Project #1: Employee Handbook

Company Background & Operating Environment

Red Clay Renovations is an internationally recognized, awarding winning firm that specializes in the renovation and rehabilitation of residential buildings and dwellings. The company specializes in updating homes using “smart home” and “Internet of Things” technologies while maintaining period correct architectural characteristics. Please refer to the company profile (file posted in Week 1 > Content > CSIA 413 Red Clay Renovations Company Profile.docx) for additional background information and information about the company’s operating environment.

Policy Issue & Plan of Action

The company has grown substantially over the past few years. The current Employee Handbook was created from a set of templates purchased from a business services firm. The policies in the handbook were reviewed by the company’s attorney at the time of purchase. The attorney raised no objections at that time. During a recent legal review, the company’s corporate counsel advised that the company update the Employee Handbook to better address its current operating environment. The Chief Executive Officer has tasked the Chief of Staff to oversee the handbook updates including obtaining all necessary approvals from the Corporate Governance Board.

The Chief of Staff met with the full IT Governance Board to discuss the required policy updates. (The IT Governance Board is responsible for providing oversight for all IT matters within the company). The outcome of that meeting was an agreement that the CISO and CISO staff will update and/or create IT related policies for the employee handbook. These policies include:

• Acceptable Use Policy for Information Technology
• Bring Your Own Device Policy
• Digital Media Sanitization, Reuse, & Destruction Policy

 

Your Task Assignment

As a staff member supporting the CISO, you have been asked to research what the three policies should contain and then prepare an “approval draft” for each one. No single policy should exceed two typed pages in length so you will need to be concise in your writing and only include the most important elements for each policy.

The policies are to be written for EMPLOYEES and must explain employee obligations and responsibilities. Each policy must also include the penalties for violations of the policy and identify who is responsible for compliance enforcement.

Your “approval drafts” will be submitted to the IT Governance Board for discussion and vetting. If the board accepts your policies, they will then be reviewed and critiqued by all department heads and executives before being finalized by the Chief of Staff’s office. The policies will also be subjected to a thorough legal review by the company’s attorneys. Upon final approval by the Corporate Governance Board, the policies will be adopted and placed into the Employee Handbook.

Research:

1. Review the table of contents and relevant chapters in the Certified Information Privacy Professional textbook to find information about legal and regulatory drivers.
2. Review the remaining course readings.
3. Review the sample policies and procedures provided in Week 3.
4. Find additional sources which provide information about the policy statements which should be covered in three policies for the Employee Handbook.

Write:

1. Prepare briefing package with approval drafts of the three IT related policies for the Employee Handbook. Your briefing package must contain the following:

• Executive Summary
• “Approval Drafts” for
  • Acceptable Use Policy for Information Technology
  • Bring Your Own Device Policy
  • Digital Media Sanitization, Reuse, & Destruction Policy

As you write your policies, make sure that you address security issues using standard cybersecurity terminology (e.g. 5 Pillars of IA, 5 Pillars of Information Security). See the resources listed under Course Resources > Cybersecurity Concepts Review for definitions and terminology.

2. Use a professional format for your policy documents and briefing package. A recommended format is provided in the assignment template file (see the recommended template under Course Resources).
3. You must include a cover page with the assignment title, your name, and the due date. Your reference list must be on a separate page at the end of your file. These pages do not count towards the assignment’s page count.
4. Common phrases do not require citations. If there is doubt as to whether or not information requires attribution, provide a footnote with publication information or use APA format citations and references.
5. You are expected to write grammatically correct English in every assignment that you submit for grading. Do not turn in any work without (a) using spell check, (b) using grammar check, (c) verifying that your punctuation is correct and (d) reviewing your work for correct word usage and correctly structured sentences and paragraphs.
6. Consult the grading rubric for specific content and formatting requirements for this assignment.

Submit For Grading

Submit your Employee Handbook approval draft in MS Word format (.docx or .doc file) for grading using your assignment folder. (Attach the file.)