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New e-mail system debuts
CalMail will improve communication and reduce costs

22 March 2001 | CalMail, the university’s new internal, Web-based e-mail system for sending announcements to staff and faculty, will debut at Berkeley in April.

The new e-mail service, created by UC Irvine, will improve the quality and timeliness of campus communications and reduce the costs associated with hard copy memos, said Susan Combs, manager of the Chancellor’s Communications and Resource Center. “CalMail will become the official medium for sending authorized announcements to staff and faculty,” she said.

The electronic mail program will provide three types of services: “broadcast” e-mail, which is correspondence going out to the entire campus or large parts of it; controlled lists, which are limited to selected recipients; and subscription lists, which consist of subscribers.

The broadcast system will be implemented in April, Combs said. Designated campus senders, ranging from the chancellor to deans, will be able to send announcements on topics of general interest to all or large portions of the campus.

CalMail is designed so all employees are included in e-mail lists used by the chancellor, executive vice chancellor and control units. The chancellor and executive vice chancellor also will be able to send e-mail to volunteers and postdoctoral and visiting scholars.

All faculty and staff will receive e-mails from the vice chancellor of business and administrative services on issues of safety or great urgency.

Employees cannot unsubscribe to the broadcast e-mail system from the chancellor’s office, executive vice chancellor’s office or vice chancellor of business and administrative services office, or from receiving memos from their own vice chancellors, assistant or associate vice chancellors, vice provosts or deans.

Students are not included in CalMail.

Later this year, the project’s second phase will provide employees with the ability to use controlled and subscription lists.

With controlled lists, the list owner controls the recipient list. For example, the chancellor’s mailing list (also known as the deans and directors list), the Berkeley Financial System users list or the building coordinators list would be prime candidates for a CalMail controlled list, Combs said, adding that some individuals are required to be on the list by virtue of their position or responsibility.

The third e-mail feature, subscription lists, will allow departments, units and programs to create interest lists. Members of the campus community will be able to go to the CalMail Web site and, using an approved log-on name and password, freely subscribe or unsubscribe to these lists. For example, the Accounting Office may create a list tailored for topics related to the end of the fiscal year; anyone interested in the topic could subscribe and receive those messages.

The Chancellor’s Communications and Resource Center will approve requests to establish controlled and subscription lists. The campus may submit applications for these requests via the CalMail Web site once that service is implemented.

CalMail recipients will include all members of the campus community who have e-mail addresses in the CalNet Directory. Combs stressed that it is essential for staff to keep their e-mail addresses current in the CalNet Directory because the campus has several e-mail services in addition to UCLINK, and faculty, staff and affiliates may choose to use commercial e-mail services as well. The small percentage of employees without e-mail accounts, such as groundkeepers, dishwashers and carpenters, will have to rely on their supervisors for hard copies of memos.

The CalNet Directory Service Web site — directory.berkeley.edu — provides an easy-to-use, self-service method for updating e-mail addresses and other demographic information.

CalMail will also be available to qualified non-employees. The Office of Information Systems and Technology has an established procedure for issuing UCLINK e-mail accounts to such members of the campus community.

Cindy Major, CalMail’s operating systems administrator, can be reached at cmajor@uclink4.berkeley.edu or 642-3115.

 


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