1. Scope
The conditions outlined in this document apply to any SGUL staff member who has been issued with an institutional IT account, including attachments and honorary staff.
This policy has been implemented in line with the University’s IT Conditions Of Use and IT Security policies, and to ensure SGUL’s compliance with various 3rd party licensing agreements.
2. Staff leaving the University’s employ
2.1 Account closure procedure
Where a staff member is leaving the employment of the University, their account will be suspended within the 24 hour period following their contract end date.
Once the account is suspended staff will no longer be able to access their email or network drive contents, or any other SGUL IT resource requiring a login.
The account will then be deleted completely 90 days after the date it was suspended.
Deletion means data will be deleted beyond recovery, with the exception of any data that may be held on backup tapes (see section 2.4.2)
2.2 Notification prior to account suspension and deletion
In the run up to your departure from SGUL you will receive regular email notifications warning you of the impending suspension of your IT account.
Notifications will be sent 30 days, 14 days, 7 days and 1 day prior to the suspension of the account.
Where an ‘extension’ is in place (see section 2.4.1) notifications will be sent 30 days, 14 days, 7 days and 1 day prior to the extension end date. The account will be closed on the extension end date with no further warnings.
A staff member’s official leaving date is determined by information extracted from the University’s HR system. If you believe you are wrongly being sent notification of your account closure, please contact your HR Officer in the first instance – HR can then liaise with IT Services to resolve the issue.
2.3 Handing over data before leaving SGUL
You must make arrangements for handing over work-related files and email messages to colleagues before you leave SGUL.
This must be done via an appropriate mechanism – under no circumstances should you share your login details with another staff member.
2.3.1 Email
Emails can be transferred by sharing your inbox (or an individual folder within your inbox) to relevant SGUL colleagues. You may also wish to add a vacation message to your email account re-directing enquiries to a colleague. Instructions on sharing / subscribing to an email inbox can be found on the IT System Training pages.
2.3.2 Home (H:) Directory
Files and documents in your H: drive can be copied to a departmental shared drive or to another SGUL member's H: drive, as appropriate. Further advice on copying or transferring files can be obtained by contacting itav@sgul.ac.uk
2.4 Access to your account after leaving SGUL
2.4.1 Extensions
In exceptional circumstances it may be possible to keep your SGUL account open after you have left the University. Requests must be made using the following form and will be reviewed on a ‘case by case’ basis by the Directors of Human Resources and Information Services.
2.4.2 Access to data in deleted accounts
Once your account has been deleted the availability of your data will be as follows:
- All files in your SGUL Home (H:) drive will be deleted. The deleted data will be available via our backup system for one year, but will take some time to recover and access is not guaranteed.
- Email account data will be deleted beyond recovery (and therefore no longer accessible).
- Files or other data stored in your account using one of the applications in the SGUL Microsoft 365 portal, e.g. OneDrive, will be deleted beyond recovery (and therefore no longer accessible)
Please note it is the staff member’s responsibility to make appropriate arrangements prior to the deletion of their account. The University will not accept responsibility for the deletion of data resulting from a staff member’s failure to make provision for its retention.
3. Staff subject to disciplinary procedures or dismissal
3.1 Disciplinary procedures
Where a staff member is involved in a serious breach of the University’s IT Conditions Of Use their account will be suspended immediately.
Staff suspended from work under the University’s Disciplinary Procedure will also have their IT account suspended.
In both these cases access will only be reinstated on confirmation from HR.
If access to data in a suspended account is required by other staff members, e.g. for business continuity purposes, the Institutional Access to IT Account request form should be used.
3.2 Dismissal
Staff dismissed by the University will have their account suspended with immediate effect.
Requests from the account holder to access data following their dismissal will require approval from the Directors of HR and Information Services and should be submitted via the official form.
If access to data in their account is required by other staff members, e.g. for business continuity purposes, the Institutional Access to IT Account request form should be used.
4. Closure of account following the death of a staff member
In the event of the death of a current staff member their account will be suspended immediately.
The Institutional Access to IT Account request form should be used to retrieve any relevant business data.
Personal information stored in the account may be made available to next of kin, where appropriate. Requests from next of kin should be directed via HR using this form (PDF).