| POLICY NAME | POLICY NO. | APPROVING BODY | RESPONSIBLE DEPARTMENT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Computer Procurement Policy | BA466 | Cabinet/President | Information Technology |
| EFFECTIVE DATE | VERSION NO. | REVISION/REVIEW DATE | DOWNLOAD PDF |
| 01-JUL-2024 | 01 | 01-JUL-2024 | BA466_Computer Procurement Policy WEB |
PURPOSE:
To create a supply of equipment that aligns with policies related to the Information Technology Department (ITD) and the associated purchase, support, safety, and disposition of said equipment.
POLICY:
SECTION 1: OVERVIEW
Computers play a vital role in fulfilling the educational, employee, and administrative needs of Western New Mexico University (WNMU).
The resources necessary to support these computers is significant and requires the ITD to be familiar with common problems and resources to solve these problems. Maintaining a uniform environment allows ITD support to be more expeditious and in-depth.
Since most computer equipment requires ITD support, it is responsible for approval and maintenance of all such equipment.
SECTION 2: BACKGROUND AND CURRENT PRACTICES
The ITD recognizes that computers are essential tools for every employee, and all students. Computers provide an increasingly important means of communication, analysis, and in providing a vehicle of instruction for educators. We therefore accept the obligations of providing the institution with access to computers, as well as carefully stewarding computing-support resources in tandem with each vice-president and especially the Vice-President of Business Affairs.
To meet these obligations the ITD goals include the following. Note: achievement of these goals is predicated on funding availability.
- Working in tandem with the appropriate vice-president provide a computer that meets current minimum standards for every employee requiring a computer. The current computer standard may vary somewhat by user, based on discipline and task-specific needs.
- Provide computers for other purposes, as needed and as supportable, subject to fair and impartial review of the needs and the costs.
- Provide a unified cloud based or local area network configuration to support all employee and administrative users with file storage, print, mail, learning management system, and Internet access.
The ITD does not wish to impose inflexible rules and requirements on anyone who may have special needs or receive computer equipment from donations or grant specific work, however; all procurements shall still have the approval of the ITD before purchase
Providing computers and access to them does not stop with simply purchasing and delivering the equipment. Provision of access requires ongoing support for the computer during its use at the WNMU. Computers require continual investment of professional effort, time, and money in order to keep them performing adequately. The initial purchase of a computer is a very small portion of its total cost of ownership. The majority of the expense lies in keeping it functioning on our network, providing licenses for its software, installing software upgrades, and providing some level of help to support it and its use.
Resource constraints dictate that we should facilitate our support effectiveness through such means as the following:
- Maximizing system uniformity with standards-based configurations, purchased from a small number of approved vendors.
- Sustaining our environment by periodically upgrading and replacing WNMU owned computers on a reasonable cycle.
- Ensuring that WNMU owned computers and their support resources are allocated to meet needs based on the institution’s overall mission.
There are important parameters affecting the procurement of computers:
- For the computing investment to be worthwhile, the equipment provided must meet the expressed and unexpressed needs of its user.
- Commercial computer software is provided under specific use criteria. The ITD must ensure that software used on any WNMU owned computer has been properly licensed.
- Unlike some other forms of equipment, computers represent a long-term resource commitment for administration, technical support, user support, and continuing upgrades of the machines. Thus, initial procurement through grant funds, gifts, and similar means are not ‘free’ and should be subject to careful consideration due to resources required to support these computers.
ITD will provide central support of:
- A select number of desktop operating systems for Windows and Apple as approved annually within the ITD
- Designated computer vendor(s) for each OS (chosen for customer support, technical design, and value).
- Compatibility with the internal network operating system.
- Peripheral components that have broad support in the marketplace and that are of reasonable cost.
Currently, WNMU acquires computers through several different revenue sources, each of which has different oversight and decision-making. These revenue sources include the annual operating budget, designated gifts, and grants. (All requiring ITD approval)
- Any computers acquired by the ITD, department, program, or employee will be subject to approval by the ITD.
- Older computers or peripherals donated to WNMU will not be accepted unless they serve a departmental or program specific purpose that would otherwise not be attainable using known funding sources. These items will still require ITD approval.
- Note: All computer equipment/software that is purchased by university personnel by any funding source (University, State, Federal, Foundation or Gift), other than personal funds, belongs to WNMU and is subject to WNMU policies.