Computer Workstation/Server Acquisition and Upgrade Process

Revised October 16, 1997

This document describes a process by which department heads and account authorities will collaborate with their distributed computer support staff and with the Microcomputer Maintenance Shop (MMS) to budget for computer workstation and server upgrades. This process, based on the Computer Workstation Acquisition and Upgrade Plan, enables participating departments to increase their purchasing power for computers by pooling funds with other departments to allow mass purchases of computers by the Microcomputer Maintenance Shop.

Classes of Computers

To streamline the process, department heads/account authorities are encouraged to associate a class of computer with the job requirements of each faculty and staff member. Examples of classes of computers, their use, and their acquisition cost are shown in Table I. Applications listed in the "Use" column are examples based on the memory and processing power that they require. The class of a computer is based on the applications that a faculty or staff member intends to use.

Table I. Classes of Computers

 Class Use Cost
Basic workstation E-mail, word processing, spreadsheets, web access, simple databases, presentation software $1,400
Advanced workstation Graphic design, statistics, database, and other CPU- and memory-intensive applications $2,000 - $5,000
Laptop Basic applications that can be used remotely $2,500 - $6,000
Research workstation Memory- and CPU-intensive applications, including but not limited to real-time data processing and scientific measurement $7,000 - $10,000
Server Delivering departmental files and data, and also client-server applications $6,000 - $40,000

Planning for Computer Upgrades

Each year, departments will receive a PC Upgrade Planning Worksheet. The worksheet includes a listing of all computers currently on the department's inventory. Each MMS-supported computer will be identified by

For each computer, the account authority will indicate/update the user name and the class of computer (see Table I) required for that user. This information -- what the user HAS and what the user NEEDS -- assists the account authority to (1) project the total cost of upgrading (and replacing, as necessary) the department's computers on a yearly basis, and to (2) request the appropriate funds during the regular university budget process.

The plan assumes that upgrades of existing Intel-based systems would be scheduled on a staggered four-year cycle. Ideally, only one-fourth of a department's workstations will need to be replaced each year, so the cost of keeping all computers up to date will remain fairly constant. Table II is an example of the cost of upgrades for an Intel-based basic workstation.

Table II. Four-Year Schedule of Upgrades for Basic Workstations

Year 1 Acquire Workstation

$1,400
Year 2 Upgrade Memory

$160
Year 3 Upgrade Processor

$450
Year 4 Upgrade Memory

$160

Each fiscal year, the Information Resources Council's Standards & Cooperation (S&C) Program Group, in coordination with the University Budget Committee, will establish/revise the minimum desktop standards for the upcoming fiscal years. These standards will be reflected within the PC Upgrade Planning Worksheet as suggested dollar amounts (from Table II) for each workstation in each fiscal year. Similar budgetary suggestions will be made for servers. (Of course, it must be assumed that the near-term costs are fairly accurate, while estimates for future fiscal years are less reliable.)

Process Timeline

In general, the process can be broken down into three phases:

During the planning phase (fall), departments assess what they have and what they need. Then, as part of the normal budget request process (spring), departments request funding to meet their needs. Once the budget is finalized by the Budget Committee, departments adjust their plans if necessary, and MMS executes the plans.

Figure 1. Planning and Request Phases

Similar to the regular budget process, plans/requests are submitted about 6 months before the start of the fiscal year. As those plans are being executed by MMS in the current fiscal year, departments complete plans/requests for the next fiscal year.

Figure 2. Plan/Request is concurrent with Execution

Fiscal Year 1998, the first year the process is implemented, will be more tedious than the following years due to the amount of data cleanup that will be required. For example, inventory records may show all PCs in one department assigned to the account holder. In this case, it will be necessary for the department to determine the actual users of the PCs. All computers with Use Type as "lab" will also need to be verified/updated to ensure the appropriate departmental account is charged for maintenance. (Computers with Use Type as "faculty/staff" are maintained from a single central account.)

Planning Phase:

September 15 The Standards & Cooperation Program Group presents a preliminary Summary PC Upgrade Planning Worksheet the to Budget Committee. This summary worksheet shows the upgrades in progress during the current year, and the projected total costs of upgrades for approaching years. The Budget Committee uses this worksheet to assess budgetary reality of scheduled upgrades. For example, if all Pentium 90's and 100's are scheduled to be upgraded in FY2000 and this represents more than one third of all faculty/staff workstations, the Budget Committee may suggest to Standards & Cooperation that only the Pentium 90's be replaced in FY2000, delaying the upgrade of the Pentium 100's until FY2001.
September 30 Microcomputer Maintenance Shop distributes a PC Upgrade Planning Worksheet to each department head (or account authority) to show the upgrades in progress during the current year. Departments heads may use these worksheets in discussions with distributed computer support staff, faculty/staff committees, and others as deemed appropriate to determine needs for ADDITIONAL computers in the approaching years. Department heads should note, on the worksheets, any changes in user name, location, use type (including "lab" computer maintenance funding), and class of machine required. No budget information is requested from department heads at this time.
October 15 Budget Committee returns a recommendation to Standards & Cooperation Program Group concerning where to "draw the lines."
October 30 Department heads return corrected worksheets to Microcomputer Maintenance Shop.
January 15 Microcomputer Maintenance Shop distributes updated PC Upgrade Planning Worksheets to department heads, along with instructions for use within the budget process.

Request Phase:

Budget Request Deadline As a part of the annual budget request process, departments will forward the worksheets to their respective vice president with the following:
  1. Add new machines if necessary for any requested new positions.
  2. Modify dollar amounts where users require a machine other than a basic workstation, and attach MMS order form for any Intel based systems other than basic workstations;
  3. Mark as "surplus" any computers no longer needed, cross through the dollar amounts, and indicate where these machines can be picked up;
  4. Justify special cases where old computers will remain in the department without being upgraded (examples: old computer is attached to scientific instrumentation, old computer is used to demonstrate how hardware works) and cross through the dollar amounts;
  5. Re-figure the total cost of all acquisitions and upgrades for each of the next four fiscal years. If one year is significantly higher than others, some of the acquisitions could be moved to prior or later fiscal years to even out the total expenditure.
  6. Identify funding sources (accounts) to cover the cost in each fiscal year. Include these amounts within regular budget requests.

Execution Phase:

Near July 15 The Budget Committee will finalize the budget for the next fiscal year.
August 15 Departments not allocated sufficient funds to cover the cost specified in their worksheets will revise their worksheets accordingly.

All departments will forward their worksheets to the Microcomputer Maintenance Shop.

September 1 Microcomputer Maintenance will begin to
  1. Acquire and distribute Intel-based workstations according to the worksheets and in coordination with each department's distributed computer support manager;
  2. Pick up older computers as they are replaced and/or marked on the worksheet for "surplus" (department initiates transfer paperwork, or alternatively, signature on planning worksheet serves as proper documentation for transfer);
  3. Initiate memory and processor upgrades according to the worksheets.

Budget Office will cost-share to Microcomputer Maintenance those funds identified within the approved budget for acquisition and upgrades of Intel-based systems.

Departments will begin to prepare purchase orders for laptops and non Intel based systems.

Departments will continue to surplus laptops and non Intel based systems when appropriate.

[This document is based upon the Computer Workstation Acquisition and Upgrade Plan, approved by the Information Resources Steering Committee in Fiscal Year 1997. The Plan is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.unt.edu/irc/plan/upgrade.htm.]