Policies, Procedures and Standards - How To Guide


This document is a description of how to manage/update the ITS  Policy, Procedures, Standards documents on the Wiki site.   It also serves as working to-do list and way to generate the new Wiki pages as needed.

Commonly Asked Questions

Q - Where do I go to make suggestions or request changes to the site?  
A - Contact Janet or Nathan

Q - Do we need to use Approvals?  
A - Approvals are no longer required.      

Q - Is there a spell check option?
A - Spell Check Does not work yet.   Need to install spell check add on.    Do not use when editing at this time.
 

 

Creating  New Wiki Documents

You can add a new page within an existing structure by selecting the Add Page option.   You must enter the new page name prior to selecting this button.   If the new page is a child page, be sure to select the Child checkbox.

Wiki Add Page.png

Always be certain to save your page once you complete your edits.   The Save option is located at the bottom of the page.

Wiki Save.png

 

Creating ITS Policies, Procedures or  Standards Documents
 

First, create a new page or open an existing page for editing.    Templates are available for each of these types of documents.  If the template has not already been applied, select the Tools option at the top of the page.   Select the appropriate template from the Apply Template dropdown list.   Please note - do not reapply a template.  This will result in the page contents being overwritten.

Wiki Apply Template.png

  • Updating Tips

  • Use the "Title H3" style for all section titles.  
  • Leave the dividers (solid line)  between sections.  
  • Keep the order the same as  the template.
  • New sections can be added to the end of the document.
  • Links can be created to other documents within the Wiki or outside the Wiki.
  • When copying information from another document, consider copying to Notepad/Textpad first and then paste into the Wiki document. This will remove unnecessary formatting.


Guidance on Policy Structure, Cross linking, Language, Etc.

The emphasis is on employee usability and understanding vs. formal structure and rigid consistency.   Organization is important primarily for the sake of ensuring that we are able to manage the policies and standards, but should not be prioritized above usability.   To that end, these guidelines are to help in determining how and where to place and reference policies.

If a policy statement, in its entirety, fits within an existing policy, put it there.

If the bulk of a policy statement fits within an existing policy, and the primary purpose falls within the existing policy purpose, put it in the existing policy.  It is recommended to also include the other elements of the new policy which may not fit in this existing policy; but to recognize that it may be necessary to link these additional statements to another (new or existing) policy area.  

For example, Electronic Mail policy refers to confidentiality and backups of email.   These are separate policies.   Reference to confidentiality and backups should remain, for usability purposes, within the email policy.  The references in the email policy should also include links to the confidentiality and backups policies - which will serve to further clarify and formalize these subjects.
 
Updating policies creates new challenges.   Thorough searching and review of cross links must be done to ensure that all related references to a subject (i.e. confidentiality or backups in this example) are updated to reflect any future policy changes.   For this reason, it is best to keep the 'minor references' to other policy statements as brief and general as possible.  

For example, avoid defining new details about confidentiality or backups in the email policy directly, and instead reference the fact that email messages are included in the confidentiality policy and refer  to this policy for further details.


To Do List

City Information Technology Policies
ITS will maintain IT Policies Procedures and Standards
Appropriate Use of Computing Resources
IT Change Management
Computer Resouce Changes
Approval to Utilize Computer Resources
Public Record Disclosure
Monitoring of Computer Resources
Software and Hardware Acquisition
Software License Management
Electronic Mail
Internet Access
Telephone and Voice Mail
User Accounts and Passwords
Malicious Software Protection
Maintain Media Inventory
IT Vulnerability Identification
Vendor and Third Party System Access
Physical Access to Computer Systems
Systems and Data Backups
System Activity Logging
IT Security Testing and Assessment
Security Awareness and Training
Confidentiality and Privacy
Data Retention
 

 

Backup Instructions

Documentation for backups can be found here:  http://doc.tikiwiki.org/Backup.   See the note about checking the unselected "drop tables" box.    This process has yet to be tested.

Image  Backup TikiWiki Database

  • Step 1: Login to your hosting account cPanel, locate and click on the "PhpMyAdmin" icon.
  • Step 2: From within PhpMyAdmin, choose the TikiWiki Database.
  • Step 3: On the top menu of the database table list, click on "Export"
  • Step 4: In the export options, make sure you:
    • "Select All" Tables
    • Check "Structures" property.
    • Check "Data" property.
    • Check "Save as" option
  • Step 5: Once you double check that all the options in step 4 are set, click Go and save to the file to your desktop.
THis is not backing up the file structure of the site, but the database.  Must also FTP  the TiwiWiki folder down to make a backup of the rest of the system.