Hardware and Software Upgrade, Replacement, and Reassignment Policy

Policy Summary

This policy establishes a procedure for upgrading, enhancing, replacing, and reallocating software and hardware. This policy applies to all equipment (software and hardware) supported by SCS and purchased with university funds, be they contract and grant funds or state funds. The Local Systems Committee (LSC) will mediate in situations where there are disagreements regarding the interpretation of the following policy and will clarify an existing policy and/or develop new policy as needed. Questions or concerns regarding the following policy should be sent to the LSC lsc@csit.fsu.edu.

Definitions

• Faculty: School of Computation Science (SCS) faculty.
• Staff: Administration, technical support group, student assistant and other non-faculty staff employed by SCS.
• Student: Graduate or undergraduate student supervised by SCS faculty or staff.
• Postdoctoral Associate: Postdoctoral associate supervised by SCS faculty.
• Visiting Researcher: Visiting research scientist working on-site (the SCS facility) for at least three months with a SCS faculty member.
• Systems Manager: The Manager of the Technical Services Group.
• LSC: Local Systems Committee.
• TSG: Technical Support Group.

• Area Research Server: A computer that serves a specialized research function. Access to these machines is usually limited to a subset of the SCS community and is usually made via a network connection.
• Personal Desktop Computer: A computer used primarily by one individual. Personal computers generally function as standalone units to which primary access is made via a locally attached keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Personal computers include IBM- compatible PCs, Unix/Linux workstations, and Macintosh machines.
• Floor Desktop Computer: A personal computer (see above) available on a first come first serve basis or on a scheduled basis in a SCS classroom.
• Floor Network Server: A computer used to indirectly support the research activities of the SCS community. This definition includes machines such as the SCS web, file, and mail servers.
• Floor Research and Training Server: A computer used for research and instructional/training activities that is available to the SCS research community and qualified students on a first come first serve basis. Access to this class of machines is usually made via a network connection. This definition includes dedicated clusters and SMP machines.
• Core Software: Usually pertains to software for which the University or SCS has a site license or that is otherwise deemed “essential” for a given platform. In general, core software includes applications that are needed for ordinary tasks that transcend specific or specialized needs. For example, an operating system and an office suite might be considered core software. A list of Core Software is maintained by the TSG (http://www.csit.fsu.edu/support/software-list.html). Additions to the Core Software suite are proposed by the Systems Manager and approved by the LSC.
• Specialty software: Usually pertains to software that is used by few people for specialized tasks, but may apply to any software not generally distributed within SCS. (NOTE: Specialty software may be commercial or public domain.)

Guidelines

Scheduled Upgrades and Enhancement

The process of upgrading, enhancing, and replacing hardware and software is accomplished in two stages and coincides with the annual budget cycle. In general, the first stage involves an assessment of general-use and faculty-use equipment needs. From this initial assessment the LSC proposes an equipment budget, which is forwarded to the SCS director for final approval. The second stage concerns the process by which resources are allocated based on the actual dollars received for the proposed equipment budget. Details regarding each stage are given below.

Stage 1:

The LSC makes an assessment of the general-use hardware and software defined as all "Floor" hardware, Staff Personal Computers, and Core Software. The LSC's recommendations to upgrade, enhance, or replace equipment are guided, in part, by the following criteria; 1) upkeep costs (e.g., level of vendor support, software/hardware compatibility, support staff knowledge-base, hardware failure rate), 2) Contribution to the SCS mission (e.g., extent to which hardware/software facilitates research, collaboration, and teaching), 3) relative processing speed, 4) architectural value (e.g., needed to support software development for legacy hardware), and 5) specialized function.

Faculty-use equipment and software defined as Area Research Servers, Personal Computers, and Specialty Software are assessed primarily by the faculty. The LSC will send an email message to the 4th-floor mailing list with general suggestions as to what software and hardware is considered to be its "end of life". Faculty are encouraged to respond with a brief statement of need if they or the students/postdocs/visitors they support use equipment that qualifies for an upgrade, enhancement, or replacement. Because many faculty have other mechanisms by which they can upgrade, enhance, or replace equipment, (e.g., contracts and grants) it is understood that a statement of need does not guarantee that equipment will be upgraded, enhanced, or replaced; cost sharing is normally expected.

After the general-use and faculty-use equipment assessment is compiled, the LSC meets with the Systems Manager to consider an equipment budget proposal. The budget proposal is then forwarded to the SCS Director for final approval. The Director should receive the budget request from the LSC no later than the end of March in each academic year.

Note Regarding Legacy Equipment:

For a variety of reasons (e.g., application development and testing, instructional use, research, etc.) faculty may wish to retain software and hardware past its "end of life". It should be recognized, however, that retaining legacy equipment might place an additional burden on support staff and the SCS facility in general (e.g., use of floor space and power). In cases where resources devoted to the upkeep of legacy equipment are needed for new or upgraded equipment, the Systems Manager will work with faculty members to identify whether existing up-to-date software/hardware could satisfy the role of the legacy equipment. If the function of the legacy equipment can be served using the up-to- date software/hardware then the legacy equipment will be replaced. Faculty requiring the use of legacy equipment will be expected to assume some of the responsibility for its upkeep.

Stage 2:

The LSC meets again with the Systems Manager after the actual dollars for equipment upgrades, enhancements, and replacements have been procured. Normally this will occur at the beginning of the autumn semester in each academic year. At this point, a determination is made regarding the specific allocation of funds available to general-use and faculty-use equipment. Every effort is made to fund general-use equipment as initially proposed with the remaining funds being made available to faculty requests. Again, the rationale for this funding approach is that faculty is expected to have other sources of funding, whereas the upkeep of "Floor" and Staff equipment relies entirely on budgeted funds. In light of the remaining funds, individual faculty equipment requests are considered by the LSC and ranked according the criteria given above. Specific recommendations are then passed on to the SCS director for final approval.

The LSC will keep a list of unfulfilled equipment requests and requests made after the equipment evaluation period. This running list will be used to help streamline the reassignment of equipment.

Unscheduled Upgrades and Enhancement

Not all upgrades, enhancements, and replacements can be anticipated in the annual assessment process described above. Unanticipated hardware failures and software incompatibilities will likely need to be addressed on an individual basis outside of the regular budget cycle. When these situations arise, requests for equipment upgrades, enhancements, and replacements should be sent to the LSC. The LSC’s recommendation will then be forwarded to the SCS director for final approval.

Equipment Reassignment

All items of equipment purchased with university funds, be they contract and grant funds or state funds, are the property of the university. Items are assigned to faculty members or facilities, but the university owns them. When a faculty member leaves the university, equipment that had been assigned to that faculty member and that is not taken by that faculty member to his/her new institution (which itself is negotiated among the parties) is returned to the SCS director for re-assignment.

In practice, equipment is returned to the Systems Manager and the LSC recommends how the returned equipment is to be reassigned. Equipment will be reassigned to general-use or to faculty members who made a request during the annual assessment described in stage 1 of scheduled upgrades and enhancements but did not receive equipment because of insufficient resources.

Last changed: 08 Mar 2006

• Set ALLOWTOPICCHANGE = LscGroup