Adhoc Google Groups at UMD – Service Overview and Requirements

Adhoc Google Groups are a service provided by the Division of Information Technology (DIT) at the University of Maryland through UMD Google Workspace. As university resources, Google Groups must be used in a manner that supports and advances the educational mission of the University of Maryland in compliance with UMD policy. 

While Adhoc Google Groups are manually managed through DIT's Special Identity Management System (SIMS), other groups (Workday departmental groups and course email groups) are created automatically based on institutional data.

Acceptable Use

• Groups must advance UMD’s educational, research, or administrative mission and goals.
• Commercial use is prohibited, including advertising, solicitation, sales, or promotion of non-university commercial products or services.

Management and Governance

• Administrative Oversight: All Adhoc Google Groups are administered through the Special Identity Management System (SIMS), which automatically grants designated co-owners Manager permissions in Google Workspace.  
• Naming Standards: Group names must reflect an official university purpose and cannot exceed 63 characters.
• Ownership Requirements: Each group must have at least two designated SIMS co-owners who are current UMD faculty or full-time staff. If a co-owner leaves the university, a replacement must be designated promptly.  
• Manager Authority: Managers maintain exclusive control over all membership, moderation, and operational settings. This includes the authority to add UMD accounts, external accounts (such as TERPmail or personal Google accounts), and other Google Groups for nested membership management.  
• Lifecycle Responsibilities: Managers are responsible for maintaining accurate membership, performing annual renewals, and ensuring the group consistently supports UMD’s educational, research, or administrative mission and goals in compliance with university policy.  

The Division of IT, as the provider, reserves the right to discontinue any unsatisfactory Google Group. Reasons might include:

1. The transmittal of materials that violate the rules of the network used by the Google Group.
2. The Google Group is not adequately maintained (e.g., uses excessive resources, contains invalid mail addresses, etc.). 
3. The SIMS identity is not renewed annually.
4. Complaints from networks servicing the Google Group that concern violations of their guidelines or the University's Policy for the Acceptable Use of Computing Resources. 

Information on how to create a Google Group can be found in the article Manage and Create a Google Group, Shared and Service Account in SIMS.

Google Shared Accounts

Google Shared Accounts provide a collaborative @umd.edu inbox (e.g., department-info@umd.edu). While also managed via SIMS, they have specific functional differences from Adhoc Google Groups:

• Primary Purpose: Best for organizations requiring a single point of contact where multiple users need to read and respond from the same address.
• Request & Approval: Shared Accounts are not adhoc. These must be requested and approved prior to being created or managed in SIMS.
• Access & Delegation: Limited to 24 UMD Google account delegates. External accounts (including TERPmail) cannot be granted access.
• Governance: Must have at least two UMD faculty or staff co-owners in SIMS. Owners are responsible for annual renewals and maintaining the delegate list.

Technical Constraints: Shared accounts do not support mobile app access or shared contacts.