Acquiring and Discarding ComputersThis document describes how computers are purchased at Morehouse (and by whom), how computers are made to go away, and various related matters. If your department is buying something, this doc's for you. Questions about this or any other IT matter should be directed to the IT HelpDesk.
Contents:
Any computer or related item (printer, scanner, etc.) acquired by the College or any department for use at Morehouse must meet with the approval of the IT department so that the computer can be serviced and can operate on the data network. IT is not here to get in the way: we're here to help. However, we must make sure that what you buy is something we can fix that will get along with the rest of the IT stuff at Morehouse. The best way to get a new computer or gadget is to contact the HelpDesk with your basic needs. For instance, "the Department of Psychopharmacology needs 3 computers for general faculty use to replace computers that no longer do what we need". IT will work with you on any special needs you might have, get you a quote on the best thing, and stand back while you buy it through the normal channels. The IT department is not funded to buy computers for use by departments or employees. All computer purchase money must come from your department, must be part of your budgeting or grant-request process, etc.. (If you think that should change, tell your department head, who should take it to the Business Office or VP group.) It is the responsibility of any department planning to hire new (non-replacement) faculty or staff to make financial arrangements for those new folks to have computers.
When the new computers arrive, they should be delivered to IT for setup.
Normally, we make that happen by threatening our vendors so that they
put the IT department in the Ship-To area on all their labels, but if
that fails, just send the computers our way. We only need the computer
part, not the monitor.
Morehouse provides a basic software set for every Windows-based computer. The details of this are elsewhere, but basically it's a productivity package (Microsoft Office) and some general system utilities like virus and spyware scanners.
Departments that need other software should bring those requests to the
IT department. In some cases, we already have campus licenses for that
software, and in others we can accumulate those requests from around
the campus and help present the case to the folks who fund such things.
If your department will buy the software, all the better: we just have
to make sure it'll work in our environment, so you still must get in
touch with IT before proceeding.
When a department replaces a computer, the computer that is replaced is assigned to the IT department. Put differently, when you get a new computer, your old one goes away. This generates some friction, of course, and exceptions are made, so please keep reading... If you'd like to retain a computer that you're replacing, let us know. Those requests must be in writing (email counts as writing) so that we can avoid any ambiguity on the subject. This policy exists for lots of reasons and has many benefits.
If you're replacing a computer, it's probably because it's old and slow. Using it for a different purpose in your area won't change that. In fact, that computer might now be old and slow enough that it no longer qualifies for IT support or for a network connection (see here). Bringing old-slow computers back from the dead is possible in many cases, but it takes a long time. Our IT staff can get an old system working by spending 4-5 hours with it, but in that time they can get as many as 6-8 new systems working, or help 15-20 users with various problems. The investment of time necessary to make the old ones work is just too much for the IT department to absorb at its current staffing and automation level. Sometimes, however, those old computers are in decent shape, they're just so short on some upgrade-capable system resource (like RAM) that they seem not to work. These (few) systems can be re-used. The question, then, is one of resource allocation: is the revived system better used in the office from which it came or in another office across campus? IT is the broker of such matters since we know pretty much who has what and what shape it's in. The computer you replace might end up in another department on a faculty member's desk after that other department pays $100 to buy it some RAM. This serves the general mission of the College better than having that same computer sit, still old and slow, in a corner for occasional use by work study students (for example).
We know this policy is contentious. Please direct comments to the HelpDesk by email, where management folks will
pick them up, address them, and pass them on to higher management if
need be.
Authority to determine when an item has reached end of life rests with IT. When a computer or related item reaches the end of its life at Morehouse, it leaves the campus. In most cases, the item really is trash, so it goes into the bin or, if there are disposal issues, is picked up by Physical Plant and handled by that department. Anything smallish with no security problems associated with it (like old hard drives sometimes have) might land in the "Free Stuff" container in the corridor of Sale Hall basement. You want? You take. The only real rule is that IT never see nor hear of the item again.
Software licensing pretty much forbids IT from making discarded computers
available to individuals who might want to keep using them, though
we can release the hardware with formatted hard drives to charity.
Those interested in getting computers (again: there's no software on
them at all -- not even Windows) for this purpose are welcome to contact IT.
If your department needs something unusual, something IT would not support under normal circumstances, contact the HelpDesk and we can discuss what should happen. In some cases, we'll enter into an arrangement under which Morehouse IT will support the thing you're buying; in others, we'll require that your department contract out the support within certain parameters. Sometimes the solution is a blend of the two.
The point is that all IT-related stuff must cooperate with our network,
so IT must be involved if the thing you're getting is to work properly.
Involve us early to reduce headaches. Oh, and never, ever believe what
the sales folks tell you about their product working in "all situations"
or similar: every network is different, and ours happens to be more
different than many. If IT isn't involved, things tend go badly.
"What happens if I don't do that?", one might wonder... Failure to involve IT in the purchase process on normal computing equipment, printers, etc., will delay that purchase: the Business Office makes sure IT has stamped "OK" on technology purchases. There are considerations for new computers that are esoteric to the point that many users are not aware of them: if IT specifies your computer, you're set; if you do it yourself, it's likely you'll miss something and have the purchase held until IT can revise the quote (or get an entirely new one). If you do manage to acquire a computer or similar device without approval, we might not be able to support it, or supporting it might be so expensive (in dollars or in time) that we might refuse, which would cause the department that purchased the item to select between going without support and contracting that support out. Some equipment simply is not suitable for use on our network, or cannot work for technical reasons. Failure to involve IT in purchase decisions and designs may result in a department buying something that simply doesn't work. Resolving that could involve returning the item, spending a pile of money for network changes, having to move the item to a different physical location on campus, hiring a vendor to do some work, etc.. This can get expensive. (The most frequent cause of this seems to be salesmen: they'll tell you they've never seen a network on which their gizmo won't work. They assume too much. Some of them lie.) IT monitors the network and everything on it. If some item causes trouble, it will be removed. If IT works with folks on the design and purchase of new things, that's almost always avoided: we steer folks toward things that shouldn't cause trouble. It's not that IT doesn't want your project to succeed, it's that we can't always commit the resources necessary to make it happen. If we're involved before things happen, that gives you all the options and lets you know what's required to get you where you want to be. If we're involved after the fact, the options are sharply limited. When in doubt, contact the HelpDesk. (That's the end of the document. The white space below is there to make the internal anchor tags work properly.)
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