What is SendGrid?
SendGrid is a first and foremost an SMTP relay service aimed primarily at application developers who need to send bulk transactional emails. SendGrid also offers some marketing email functionality, but NC State primarily makes use of the SMTP API and traditional SMTP services.
SendGrid also includes statistics and email delivery information on emails sent through the service. This can be helpful when diagnosing email issues, or to confirm that a user was actually sent a specific email.
How Can I Get Access?
The Office of Information Technology manages a parent account that your department or service can be added to. To request onboarding to the SendGrid service, please send an email to OIT_IWS@help.ncsu including the following information:
- Expected daily/monthly/annual email volume (ballpark figures are fine, we just need a place to start)
- FAS account or NCSU Billing Project id to be used for billing purposes
- Primary contact who will receive notices or alerts from the service (can be a Google Group)
OIT will configure your SendGrid sub-account to support sending email on behalf of NC State.
Federal CAN-SPAM Act Requirements
The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 establishes certain standards for sending mass email. The Federal Trade Commission maintains CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business to help ensure compliance with this act.