I. Purpose and Scope

Messaging and communication within DePauw’s Workday environment is intended for use by selected campus entities to communicate with students and employees about official announcements, employee information, student information, and other items related to University business. Only specific offices and programs are enabled and permitted to send messages using Workday, as outlined in the following.

These guidelines provide the framework that governs the use of Workday for communications at DePauw. The types of messages and the senders outlined within this document are intended to be used as rubrics to identify permitted use of Workday and, thus, are not intended to be comprehensive in detail.

II. Types of Communications Using Workday

Types of permitted communications using Workday primarily include reminders about tasks that must be completed within the platform, including but not limited to notifications about the following items:

• Curricular items, such as course registration, academic deadlines, and degree audit
• Student holds
• Student billing notifications
• Student advising updates and appointment reminders
• Employee human relations related items, such as onboarding, benefits, and payroll
• Employee expense management items, such as approvals and related notifications

Other permitted communications may include the following:

• Emergency campus notifications, such as campus safety alerts, weather closures, or public health emergencies. However, Workday is not intended to be the primary or sole communication channel for urgent emergency notifications and senders should use the appropriate designated channel (e.g., Rave, email lists, etc.) as the primary channel for such messaging.

Communications not permitted using Workday include items such as personal messages, event announcements, and other topics not directly connected to tasks within the platform. Such communications should use University Email Distribution Lists, email, or other appropriate institutional systems.

III. Authorized Senders

Workday messaging is intended to be about tasks that must be completed within the platform. Message functionality is limited to offices or programs that manage business processes within the platform, such as academic operations and advising, financial operations, and human resource management.

Emergency communications using Workday may be authorized by the President, a vice president, or the Campus Incident Management Team.

IV. Questions or Requests for Messaging Types or Senders

Requests for new types of messaging content or additional authorized senders are reviewed by the University Registrar and the Chief Information Officer.

Questions about messaging content or senders or requests for new content or senders should be sent to workday@depauw.edu.

V. Message Standards and Recipient Management

• Senders should send no more than two non-emergency messages per recipient per day. Emergency communications are exempt from frequency limits.
• Recipients cannot opt out of receiving messages or notifications within the Workday platform. In some cases, they can adjust how/if those messages are sent to external channels such as their university email.
• Senders should reference any additional guidelines for message content related to specific types of messaging to ensure items such as privacy and confidentiality are maintained (e.g., financial communications, emergency notifications, student communications, etc.).

VI. Privacy and Data Protection

Workday messaging is intended solely for official University business and must comply with existing University policies including FERPA, HIPAA, the Electronic Communications and Acceptable Use Policy, and the Data Classification Policy.

Related Policies and References

• Mass Email List Policy
• Electronic Communications  and Acceptable Use Policy
• FERPA Student Records Policy 
• Record Retention and Document Destruction Policy
• Data Classification Policy and Handling Recommendations
• Other IT Policies and Committees

Last updated: Sept-19-2025