To help your IT department understand your Project and gain their support, adapt the following memo, and send to a senior IT official.
To: {DIRECTOR OF IT}
From: {YOUR NAME}
Date: {DATE}
Topic: 360-degree feedback {OR SURVEY] will make special IT demands
360-Degree Feedback {OR SURVEY] Project
As you know, we will soon begin an Internet-based 360-degree feedback project, hosted by Panoramic Feedback (an application service provider). This important undertaking was authorized by {NAME}, and is intended to increase our capabilities as an organization. I am requesting your support in the project.
We anticipate that {NUMBER} responders within our organization will receive emails from the Panoramic Feedback server inviting them to reply to the questionnaire and providing a PID (password).
The dates for the emails are: {DATES FOR ALL SCHEDULED EMAILS}.
From {DATE} until {DATE}, the responders will use their browsers to request the questionnaire from the Panoramic Feedback server, answer the questions, and return their replies to the Panoramic Feedback server. Some will be providing feedback for several individuals.
Contact Information
The Panoramic Feedback support desk will be happy to provide you with any technical information you may need. Here is their contact information:
Phone: +1 416-532-0506
Email: [email protected]
URL for Responders: www.360respond.com
Public website: www.panoramicfeedback.com
Please "Whitelist" or "Trust" Panoramic Feedback's domain and that of their email service provider: panoramicfeedback.com and mandrillapp.com.
To whitelist Panoramic Feedback's server IP address use: 205.201.136.87
Here are some questions about possible issues. Would you get back to me about them as soon as possible?
Potential Challenges with 360-Degree Feedback
1. Email delivery issues: Automatically generated emails are dispatched from Panoramic Feedback's North American server beginning at 6.30 a.m. ET. All of them will arrive at our mail server at roughly the same time.
Question: Do you anticipate any problems receiving this volume of email?
2. Email Return Address: These emails have a return address which is within our organization. This allows us, as the survey administrators, to respond to queries from responders.
Question: Will our system accept email sent from outside our organization that contains a return address which is inside it?
3. Dropped connections: Responding to the survey typically takes 15-30 minutes. Because some responders are distracted by other tasks, they make take much longer. But some IT systems will drop the connection after there has been no action for a specified length of time.
Question: Can you arrange for our system to tolerate longer periods of apparent inaction (say, up to two hours)?
4. Firewall problems: Firewalls occasionally block emails and online questionnaires.
Question: Will our firewall allow these emails and online questionnaires to move freely to and from the Panoramic Feedback server?
5. SSL: Good security and confidentiality are vitally important in 360-degree feedback projects. Panoramic Feedback uses 128-bit encryption by default.
Question: Are all our organization's browsers set for 128-bit encryption? Could they be?
I look forward to hearing back from you. Thank you in advance for your support.
{YOUR SIGNATURE}
