Compliance | News

Massachusetts College Moves to Hosted Risk Management Platform

• By Tim Sohn
• 05/02/12

A Massachusetts college has deployed a Web-based risk management platform, eliminating the need for print employee handbooks.

Becker College in Worcester has adopted MOAT (Managed Ongoing Awareness and Trust), created by Awareity. MOAT lets colleges and universities inform faculty and staff of required reading, such as training, policies, and procedures. It also allows administrators to track activity and show proof of compliance through real-time reports.

"MOAT provides us with real-time reporting and documentation to see who has read or not read college IT and HR policies and procedures and eliminates the need for expensive paper-based employee handbooks and time consuming e-mail tracking," said Patty Patria, Becker College chief information officer. "With the MOAT tool, now we can easily communicate with personnel throughout the year and keep track of employee acknowledgments for compliance, end-of-year examinations, audits, etc."

MOAT features include:

• An Awareness Vault, where colleges and universities can share important documents with faculty and staff, such as job requirements, emergency call lists, student handbooks, student status and Clery Act reports, and FERPA/HIPAA Training;
• Tracking of when employees read required documentation, with generation of reports appropriate for audits;
• Individual user roles for students, parents, faculty, staff, law enforcement, etc.;
• A training library, which provides access to modules on information risks, case studies, security awareness, HIPAA, FERPA, PCI-DSS, Facta Red Flags, etc.; and
• Access to Awareity's TIPS (Threat Assessment, Incident Management, and Prevention Services) platform, which allows students, employees, parents, and, other third parties to submit anonymous notifications of suspicious activity, such as discrimination, violence, information security, and harassment, with messages sent directly to designated campus staff and tracking of actions taken.

Becker College has approximately 1,800 enrolled students on two campuses, in Worcester, and Leicester. It offers bachelor's degrees in 29 subjects and has 24 academic buildings, 24 residence halls, and a library with 73,500 volumes. Becker College is home to the Massachusetts Digital Games Institute, which was founded in 2011. The institute supports entrepreneurship, specifically in the area of digital games, and connects students and businesses in the state.

For more information, visit awareity.com.