CED LibAnswers: CED IT

Software is probably the hardest purchase there is.  Licensing can be extremely challenging and often not possible. It all starts and ends with my office and most of it is UGA/USG policy-driven. Here's how it goes:

1.  A request is submitted to cedhelp@uga.edu

   1. CED IT looks into whether the software is used on campus already (makes things easier)

      1. The faculty member needs to define the licensing needed

         1. Individual, multi-seat (research lab), instructional, etc.

      2. IT identifies an available vendor to order the software from

2. Funding

   1. There is no IT budget for new software

   2. Is there a grant?

      1. Is it internal or external to UGA

      2. What is the duration of the award

   3. Some things may be applicable for using the UGA Student Technology Fee for the first year as a trial before CED budgeting

      1. STF funds can not be used as a fixed budget source for software

   4. CED seed-grant or one-time funding (wish list) ask could also be an option

3. Review and vetting by the CED IT Committee of any potential purchase that is not exclusively for faculty use

   1. Staff time, instruction application/benefit, is it duplication of other software we already bought, just because someone prefers it, etc.

4. Review and vetting by the CED Budget Committee (Deans & Vickie)

   1. This is for approval of additional staff time to go through the procurement process

   2. This also prepares the budget process for potential ongoing expenses

      1. So few software packages are one-time purchases

      2. We do have faculty who ask for one-time funding for a license each year

5. After CED approvals, CED IT prepares a CESS approval request that is routed through EITS Information Security and to the VP-IT

6. While waiting on the CESS, CED IT will get a trial of software to be installed outside of the faculty office to look into potential network licensing and system imaging issues

7. Procurment

   1. Once we have an approved CESS and know the software may work in our environment, we get a quote for the software, and a purchase request is submitted to Procurement

   2. For software not already vetted on campus that involves a review of the EULA and a  possible supplemental review by UGA Legal

      1. This is where most software purchases end because the software developer has language that conflicts with the State Constitution and/or policies

      2. 1. Most EU, Eastern European, all Russian, and Chinese packages

         2. There is also a list maintained by the GA DOAS of prohibited developers and manufacturers

      3. 1. 1. This is mostly a federal guideline-based list, but some are state information security-generated prohibitions

8. Should all the prior steps go smoothly, we will receive the software and license, which will be held by CED IT and installed on computers as appropriate