Google Group, Sympa List, or Delegated Account; What Should I Request?

Our main tools for group communication and collaboration are Google Groups, Sympa distribution lists, and delegated email accounts. These applications have several similarities and choosing what option is best for a given scenario can be a bit confusing. The information below explains some of the differences between the three options, hopefully making the decision process a little easier. For additional information and guides about each application, please browse our associated support articles.

Google Groups

Useful for internal communication among teams (e.g. hiring committees or specific departments).
Can also be used as a single inbox that distributes incoming messages to group members
Self managed by specified group owner(s) and managers.
Additional collaborative features through the Google application suite.
The option to allow or restrict incoming mail from non-group members is optional and can be changed in the group settings.

Sympa lists

Ideal for large distribution groups. Think marketing style emails and announcements with a large target audience.
Self-managed by specified list owner(s)
Only handles email communication.
Members can be registered with non-bard email addresses (admins must be a Bard employee)
Sending permissions are based on the list settings managed by the list owner. Typically these lists are setup so only a specific group of individuals can send a message to the entire group.
Group membership can be set to private so recipients aren’t able to see the other members.

Delegated Accounts (shared account)

A "regular" email account accessed and managed by multiple individuals
Publicly facing address that can receive mail from any other email address including external accounts.
Not a distribution list: Unlike a Google group Delegated account inboxes are separate from a members primary email account.
Account delegates are managed by IT at the request of a specified account manager(s).