Refresh Strategy

Purpose

This policy and procedure explains the value of computer refreshes and describes how Information Technology (IT) implements this policy. This refresh policy is designed to be published to the APU community to make this procedure more transparent.

Scope

This policy applies to all Azusa Pacific University employees, and addresses the following issue: refresh of computer systems.

Value

Azusa Pacific University 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, 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 a “computer refresh.” A computer refresh is a business value and support decision made in conjunction with administration and IT. As IT is accountable for all hardware purchases for APU, it has the ability to maintain a master inventory and aging list of all computers.

Standard

The industry standards that APU has adopted are that every desktop configuration is considered for refresh every four (4) years from purchase, and laptops, netbooks, and tablet PCs every three (3) years from purchase. This is a significant financial commitment and thus it is critical that all stakeholders (administration, faculty, staff, and IT) consider this process critically as responsible financial stewards.

Procedure

IT will compile a refresh list through inventory management that identifies which computers should be refreshed each fiscal year. This list will be completed by March 30 of each year, and will then be distributed to deans and vice presidents via an IT webpage. IT will work with deans and vice presidents to finalize the refresh lists by June 15.

An IT computer technician will contact the client of the identified computer to schedule an appointment for the refresh to take place. When the IT computer technician comes to do the refresh, they will pick up the computer needing to be refreshed and transfer all of the files in the user’s folder to the new computer. They will also install any other departmentally required software and configure the new computer for use. The refreshed computer will be held by IT for at least one week in case any information was not transferred to the new computer.

Impact

While IT staff are always looking for ways to make the refresh less intrusive on clients, the refresh is still a process that can take several hours depending on the amount of files that need to be transferred and departmentally required software that needs to be reinstalled onto the refreshed computer.

Requests for accelerating the refresh schedule of a computer for faculty and staff must be made through the office of the chief information officer, have dean- or vice-president-level approval, and include a departmental account number for the computer to be charged against. The computer being refreshed will be returned to IT and cannot be kept by the department for other computer needs. If additional computers are needed, submit a computer request form through the IT Support Center.

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

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