Approved by the Information Resource Council at its October 15, 2002 meeting
Desktop computers are an indispensable work tool of every office at the University of North Texas. Faculty, staff, and administrators use their workstations in every aspect of their duties. Therefore it is essential that those computers support current technological needs and be able to run the essential applications that define the University's business environment. This schedule describes an orderly approach to upgrading or replacing all desktop computers on a regular basis. This proposal does not affect computers used for special instrumentation purposes in University research laboratories.
Desktop computers, by their nature as relatively inexpensive computing devices which respond rapidly to advances in technology, have a short life cycle when compared to other office technologies such as the telephone, fax machine, and copier. Until recently, the rule of thumb for obsolescence of desktop computers was approximately three years, at which time the machine was deemed to be incapable of performing useful computing tasks. The recent increase in the use of the World Wide Web interface for interacting with a large variety of administrative applications calls into question a three year obsolescence cycle for desktop computers, because in general all a Web client has to do is render HTML pages and perhaps perform a limited set of Java (etc.) processing. However, it is still true that advances in operating systems, multimedia content, and desktop applications employing speech recognition (for example) do impose increasing demands on computing power that can only be met by upgrading the desktop computers supporting those applications.
The impending Enterprise Information System (the Peoplesoft modules for human resources, finance, student administration, and advancement) does impose a minimum standard of desktop computer configuration users of those applications. PeopleSoft makes the following recommendations for software and hardware:
Web Browser and Client Operating System Certifications
Based on internal testing, Internet Explorer 5 is the clear leader in performance and user interface quality. For the functional user, where performance and reliability are key, Internet Explorer 5, 5.5, or 6 are the recommended web browsers running on Windows NT, 2000, or XP. This combination provides what we feel is an optimal experience. The following are the combinations of web browser and client operating systems PeopleSoft is certifying for all PeopleSoft 8 applications on PeopleTools 8.4:
- Internet Explorer 6 on Windows 98, NT 4, Windows 2000 and Windows XP
- Internet Explorer 5 and 5.5 on NT 4, Windows 9x, and Windows 2000
- Internet Explorer 5 on Mac OS 7.6.1 and above
- Netscape Navigator 6.2 on Win 9x, NT 4, Windows 2000 and Windows XP
- Netscape Communicator 4.7x on NT 4, Windows 9x, Windows 2000, Linux, UNIX and Mac OS 7.6.1 and above
Hardware Requirements
The following end-user workstation requirements are based on power user type operations such as intensive data-entry, navigating between many pages, and so on. Since these requirements stem from real-world scenarios, they are higher than the manufacturer’s minimum for a given web browser and operating system combination. However, PeopleSoft products will function on platforms meeting the manufacturer’s minimum requirements for a given web browser and operating system combination, but will not deliver the optimal user experience.
General end user workstation hardware requirements are as follows:
- 256 MB RAM recommended (32 MB RAM minimum)
- 800 MHz Pentium or equivalent processor (Pentium 133 MHz minimum)
In the PeopleSoft Internet Architecture (PIA), the web browser renders the user interface. The web browser receives the HTML generated by the application server and displays the graphic representation of the HTML. The CPU speed of the client has a great influence on how fast these HTML pages are rendered. HTML pages for some PeopleSoft applications can be quite complicated. The web browser should be configured to take advantage of the HTTP 1.1 Protocol and should also allow adequate disk space for HTML object caching.
Memory
For an optimal user experience, a power user should have a system with 256 MB RAM. A minimum of 48 MB RAM on the client is required for all power user applications. This assumes that a typical power user will run three browsers (two for transactions, one for process monitor). The browser instances use 10 MB of memory each. A self-service end user would only need minimum memory to run their operating system plus one instance of their web browser.
CPU
CPU speed affects HTML page rendering and refresh time. For an optimal user experience, all power users should have an 800 MHz Pentium or equivalent processor with a decent graphics adapter. Users will not see much improvement with CPUs faster than 800 MHz.
Based on those requirements and recommendations, the following are the recommended minimum configurations for desktop computers for UNT faculty, staff and students for EIS use:
| Type of user | Minimum Windows hardware recommended | Minimum Macintosh hardware recommended |
| Computationally-intensive user (faculty or staff interacting with PeopleSoft software on a regular basis to perform administrative tasks such as registering students, advising students, approving purchase orders, etc.) | Pentium III, 800 MHz, 256 MB RAM, 40 GB hard drive, 17" monitor | G3, 400 MHz, 256 MB RAM, 60 GB hard drive, 17" monitor |
| Self service user (students, faculty and staff using PeopleSoft software to register for courses, submit time sheets, change benefits options, enter course grades, etc.) | Pentium II, 400 MHz, 128 MB RAM, 20 GB hard drive, 15" monitor | G3, 400 MHz, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB hard drive, 17" monitor |
Note that almost every employee and all students will be interacting with PeopleSoft software once the EIS project is fully operational, so the recommended minimums will apply to the entire campus community.
Increasingly, UNT faculty members are using various instructional technologies to deliver course content. WebCT courses, streaming video, two-way desktop videoconferencing, and Web-delivered Powerpoint presentations are examples of instructional content that employ internet-delivered methodologies. In order to develop that content, a relatively powerful desktop computer is required both to improve the productivity of the faculty member (or his/her assistants) as well as to meet minimal requirements of the development software. Somewhat less stringent requirements are imposed on the computers used to interact with the content.
Because of the wide variety of development tools used to develop course content (Powerpoint, Frontpage, Dreamweaver, Director, Pagemaker, etc.,) it is difficult to set a minimum configuration for an instructional designer "power user's" machine. However, the following configurations for both the designer as well as the content user should suffice in today's environment:
Minimal hardware requirements for instructional designers and users
| Type of user | Minimum Windows hardware recommended | Minimum Macintosh hardware recommended |
| Computationally-intensive User (Designer/developer) | Pentium III, 800 MHz, 256MB RAM, 40 GB hard drive, 17" monitor | G4, 933 MHz, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB hard drive, 17" monitor |
| Content user (student) | Pentium II, 400 MHz, 128 MB RAM, 20 GB hard drive, 15" monitor | G4, 500 MHz, 256 MB RAM, 40GB hard drive, 17" monitor |
The needs of faculty researchers and Computing Center (and other software development offices) developers for desktop computers cannot be specified in general because those needs vary by individual research project or development effort. However, PeopleSoft does recommend a minimal hardware standard for PeopleTools developers: a 200 MHz Pentium machine. Realistically, PeopleSoft states that, "Obviously, the faster your machine, the faster its response time. To achieve optimal performance, you should invest in hardware that maximizes the performance of your operating system environment." Because PeopleSoft developers on campus will be testing their software in the same environment as power users (described above,) the minimal hardware for such programmers would be the same as for power users described earlier.
Researchers on campus will know the hardware requirements for their projects: a minimal requirement cannot be specified here.
UNT's Microcomputer Maintenance Shop builds and supports Intel-based desktop computers that equal or exceed those of major manufacturers such as Dell or Hewlett Packard. MMS provides maintenance support to keep UNT PC's of any genre operating at their original performance level, and offers the option of upgrading some PCs with additional memory, video cards, etc.
An option that all departments should consider when considering whether to replace their computers is to upgrade rather than replace them. Microcomputer Maintenance can usually reuse some components in your old machines and bring those machines up to the latest version of processors, disk drives, etc. This procedure can save significant amounts of money. Departmental computing support personnel can work with MMS to determine the breakeven point of replacement vs. upgrade.
Departments should also "hand down" computers that are still serviceable and that meet minimal requirements for different classes of users, either internally within the department or by offering them to other departments on campus.
The decision about whether to replace or upgrade desktop computers generally rests with the department head who has budget authority over the funds that would be used to purchase the new computer(s) or upgrade(s.) However, the recommendations listed above on minimal hardware configurations should be a strong consideration in weighing competing requests for the use of departmental funds, particularly if users in the department will be using the EIS system as indicated and if desktop computers don't meet the minimums noted. Development and testing of the EIS applications will begin early in the Fall of 2002 and power users in departments that will be particularly affected by the rollout should plan to have upgraded machines by December 2002 wherever possible.
Departments should develop plans for regular upgrades or replacements of desktop computers. It is more efficient and less disruptive of daily operations of departments if necessary changes to the hardware and software environment can be anticipated by both computer support personnel and users of computers. At a minimum, departments should conduct an annual analysis of their machines after new guidelines are issued by the Computing Center in the summer and develop an upgrade or replacement schedule for the ensuing academic year.
The University does not provide specifically-earmarked funds for computer upgrades but instead funds capital equipment purchases primarily through the HEAF ("Prop II") funds that are allocated annually to divisions and departments throughout the University. Maintenance and operations funds of course may also be used to fund computer purchases.
This document will be reviewed annually each summer by the Computing Center to ascertain whether the hardware recommendations made here are adequate for changing requirements and a revised version published on the University's Web site.