Security | News

Bentley U Implements Automated Policy Review Service

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 12/02/10

Bentley University recently implemented a new Web-based service to deliver and track policies and training materials that members of the staff need to comply with. The Waltham, MA university has subscribed to Awareity Managed Ongoing Awareness and Trust (MOAT) to automate the management of compliance in training about security awareness, risk management, privacy, compliance, and related topics. Bentley expects to use the software on an institutional basis and also within departments that have policies or training materials unique to them.

Bentley has about 600 staff and 500 faculty members. The MOAT service allows campus administrators to upload customized policies and awareness tools, including training presentations, case studies, procedures, videos, maps, and spreadsheets into a secure "vault" and share documents with appropriate people as updates and changes are needed. Among the materials loaded into the vault are the university's confidentiality agreement, sexual harassment policy, ethics policy, information security training, and other policies that require active acknowledgement from each staff member.

When a policy needs to be reviewed and acknowledged by a user, MOAT sends a reminder via e-mail. Reminders are sent 15, seven, and two days before the given certification window expires. If two weeks pass and no action has been taken, the service begins sending the e-mail reminders to the staff member's manager too.

"Within 30 days of launch, the majority of our employees in MOAT had reviewed and agreed to all required materials," said Chief Information Security Administrator Patty Patria. "The system was straightforward to set up and administer, and we look forward to expanding our potential uses of MOAT."