Obligation to provide service

The University must provide information, advice, guidance and other help on matters concerning our remit to those who contact us. Individuals are entitled to the information or help they need to exercise their rights. Which help you need to provide is thus depending on the question at hand, the individuals needs and the University's responsibility.

Umeå University must be accessible

The statutory obligation to provide service means that questions from individuals should be answered as soon as possible. Also, requests to access public documents must be dealt with promptly. This means that mail, email and voicemail may not be left unattended for a long period of time. Each department or office must establish routines to monitor incoming mail, email and phone calls during an employee's absence.

The University is also obliged to welcome visitors and answer phone calls. If there are set visiting or phone hours, information about these should be published, i.e. online.

If a person contacting you is unspecific about their errand, you should attempt to understand the request so you can to provide the necessary help or guide the person on.

You must help individuals find the correct contact

If someone contacts you with a question that you cannot answer, you must inform them and try to refer them to the correct person or function. You must also help someone that has contacted the University with a question which is off the University's remit to find the correct institution.

Get help from Infocenter

Infocenter answers general questions about Umeå University. The quetions they are not able to answer are forwarded through their case management system. When you are absent, you can refer questions to Infocenter in your out of office reply by linking to: https://www.umu.se/en/contact-us/. 

What you should do to ensure accessibility

• Read your email every business day and answer questions as soon as possible.
• When you are absent for more than one business day, you should activate an out of office reply to your email. State who can be contacted instead. You can learn more in the manual about how to activate out of office replies in Outlook. 
• In the event of illness or other unplanned absence, when you cannot add an absence message yourself, the head of department or office must contact the IT Office. 
• If possible, forward the email to a colleague or a shared mailbox that is checked regularly.
• Remember that you are not allowed to forward emails to an email account outside Umeå University, such as, for instance, to your private email address.
• Refer general questions to Infocenter. 
• Transfer your calls or activate your voicemail during your absence. Learn more in the manual about how to transfer your calls and activate  voicemail in Teams. 
• Make sure that the department's shared mailbox is checked during holidays.
• Give authorisation to the head of department, or the person they appoint, to open your mail and to monitor your voicemail.
• Publish the department's phone- or visiting hours on your web page.