Development of an Effective Communications Use Policy

I have just finished editing a proposed Communications Use Policy that is currently awaiting adoption by my company's leadership. The policy was in draft form when I received it, but I inherited the responsibility for getting the policy approved by the governing board of the company. The proposed policy faced almost immediate re-editing due to an outbreak of a computer virus caused by a user accessing an Internet based email service through the company's Internet portal. While I was editing the policy, by drafting a restriction on accessing email accounts of this type, I also researched existing policies on the Internet. I thought that this topic might be a worthy candidate for discussion. Therefore, the goal of this dissertation is to: 1. Identify the most common elements of a communications use policy. 2. Discuss why these elements are necessary to having a successful policy. 3. Compare and contrast these identified elements among the different policies. 4. Offer guidance in the furtherance of having a successful policy.