Computers for Non-IT Folks

Our policy is that IT does not buy computers for people (outside of IT).

IT does not have a budget to buy laptop or desktop computers for other departments or labs. Director of Procurement, Marcia Glatt does have budgets for equipment (though we are never sure how much she has available at any particular time).

Quotes

We will meet with people (in person, or on phone, or other remote means) to discuss their needs and desires and we will provide them with a quote.
That person then needs to give the quote to whoever buys computers for them so that a requisition can be entered into iLab or Lawson.
- For lab people, this is often the ALM or sometimes a Lab Manager
- For admin people (except IA), they may need to go through someone in Procurement to arrange for Marcia Glatt’s budget to pay for the item.

For Institutional Advancement (IA), it is my understanding that they have their own budget that may be used to buy computer equipment for themselves.

COVID times

The supply chain shortages during the pandemic, coupled with the timing of many admin departments hiring temps (planned to be here for approximately 18 months) led to a big, big crunch of admin directors and managers asking, “Does IT have any computers? How do I get a computer quickly for my new person?”
Desperate times call for creative thinking, and we got an OK to buy “loaner” computers with IT money.
- The original plan was to use it as a loaner while the person waited for their “permanent” computer to come in.
- It turned out that in some cases, it was more work than it was worth to do a swap and we didn’t necessarily ask Marcia to back-fill any of our loaners used for a “permanent” deployment to temp staff.
- How we deploy these machines is still evolving.
Fewer Shortages
- We have learned how to better manage the shortages. If we order stock configurations, or outright ask our rep to give us info on “what is shipping now” then computers may come in exceptionally fast.
Department Planning

If a department knows they have someone coming on board with sufficient notice, ask them to ask Marcia to buy a computer for the person.

Storing Computers

We try very hard not to store computers for people (admin or lab).

There are some circumstances when we can’t prevent it (such as the 2 computers for the WI Internal Auditor).
If we do a significant transfer of data to a new machine for someone, we might hold the old one long enough to ensure that the transfer was successful.
In any case, a machine being “held” or “stored” for someone should include that person’s name and some information about when we started holding it, and when it can be reused or recycled.

Please note: If at all possible, we’d rather the admin department, core, or lab store their own machines