3.1 In ensuring the effective and efficient use of public funds, and enabling DDSB staff the essential tools required to perform their duties, the District adopts the following principles for=mobile phone eligibility, purchase and renewal, as may be further detailed in section 3.4 and forward:
- Eligibility – Mobile phones may be provisioned to staff who require one to perform their dutieswhich may include those in a leadership role, those who may reasonably be required to perform a critical function after hours, or those who require it for safety reasons due to significant weekly travel. Differentiation of mobile phone requirements/plans will be based on the specific needs of the role (eg. some roles will require voice and text message only, and not a data plan).
- Renewal and Replacements – Mobile phones will be renewed, if required, after at least 24 months of use.
- Purchasing Authorization – An approved base model of phone will be available to be purchased for staff that will be the maximum amount of DDSB funds used toward the purchase of a mobile phone. Staff will have the option to upgrade the phone at personal cost, on the understanding that the device remains wholly the property of the DDSB and must be returned to IT Services upon upgrade, resignation or retirement with no reimbursement of costs associated with an employee-paid upgrade.
- Provisioning and Delivery – The Purchasing and IT Services Departments will jointly ensure an effective and efficient mechanism for procurement and delivery of mobile phones to staff.
3.2 Phone Use – Mobile phones provided by the DDSB remain the property of the Board. It is encouraged for employees to use their DDSB phone for work purposes and have a personal device for personal use. Where an employee chooses to use their DDSB phone as both a work and personal phone, professional communications shall be exclusively through approved DDSB communication applications (e.g. email, MS Teams) and not through text messaging or other applications.
3.3 Monitoring, access and enforcement - Board provided mobile phones are a part of the working environment and are subject to all DDSB policies and procedures. The Board may obtain and examine its phones and access all data on its phones for its legitimate purposes, which include performing maintenance and repair, investigating misuse, proactively monitoring and auditing misuse, complying with legal obligations and supporting work continuity. Users should have no expectation of privacy given these purposes.
3.4 Eligibility for initial issue of a mobile phone:
- Mobile Services – there are two tiers of service plans for mobile phones:
- Tier 1 – Phone, text, and data
- Tier 2 – Phone & text only
- Director, Associate Directors, Superintendents and other members of Administrative Counsel, Principals, Vice-Principals, and Managers are eligible to receive mobile phones with Tier 1 plans as a necessity for their roles.
- DDSB staff not listed in 3.4 (II) may be considered for a Tier 1 or Tier 2 mobile phone based on the following criteria, with Associate Director – Corporate Approval:
- Safety – The role requires significant travel, off-site service, where student/employee safety is a factor;
- Critical Support – The role is responsible for a critical function where it is reasonable that they may need to be available to address an immediate operational need outside of regular business hours;
- Necessary for Role – the use of a phone has been deemed necessary for the employee to complete their daily duties.
- Where appropriate, temporary or Acting positions may be provided with a device and plan from the loan pool for the duration of the assignment through an IT Service Request.
3.5 Purchase Criteria, subject to section 1.2:
- All mobile phone hardware purchased through the DDSB (regardless of whether the purchase is made using DDSB funds or personal credit card) is the property of the Board and must be returned to the central pool upon upgrade, resignation or retirement.
- There is a limit on the cost of the new hardware (this cap excludes the price of the screen protector, case and charging cable.) The purchase must come from School/Department funds. The default base phone will be a mid-line current generation model.
- Staff may choose to order a device that costs more than the set limit by paying the difference with a personal credit card. DDSB/Block Budget/School Community Council (SCC)/School Generated Funds (SGF) may not be used for phone upgrades beyond the base amount. Note: as per section 3.5 (I) - all devices remain wholly the property of DDSB regardless of payment option.
- Device renewal/upgrade eligibility: at least 24 months after phone activation
- Device replacement due to damage/loss (prior to 24 months after phone activation):
- If a device is no longer serviceable, a replacement device will be allocated through the IT Services team from the replacement device pool.
- If there are no phones available in the replacement device pool, the staff member may place an order for an early upgrade however, this will need to be approved by the \Associate Director – Corporate Services and early upgrade fees charged to the school/department.
3.6 The process for ordering a device is outlined in the Mobile Phone Ordering Knowledge base
article in the IT Service Portal. (Link in Appendix A)
3.7 Resignation/Retirement/Long-Term Disability Process (see Appendix A) – Family of Schools Superintendents or Managers, as the case may be, are responsible for informing Purchasing, Accounting and IT Services of any retiring staff member, on 30 days’ notice if possible, so that arrangements can be made or return/transfer of mobile devices and deactivation/transfer of the phone number in accordance with the following:
- Port number to personal account - A phone number may be ported to a personal account if the employee chooses to buy-out their existing DDSB phone contract, with approval from their Principal/Manager and Superintendent/Corporate Dept Head (device to be returned to IT Services.)
- Cancelling Number – Schools and departments are responsible for informing Accounting and IT Services if a phone number is no longer required after a retirement. The School/department will continue to be charged for the monthly bill until cancellation.
- Hardware - Mobile devices will remain the property of DDSB and are not available for purchase.
3.8 Leaves (See Appendix B for further details), subject to section 1.2:
- Short-term Leave – defined length up to 3 months - Staff on short-term leave with a defined return to work date may retain their phone for the duration of their leave at the discretion of their Manager/FOS Superintendent.
- Short-term Leave – over 3 months - If a leave is extended more than 3 months, the individual may choose to return the phone or keep the phone and reimburse the school/department the monthly service fees.
- Planned Leave – Staff may choose to return the device for re-deployment or keep the device for the duration of the leave at their personal cost. FOS Administrative Assistant/Manager will inform Purchasing and IT Services if a device is to be re-deployed or cancelled (and device returned to the central pool). Staff keeping their device must coordinate paying the monthly fee to the school/department throughout the duration of their leave.
- Staff on a Long-term disability leave or a leave with no return-to-work date are to Follow the Retirement/Resignation/Long-Term Disability process outlined in section 3.5.
3.9 Transfer Process
- Mobile devices are assigned to individuals, and therefore they move with the individual when transferring from location to location within the DDSB.
- Upon the staff member’s location being updated in the HR system, the following will occur:
- Location of the device will be automatically updated in the Asset Management system by IT Services
- If billing is not updated automatically upon transfer, the school/department will communicate with the accounting department to update the location of the individual for billing purposes.
3.10 Auditing
- Mobile phone accounts will be audited quarterly by the Accounting Department against employee records to ensure that all phone accounts are appropriately allocated.
- Out of country roaming charges and international calling may result in unusually high service charges. Neither of these items fall within the regular duties or expectations of the role. Therefore, where the use of the device incurs unusually high monthly charges, the Board reserves the right to follow up with staff. Where deemed appropriate, the user may be required to reimburse the Board.
3.11 The DDSB phone plan covers use across Canada. There is no coverage when out of the country unless an Out of country phone plan is added. One may be added for personal travel at personal expense to the employee. The costs of an out of country phone plan may be covered by school block/department funds in cases where travel is for business reasons (eg. school trips), or in exceptional circumstances where there is an expectation that the employee is able to be reached while on vacation. Any out of country plans paid with DDSB funds require approval of the Associate Director – Corporate.
- Requests for personal or business out of country phone plans must be initiated at least 10 business days prior to travel. Details of available mobile phone travel plans are available on the IT Service Desk Knowledge base
- If travel is for business reasons, or in exceptional cases where there is an expectation that the staff member be reachable during their personal travel, staff will email a copy of the Out of Country Phone Plan Request Form – Business Travel (Appendix A) directly to their FOS Superintendent or Senior Manager for endorsement and referral to the office of the Associate Director Corporate Services. Out of Country Phone Plan requests for Superintendents will be submitted directly to the Associate Director Corporate Services.
- If approved, Office of Associate-Director Corporate Services will forward the approval to Accounting and Purchasing for the addition of the appropriate travel package. If not approved, the Associate-Director Corporate Services will return the request to the requestor indicating the outcome of the request.
- Purchasing will notify the user when the plan has been added to the account.
- Where travel is for personal reasons and the employee is covering the cost of the out of country phone plan, staff will email a copy of the Out of Country Phone Plan Request Form –Personal Travel (Appendix A). No Superintendent approval is required for personal Out of Country plans. The plans will be added upon confirmation of Electronic Funds Transfer receipt from personal funds (School Block, School Generated, or SCC funds shall not be used for a personal travel plan).
- Subject to section 1.2, out of Country plans are not available for staff members who are on leave.
