COP 02-0406: Technology Acquisition and Replacement

Purpose Statement

The purpose of this document is to define the procedure for acquiring and replacing technology at Florida SouthWestern State College (College) so that technology supports the College’s strategic plan.

Guidelines

The College incorporates appropriate technology in its actions to deliver quality undergraduate education to its many students. This technology is used by faculty to deliver course content and is used by students to access that course content and by students to enroll in and pay for their classes at the College. Further, this technology is used by support staff to respond to requests for information from students, administration and state and federal authorities. In all cases, the College applies appropriate technology to help students achieve their individual goals.

Procedures

I. Technology Strategic Plan

The Strategic Technology Plan for the College describes what the College has done in the previous year and what should be done in the coming three years to apply technology in support of the College’s mission and objectives.

A cross-functional Technology Steering Team updates the Strategic Technology Plan on an annual basis so that the plan reflects the ever-evolving objectives of the College. To develop the annual Plan update, surveys of students, faculty and staff are conducted to ensure the components of the Plan address those priority needs.

The Plan itself is organized to reflect the major categories of technology at the College:

1. Classroom and office hardware and software
2. Banner Enterprise student, financial and Human Resources software
3. Network and phone infrastructure
4. Web and Internet services
5. Data Security

II. Technology Review Criteria

The Plan incorporates assumptions concerning the projected life of technology components at the College. Age alone cannot determine the need to replace technology. Age, reliability and student and faculty satisfaction are the primary factors when the Technology Steering Team discusses the need for Technology Replacements.

Criteria used to evaluate the need to replace older equipment include:

1. Is the hardware reliable and fast enough to support the software that faculty and students most use in the classroom or lab?
2. Is the hardware reliable and fast enough to support the necessary current version of virus protection which is used on all Florida SouthWestern State Computers?
3. If the hardware is not fast enough, can we economically upgrade the hardware to increase the speed for faculty, students or staff?
4. If the hardware is not fast enough or powerful enough for specialized software, such as Computer Aided Drawing, can the hardware be re-purposed in an internet-only site?
5. Are the computers in a classroom or lab utilized only a small fraction of the day? If so, can the computers be removed from the classroom or lab and put to better use?

Before a new computer lab or classroom is added, the following criteria will be evaluated by both academic and technology leadership:

1. Will the new computer lab or classroom be utilized to support requirements of a new program?
2. Has the curriculum expanded to require additional computer activities by students?
3. Is there possibly another existing classroom or lab which has computers that is not fully utilized that could be used instead of a new computer classroom or lab?

III. Technology Replacement and Acquisition Cost estimates

The Strategic Plan identifies technology activities and acquisitions, by the above major categories, which will be needed in the coming three years to support the College’s strategic plan and objectives.

Initial estimates of the cost of the planned activities and acquisitions are listed in the Plan. Such estimates are replaced by actual quotes as the Plan acquisitions are implemented. All technology acquisitions will comply with College and State procedures.

IV. Technology Disposal Methods

Replacement is the last option for technology used by the College. If a piece of technology can no longer support intense software needs, such as the software used in Computer Aided Drawing classes, that technology is first moved to a site which has a less intense need for computer power, such as sites students use primarily to do Internet research.

When current technology no longer satisfactorily supports the Colleges’ goals and objectives, that technology is considered for upgrade or replacement. If the technology cannot be effectively upgraded, value should be received for any College technology which will be replaced or removed.

Approved technology disposal methods include:

1. Resale of refurbished Personal Computers. These refurbished computers would be offered for resale to students and employees at as low a cost as possible.
2. Negotiating a fair trade-in value for the older technology when purchasing newer, replacement technology.
3. Securing a fair salvage value for no longer usable technology. Financial Services at the College identifies an approved salvage company that will dispose of unusable technology.
4. When Personal Computers can no longer run approved College software, donate available older, refurbished Personal Computers to not-for-profit organizations.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Technology Services will work with the Financial Services Department at the College to ensure proper College and State guidelines are followed when disposing of College assets.