Primary Contributors: Jim Albert, Steward Department of Information Services Cathy Munson, Steward Legislative Service Center Paul

Warren Douglas Department of Information Services Fred McDowell Legislative Service Center Cheryl Fowble Department of Social and Health Services Chris Cotey Labor & Industries Joel Eussen Department of Information Services Joshua Phelps Department of Corrections Collette Rauch Department of Licensing Gary Roberts Department of Transportation Emanuel Perea Department of Revenue Mark Dougherty Department of Information Services Karen McLaughlin Department of Information Services Phil Grigg General Administration Gregg Arndt Department of Personnel

E-mail Address Naming Standard

ISB Standard Version 2.0
November 13, 2008

Enterprise Architecture Committee

Information Services Board Frank Westrum, Department of Health

Department of Social and Health Services Co-Chairs Acting Enterprise Architect

Rob St. John,

Paul Warren Douglas,

Washington State Enterprise Architecture Program E-mail Address Naming Standard

November 13, 2008 ISB StandardVersion 2.0

Table of Contents 1. Document History ........................................................................................................................ 3 2. Document Context ....................................................................................................................... 3 3. Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 4 3.1. Statutory Authority ................................................................................................................ 4 3.2. Scope .................................................................................................................................... 4 3.3. Related Policies, Standards, and Strategic Plans ................................................................ 4 4. Standard ...................................................................................................................................... 4 4.1. E-mail Address Naming Conventions ................................................................................... 4 4.1.1. Naming Conventions ...................................................................................................... 5 4.1.2. Characters Not Used ...................................................................................................... 5 4.1.3. Active Directory Attributes and Values ........................................................................... 5 4.1.4. Assumptions ................................................................................................................... 6 4.2. Rationale & Implications ....................................................................................................... 6 4.2.1. State Strategic IT Plan Goals ......................................................................................... 6 5. Glossary....................................................................................................................................... 7 6. References .................................................................................................................................. 7 Appendix A: Documenter Team ...................................................................................................... 8 Appendix B: Review Log ................................................................................................................. 8

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Washington Enterprise Architecture Program E-mail Address Naming Standard 1

November 13, 2008 ISB StandardVersion 2.0

1. Document History
Date October 7, 2008 October 10, 2008 October 24, 2008 Version 1.0 1.1 1.2 Editor Paul Warren Douglas Paul Warren Douglas Paul Warren Douglas Change Initial Draft Core drafting team comments Exchange Technical Advisory Group, Enterprise Active Directory Steering Committee, and agency comments Sent to Documenter Teams for endorsement DT edits, resend for endorsement EA Committee endorsed

October 29, 2008

1.2

Paul Warren Douglas

October 31, 2008 November 5, 2008

1.3 1.4

Paul Warren Douglas Paul Warren Douglas

November 13, 2008

2.0

Paul Warren Douglas

Adopted by Information Services Board as state standard

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

2. Document Context
This document was adopted as Standards by a vote of the Information Services Board (ISB) on November 13, 2008. The ISB Enterprise Architecture Standards and Guidelines are at: http://isb.wa.gov/policies/eaprogram.aspx

Initiative Stewards Jim Albert, Department of Information Services Cathy Munson, Legislative Service Center

Initiative Architects Paul Warren Douglas, Department of Information Services Fred McDowell, Legislative Service Center

Documenter Team Exchange Technical Administrators Group, Enterprise Active Directory Steering Committee

Enterprise Architecture Committee Information about the ISB Enterprise Architecture Committee is at: http://isb.wa.gov/committees/enterprise/comartifacts/index.aspx

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3. Introduction
This standard provides common E-mail address naming conventions for employee E-mail aliases. Agencies may also choose to use the standard for primary E-mail addresses. This standard designates the states E-mail address naming conventions as common solutions for state government to promote common IT practices and provide an integrated end-user experience.

3.1. Statutory Authority

The provisions of RCW 43.105.041 detail the powers and duties of the Information Services Board (ISB), including the authority to develop statewide or interagency information services and technical policies, standards, and procedures.

3.2. Scope
These standards apply to Washington State executive branch agencies and agencies headed by separately elected officials. Exemption requests must be submitted to the Department of Information Services (DIS) Management and Oversight of Strategic Technologies Division and will be forwarded to the ISB for decision. Starting January 1, 2009 the E-mail Address Naming Standard will govern the creation and maintenance of E-mail aliases for agency employees. By December 31, 2009, statewide implementation for all agency employees shall be complete. Executive branch agencies that choose to use the E-mail address naming conventions for their primary E-mail addresses will also be considered in compliance with the standard. Legislative and judicial branches of government and education sector agencies are encouraged to follow the standard. They may also choose to use the proposed E-mail aliases for their primary E-mail addresses.

3.3. Related Policies, Standards, and Strategic Plans

Related ISB polices include, but are not limited to the ISB User Authentication Standards and ISB Security Standards. These recommendations are in accordance with the 2008-2014 State Strategic Information Technology Plan Goals (see Section 4.2.1,) and the states over-arching enterprise architecture (EA) principles at: http://isb.wa.gov/committees/enterprise/architecture/index.aspx.

4. Standard
This standard creates common E-mail naming conventions designed to provide an integrated end-user experience for agency employees, and ensure citizens and businesses can interact seamlessly with multiple federal, state, and local agencies.

4.1. E-mail Address Naming Conventions

There are two parts to an E-mail address: local and domain. This standard defines the local-part of an E-mail address located to the left of the @ sign.

firstname.lastname@agency.wa.gov

The following conventions are designed to establish a common E-mail naming structure, while providing agencies discretion to create E-mail aliases (or primary SMTP addresses) with an employees preferred first name and surname, and middle initials as noted below.

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Washington Enterprise Architecture Program E-mail Address Naming Standard 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87

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4.1.1. Naming Conventions Agencies shall use the following naming conventions to form the local-part of an E-mail address. E-mail Naming and Duplicate Resolution: In order of preference: Use employees preferred first name or nickname (jim.smith or jt.smith) Add middle initial (james.t.smith) Add number if no middle initial (james.smith2) Add middle initial and number (james.t.smith2)

Lowercase: Use lower case to form address (e.g. james.smith@agency.wa.gov) for communications and publishing and format with case sensitive text as needed. Hyphens: Use compound or hyphenated names (e.g. karen.evans-smith). Alternates: Work with agency staff when alternates are needed. Use discretion to avoid inappropriate phrases formed coincidentally. Shorten or use nicknames when length nears or exceeds maximum 64 character limit.

4.1.2. Characters Not Used Note: This standard is more restrictive than IETF RFCs and is based on statewide multi-agency recommendations and industry trends. Underscores: Do not use. Hard to read when underlined Designations: Do not use Jr., II, Phd, or other designations Remove All Other Punctuation from employees name and merge characters. (e.g. obrien, not obrien; stpeter, not st.peter)

4.1.3. Active Directory Attributes and Values Active Directory-based systems create alias E-mail addresses from the following fields: Primary: givenName: Use preferred first name, nickname, or legal name sn (Surname): Spell out employees last name.

Secondary or Optional: initials: Add middle initial for duplicate resolution, or when commonly used by employee

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4.1.4. Assumptions Agencies may choose to use the E-mail address naming conventions for their primary E-mail addresses and would also be considered in compliance with the standard. Resources are available for implementation and statewide information sharing through the states Exchange Administrator, Exchange Technical Administrators Group, and Enterprise Active Directory Steering Committee. Active Directory uses recipient policies for bulk E-mail alias implementations. These recipient policies use the givenName, sn (surname), and initials fields (see Sections 4.1.1 - 4.1.3). The states Exchange Administrator can generate aliases for agencies in the states Enterprise Active Directory through the use of recipient policies. Example recipient policies will be available for non-EAD agencies that use MS Exchange and Active Directory. Alternate recipient policy combinations may be required to use preferred names, resolve duplicates, or use initials. Agencies may choose to resolve duplicates or change preferred names prior to implementation. Changes may also be possible or preferable afterwards depending on implementation scope and requirements.

This standard provides naming conventions for employee E-mail smtp aliases or primary SMTP E-mail addresses. Active Directory User attributes such as Display Names and other attributes are defined in the Windows 2000 Washington Multi-Agency Forest Project Naming Conventions and Standards at: http://eads.dis.wa.gov/docs_and_pdfs/Naming_Conventions_2.pdf Existing E-mail addresses will remain in the Global Address List even when an agency decides to make the new address the primary SMTP. E-mail systems should be prepared to process addresses which are long, although rarely encountered (see IETF). This standard helps enable consistent naming, provides agencies with a choice to use the standard for primary E-mail addresses, and helps future migration planning. The EAD is expected to grow due to adoption as a state standard. EAD was adopted by the Information Services Board at the July of 2008 meeting as the standard authentication solution for state agencies within the State Government Network (SGN.) Agencies not currently joined to the EAD are required to submit migration strategies by December 2010.

4.2. Rationale & Implications

4.2.1. State Strategic IT Plan Goals 4.2.1.1. Goal 3: Promote Common IT Practices Adopt standards, frameworks, and infrastructures that promote data sharing, an integrated enduser experience, and provide for common functionality across the state. 4.2.1.2. Goal 4: Provide an Integrated End-User Experience Ensures citizens and businesses can interact seamlessly with multiple federal, state, and local agencies. Adopt common E-mail conventions

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Washington State Enterprise Architecture Program E-mail Address Naming Standard

November 13, 2008 ISB StandardVersion 2.0

5. Glossary
EAD The Enterprise Active Directory (EAD) is defined as the states Active Directory implementation in the SGN that serves the SGN executive branch agencies. It provides the directory structure used for authentication inside of the SGN. It excludes the separate branches of government (Legislative Branch and Judicial Branch) and higher education. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is an international community concerned with the evolution of the Internet architecture. Through workgroups, it creates industry standards for Internet Message Format and Email Address Internationalization. According to The Internet Engineering Task Force, there is a maximum 64 character limit in the "local part" (before the "@") and a maximum of 255 characters in the domain part (after the "@") for a total length of 320 characters. SGN The State Government Network, managed by the Department of Information Services, is a managed network for Washington state government organizations. The SGN provides Washington state government with a shared, fault-tolerant, economical network to meet the diverse business needs across state government. The SGN also provides the necessary security layers, including but not limited to firewalls, authentication gateways and intrusion detection to allow Washington state government organizations to perform government business securely over the Internet Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is the industry standard for Internet E-mail transmission. Business processes, data, or technologies that are common for the state. The various elements that are defined in the statewide Enterprise Architecture are comprised of business processes, data, or technologies. Those EA elements can be categorized into different tiers depending on the degree to which they should be common, and what other entities with which they should be common. A description of the states Tiers is available at: http://isb.wa.gov/committees/enterprise/concepts/

IETF

SMTP Tier one

6. References
EA Principles Gartner Washington State Information Services Board (2004). Over-Arching Enterprise Architecture Principles. Analyst Inquiry, Email Address Trends, Matthew Cain, (Aug 2008) Q&A: E-mail User and Distribution List Naming Conventions, Matthew Cain, (Aug 2006)

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Washington Enterprise Architecture Program E-mail Address Naming Standard

November 13, 2008 ISB StandardVersion 2.0

IETF RFCs

The Internet Engineering Task Force, Internet Message Format, RFC 3696, (2004); 5322 (2008) The Internet Engineering Task Force, Email Address Internationalization Workgroup, retrieved (2008) Application Techniques for Checking and Transformation of Names, IETF, (2004)

ISB Standards

Washington State Information Services Board Identity Management User Authentication Standards. (2008). Washington State Information Services Board IT Security Policy and Security Standards. (2008).

SGN

Washington State Information Services Board, Enterprise Architecture Committee (2006). State Government Network Solution Set, Enterprise Architecture Committee Document

Appendix A: Documenter Team

This document resulted from the enterprise architecture E-mail Address Naming Standard initiative, requested July 10, 2008 by the Information Services Board. The states Exchange Technical Administrators Group and Enterprise Active Directory Steering Committee were members of the initiative Documenter Team and participated as subject matter experts throughout the documentation and review process.

Appendix B: Review Log

The following feedback on this document was received by the Enterprise Architecture Program; the response to each contribution is noted below. Review by whom and when Documenter Team Contribution Response

Minor grammar and punctuation edits Modified Assumptions to specify standard applies to E-mail addresses (alias or primary SMTP) Revised 4.1 to articulate the standard establishes a common Email naming structure. Agencies have discretion for creating first name and surnames. Revised ITEF Glossary description

Incorporated into document

Documenter Team comments 11/3/08

Incorporated into document

EA Committee 11/5/08

Incorporated into document EA Committee endorsed

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