Procedure for Purchase of Information Technology

PURPOSE:   To standardize and ensure compatibility of purchases and to facilitate the acquisition process

PROCEDURE: In order to standardize and ensure compatibility of Information Technology (IT) purchases and to facilitate the acquisition process, the Purchasing and Information Resources (IR) departments have developed these procedures for coordinating computer purchases. Information Resources will provide support for system configuration and design and Purchasing will complete the purchase process. The staff of the two areas will work closely together for timely acquisition of equipment.

Routine IT Equipment Purchases:

1.  IR will configure, review, and update specifications for standard equipment quarterly and present them to the Computer Technology Support Group for approval.

This will include three basic configurations for PC systems (constituting a high-end, mid-range and low-end) and appropriate Macintosh systems with various hardware options, and network attached printers.

Price
Performance
Reliability/equipment failure rate
Technical support
Warranties

4. Department purchasing procedures:

a) Microcomputers- Submit a Microcomputer Purchase Request form (attached). IR will fax or mail you the most recent standard configurations upon request.

Information Resources will use allocated money for campus-wide microcomputer replacement for departments eligible for use of state funds when possible. If the Department has an alternate funding source or is not eligible for use of state funds, please attach a request to purchase with the account number. When purchases are eligible but funds are not available, IR will contact the Department to work out other funding sources or plan for future purchases.

Microcomputers will be rotated between labs and administrative areas based on hardware needs to extend the useful life of systems and to optimize costs for the University overall.

5.  All requests should be sent to Amy Eakins, Information Resources, P .0. Box T -0870 or Fax X9950, for processing. IR will then initiate the purchase process collectively for all requests received.

Nonstandard IT purchases:

1. A Request to Purchase for all nonstandard IT purchases should be sent directly to Amy Eakins, Information Resources, P .0. Box T -0870 or Fax X9950, for processing.

2.  IR will review the equipment requested for compliance with standards and compatibility with other University resources. IR will contact the requestor to revise or clarify the configuration and specifications, if necessary.  Both the requestor and IR must approve any revisions.

This process is to determine compatibility with existing standards, networks and systems.

Users will not be required to comply with IR suggestions but will be made aware of any concerns and given possible alternatives. When consensus on specifications cannot be reached, the Vice President over the requestor area will be required to approve the purchase.
 

4.  Once Purchasing receives the request-to-purchase with the IR sign off indicating review complete,
      the purchase process will be done without further analvsis.

5.  Both IR and Purchasing will process these requests as quickly as possible. The intent is to decrease
     turn around time for the purchasing process.

Delivery of equipment

If no setup is required or the requesting department has staff to complete the setup, the equipment will be delivered to the user immediately, once it is received by Purchasing.

If assistance is needed from lR for setup of the equipment:

1.  A copy of the purchase order will be sent to the help desk once Purchasing awards it.

2.  The help desk attendant will create a tentative work request with an approximate delivery date.

3. The department will notify the help desk of equipment delivery so that the work request can be
    activated.

Setup for equipment that is rotated will be done at the time it is moved.

Upgrades

1.  Any upgrades made to a computer during the time it resides within a department will remain with
     the computer for its lifetime. Upgrades include but are not limited to Memory , hard drives,
     CDROM recorders, tape drives, etc. External devices such as printers and scanners will not need to
     stay with the computer .

Inventory

1.  The computers will be placed on the departmental inventories. When a computer is moved to
     another department as part of the Microcomputer Replacement Policy (or otherwise) inventory
     transfer procedures will occur as normal.

2.  When IT equipment is no longer needed in its current area, it will be sent to Information Resources
     for evaluation before being turned into surplus. Tarleton policy stipulates computer related
     equipment cannot be removed from surplus and put back in use without approval by the
     department head.

     IR will evaluate all computer-related equipment for use elsewhere before assigning it to surplus
     property .If it is deemed unusable, all the data will be removed from the hard drive (or the hard
     drive will be removed and destroyed if the computer is inoperable). The computer will then be
     transferred to surplus. In some cases, useable parts will be removed from the computers for use in
     repairing other computers.