IT Employment

Ask something
Discussion Locked

Personal Hardware at work

0 helpful
15 replies

by jeff anderson

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.
I have a sort of dilema. My policy states no personal hardware or software on on work computers. We are a State Govt agency and are pretty strict on computer use. I have a user who purchased a palm pilot for personal and business use. My issue is that it could be a good tool for organizing work. (He's a teacher) but do I break the policy to accomodate him and then have to deal with everyone else who will want to put something special on their computer. Usually I would just say no and not worry about it but he's got a good point.

15 replies

by cg it

If the company policy is no personal stuff, be it hardware or software or whatever, stick with company policy. Going against company policy will likely get you canned, especially with a Govt agency and getting them to change policy takes an act of God (or congress, which is the same thing).

by cg it

I agree with Alpha, Tim & Lizzy, just didn't want to say what they said. Giving advise on what to do regarding sticking with circumventing or trying to change company (or govt) policy is boggy ground at best. Best of luck.

by alpha-male

Our policy is the same and there is good cause not to allow "non supported or personal" hardware and software onto the LAN.

The questions are

1) Are you comfortable supporting the device (including any security related issues).
2) Is there areal work justification for its use (is it use at the office 99.9% job related)?
3) Do you have any policies/forms that you can use as a work justification permission?

If the Palm will be helpful in his job, he is responsible enough to use it ina work-related capacity only, you are prepared for any security related problems, and you are comfortable with supporting the device then it shouldn't be too difficult to have added to the "permitted list". I would recommend checking with whomever made the policy or enforces it. It's not worth getting reprimanded (or worse) for something like this.

If the decision is yours to make, then go with what you are comfortable with. Be prepared for others wanting to set up palms as well, though...and if they have a justifiable reason to use one, you may find yourself supporting a lot of them.

Good luck....

by timwalsh

With the proliferation of handhelds, it may be time to amend/update your policy to accomodate them. There is only a limited number of vendors who sell these devices (at present anyway), and thus a limited number of software packages used to synch ahandheld to a user's desktop.

You could handle this in one of two ways:
1. Give blanket authorization for handheld synchronization software. Pros: eases your workload; Cons: Could open Pandora's box. What do you say to the programming wiz-kidwho says "Well I wrote this neat little synchronization program that also does..."
2. Require approval/testing for each different software package. Pros: You can ensure that programs will meet your agency's security requirements; Cons: Will increase your workload in the short-term as you develop testing procedures and then then conduct testing on the most common programs. However, after the initial testing phase, your workload will shrink back down to near zero unless new vendors (with their proprietary software, of course) enter the market.

Barring this update of your policy, you are probably only putting off the inevitable. You probably won't have much choice if you wait for your agency head to get a handheld. Doing this now will paint you (beneficially) as a forward-thinker. Putting it off will paint you as a roadblock to progress.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for security. But policies such as this must be continually re-assessed to accomodate new technology and forward progress. Talk with the IT folks at other State agencies and see how they are dealing with this new technology.

by lizzy

Hi Jeff,
I work for a state agency too and we are re-assessing our standard software and hardware policies right now for hand held devices.

The previous answers are all good ones. Perhaps you can just get pre-approval from either your supervisoror the teacher's supervisor for the hand held software. If it's not standard, then you wouldn't be required to support it which means that if it causes your standard software and hardware to malfunction, you simply uninstall it and that's that.

Ialso agree with Alpha and Tim in that we need to always be moving forward with the newer technology. You should submit some type of proposal, at least for testing the palm stuff on a standard workstation setup. The cons are that you would have more to learn (a given anyway) and more to support (job security which can also be a plus--it's always nice to be needed!).

HTH

by lizzy

Greybeard has a point but only up to a point. If we were in a non-democratic society, I would say Okay. Since we are in a democratic society, we don't have to be 100% rigid all of the time. Exceptions to this would be if the teacher were adding hardware or software that has access to top secret data or pertained to national security. Of course client data should be kept confidential as well, but that is also where you come in. Educate your users on the use of STRONG passwords, don't post themon their desks, don't give them to you when you are working on their systems. Tell your clients not to download software off of the internet or open unexpected or unknown e-mail. User policies and enforcement of user rights is a must. Putting the agency at risk is definitely NOT what I am proposing, but if the hand held makes your user more productive I think it's in the agency's best interest to pursue new technology and hopefully appreciate staff that is willing to learn to use it rather thanstaff that don't want to know or care.

Since your user is a teacher, I feel strongly about allowing them to pursue knowledge of new software and hardware lest we become stale and rigid and vunerably behind the times. You work for the government so I know that you can't just throw older equipment away. Use one or two of your newest retired workstations to set up and test this software and hardware for problems if necessary.

by greybeard770

We use RunAs to allow the software to be installed on W2K & XP systems but the support ends there. With all the palm type devices there are, it's not possible to support them all. If the policy says "no" then stick to that until the policy is changed. You owe it to the company to enforce the policy, much more than you owe it to your co-worker to bend the policy.

by gallowglass

We used to have a similar policy, then relaxed it to accomodate a Psion PDA belonging to one of our directors. Now, out of 230 mobile users, almost 75% are using a PDA of some description. The result is a massive overhead on the IT support department. Users lose data, have syncronisation problems, forget to charge them etc... It is then their expectation that IT will drop everything and supportthese personal devices.

In addition, I am becoming increasingly worried over the possibility ofintellectual property theft from files being copied to the PDA's of individuals who then leave the organisation, taking the material to a corporate rival when they join them.

So I guess I'm saying HOLD ON TO THE POLICY as long as you can; and if you have to let it slip, be sure and instigate a policy that controls the proliferation of personal PDA's etc.

Best of luck.

by jeff anderson

I find all these answers have great points. What I have decided to do is to deny him using his personal PDA on the system at work. On the other hand if he can prove its usefullness and productiveness, I will purchase a PDA that will be State property and let him use that one as my initial tester. I have one rule for my boss that says alot here. "IF you want we to do my best, then give me the tools I need to accomplish my work."

This discussion is closed to new replies.