Los Medanos College

Information Technology and Services

Recommended Computing Standards

I. Preface

Desktop and laptop computers, accessories and the campus IT infrastructure have become essential tools for students, faculty and staff at LMC. As a result of the continuing growth of computing and the demand for support services, the College has experienced a significant impact on its resources. To focus central support efforts, the Information Technology and Services department (IT&S for short) started to compile a set of computing standards to provide consistency, support and the exchange of information as well as access to, and use of, the College's business systems. These standards will lead to high quality service and support, which will in turn enhance the workflow and productivity of the college community. They allow for compatibility and thorough, consistent support from the Department of Information Technology, co-workers, and vendors. Standards ensure that information can be distributed in a format and manner that the College community can read, use, and understand thus promoting our productively working together..

If a department or unit needs other computing products to provide for their special needs, then it is required of the department to go through the approved channel for an exceptions request in order to guarantee assistance for users of those products. This process for exceptions will provide for specialized needs

Except where noted, these standards are for doing the "business" functions of the College, not the "instruction" functions of the College.

A. "Business" functions include e-mail, calendaring, strategic planning, budgeting, and such things as documents that others need to receive and review to efficiently do the business of the College. Thus most of the hardware and software in faculty, staff, and administrator offices are covered by the standards.
 

B. "Instruction" includes teaching and other related research functions. Thus most of the hardware and software in classroom and computer labs are covered in a minimum fashion by the standards.  

II. Modification of Standards

A. Responsibility for Standards
 

1. Responsibility for these standards belongs to the Senior Dean of Information Technology and Services. Standards will be periodically evaluated and reviewed. Hardware and software, including groupware applications such as distance learning and collaborative computing will be examined on a regular basis.
 

2. The standards will be reviewed with the President's Council and the Technology Advisory Group to make recommendations on additions, deletions and/or modifications to these standards. Others wishing to make recommendations may make them directly to the Senior Dean of IT&S.
 

B. Updates of Supported Products

1. A list of supported products and services will be updated regularly and be made available to the College community on the web.

2. Purchasing will ensure that these standards are applied at acquisition time. These standards apply to all acquisitions including grants, donations, etc, not just to purchases.

C. Exceptions to Standards

1. Any department or unit or individual that wishes an exception to these standards will present an appeal in writing to the Senior Dean of Information Technology and Services. The appeal will state the following:
 

a. The requested exception

b. Justification for the request (i.e. why can't the need be met by supported hardware or software standards)

c. A signed statement of support from the appropriate Department Chair or area manager.

Only the Senior Dean of IT&S may authorize an exception to these standards.  Processing and review will require one week. Appeal of the Senior Dean's decision may be made to the Technology Advisory Group, which will communicate its deliberations to the Senior Dean.

2. Supported hardware and software will be purchased and maintained by IT.

3. IT will purchase, but will not support, other hardware and software if an exception is granted.  The user must commit funding and other appropriate resources to providing hardware and software support for the exception.

4. IT will neither purchase nor support unapproved hardware or software.  If IT personnel determine such hardware or software presents a threat to the security or stability of the campus network, the Senior Dean of IT will contact the individual responsible for the installation and request removal.

III. Wired vs Wireless

As the information technology world continues to develop and improve wireless access to computing services, the College is investigating ways to use wireless to enhance our wired infrastructure. As a result, wireless is to be used primarily in open access areas such as lounge area. The reliability and security issues still associated with the wireless technology make it less ideal for classrooms, labs and not suitable for offices. The District's administrative computing system, for instance, does not allow wireless connections to it.

To implement wireless technology at LMC, IT&S will only support business-class CISCO wireless products, the specifics of which can be found in the document entitled ÒLMC IT&S Support GuidelinesÓ. Wireless is not meant as a replacement of our wired infrastructure; rather, it is being deployed as an enhancement to the wired infrastructure to provide users with a degree of flexibility and mobility in their computing needs.

It is important for IT&S to recognize the desire to innovate or even experiment in some of the instructional areas. However, unless an exception request has been approved and support for the non-standard wireless equipment and accessories is guarantied, IT&S will support the standard equipment and accessories for wireless networking.

To summarize, wireless is recommended for:

Ÿ     Study areas

Ÿ     Lobby areas

Ÿ     Labs where occasional Internet access is needed

Wireless is NOT recommended for:   

Ÿ     Computer labs

Ÿ     Classrooms

Ÿ     Offices

Offices and classrooms can have supplemental wireless access if such access is deemed necessary.

IV. Desktop vs Laptops

The campus standard is a desktop computer for all college computer users. Request for a laptop to fulfill the ÒbusinessÓ functions of the College will fall under the exceptions procedure outlined above.

V. Supported Platforms

The campus standard to fulfill the ÒbusinessÓ functions of the College, primarily in offices, will be a PC capable of running the windows operating systems.

The only noted exception in the administrative area is marketing. The only noted exceptions to this standard in the instructional areas are Art, Graphic Design, Music, and Journalism.

All other deviations from the campus standard will fall under the exceptions procedure outlined above.

VI. PDAs

PDAs are not covered by this standard document. However, the existing procedure for purchasing and supporting PDAs is still in effect.

Ÿ     IT will not provide a campus standard for PDA's; however, IT will provide systems compatibility information to those managers who are upgrading or switching or purchasing PDA's.

Ÿ     PDA's can be purchased using either personal funds or District funds.

Ÿ     Whether purchased with personal funds or District funds, IT's support role, if the PDA's are used on campus, is to load the software. Anything above and beyond that, users will seek external assistance, whether it's the manufacturer, reseller or some other support entity.

VII. Minimum Purchase Standards for Desktop and Laptop Computers

The Minimum Purchase Standards is a point-in-time parameter for the purchase of desktop hardware and software, including the connection to the campus network infrastructure. These standards contribute to a responsive, dependable, and supportable computing environment.

The Minimum Purchase Standards provide specifications for the purchase of desktop and laptop computers. Specifications include processor speed, memory, removable media, the OS, network protocols, and network certification by the vendor. These specifications are reviewed quarterly.

Examples of desktop computers affected by the standards are those used in computer labs, as well as those on the desks of faculty, administrators, and staff.

These standards apply only to College-owned computers. These minimum purchase standards will assist College departments and units with purchasing decisions. They will also allow IT support to focus their campus-wide computing, support, and maintenance services.

VIII. Electrical Power

A. Surge protectors, not to be confused with power strips, are to be acquired with all computing equipment (PCs, printers, FAX machines, etc.).
 

B. The addition of computing equipment is straining the College's electrical system. Those who wish to acquire a large and concentrated amount of computing equipment should contact the Facilities Operations & Maintenance department and ask for an inspection of the availability and quality of electrical power in the appropriate area.  

IX. Backups

A. Backups are an important part of computing and the following information is to remind users of that as they acquire new computing resources. Lost or corrupted data means the re-entering of data and/or the possibility of data that can never be recovered.
 

B. Responsibility for all data stored on local drives belongs to the assigned user of the computer. All files created or revised each day should be backed up if they are stored on a local drive. Weekly backups should also be made of all your files.
 

C. Mission critical data must be stored on a file server where backups are performed automatically.

X. Conclusion

         This computing standards document is meant to help IT&S create and maintain the optimal support environment. As such, it needs to be reviewed in conjunction with the document entitled ÒIT&S Computing Support Guidelines.Ó

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