Tarleton Office of Innovative Technology Solutions (OITS)
Incidental Computer Use Standard

Effective: February 11, 2020

Revised: April 25, 2025

Procedure Summary

Tarleton State University’s (Tarleton or university) information resources are strategic assets which, as property of the State of Texas, must be managed as valuable state resources in accordance with Texas Government Code Chapter 2054.

The purpose of this standard is to describe the exceptions to the general prohibition against the use of Tarleton information resources and/or equipment for anything other than official state business.

Please see Texas A&M University System (TAMUS) Policy 33.04, Use of System Resources for additional information and requirements.

Procedures and Responsibilities

Incidental personal use of computing resources facilitates the user’s proficiency. Incidental Computer Use is defined as:
- occasional use for personal purposes,
- of minimal time and duration,
- results in no additional cost to the university, and
- must not interfere with assigned job responsibilities or be in violation of existing security/access rules (see the Tarleton Security Controls Catalog).
Except in circumstances where incidental personal use of Tarleton computer resources for outside employment/consulting has been approved, incidental personal use shall not:
- result in financial gain for the user and
- be used for business purposes where the business is owned by the employee or the work is done for another business.

Definitions

Information Resources (IR): the standards, equipment, and software that are designed, employed, operated, and maintained to collect, record, process, store, retrieve, display, and transmit information or data.