Topics: 

SA-07-005 Email Naming

Issue Date:  11/01/2006

Revision Effective Date:  9/01/2007 

PURPOSE

The purpose of this standard is to establish the State standard for the email address for users of email systems.

STANDARD

The following standards stipulate naming conventions to be used for various elements of email systems provided that the person has an email address:

i. Email addresses are broken down into local and domain address components separated by the “@” sign.

ii. Domain addresses will be agency.ga.gov where “agency” is the agency identified abbreviation for the agency that has been approved by GTA has having an available domain.

iii. Local addresses will be first name + “.” + last name.  Conflicts can be resolved by first adding a middle initial as in [email protected] second by adding a sequential number after the last name as in [email protected].

iv. Aliases can be used during the transition and for special branded addresses such as [email protected] or [email protected].

v. Service account email addresses will have descriptive local address components indicating the owning agency such as [email protected].

ENFORCEMENT

Individual state agencies will be responsible for developing detailed procedures to comply with these standards. The standards will guide periodic reviews, as well as audits by the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts. In addition, GTA will review applicable hardware, application and service purchases via the APR process to ensure that vendors and contractors are aware of the standards and have agreed to comply with them. Violators of these standards may be subject to employee disciplinary procedures. Agencies may impose sanctions upon their employees for violations of standards.

TERMS and DEFINITIONS

Electronic mail, abbreviated e-mail or email, is a method of composing, sending, storing, and receiving messages over electronic communication systems or Email Systems. The term e-mail applies both to the Internet e-mail system based on the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and to intranet systems allowing users within one company or organization to send messages to each other.

Email Systems are software and hardware systems that transport messages from one computer user to another. E-mail systems range in scope and size from a local email system that carries messages to users within an agency or office over a local area network (LAN) or an enterprise-wide e-mail system that carries messages to various users in various physical locations over a wide area network (WAN) e-mail system to an e-mail system that sends and receives messages around the world over the internet. Often the same e-mail system serves all three functions.

E-mail messages are electronic documents created and sent or received by a computer via an e-mail system. This definition applies equally to the contents of the communication, the transactional information, and any attachments associated with such communication. E-mail messages are similar to other forms of communicated messages, such as correspondence, memoranda and circular letters.

User is the individual who is utilizing the email services.