by Gary Morton

7 July 2023

Last updated 16 July 2024

Architecture Standards Web

The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Education.

Uncontrolled copy. To ensure you have the most current version of this document, refer to the ICT standards page at https://qed.qld.gov.au/publications/standards or

https://intranet.qed.qld.gov.au/Services/InformationTechnology/ict-standards/.

Internet browser standard

HPRM:19/181165

Implementation Date: 4 February 2022

Version: 2.1

Audience

Department-wide¹.
Technical and business professionals, and service partners who participate in the design, development, maintenance and support of IT solutions.
Project managers, business analysts or anyone involved during portfolio and project planning, conducting impact assessments or requirements analysis activities.

Purpose

This document has been developed by the Department of Education with the intent of providing an enterprise standard configuration of internet browser software. The objective of this standard aims to reduce the risk of supporting legacy browser software impacting departmental staff productivity and students’ learning.

# Scope For all devices that fall within the following environments are within the scope of this standard:

Corporate environment:
- includes all managed devices and devices onboarded into the departments corporate network, including Microsoft, Apple and Mobile Operating systems.
School environment:
- includes all managed devices and devices onboarded into the departments state school network, including Microsoft, Apple and Mobile Operating systems.
Bring-Your-Own-Device environment:
- includes all Bring-Your-Own-Devices and Bring-Your-Own-Devices onboarded into the departments corporate & state school networks, including Microsoft, Apple and Mobile Operating systems.
Unmanaged environment:
- includes any device that does not fall under Corporate, State Schools or Bring-Your-Own-Device environments.

¹ Including but not limited to includes schools, divisions, units, offices, and business units.

# Handling of exemptions All exceptions and requests for exemptions MUST be recorded in the architecture register and attached to this standard (HPRM:19/181165) in Content Manager. The below identifies how exemptions to the Internet browser standard are handled in the department:

All applications are required to complete the standard exception[1] and submit the form to the Domain Architecture and Standards Group (DASG) for consideration.
All exemptions require approval from the Domain Architecture and Standards Group.
For escalation cases and only after tabled at Domain Architecture and Standards Group exemption are subject to Architecture Review Board approval.

# Standard exceptions Nil2

# Standard language & requirement levels Within this document several words are used to signify a requirement or obligation. These words have special meanings only when they are written in all capitals. When these words are not capitalised, they have their normal English meanings. The following defines these words and how they should be interpreted:

MUST
This word, or the terms ”REQUIRED” or ”SHALL”, mean that the definition is an absolute requirement of the specification.

MUST NOT This phrase, or the phrase ”SHALL NOT”, mean that the definition is an absolute prohibition of the specification.

SHOULD This word, or the adjective ”RECOMMENDED”, mean valid reasons may exist in particular circumstances to ignore a particular item, but the full implications must be understood and carefully weighed before choosing a different course.

SHOULD NOT This phrase, or the phrase ”NOT RECOMMENDED” mean valid reasons may exist in particular circumstances when the particular behaviour is acceptable or even useful, but the full implications should be understood and the case carefully weighed before implementing any behaviour described with this label.

MAY This word, or the adjective ”OPTIONAL”, mean that an item is truly optional. One vendor may choose to include the item because a particular marketplace requires it or because the vendor feels that it enhances the product while another vendor may omit the same item. An implementation which does not include a particular option MUST be prepared to interoperate with another implementation which does include the option, though perhaps with reduced functionality. In the same vein an implementation which does include a particular option MUST be prepared to interoperate with another implementation which does not include the option (except, of course, for the feature the option provides.)

² Not all exceptions and exemptions are documented in this standard; instead see the register attached to this standard see HPRM:19/181165

# Corporate & school environment standards For devices within corporate and school environments the following MUST be observed:

All internet browser updates MUST be tested and deployed within six months of its initial release.
Enterprise editions, or browsers that support centralised management, SHOULD be preferred over noncentralised browsers.
Browsers SHOULD be managed from a central location for browser installations, maintenance, updating and compliance.
Non-approved third party extensions, or embedded features that have the potential to communicate to unapproved services SHOULD NOT be installed.
Operating systems and internet browsers identified in Table 1 MUST be supported.

Table 1: Internet Browsers

Operating system	Internet browser
<p></p><p>Windows</p>	<p></p><p>Edge - chromium engine (latest versions) Google Chrome (latest versions)</p>
<p></p><p>MacOS</p>	<p></p><p>Edge - chromium engine (latest versions) Apple Safari 12 and later</p>
<p></p><p>Linux</p>	<p></p><p>Google Chrome (latest versions)</p>
<p></p><p></p><p>iOS</p>	<p></p><p>Google Chrome - iOS WebKit (latest versions) Apple Safari for iOS 12.1 and later</p><p>Edge - iOS WebKit engine (latest versions)</p>
<p></p><p></p><p>Android</p>	<p></p><p>Google Chrome (latest versions) Samsung Internet (latest versions)</p><p>Edge - chromium engine (latest versions)</p>

# BYOD & unmanaged environment standard When considering BYOD environments and unmanaged devices; internet browsers listed on Queensland Government Browser support list[2] MUST be supported.

Legislation

Nil

Software asset management policy[3]
ICT Asset Management[4]

Nil

Internet Browser Standard[5]
Web Standard[6]

Guidelines

Nil

Supporting information/websites

Standard Exception Form[1]

Contact

For further information, please contact:

Domain Architecture & Standards Group

email: DASG.Secretariat@qed.qld.gov.au

References

Standard Exemption Form. Exemption Form. HPRM: 19/226789. Information and Technologies Branch (ITB), 2020. URL: https://intranet.qed.qld.gov.au/Services/InformationTechnology/ict-standards.
Browser support. Queensland Government Standard. Queensland Government, 2019. URL: https://www.forgov.qld. gov.au/browser-support-lists.
Software Asset Management Policy. Queensland Government Policy. Queensland Government Chief Information Office, 2010. URL: https://www.qgcio.qld.gov.au/documents/software-asset-management-policy.
ICT asset management. Department of Education Policy. Information and Technologies Branch (ITB), 2020. URL: https://ppr.qed.qld.gov.au/pif/policies/Documents/ICT-asset-management-policy.pdf.
Internet Browser. Department of Education Standard. HPRM: 19/181165. Information and Technologies Branch (ITB), 2019. URL: https://intranet.qed.qld.gov.au/Services/InformationTechnology/ict-standards or URL: https://qed.qld.gov. au/det-publications/standards.
Web Standard. Department of Education Standard. HPRM: 20/55901. Information and Technologies Branch (ITB), 2020. URL: https://qed.qld.gov.au/publications/standards/ict-standards. URL: https://intranet.qed.qld.gov.au/Services/ InformationTechnology/ict-standards or URL: https://qed.qld.gov.au/det-publications/standards.