It is difficult to estimate the costs of not writing thorough IT policy. Misuse of IT resources, whether through ignorance or malice, costs money, as do court cases that can result from abuse. Furthermore, a poor university accreditation report caused in part by poor policy documents will likely have an adverse impact on student enrollment. There are two main reasons for having an IT provision policy document. First, it informs employees and students of what is available and how it should be used. Second, it helps prevent the integrity of the computer systems from being compromised. In the absence of appropriate policies, those responsible for IT resources will have to make ad hoc decisions as situations arise, possibly resulting in a change of rules whenever there is a change of staff. One can argue that policy is as important to IT infrastructure as hardware and software. This article: (1) discusses the types of IT policies; (2) describes the processes for policy-writing projects; and (3) offers tips and suggestions for writing policy documents. (Contains 2 endnotes.)