SIPA: School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University

SIPAIT Policies and Procedures

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SIPAIT presents the policies & procedures of the Office of Information Technology at the School of International and Public Affairs. Through its policies, SIPAIT seeks to establish guidelines in support of a cost-effective, high availability, and a secure computing environment in an effort to support the school’s mission. Through its procedures, SIPAIT seeks to ensure consistently excellent results in the execution of its policies.

Policy & Procedure Documents

Supported Systems

Access and Authorization
Information security is of paramount importance to achieve the school’s mission. To protect our organization--its resources, our colleagues, and our clients--we must exercise due care in giving privileges to people, processes, and devices. This document sets guidelines for authorizing the granting, revocation, and use of privileges.

Code of Conduct for SIPAIT Team Members
SIPAIT team members have certain privileges and powers. With these privileges come responsibilities, and the Code of Conduct for SIPAIT team members describes these responsibilities and the rights associated with managing the school’s computing resources.

Computing Guidelines at SIPA
Access to the computing and network environment is to be used in effective, ethical, and lawful ways that support the values of the School and the functions of its component units. SIPAIT endeavors to create an atmosphere that balances respect for individual computer users and the School's resources in a manner that yields the greatest benefit for all users while maintaining ethical standards for the Columbia University community.

Desktop Support Daily Operations Guide
SIPAIT's technical support policy sets forth the severity-dependent service levels the desktop support team uses in responding to submitted support requests. It sets forth the operational procedures designed to ensure continued excellent service for SIPAIT's desktop support clients.

Donation or disposal of Retired Computing Assets
When a computing asset is to be retired, SIPAIT is responsible for securely erasing SIPA technology assets. This equipment then may be donated or sold if it is still serviceable or disposed of, if not.

Rate Card for SIPAIT Support Services
Business units outside SIPAIT's core customer group may utilize our services, as well for fees detailed on the Rate Card. Faculty with research or setup accounts are subject to a service charge.

Server Backup Policy
Our server backup policy reflects SIPAIT's commitment to safeguarding the information assets of SIPAIT Computing and maintaining a highly available and secured systems.

Software Policy
This document sets forth the school's policy on acquisition, use, and management of software. Access to the computing and network environment is to be used in an effective, ethical, and lawful ways that support the values of SIPA and the functions of its component units. One aspect of establishing such an environment is the management of software assets to derive maximum benefit for the organization and its computing community.

Technical Support Policy
SIPAIT outlines in this policy its technical support process, request submission mechanisms, definitions for determining the priority or a request with respect to the severity of its actual or potential impact, and targets service levels for acknowledgement, assessment, and resolution of requests.