Information Services - Administrative Computing Recommendations
The Information Services department seeks to find cost effective ways to address changing Academic and Administrative computer requirements within the University. For example, the Academic redistribution system was successfully implemented 6 years ago as a recurring annual plan to maintain an appropriate level of computing power for Purdue University North Central faculty.
To address the requirements generated by Administrative constituents, we are suggesting a long-range (3 to 5 year) planning approach for each administrative unit. We will provide Administrative departments with a current PC inventory and a list of recommendations and guidelines for future computer purchases.
PC Guidelines for Administrative Computing
Recommended Replacement Cycle: The goal should be to purchase enough machines every year to stay above future minimum guidelines. Within your purchasing plan you may choose to design a hierarchy for computer power, purchasing new machines for selected staff members and then flowing the older machines to others. (This tends to be disruptive, and more attractive in principle than in practice.)
Minimum Computer Specifications: As a general guide, we recommend that you consider some minimum computer capabilities for your staff who routinely access our campus network. These are guidelines, not rules. Another good guideline is that the computers should not exceed 5 years use for those who routinely access campus network resources.
Current recommended:
| Minimum AY 09-10 |
Pentium running at 3.2 GHz
with 512 MB of RAM |
These machines should be upgraded in Spring 10
|
| Minimum AY 08-09 |
Pentium running at 2.8 GHz
with 512 MB of RAM
|
These machines should be upgraded in Spring 09
|
| Minimum AY 07-08 |
Pentium running at 2.4 GHz
with 512 MB of RAM |
These machines should be upgraded in Spring 08 |
Replacement timing: The IS department is traditionally very busy in the summer and fall (with student lab and academic department computer upgrades). Your upgrade plans will be most easily accommodated in the spring and should target the minimum machine capability listed for the following academic year.
Budgeting and Planning: Computers scheduled for upgrade in the spring should be purchased in the late fall and budgeted in the preceding spring. The IS department would welcome an opportunity to help you project and budget your computer (and printer) purchases for each budget cycle. Such early planning will help us more fully understand your computing needs, help you design your budget requests, and help us all anticipate and schedule individual user computer upgrades. We should also strive to achieve some cost savings if we can collect all spring computer orders into a single lot for competitive bid.
Please call our help desk (5511) to schedule a budgeting and planning session at your convenience.
Information Services Help Desk hours of operation: Monday- Friday: 8:00am to 4:30pm *
Contact the Help Desk: On campus ext. 5511 Off campus: 219-785-5511
Email: helpdesk@pnc.edu
