Zentrum für Datenverarbeitung (ZDV) (data center)

Sending circular emails at the University of Tübingen

E-mails are a convenient and cheap medium to quickly reach a large number of people. For members of the University with an account at the IT Center (ZDV), the circular email interface offers a fast and convenient way to send information to all members of the University or to certain groups of people within the University.

The IT Center (ZDV) provides a web form for this purpose:


https://unimail.uni-tuebingen.de


Notes on sending circular emails:

  • Members of the University of Tübingen may generally only send circular emails to other University members in the context of study and research tasks. The President or a member of the President’s Office shall decide on exceptions.

  • The applicant must have a login ID at ZDV.

  • Circular emails are sent to real persons registered in KommDB (to their email address stored there), but not to the email accounts of functions/positions.

  • The target group selection is based on the characteristics stored in KommDB - the available selection criteria include:

    • Group membership (students/ staff/ professors),

    • Faculty/ institution,

    • for students: Subject, no. of semesters studied, target degree, nationality.

The applicant must ensure that the selection of the target groups is reasonable and appropriate. You can test out the detailed configuration possibilities of the target group selection on the circular email form as long as you have not clicked on the “send” button at the end of the form. On the last page of the form the number of selected recipients is displayed. If the minimum number required under data protection law is not reached, an error message is displayed and the form cannot be submitted. The identity of the selected recipients remains invisible to the sender.

  • The e-mail text may not exceed 100 lines and must contain text only (no attachments). If larger amounts of data (e.g. surveys) are to be made accessible to the addressees, publication on the internet is preferable, with a link in the circular email.

  • Once properly completed, the application is automatically forwarded to the President’s representative for approval.

The applicant is responsible for the content and legal aspects of the circular. In particular, he/she must ensure that personal data in surveys is treated confidentially and is only used for the purpose described in the circular. The computers on which this data is stored must be protected against misuse by suitable security measures. ZDV does not assume any responsibility for the content or legality of the circular mail.

When processing personal data, the provisions of the state of Baden-Württemberg’s data protection law (LDSG) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in their current versions must be observed.

After the application has been submitted, the circular is subjected to a content and legal review by the President’s representative (in case of doubt, via the President’s Office). The applicant will be informed of the result of the review.

After approval of the application, the circular email is forwarded back to ZDV by the President’s representative. ZDV sends the e-mail on behalf of the applicant and under the applicant's e-mail address to recipients on the desired e-mail distribution list.