Departmental Equipment

There will always be cases where UAS departments have software and hardware needs outside the centralized computer management strategy. For example, an employee may require access to software that only runs on specialized computing hardware. In other cases, an academic program may wish to experiment with alternate technologies. This is the case even within IT Services itself.

In these cases, however, IT Services strongly advises against using departmentally managed equipment for day-to-day activities such as storing email, managing files, and editing documents. Doing so creates significant risk and raises support costs for UAS as a whole.

When departments choose to manage equipment, they are obligated to ensure that:

• Systems are configured to control who may access and to track access;
• System configuration does not interfere with existing campus users;
• All software is legally licensed;
• “Patch management” strategies are in place to keep both the operating system and software application up-to-date and secure;
• Effective firewall, anti-virus and anti-malware solutions are installed;
• Important data are backed up and any sensitive data are encrypted;
• Departments are able to retrieve both hardware and data when needed, especially in cases of staff turn-over;
• Equipment is replaced when it is broken or outdated.

IT services is available to actively consult with departments to help them develop effective plans.

Finally, while the UAS IT Helpdesk will provide a basic level of support to any UAS technology, their support is necessarily limited when dealing with departmentally managed equipment. Consequently, departments should develop plans for supporting these configurations internally. Furthermore, before purchasing, departments should ensure that equipment is compatible with existing infrastructure such as printers and scanners.

To be eligible for the UAS Staff Build with full technical support, please purchase one of the following. 

To have the staff/faculty software installed on a newly approved purchase computer, please submit a Build Form.