Principles for University-owned workstations

Owned by Stelling, Andrew
Last updated: Jan 13, 2025 by Lyons, Andrew H
3 min read

All workstations and all faculty, staff, researchers, and students are expected to comply with these principles and all University policies.

Contents

University Owned Workstations

All workstations purchased with centralized funds, research, department or other funds (i.e., startup) are university-owned workstations. This includes workstations in research labs and in self-supported centers, institutes, labs. ITS provides support to all University-owned workstations.

ITS Policy for University Owned Computers   

University Asset Inventory

ITS maintains a university-wide asset inventory of all University-owned workstations—regardless of the funding source for the workstation. This asset inventory will be used to facilitate the 6-year cyclical replacement for centrally funded workstations. ITS will securely surplus or scrap replaced workstations with the Office of Asset Management.

Funding Sources for University-Owned Workstations

ITS wants to support your centrally-funded and other-funded workstation purchases to streamline deployment.

Centrally-Funded Workstations

  • ITS will centrally fund one workstation per State-funded faculty or staff, including new faculty/staff

  • ITS will replace one centrally funded workstation on a 6-year replacement cycle, unless when exceptions are needed, (exceptions to be considered: the cost to repair versus the remaining lifecycle of the machine)

Other-Funded Workstations

  • Other-funded cases are listed in Centralized Funding Model for Computers FAQs

  • In cases where a workstation is not centrally funded:

    • Start by requesting a workstation/quote from ITS

    • ITS will provide a quote, receive the order, ensure the assets are tagged and added to the ITS-managed inventory, and deploy the workstation.

    • The grant or departmental funding source will be charged-back for the purchase.

  • For Research Foundation purchases, ITS will provide a quote to PIs and RF Purchasing for the PI submit to RF Purchasing to order

Standard Configurations

  • ITS will provide standard workstation configurations

  • ITS will purchase standard configuration workstations in bulk and keep them in stock

    • Other funding sources can be used to purchase one of the standard bundles with a department charge-back.

    • Turn-around for standard configurations is usually two weeks from the time the request for a new workstation is finalized. This is typically much shorter than customized orders, as ITS has the standard bundles in stock.

Other funded specification recommendations

  • Warranty

    • 5-year hardware warranty for Desktop and Laptop, when available

    • Accidental (hardware damage: drop) for Laptop, when available

    • Reasons for:

      • Covers the potential cost of repairs over the expected lifetime of the device. Workstations without warranty coverage that are broken will typically need to be replaced.

      • For Other-funded workstations that break and do not have warranty coverage, the budget owner would need to pay for any repairs or pay to replace it.

    • For warranty or other repair needs, please contact ITS instead of directly contacting other vendors.

  • Enterprise level hardware

    • Examples:

      • Dell - Latitude or OptiPlex

      • Apple - iMac or MacBook Pro

    • Reasons for:

      • ITS purchases enterprise level hardware because it is higher quality and more reliable, the hardware support methods are more consistent and predictable, and streamlined enterprise support features.

      • We do not purchase home-level models such as Dell Inspiron or XPS. These are retail/home use case options, are not designed for standard enterprise support methods, and take more time for ITS to set up for your use.

      • Regardless of what workstations you purchase, they must comply with ITS Policy for University Owned Computers  and be in the University asset inventory.

  • Recommended operating systems

  • Coordinate all workstation purchases through ITS

    • Reason for:

      • ITS maintains a university-wide asset inventory of all University-owned workstations, which begins with purchase and deployment of each workstation through ITS. ITS deployment ensures that workstations can be centrally managed for the security of our network.

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