The following represents practices and procedures of the VCC Utility within its Helpnet web site.   The VCC Utility reserves the right to change these practices and procedures at any time without prior notice.  Please note that this site contains links to both other state agencies and external resources, and this privacy statement applies only to pages within our site.  If the URL does not begin with http://helpnet.vccs.edu then you have left our site.  The following is not intended and should not be interpreted as a contract of any nature, either stated or implied.

At this time, we do not routinely collect personal data from all of our site visitors.  Exceptions involving a request for services are outlined below.  Though personal information may be required either by law or in order for us to provide a requested service, in doing so we are subject to the requirements for administering information systems as established in the Virginia Privacy Protection Act, Chapter 26 of Title 2.1 of the Code of Virginia. 

For each visitor, we do collect information about the Internet Protocol (IP) address, type browser used, the date, time, and length of the visit, and which pages were accessed. This information is strictly used for statistical reporting purposes.

While most of the information on our site is freely available to the public, there are a few cases where we must verify eligibility to receive resources via the web due to licensing requirements.  In other words, some of our licensed software and services may only be accessed by currently registered students, faculty members, or employees of the Virginia Community College System.  In these cases we have elected to verify this status by doing a check against our pre-existing LDAP directory.  On restricted web pages, visitors will be asked to enter their VCCS e-mail address and VIVA password.  These items are matched against the LDAP directory for verification purposes only and then discarded.  They are not recorded or retained in any way.

We collect, retain and use personal information via online service request forms where we are required to make such forms available via web as directed by the Governor of Virginia in both Part B of Executive Order #51, and in Part 2, Section B of Executive Order #65.   We only collect, retain and use personal information from said forms to administer the service being requested, and to maintain backups of submitted forms for auditing purposes.  

In some other site's web applications, information entered by a user during a visit is sent back from the web server to be stored on the user's computer as a "cookie".  This cookie can then be read by the web server during return visits to restore preferences and options selected in the first visit.  Our site currently does not use this process.

We do not sell or disclose our visitors’ information to any outside company or organization. Personal information submitted via service request forms will be conveyed only to those persons/agencies involved in providing the service.  State auditors may also review service request forms as part of an information technology audit process.

We maintain security standards and procedures regarding unauthorized access to customer information to prevent unauthorized removal or alteration of data on our site.

Your comments are welcomed and we invite you to contact us if you have any questions or concerns at:

Virginia Community College Utility
Customer Support Center Help Desk
(540) 591-5861
uhelp@utility.vccs.edu