Designing, Developing, and Implementing an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)
 
Computers have become an integral part of the fabric of daily life in the fire service. Once seen merely as a luxury, the
 
computer is now a necessity for a multitude of functions: computer aided dispatch, fire incident reporting, creating work
 
schedules, outlining vacation and other time-off requests, apparatus maintenance tracking, and use by personnel for
 
online education and earning of a college degree.
 
BFS 3251, Introduction to Fire Protection 3
 
While many communities have an information technology (IT) support division, many more do not. Why? Cost! Typically in
 
those communities that have a formal IT division or department, it is the responsibility of the IT personnel to design,
 
develop, and implement a formal Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). An AUP is an outline of responsible use of the
 
 
community’s taxpayer owne
d computer network. The AUP must be made known to all employees of the community, and,
 
 
 
once educated as to the contents of the AUP, each employee is required to sign a form indicating that he/she received
 
knowledge of the AUP, received a hard copy of it, and agrees to adhere to the AUP or suffer the penalties of misuse.
 
This Project Paper requires that you, acting as the IT director of your fire department (or company, if non-fire service)
 
write a formal Acceptable Use Policy that will be distributed to all employees.
 
The paper will be written in proper APA format and contain not less than four full-pages of written, double-spaced text
 
addressing the specific elements found in the outline below. The paper must have a cover page, four pages of text (body),
 
and a reference page. You may use as many reference sources as needed to support your AUP. Text font and size are to
 
be Times New Roman, 12pt., and margin settings should be one inch for all sides. Proper grammar and spelling are
 
expected as well as this is a professional college-level paper.
 
The AUP title is your choice. The components to be researched and written into the policy are as follows:
 
1. The purpose of AUP
 
2. Audience being addressing
 
3. Privacy expectations
 
4. Responsibilities of the municipal leadership
 
5. Responsibilities of the municipal employees regarding use of the computer network system
 
6. Disciplinary action to taken for violation of AUP
 
Your AUP paper should be written in the present tense and may be written from the perspective of your own municipality
 
 
 
using the name of your municipality or, if private sector, your company name.