranet, at: http://intranet.salford.ac.uk/motd/

 

4.1.3    ISD will include contributions into MOTD within 2 working days of receipt, provided the content is considered appropriate (see section 4.2.1).

 

4.1.4    If no expiry date was supplied with a contribution, the message will be discarded after being displayed for seven consecutive days, or earlier if the content is no longer live

 

4.1.5    ISD reserves the right to amend or refuse to publish any messages.

 

4.2       Upon Authors

 

4.2.1    The text of a message should be clear, succinct, and unlikely to cause offence to staff and students in the University.

 

4.2.2    Contributed messages should have relevance to a substantial proportion of the University’s population.

 

4.2.3    Two dates should accompany a contributed message, defining the first and last dates on which it is to appear - usually spanning no more than seven consecutive days. The text of a message should reach helpdesk-isd@salford.ac.uk at least 2 working days before its required publication.

 

4.2.4    MOTD is designed to be responsive and brief.  For longer messages, an author might consider School or Support Unit Web pages, or an e-mail distribution.

 

5          MEASURE OF SERVICE

 

5.1       Quantitative

 

Service availability will be better than 98%.

 

5.2       Qualitative

 

Not applicable.

 

6          REVIEW

 

Using this Service Statement as a benchmark, ISD will annually review the effectiveness of the MOTD publication mechanism.

 

 

 

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Ref.Publication of the Message of the Day / 070904 / Information Services Division.

Contact Person: Linda Doyle – L.Doyle@salford.ac.uk