Mid-year Academic Purchase Request Policy

Mid-year Academic Purchase Request Policy

Proposed Policy on Software/Hardware Purchases by Academic Departments within an academic year

Requests for software or hardware by faculty and staff in an Academic Department will be addressed in the following manner.

• Departments should anticipate software and hardware needs and submit them as part of a coordinated Departmental Computing Grant Request in the Spring of each academic year. In this manner, all software and hardware needs are approved by the requesting department as a whole.

• However, often times needs arise at other times of the year for other software and hardware. In such cases the requests will be evaluated via the following criteria:

• Is other software or hardware already available to the department capable of meeting the need (i.e. Excel for personal database or grading, scanner or software already available and accessible in the faculty lounge or on the server.)

• Is the need for software departmentally based and supported, or is this merely an individual request. If so is the use:

  • Instructional
  • Research
  • Personal productivity
    

• What is the cost of the software/hardware related to the anticipated use and benefits of the software/hardware - is the cost justifiable?

• If the software or hardware request appears to be a valid need for the current academic year, based upon the answers to the three criteria above, and the department chair approves the purchase of the hardware or the software for installation on a department member's computer, and the Faculty IT consultant or ACSAC approves the software/hardware request then:

• If the use of the software or hardware is academically related (research, service, teaching), then ITS may pay up to 50% of the cost of the software, contingent on the availability of funds and how the request fits the above criteria.

• If the use of the software or hardware is not directly academic, then the department will need to pay for the entire cost of the software or hardware purchase (i.e. recruiting, student organizations, or departmental equipment databases), although ITS will install the software or set up the hardware as needed.

November 7, 2002