Devoted to hardware, software, IT issues, and information technology management

I have to say that I love the idea of tracking internet usage! I know I've been guilty of it myself on company time, but there are so many workers who completely take advantage of the internet access they get at work and abuse it!

In terms of setting quotas on disk and email storage space, I think the requirements would need to vary based on department or individual job requirements. When I worked in corporate marketing on the creative and production side of things, the files I created, exchanged, etc. were enormous! There was nothing I could do about it. It was just the nature of my job.

Susan,

I hope I didn't come across as too militant in my post. I understand the need to provide valued service to the end-users and don't want them to think I'm trying to impede their performance or creativity. I just get riled up when IT is blamed for systems or software that don't perform to the "expectations" of the end-user and sometimes the root cause can be traced to the end-users themselves.

Regarding the limits or quotas; I think there is room for flexibility and if a user can articulate their need I'm sure most IT departments are willing to satisfy that need. I fully understand that most IT departments are recognized as cost centers should be wholly focused on maintaining realistic service levels for the end-user community so the organization can leverage their technology for competitive advantage.

The one thing we have to remember in all of this, is that we need to make sure that the IT department does NOT become the morality for the company.

Yes, while I agree with what Scott is saying, I also have to point out that part of the problem lay with the initial entry most people have into a company. There is usually not a time when a new employee is given a "This is what the computer is for" training or speech.

I have witness women during their lunch hour on a publically viewed computer view a Victoria Secret's WWW for shopping. Yet if some male were doing the same thing and was shopping for a wife/girlfriend, they'd most likely be dragged to HR quicker than they can press Alt-Tab.

It's a matter of Internet common sense. And sadly alot of corporate users don't posses that. This is not meant as a slam, but more as a statement of how corporations don't train their users.

As for E-mails, well I understand the need for sending and recieving large emails. What I will never understand, is why users insist on sending a large attachment to dozens of INTERNAL co-workers, when they can put the file in a shared centrally file store.

Most measures that are put in place by IT departments spam blocks, web filters, fire wall restrictions, email limits are not to protect the coporation from external threat, but to protect them from untrained, and Internet naive employees.

Paul,

You bring up the excellent point about training and that's why I made this subject the first point in my original post. I can't hold the end-user responsible if they're uninformed and usually when I've had to address a misuse problem, it was either an innocent mistake or the user was more than willing to help remedy the problem. Thanks for the comment.