Terms and Conditions


ACCEPTABLE USE OF PORTAL POLICY

As a member of Laurels & Garland School Community, I understand that, I am bound by the Laurels & Garland Acceptable Use of Portal Policy. All access to Laurels & Garland systems must be consistent with this policy.

PURPOSE AND CONTEXT

  1. Laurels & Garland provides Information Technology (IT) Resources to enable and support Laurels & Garland activities. The School must protect its Portal and meet legal obligations in regard to IT, and Laurels & Garland will take steps to prevent and disallow inappropriate use of Portal.
  2. This policy outlines what Laurels & Garland considers to be acceptable and appropriate use of these Resources. The policy also sets out the responsibilities of all Authorised Users to access Laurels & Garland's Portal and describes penalties for policy breaches.

APPLICATION AND COMPLIANCE

This policy applies to all current students, staff, Parents, consultants, and visitors who have access to any Laurels & Garland Portal and its Resource.

POLICY STATEMENT

  1.  Laurels & Garland grants access to its Portal to all Authorised Users, for the purpose of pursuing and advancing its business and educational goals.
  2.  Laurels & Garland requires that all Authorised Users are aware of what conduct is expected of them in making use of Laurels & Garland Portal and provides information and guidance (including this policy) to aid Users in determining its expectations.
  3.  Laurels & Garland Portal is and remains the property of Laurels & Garland. This includes named email accounts and access codes that are provided to Authorised Users for use with their study or work.
  4.  Laurels & Garland is committed to allowing its Authorised Users to make incidental personal use of its Portal, provided such use is legal, and does not breach Laurels & Garland policies.
  5.  If an Authorised User breaches the terms of this policy, their access may be restricted or revoked. Any breaches of this policy will be reported to the regulatory authority or the police to take appropriate action, depending on the nature and seriousness of the breach.

PROCEDURES, POLICY BREACHES AND PENALTIES

  1. All Authorised Users should report breaches of this policy to the School’s Administrator immediately. Breach reports will be treated confidentially and may temporarily deny or restrict access to Portal, including email, in order to:
    1. prevent policy or legal breaches,
    2. Launch an Investigation of any potential breaches.
    3. Mitigate threats or risks to Laurels & Garland or its Portal.
  2. If an Authorised User breaches this policy, intentionally or inadvertently, the school administration will decide what actions should be taken, including:
    1. the User will lose access to all Portal (for a period of time or completely, depending on the nature of the breach);
    2. the User's activities are treated as a breach of policy and referred for action under Ghana Laws or the disciplinary processes of the relevant staff or Parent `    agreement; and/or
  3. The User's activities should be referred to the relevant external authority (e.g. Police, or the Ghana Education Service) for investigation of illegal or unlawful activities.

ACCESS TO AND USE OF PORTAL

  1. Only Authorised Users may access or use Portal for purposes related to their relationship with Laurels & Garland.
  2. Accessing Laurels & Garland Portal (internally or remotely) as an affiliate or associate requires an application approved by the manager from the Laurels & Garland business unit, school, or research centre who is sponsoring the affiliate.
  3. When Authorised Users leave Laurels & Garland, their User accounts - including documents, email and internet access (and records of access) - are archived and retired. Before leaving the Laurels & Garland, users are responsible for tidying their own documents and mailboxes, ensuring their managers or teams have the necessary information to safeguard business operations, making copies of any personal information that they will require, and contacting any internal or external correspondents to make them aware that Laurels & Garland email address will be retired. While copies of personal data are acceptable, Laurels & Garland business remains Laurels & Garland property; no departing Authorised User is permitted to take any Laurels & Garland Digital Information.

TERMINATION OF ACCESS

  1. User access will be terminated after their employment or termination of service is ended. Student email accounts are archived and retired after they have graduated. Affiliate or Associate access will be terminated at the end of the approval period or contract/term of the appointment.
  2. After access is terminated, Laurels & Garland will only consider requests for creating a data extract for email or consolidated document retrieval if the request relates to:
    1. a legal or investigative matter, as determined by the Office of General Counsel, a valid external authority (such as the Police, or GES, or an authorised investigator) or
    2. a compelling, legitimate business reason supplied by the requester, approved by the Administrator (or nominee).

AUTHORISED USERS' RESPONSIBILITIES

  1. All Authorised Users are responsible for:
    1. complying with this and all other Laurels & Garland policies;
    2. Choosing a strong password for their user account and change it periodically.
    3. Ensuring that all relevant Laurels & Garland policies are followed when using personal devices with Laurels & Garland Portal and network infrastructure.
    4. Not providing their password to anyone, including other Users, supervisors, managers, or support staff.
    5. not asking other Users for their password(s);
    6. Not accessing or attempting to access programs or data stored under another person's Credentials, without permission from that Authorised User and the CIDO (or nominee).
    7. Keeping their Credentials secure; not displaying an Authorised User account password where others can see it or easily find it. Account Credentials are effectively an Authorised User's digital identity. Email or documents sent under an Authorised User's account credentials will be traced back to them.
    8. Not attempting to undermine the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of Laurels & Garland Portal without Appropriate approval (such as study or job requirements). Actions that fall under this definition include
    9. Preventing or attempting to prevent access to Portal.
    10. Intentionally or negligently degrading performance.
    11. Examining, copying, renaming, changing, or deleting programs, files, data, messages, or information belonging to the Laurels & Garland or any other Authorised User.
    12. Altering any restrictions associated with any Laurels & Garland computer system, computer account, network system, personal computer software protection or other of the Laurels & Garland's Portal.
    13. Removing any Laurels & Garland Portal from Laurels & Garland premises without authorisation.
      1. ensuring that Clause 1.8 is complied with unless the Authorised User has requested and received an exemption, documenting where the intended use is in support of Laurels & Garland business, learning, teaching or research.
      2. Not attempting to access any Portal remotely, except through channels provided, authorised, and supported by Information Technology and Digital Services. Not using Laurels & Garland Portal for private commercial enterprises or personal gain. This includes, but is not limited to, gambling, trading, and/or soliciting.
      3. Not using Laurels & Garland Portal to excess for personal reasons (e.g., playing games on library or lab computers).
  2. Authorised Users must not access or use Laurels & Garland Portal in ways that:
    1. are likely to disrupt the authorised use of Portal by other Authorised Users.
    2. could disrupt the Laurels & Garland's business and operations.
    3. contravene Laurels & Garland rules, policies, procedures and/or guidelines.
    4. are unlawful or illegal.
    5. may diminish the Laurels & Garland's image and reputation.
    6. use, disclose or expose personal information about staff and/or students without approval.
    7. may threaten, bully, harass, vilify, unlawfully discriminate, or perform any other action that Laurels & Garland considers to be unacceptable or unlawful behaviour
    8. may be defamatory or libellous.
    9. distribute or access material that the Laurels & Garland considers unacceptable or offensive. This includes, but is not limited to, malicious, pornographic, gambling, or terrorist material. Authorised Users requiring access to unacceptable or offensive content for research or study should request a specific exemption for access to be permitted.
    10. attempt to gain unauthorised access to other systems, data, or Portal, either internal or external to the Laurels & Garland; or
    11. promotes, instructs, or incites any of the above

SECURITY OF DATA AND SYSTEMS

  1. All Authorised Users are responsible for the security, privacy and confidentiality of Laurels & Garland data held or transmitted under their Credentials. This includes the secure storage of data for which Users are responsible.
  2. Authorised Users are responsible for security and appropriate use of all systems that are accessed under their Credentials, including BYOD devices. Authorised Users are expected to report any breach in digital security to the Administrator.  
  3. To protect Laurels & Garland data and databases, direct access to data in databases using interactive tools (such as Toad or Excel ODBC links) is restricted. Authorised Users must only store data collected using these tools on Laurels & Garland machines or approved services designated for the data's ongoing processing. Users are not permitted to store such extracted data on BYOD machines or any personal external device or media.

MONITORING

  1. Monitoring of computers, and activities performed on those computers, is performed as a part of routine IT practices by ITDS.
  2. Laurels & Garland Portal and data (including email) remains the property of the Laurels & Garland. Laurels & Garland reviews and monitors its Portal (including email) to ensure proper functioning. Laurels & Garland reserves its right to recover or otherwise protect that data (including by deletion) at all times.
    1. Laurels & Garland reserves its right to monitor messages and materials accessed, sent or received over its network to check that the security measures have not been undermined or that Laurels & Garland Portal are not being abused. Laurels & Garland is committed to responding promptly to any potentially damaging publication by any action deemed necessary, including withdrawing its service from Users and removing any unacceptable materials

GUIDELINES

  1. Laurels & Garland recommends the following measures for best practice when using Portal:
    1. Workstations should be locked or logged off when not in use.
    2. Labels on any Laurels & Garland Portal should not be removed, defaced, or modified.
    3. Staff should undertake training in the use of Portal (such as email or Microsoft Office use) via Staff Online.
    4. All Authorised Users are advised to be wary of using Portal in ways that cause a breach of copyright.  
    5. Any Laurels & Garland Records created, altered, received, or maintained with or on Portal are required to be archived with the Laurels & Garland's Records and Archives Management Systems. 
    6. Laurels & Garland data (or data relevant to Authorised Users' role with the Laurels & Garland) should be stored on approved Laurels & Garland storage, such as the 'My Documents' folder on a Standard Operating Environment (SOE) computer (which is not the local hard drive).
  2. Laurels & Garland recommends the following measures for using BYOD equipment:
    1. Devices should be screen locked when not in use.
    2. Devices should have up-to-date antivirus protection.
    3. Devices should have up-to-date operating systems.
    4. All Authorised Users should enable and use appropriate security measures (such as a passphrase or PIN) on the device.
    5. All Authorised Users should save and back up their work. Laurels & Garland accepts no responsibility for lost data on any BYOD equipment.




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