How are Departmental PCs supplied?

From 01 August 2021, the University centralised a proportion of departmental budgets to facilitate an annual investment in staff PC equipment.

Benefits

• By centralising the budget into an annual procurement we aim to deliver significant savings over ad-hoc, individual, departmental purchases.
• It will enable Information Services to ensure that all PCs are able to run current versions of Microsoft Windows and Office and ensure that PCs are kept up to date with security updates and security improvements such as drive encryption.

How will it work?

• The annual investment will be used to replace approximately 1/6^th of the staff PCs across the University each year, with the aim of renewing the whole IT estate over a six year cycle,
• Departments will be allocated a proportion of the new equipment purchased based on FTE headcount
• Departments will be invited to prioritise which staff should have their equipment replaced. To help with the planning cycle of this project please let Andrew Chick [anc@aber.ac.uk] in Information Services know the appropriate point of contact for your department.
• Any PCs that are not yet 6 years old will be issued back to departments to make sure only the oldest computers are disposed of.

What equipment will be provided?

• With the move towards hybrid working this investment will now be in mobile rather than desktop devices.
• The standard set up will be:
• HP ProBook 450 G9
• Intel Core i5 12th Gen Processor
• 15.6” FHD Screen
• 16GB Memory
• 256GB Storage
• Laptop bag
• 24" monitor hub with wireless keyboard and mouse

 

What about alternative equipment and/or peripherals?

• Departments needing equipment of a higher specification, or of an alternative make such as Apple, will be able to build these requirements into the annual procurement. Departments will need to cover the cost difference beyond the standard offering.
• Any PCs needed for student use or by staff at a point outside of the main procurement will need to cover the full cost of the equipment.
• Accessories and peripherals are not included in this project and will need to be purchased from Departmental funds.

What about equipment for new staff?

• Information Services will provide equipment for new staff.
• This will come from the annual replacement allocation for that department.

When will this start?

• We expect the first procurement to start in January 2022 when the IT market has had a chance to recover from the component shortages that has impacted most of the sector.

Important information

• All IT equipment provided will remain the property of Aberystwyth University and must be returned to Information Services when finished with or when ending employment.
• Staff are expected and required to look after items provided. Information Services will repair or replace equipment as needed but any loss or damage due to negligence will be notified to the relevant head of department and will be chargeable.
• The laptops will be centrally managed to comply with the Device Management Policy
• The equipment is solely provided for work use, must not be shared with third-parties or family members, and must not have software installed without seeking approval from Information Services.