Information Classification¶

Goal¶

Help authors place information where the intended audience can use it without exposing people, chapters, or the National organization unnecessarily. This guide assumes good intent: classification mistakes are usually fixed by moving, summarizing, or removing content—not by blaming the author.

When to use this¶

Use this page before creating, copying, or publishing KTP content. Recheck the classification when a draft gains names, contact information, financial details, partner information, access links, member data, or material from a private conversation.

The three tiers are:

Tier	Who can access it	Intended use
Public documentation	Anyone	Approved information and reusable guidance that is safe to share outside KTP
Chapter-private systems	Authorized members of one chapter	Local operations, member coordination, and chapter records that do not need National-wide access
National-restricted systems	Authorized National leaders and relevant portfolio owners	Cross-chapter records, sensitive escalations, national operations, and restricted partner or governance information

Classification describes the minimum protection needed. A chapter can still limit access more narrowly when appropriate.

Classification matrix¶

Content type	Default tier	Guidance
Published chapter bio, founding date, and approved website	Public documentation	Keep the information current and link to an authoritative public source when possible.
Reusable event guide or public-safe semester retrospective	Public documentation	Use attendance and cost ranges; remove member and partner-sensitive details.
Approved National history, public policy, or EBoard archive	Public documentation	Separate completed facts from proposals and obtain approval for personal attribution.
Public outreach templates and approved sponsorship packet	Public documentation	Remove personal contacts, confidential terms, and organization-specific negotiation notes.
Chapter meeting agendas, operating calendar, and room plans	Chapter-private systems	Publish only a generalized lesson if it would help other chapters.
Local member roster, attendance records, and officer working contacts	Chapter-private systems	Limit access to people who need the records for their chapter role.
Recruitment applications, evaluations, and selection discussions	Chapter-private systems	Never copy applicant-specific material into public documentation.
Detailed chapter budget, dues tracking, reimbursements, or local sponsor notes	Chapter-private systems	Public pages may use approved ranges or generalized budgeting lessons.
Chapter constitution draft and unfinished EBoard planning	Chapter-private systems	Publish only the final version if the chapter and Nationals approve public release.
National chapter-status tracker and cross-chapter reporting	National-restricted systems	Give access only to the National portfolios responsible for the work.
National member or alumni master data	National-restricted systems	Use an approved system with defined ownership, retention, and access controls.
KTP Life App architecture, generic setup, team roles, beta status, and public release notes	Public documentation	Use synthetic examples and omit private service identifiers, invitation links, credentials, member records, and sensitive security details.
KTP Life App production configuration, administrators, signing, recovery, logs, incidents, schemas, and authorization policies	National-restricted systems	Store with the responsible technical owners; publish only the minimum safe operational summary.
Semester compliance submissions, member audit files, resumes, and cross-chapter reporting	National-restricted systems	The public site may explain the process; completed files and restricted submission links must remain limited to authorized reviewers.
Chapter financial audit workbooks, transaction ledgers, and receipts submitted to Nationals	National-restricted systems	Working records may begin chapter-private, but the cross-chapter compliance submission belongs in the approved National-restricted system.
Draft National policies, legal review, or governance deliberations	National-restricted systems	Publish the approved outcome and implementation guidance when ready.
National sponsor contracts, pricing, negotiation history, or private contacts	National-restricted systems	A public sponsorship packet can remain public; private terms cannot.
Conduct reports, sensitive escalations, or incident records	National-restricted systems	A local matter may begin chapter-private, but follow current escalation policy promptly.
Passwords, recovery codes, API keys, or account credentials	Restricted credential manager	Never place secrets in documentation. Use the approved chapter or National credential system matching the account's ownership.

Examples by tier¶

Public documentation¶

A chapter's founding date, Greek designation, approved bio, and website
A semester summary using membership and attendance ranges
A technical workshop guide with reusable setup steps and no participant data
The approved National EBoard roster and verified board-level contributions
A public corporate outreach email template with role-based placeholders
A downloadable sponsorship packet already approved for public distribution
A KTP Life App architecture diagram showing service categories without production identifiers

Chapter-private systems¶

The local membership roster and chapter working directory
Recruitment applications, interview notes, voting records, and evaluation rubrics with responses
Detailed event plans containing member assignments, private venue instructions, or internal links
The chapter's line-item budget, dues status, reimbursement records, and banking workflow
EBoard meeting notes, unfinished proposals, and officer transition documents
Local company-contact history that has not been approved for publication

National-restricted systems¶

A master chapter-status or compliance tracker
Semester member audits containing names, email addresses, majors, and resumes
Chapter financial audit packages submitted to National Finance
Colony-development records and private charter-readiness forms
Draft National policies and notes from restricted governance discussions
National sponsor agreements, pricing, negotiation notes, and private partner contacts
Cross-chapter incident reports or sensitive escalations
National system inventories containing private administrators, access arrangements, or recovery ownership
KTP Life App TestFlight tester rosters, invitation links, production logs, signing records, and incident evidence

Decision tree: When I'm creating content, where should it live?¶

Start with the content in its current form—not the version you hope to publish later.

Would it still be safe and appropriate if a prospective member, university employee, company contact, search engine, and the general public saw it?
Yes: Continue to question 2.
No or unsure: Continue to question 3.
Is it approved, accurate, useful outside one private team, and free of personal, confidential, credential, applicant, financial-account, or restricted partner information?
Yes: Put it in public documentation.
No: Keep the draft in the appropriate private tier until it is approved or sanitized.
Does the content concern only one chapter's members, applicants, finances, planning, or local relationships?
Yes: Put it in a chapter-private system with access limited to the roles that need it.
No or it affects multiple chapters: Continue to question 4.
Does it involve National operations, cross-chapter data, policy drafts, legal or conduct matters, colony records, national partnerships, or sensitive escalations?
Yes: Put it in a National-restricted system limited to the responsible portfolio owners.
Unsure: Pause publication and follow the escalation path below.
Can a reusable public lesson be separated from the sensitive record?
Yes: Keep the source record private and publish a generalized, approved version.
No: Keep it private. Not every useful record needs a public copy.

Steps for authors¶

Identify the people, chapter, partner, financial, access, and governance information in the draft.
Use the matrix and decision tree to select the default tier.
Remove information the intended audience does not need.
Store the source in the approved system for that tier.
Ask the appropriate owner to review personal attribution, partner details, or policy statements.
Recheck classification before merging, sharing, or changing access permissions.

Common mistakes and how to fix them¶

Common mistake	Practical fix
Assuming a repository named “internal docs” is private	Check the deployed site and repository visibility. Treat this repository as public unless access controls prove otherwise.
Publishing a personal email because the person already uses it for KTP	Replace it with an approved role-based channel or omit contact information.
Copying a private meeting note into a useful public guide	Extract the reusable process, remove people and sensitive context, and leave the original note private.
Linking to a private document from a public page	Remove the link. Describe the resource by role or category and provide it through the appropriate private system.
Publishing an exact budget, dues ledger, or sponsor price	Use an approved cost band or general budgeting lesson; keep detailed records private.
Treating a draft policy as a current requirement	Keep the draft National-restricted and publish only the approved policy with an effective date.
Putting credentials in a handoff document	Rotate any exposed secret and move credentials to the approved credential manager. Keep only ownership and recovery responsibilities in documentation.
Restricting a generic guide because its source was private	Create a new public-safe version containing only reusable, approved information. The source can remain private.
Keeping duplicate copies in several tiers	Choose one authoritative source. Link or summarize downward only when the receiving tier is appropriate.

If something is already in the wrong place, reduce access first, then contact the appropriate owner and create a sanitized replacement if useful. Fast correction matters more than fault.

What worked¶

The safest documentation pattern is private source, public lesson: keep operational records in the tier where the work happens, then publish only the approved guidance another chapter or reader can reuse.

Short labels also help reviewers. In drafts and merge requests, state the intended tier and audience explicitly—for example, Public — chapter contributors and prospective colonies.

What to adapt¶

Each chapter may use different approved tools, and National portfolios may apply narrower access within the restricted tier. Tool choice can vary; the audience and sensitivity rules should remain consistent.

If school policy, law, a contract, or an approved KTP policy requires stronger protection than this guide, follow the stronger requirement.

Escalation path if unsure¶

Pause sharing or merging. Keep the draft in the narrowest reasonable approved location while it is reviewed.
Ask the chapter documentation owner or President when the information concerns one chapter's operations.
Ask the relevant National portfolio owner when it affects multiple chapters, colonies, National policy, technology, finance, alumni, outreach, or partnerships.
Escalate promptly to National leadership for conduct, legal, safety, contractual, privacy, or accidental-publication concerns.
Record the classification decision in the merge request or private source so the next author understands the boundary.

When asking for help, share only the minimum information needed to classify the content. You can describe the type of information without pasting the sensitive material into a wider channel.

Public-content review¶

[ ] The intended audience and tier are identified
[ ] Personal and confidential information is removed or stored privately
[ ] Applicant, member, alumni, financial, and partner details are appropriately protected
[ ] Private systems are referenced only by role or category
[ ] Credentials and recovery information are not present
[ ] Draft policies are not described as current requirements
[ ] Public facts and individual contributions are approved and verifiable
[ ] A private source was summarized rather than copied when only the lesson is public