Service Classifications

The software used on the NDSU campus will be placed in one of the following service classifications.The intent of the service classifications is to provide the end users with a clear set expectations about the service that ITS will provide for a software package.

Class 1

-The mainstream software packages that are used on campus will be in service class 1.
-Mainstream software packages are those current software packages that are used by the majority of end users on a regular basis.
-Those software packages that form the core of the current baseline are in service class 1.
-End users can expect that ITS personnel will be knowledgeable about these packages.

-End users can expect that ITS will schedule regular training sessions on these packages

Class 2

-Software packages that were in wide spread use across campus but are not now the most up to date versions will fall into the service class 2.
-End users can expect that ITS will be knowledgeable about these packages.
-The primary difference between service class 1 and service class 2 is that end users should not expect that ITS to schedule regular training sessions for service class 2 software.

Class 3

-Software packages that are not part of the baseline but widely used.
-End users can expect that ITS will be somewhat knowledgeable about these packages.
-No training or support for these packages is available

Class 4

-Software packages that are specialized in nature and not widely used
-End users can expect that ITS will not be knowledgeable about these packages.
-No training or support for these packages will be available

Academic Class

-Academic class applications are software packages that have a very limited user group.
-It is expected that the number of software packages that fall into this class will be very large.
This table provides a summary of the services available for each class of software.

 

Class

Testing
License if needed
Installation/

Recovery

Support

Training
1
X
X
X
X
X
2
X
X
X
X
3
X
X
X
4
X
X
*
Academic
X
*

* When necessary, ITS will install Class 4 and Class Academic applications for those users who have not requested administrator rights.

Testing

-Ideally all software run on campus will be tested by ITS.ITS will test to ensure that the software:

oWill not conflict with the Baseline Productivity Software installed on the user's desktop.

oWill not cause problems on the campus network.

License if needed

-If a license is required for the baseline productivity software, ITS will negotiate and distribute the license.

-The user will be responsible for the cost of the license and the appropriate licensing fee will be charged to user's account.

Installation/Recovery

-If requested, ITS will perform the initial installation on the user's machine.
-ITS will maintain an image of the baseline.
-In the event of a system failure, ITS will use the image to recover the machine to the baseline.
-In the event of a system failure, ITS will make every reasonable effort to recover the user's data.

Support

-In addition to installation and recovery, ITS will provide continued maintenance support to insure that the software packages are enhancing the productivity of the end-user.
-This support is not intended to be a substitute for end-user training.

Training

-ITS will provide end-user training sessions on software packages.
-The number and frequency of training sessions will be determined by end-user demand.

Academic Class software

-It is recognized that a large number of software packages are used for academic and research purposes.
-Licensing, if needed, is the responsibility of the end-user.
-ITS (and in some instances the end user) will test these packages before they are placed into use.
oIdentifying problems during standard testing is more efficient than trying to track down an untested package that is causing problem on an individual machine or across a network.

oTesting a software package before installation will allow ITS to determine if there is an installation configuration causes conflicts.
 

If you would like to have a question added to our Question and Answers list or if you have a general comment you may enter your comments and questions here.

Return to main page.