Chat service
Note: These terms of use apply at BTU-CS in addition to the terms of use of Mattermost Inc. [en].
1. General
The ‘IT Services’ department at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg provides a chat service based on ‘Mattermost Team Edition’ on central systems.
This chat service is intended for direct communication between two or more employees of BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg. All university employees can register for the service and communicate with all registered participants, as well as independently set up their own channels to which other participants can be invited.
The channels can be private or public, as required. The Jitsi Meet server of the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg is integrated for short video chats.
The service is not suitable for communicating sensitive data.
A joint ‘BTU’ team has been set up, which new users can join after registering for the first time. Additional teams can be set up by the administrators on request via the ‘IT Services’ department.
The service can also be used for occasional file exchange. For the regular exchange of a large number of files or larger files, the services provided for this purpose (e.g. the various cloud services) should be used.
The chat service is usually accessed via a web browser or a corresponding client app. All communication data is stored on the server. The web browser and the client app are only used to access the communication stored there. Participants have full control over the communication content they store there and can edit or remove it.
2. Terms of use
User group
The service is available to all employees of BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg. It is to be used exclusively for purposes directly related to research, teaching, transfer or administration at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg. Each user is responsible for their own channels and the communication that takes place there. In the event of reported misuse or abuse, individual messages may be edited or removed by team or system administrators, participation in teams or channels may be restricted, or the entire account may be blocked or deactivated by the administrators.
Conditions of participation
A valid BTU account with employee status is required to register for the system.
3. Data storage
All communication data is stored centrally at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg and made available for viewing by communication partners. When accessed via a web browser or client app, no data is stored locally on the user's device. However, participants have the option of editing or deleting chat messages on the server via their browser or app.
Once messages are sent to the chat service, they are considered published.
All messages, both in 1-to-1 communication and, in particular, those in chat channels (with potentially multiple participants), are stored for a maximum of six months. Longer-term availability of chat histories is excluded.
Data
The databases associated with the chat service are backed up daily.
De-provisioning
Since a chat message always involves at least two people and all communication in the chat system is stored in a central location, a chat message cannot be easily deprovisioned or deleted, as this would disrupt the conversations.
If an employee leaves BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg, the general rules for BTU accounts apply.
If the amount of data stored (including per team or per channel) should impair the operation or performance of the service in the future, we reserve the right to take administrative action and, if necessary, set appropriate limits, such as limiting the maximum number of messages per channel or deleting old data after a shorter period of time.