PROCEDURE #1 REQUESTING AUTHORIZATION FOR ACCESS

A. The department head must complete a Request for Automated System Services form to justify need for Internet access and submit the completed form to Information Systems to be processed for approval.

The form is to be completed as follows:

Subject: Internet Access


Brief Statement of Problem

• Identify why you need internet access staff who require access
• County ID number if internet access system
• Type of information that you need to access
• Agencies that provide that information

Expected benefits from automated services

• Indicate how Internet access will benefit your department/county and if it is required by agencies you deal with.
• Identify any costs savings, improvements in service, etc. that could result from this access.

Urgency

• If applicable, indicate date you need to have Internet access.
• Allow up to two months for request to be processed for approval.

Name of person submitting request

• The Request form must be signed by the Department Head and Senior Executive or by the Elected Official.
• Send the signed form to: David Ridilla, CIO, Information Systems Department

B. The completed request form will be reviewed by the IS Department to assure that all required information and signatures are included. IS will estimate the required equipment and software, and will verify with Financial Administration that funds needed are available. The request will then be included for consideration on the next available Commissioners agenda. If approved by the Board of Commissioners, your request will be processed according to item C.

C. Once Internet access is authorized by the Board of Commissioners, the IS Department will make the necessary arrangements for a service provider, or establish your connection in-house and order and install the necessary software, hardware, etc. If new hardware is required to access the Internet, your department must have budgeted for the new hardware. Then, in addition to processing the request for Internet access, the hardware must be acquired via the normal hardware acquisition process.

D. All users of the Internet, unless authorized by a Commissioner to have "power user" rights, will have normal user rights. Normal user rights automatically exclude inappropriate web sites. Inappropriate web sites are any site related to: Adult Material, Drugs, Gambling, Games, Illegal/Questionable, Information Technology-hacking, Information Technology- Proxy Avoidance systems, Internet Communications-Web Chat, Militancy/Extremist, Racism/Hate, Tasteless, and Violence/Weapons.

For normal users there are some sites that the firewall system may determine as not necessary to carry out one’s typical job functions. When that occurs, the system will advise the user that this site may not be appropriate for use at this time, and the user has the option to make a judgment call and continue if the user feels it is appropriate for their use.

Use of inappropriate sites may subject the user to sanctions if County management finds use of the site to be inappropriate or not related to legitimate County business.

PROCEDURE #2 MONITORING AND REPORTING USE

The purpose of this procedure is to assure that no significant misuse of the internet goes undetected.

The usage of the internet will be monitored at a high level to indicate potential misuse of resources. A third party software product will be used to create high level summaries that will, upon request, be reported on a quarterly basis to the Westmoreland County Board of Commissioners. If the report indicates possible misuse or inappropriate use, the Westmoreland County Board of Commissioners may direct that a more detailed analysis covering all departments and all users be performed by the Information Systems Department.

In event that a Judge, Elected Official, Senior Executive or Department Head has reason to believe that a specific user within their jurisdiction may be violating policy regarding internet use, a more detailed analysis can be requested from the Information Systems Department for that specific user within the department. The detailed analysis that is done would be provided to the requestor for further handling.