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Refresh Strategy

Purpose

This paper explains the value of computer refreshes, and the procedures the Information Media and Technology (IMT) group will use to implement this strategy. This refresh strategy is designed to publish to the APU community to make this procedure more transparent.

Value

Azusa Pacific University (APU) provides all full-time faculty and staff, some student workers and some part-time faculty and staff (according to Policy) with university owned computers. In addition APU has computers in many classrooms, labs and libraries. These computers have become critical to the day-to-day functions at APU.

In order to maintain pace with technology change (the fastest personal computer (PC) that is available today, is more than 3 times the speed of the fastest PC available just 1 year ago), and to manage acceptable support levels, these computers need to be upgraded in a cyclic fashion in order to maintain their business value and functionality. These upgrades are described as the “computer refresh”.

A refresh is a business value and support decision made in conjunction with management and IMT

As IMT is accountable for all hardware purchases for APU, it has the ability to maintain a master inventory and aging list of all computers.

Standard

Industry standards which APU has adopted, is that every desktop configuration is considered for refresh every 3 years from purchase, and laptops every 2 years from purchase. This is a significant financial commitment and thus it is critical that all stakeholders (clients, management and IMT) consider this process critically as good financial stewards. As hardware capability frequently exceeds software requirements over the life of a computer, IMT does not provide “trickle down” or “computer swapping” services.

Process and Procedure of refreshing Faculty and Staff computers: IMT will compile a refresh list through inventory and ageing management which identifies which computers should be refreshed each fiscal year. This list will be completed by March 30 of each year.

This list will then be distributed to Deans and President’s Cabinet for information, clarification and is necessary amendments. The refresh list will be finalized by June 15.

Requests for accelerating the refresh schedule of a computer for faculty and staff must be requested through the Office of the CIO and have Dean or Vice President level approval, and include an departmental account number for the computer to be charged against.

After the list is finalized, it will be published to the IMT web page.

At least 2 weeks prior to a scheduled refresh, an IMT Computer Technician will contact the client of the identified computer to schedule a suitable “window” of time for the refresh to take place. If the client does not respond to the Technician within one week, the refresh will be delayed until the following month and the appropriate Dean/VP/Director notified.

When the IMT Computer Technician comes to do the refresh, they will deliver a computer that already has the standard programs installed (see Computing Standards for list of standard programs). The Technician will transfer any data from the current computer to the refreshed computer, install any other departmentally required software, and setup configure the new computer.

A follow-up will be made with the client 4 weeks after refresh to ensure that the client is satisfied with the transition.

Impact of refresh to clients: While IMT staff are always looking for ways to make the refresh less intrusive on clients, the refresh is still a process that can take up to 4 hours depending on the client specific software that needs to be reinstalled onto the refreshed computer.

As a part of the communication process before a refresh takes place, an IMT staff member will contact the client and give them written guidelines on how to minimize the impact of having their computer refreshed.

All computers purchased through the refresh process are owned by APU and under the trustee of IMT.

Process and Procedure of refreshing computers initially purchased from Grants:
Computers that have been purchased for labs and classrooms through grant funding will be refreshed under the same cycle for faculty and staff. Computers that have been purchased for departmental use through grant funding will not be refreshed. Faculty should not request computers for individual use from grant funds as the university provides full-time faculty with computers.

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