technology software acquisitions...

Technology Software Acquisitions Requirements

Technology Department • January 2013 •

Tech Software RequirementsRobert J. (Rob) Rennie, PhD

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGYFLORIDA STATE COLLEGE AT JACKSONVILLE

Table of Contents

....................................................................................................................................Software Standards! 3

...........................................................................................................Universal Software / Site-Licensed! 4

..........................................................................................................................Table 1: Site-‐Licensed Software by Title 4

......................................................................................................Academic Software Request Process! 5

..................................................................................................Academic Software Request Guidelines! 7

.................................................................................................Non-Standard & Administrative Software! 8

.......................................................................................Fig. 1: Purchase of Standard and Non-‐standard Software 9

Documents are reviewed quarterly and updated as necessary



SOFTWARE STANDARDS

Hardware and software acquisitions at Florida State College are designed to be a

participatory process with the various constituencies of the college community and are

conducted in adherence to Board of Trustees Rule 6Hx7-‐5.1. Over the years, hardware and

software has grown signiHicantly, and the college continues to be identiHied as a technology

leader. The College-‐wide Technology Committee, Center for Advancement of Teaching and

Learning, and campus faculty resource centers all contribute to what eventually deHines the

College's acquisition process and standards.



UNIVERSAL SOFTWARE / SITE-LICENSED

The College's standard software acquisitions are those obtained as part of a bundled

package through the Microsoft Campus Agreement and Apple Education Licensing Program

(AELP). The software titles available under these agreements are accessible to all FSCJ

faculty and staff on College-‐owned computers. For access to the current versions of these

titles, simply log a request by emailing your campus tech staff for installation. Completion

of an Academic Software Request Form is not required to obtain site-‐licensed software.

Table 1: Site-Licensed Software by Title

Software Title PlatformMicrosoft Office WindowsMicrosoft Office for Mac Mac OS XiLife Mac OS XiWork Mac OS X

Operating SystemsOperating SystemsMac OS XMac OS XMicrosoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows

Additionally, the Microsoft OfHice applications (Windows & Mac) are available to College

Faculty/Staff for use on personally owned computers via a $10 download through the FSCJ

Employee Portal > Technology > Microsoft OfHice Home Use Program.

Additional titles may be available for personal purchase through eFollett and other

college partners. Contact your campus bookstore or Lillie HookHin for assistance.



ACADEMIC SOFTWARE REQUEST PROCESS

The goal of this process is to provide faculty and academic units with the necessary

software while ensuring Section 508 compliance, legal software terms & conditions,

providing a centralized point of software license tracking & distribution, and optimizing

pricing on compilation orders.

Academic units and/or subject-‐matter experts traditionally deHine software standards

for academic use. In the best-‐case scenario, the software standards are adopted across

discipline college-‐wide and encoded in the ORION system as a requirement for the course.

However, even licenses requested for use on individual faculty computers, evaluation only,

and free software should be submitted through this process.

Once the academic unit selects a software title, it must undergo the formal Academic

Software Request Process for evaluation. To initiate the formalized request, faculty are

required to complete and submit an Academic Software Request Form.

The Academic Software Request Form is accessed via

Employee Portal > Technology > Software Requests.

Requestors complete the form containing details such as: software title, publisher,

platform, quantity of licenses needed, installation location (room), justiHication for use, and

information about the courses and number of students that will beneHit from the software.

The form is then submitted to campus technical staff, deans/program managers, campus

leadership and the technology department for evaluation and processing.

This process begins anew each Spring, prior to the new Hiscal and academic year, and

aligns with the textbook adoption periods to ensure compatibility between texts and

standard software. Academic software requests are accepted year-‐round and processed to

the extent that funding remains available. Academic software requests are to be re-‐

submitted each academic year to conHirm continued need for speciHic software.



Concerted efforts are made to process all justiHied requests as quickly and efHiciently as

possible; however, funding concerns and other issues occasionally require prioritization

and concessions to be made. Requestors and campus leaders will be notiHied as to the

status of their requests.



ACADEMIC SOFTWARE REQUEST GUIDELINES

Whenever possible, web-‐based software titles are to be selected over all others, thus

making the software universally accessible and independent of OS/platform. When not

web-‐based, network versions are preferred. Faculty may obtain technical assistance with

the evaluation process from their campus technical staff or coordinate with Lillie HookHin.



mailto:[email protected]?subject=Academic%20Software%20Request%20Guidelines

mailto:[email protected]?subject=Academic%20Software%20Request%20Guidelines

NON-STANDARD & ADMINISTRATIVE SOFTWARE

Occasionally, non-‐standard software is acquired for speciHic use in cases such as career

training, pilot programs, supplementary materials, and administrative use. Approval from

the CTO is required prior to any non-‐standard software acquisition that is intended for use

by students or will be installed on a server.

There are other processes by which software titles are obtained and these are

sometimes confused with the academic software request process. Occasionally there are

grants, federal funds, campus or program-‐speciHic accounts used toward funding software

requests. In cases such as these, the requisition must still follow the typical purchasing

requirement of being sent through the IT approval queue for evaluation. If approved,

adherence to the purchasing process, terms & conditions, and tracking of software licenses

becomes the responsibility of the academic unit or department contact making the

purchase. Continuation of funding by other College accounts cannot be assumed once the

special funds have run out.



Fig. 1: Purchase of Standard and Non-standard Software

For a list of software titles currently in use, please see the Strategic Technology Plan

located on the Technology Department website.



http://www.fscj.edu/techteam/technology-plan

http://www.fscj.edu/techteam/technology-plan