SECTION CONTENTS

210.00  Student Computer Fee
210.10    Background
210.20    Fee Allocation Process
210.30    Monitoring of Student Fee Purchases

220.00  Resource Acquisition and Replacement Strategy
220.10    Objective
220.20    Background
220.30    Strategic Plan
220.40    Plant Fund

210.00 Student Computer Fee

210.10 Background

The Board of Regents has authorized units of the university system to collect a fee from students to be used for "purchase or lease of computer equipment, software, maintenance or related items which will benefit the instructional program" (MUS Policy and Procedures Manual, Section 940.23). This policy establishes a mechanism for allocating those fees.

210.20 Fee Allocation Process

1. The Computer Fee Advisory Committee (CFAC) (Section 130.00) sends an annual request for proposals suggesting uses of student computer fees to all deans and all directors of global computing facilities.

2. Deans and directors submit written proposals to the CFAC, detailing intended uses, immediate and long-term costs, including maintenance of the equipment desired. All requested equipment must be consistent with the MSU computing plan and compatible with MSUnet.

3. After the CFAC has reviewed all proposals submitted, each dean and director has an opportunity to address the committee on the merits of his or her proposal and answer any questions the committee may have.

4. Following the hearings, the CFAC evaluates all proposals in terms of student access to the requested equipment and rejects any that are not in accord with Regents' policies. The committee prioritizes the remaining requests in terms of their instructional impact, determines which can be covered by the available funds, and recommends allocations to the President, Commissioner of Higher Education, and Regents, who give final approval per established Regents' policy.

5. The ITC Director also provides reports to the CFAC concerning the installation and implementation of purchases using the student computer fund.

6. The MSU Treasurer provides an annual report to CFAC on expenditures and reversions of the Student Computer Fees.

210.30 Monitoring of Student Fee Purchases

1. Property Management affixes stickers to all equipment purchased with student computer fees and uses a unique funding code in the property databases to distinguish it from equipment purchased with other funds.

2. The CFAC conducts an annual inspection of all equipment purchased with student computer fees to ascertain that it is being used as intended and is being properly maintained.

3. In cases where machines are not being used or maintained appropriately, the CFAC issues a written statement to the responsible Dean or Director, detailing the issues of noncompliance and including a deadline for compliance.

4. If compliance is not satisfactory, the CFAC recommends to the President that the equipment be reallocated. The process outlined in Section 210.20 is followed for reallocation.

220.00 Resource Acquisition and Replacement Strategy

220.10 Objective

To establish a framework for the orderly expansion, migration, and replacement of the President's Executive Council controlled hardware and software on the MSU campus.

220.20 Background

The hardware and software that implement the "core" services for Montana State University have historically been acquired, maintained and updated in an unstructured manner. These information systems are a strategic resource for MSU, and must be maintained, enhanced, and replaced in a fashion that effectively supports the university mission. In addition, providers of "global" services must follow standards to ensure those services are accessible from the campus network.

220.30 Strategic Plan

ITC will develop a five year strategic plan for information resources on the MSU campus. This plan will be updated by ITC, reviewed by the UCPC, and approved by the President's Executive Council on an annual basis. It will include, but not be limited to, the following:

1. Migration of all campus hardware and software systems toward an environment that is "open" in nature. Open systems are those that use nonproprietary operating systems like Unix, communications protocols such as TCP/IP, and database front-ends like SQL. These environments tend to have more universal support, afford easier migration of applications, and reduce vendor dependence;

2. Evolution of the campus data network toward a seamless integration of data, voice, and video;

3. Standards for connection to and interaction with the campus network;

4. Integration of the campus network with the emerging National Information Infrastructure and the National Research and Education Network.

220.40 Plant Fund

1. A plant fund will be established to provide for renewal and replacement of the MSU information system. This includes the devices which comprise the campus network and interconnect local and wide area networks, central output devices and the software and hardware which support the Administrative Information Systems and other central services.

2. The President's Executive Council and ITC must make contributions to this fund at a level that allows for replacement of core software and hardware at the end of their effective life spans.

3. Expenditures from this plant fund will be in accordance with the priorities established in the strategic plan.

Table of Contents

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