Policy

We provide every Extension staff member with modern, supportable, and secure computing hardware so that every staff member is able to do their job efficiently and to the best of their ability. To that end, Extension centrally funds a large portion of annually-purchased hardware and peripheral equipment for use in field offices, campus, and remote locations. Full time employees with a majority Extension appointment are eligible for a centrally funded computer (laptop or desktop) once every four years where funds are available. New positions created in Extension are eligible for hardware purchases. If you create and hire staff in a new position, please contact the help desk at least 3 weeks in advance of the employee starting. For vacated positions that refill with new hires, do reserve the departed staff member’s equipment for the new hire’s use. Likewise, please contact the help desk at least 1 week in advance of the new employee starting.

Equipment Replacement Cycles (ERC) are coordinated annually through the Unit county directors for field staff and Technology Services for administration and affiliated groups (EEC, SeaGrant, etc.) This cycle includes: desktops, laptops, iPads, monitors, and peripherals. When you receive a new computer via ERC please request setup via the ERC setup request form so that you can provide IT will all of the needed information to make sure your setup goes smoothly.

Help desk supported hardware includes IT-purchased Dell desktops, laptops, or tablets running our exclusive Dell Extension Windows 10 operating system. Support also includes IT-purchased Apple iPads. Support does not include desktops or laptops running Apple, Linux, Unix, or comparable variants.

Inventory and surplus: All offices are to follow the University policies on inventory and surplusing equipment. Regardless of the source of funds for the purchase of equipment, it remains the local offices’ responsibility to inventory and eventually surplus equipment used by its staff.

Computers from Surplus: Extension staff should not retrieve computers from surplus for any reason. Surplus machines have been securely wiped per University policy and have no supported OS or software installed and are not allowed on the Extension network. Machines from surplus are past the end of their useful life and often have undisclosed hardware issues, for that reason, Extension Tech Services will not support any computer sourced from surplus. If you have computers that came from surplus, they should be securely wiped and returned to surplus.

Concerning Dell: If a Dell computer is determined to have a hardware problem, Extension IT may advise staff to contact Dell and get warranty assistance. The warranty requires Dell to dispatch an onsite tech after they have performed diagnostics with your cooperation. Should a repair be required, do request the onsite tech and do not follow the option to have your computer shipped to a repair center.