[mayor111]

Hey Guys,

Ive been reading night and day about IT Policies, and I can not see any reason why you would have the need for IT Policies to be configured, if you are giving all of your BB users full access to their own BB...

Is my thought process off base?

Why would I need to configure an IT Policy if we allow our users full access to everything on their BB??? Can anyone provide some examples as to why I should configure Policies (even if basic ones)...?

Thanks to whomever clears the smoke in my brain...

Mayor111

[exiled]

Its basically up to the business rules your company sets, a lot of places find the need to set a default for all users such as background image, or disable the games, etc. We dont use any IT_policy here and haven't had any issues.

With the release of the new version of bes (4.1) there will be a handy GUI kit that comes with it for creating it policy and other various advanced packages, at that point i may look into it but i don't feel its really a huge deal unless you have a very advanced bes setup.

[d_fisher]

Like exiled said, its all about the corporate policies that are in place in your enviroment. A few of quick examples...

1. Do you require users to enter a password to use their computer or access a network share? Why, to protect information from people who dont need access to it. Forcing a password on a BlackBerry protects the information that would otherwise be access from anyone who picked up the device.
2. I work in a large enteprise that is subject to SOX rules. SOX requires that just about everything is logged. Since PIN and SMS messages don't pass thru the BES server there is no log of them. So we have a policy to restrict SMS and PIN messaging.
3. Do you restrict users access to the web with site blocking, proxy password, or both? If so, forcing the BlackBerry to access the web via MDS enforces those same web access rules.
4. Finally, how many posts on this forum are from people who installed a theme, ringtone, or application and now their BlackBerry doesn't work. Do you really want to troublehoot 100s or 1000s of BlackBerries that anyone can install any software on? Not me! I am in full agreement of our policy that restricts third party software to be install on BlackBerries.

[jibi]

as exiled mentioned, its all up to your company's security practices. if you are fairly relaxed, then leave it on default (or actually, you could enable extra features that are disabled by default for BES users, such as bluetooth data connectivity). for most publically traded or healthcare or bank corporations, there are obvious security measures you have to take in the enterprise to meet various compliancy laws. BlackBerry is a security-minded technology, so having a lot of configurable security policies in place is a must-have for such a product.

[jibi]

I work in a large enteprise that is subject to SOX rules. SOX requires that just about everything is logged. Since PIN and SMS messages don't pass thru the BES server there is no log of them. So we have a policy to restrict SMS and PIN messaging.

Don't forget that 4.1 offers the ability to audit outbound SMS and PIN, so you might be able to free that up for them.

[d_fisher]

Originally Posted by jibi

Don't forget that 4.1 offers the ability to audit outbound SMS and PIN, so you might be able to free that up for them.

Yeah, that is one of the new features I am looking forward to. It will be nice to send a PIN message to a device I am troubleshooting.

[b52junebug]

Jibi,
Have you used the audit feature yet for SMS and PIN?

[djbeenie]

Originally Posted by jibi

Don't forget that 4.1 offers the ability to audit outbound SMS and PIN, so you might be able to free that up for them.

I can't wait to check this new feature out.