Each year, the University sets aside funding to upgrade classroom technology and designated computers. Historically, these upgrades occur all year long. OIT will introduce a new process this year to target a majority of these upgrades during the summer months.
Although compressing the schedule offers several challenges, it also offers several benefits. By ordering several hundred computers at one time, we are able to secure the hardware at a reduced cost, thus allowing us to upgrade more machines. It also allows us to minimize the impact to faculty during the heavier academic terms. The Client Architecture team, who oversees the installations, will have more time to focus on lab management and software distribution during the academic term with less oversight on upgrades. In addition, older hardware tends to be more problematic. So ensuring that the technology is refreshed regularly decreases the number of hardware related disruptions.
Under the Technology Fund, primary computer and instructional computers are eligible to be replaced after a certain timeframe. In order to receive funding, the computer must be assigned to a faculty or staff member and have a current LANDesk agent installed and functioning. Individuals with eligible machines will receive an email during the second week of April. That email will contain a link to the survey which requests additional information, and allows those individuals to recommend a date for their installation. Once the schedule has been established, they will receive a confirmation email with the date and time of the appointment. The installation itself should take one hour unless there is a very large amount of data to be transferred.
We have made several changes to our install process to expedite the process as much as possible. During the summer months, Premier Logitech will increase their staffing to accommodate the larger workload. Since this will bring a lot of new faces onto campus, each technician will be wearing a Premier Logitech badge to identify themselves. We hope to complete between 800-1200 computer upgrades during the summer months.
