Purchasing Technology

Thinking about buying a technology solution, system or hardware at Davidson?

Whether you need to buy a laptop for a new employee, or want to purchase academic or administrative software for college use, Technology & Innovation (T&I) can assist you in the process.

Computer Workstation

T&I facilitates the purchase, setup and ongoing security of all college-owned computers, regardless of who pays for the device.

• Department-paid: Departments pay the initial cost to buy the primary workstation for newly created positions; those computers are then replaced by T&I on a four year cycle. Other computers, such as research lab systems and others funded with new faculty startup funds, are always paid from departmental or faculty/grant funds, not by T&I.
• T&I-paid: Most Davidson employees receive a college-owned Mac or Windows laptop or desktop for their use. These computers are replaced every four years. T&I also replaces computers in classrooms, computer labs/clusters and selected teaching labs on a regular cycle.

Computer Workstation Purchasing Policy

Computer Purchasing Standards

Discounted Computers for Faculty, Staff & Students

Academic Software

The college centrally funds academic software licenses for products that are used by multiple departments and academic programs. As permitted by license restrictions, T&I installs this software on computer cluster/loaner laptops and distributes it to students, faculty and staff.

T&I Relationship Managers review requests for new academic software and shares them with the campus’s Learning Spaces, Technology, and Design Committee. With the committee’s approval, T&I may fund a pilot of new academic software for two semesters. Software that is adopted by three or more departments is a candidate to be paid for from the central college software budget, depending on usage and cost. T&I and the committee also seek opportunities to discontinue funding for software that is little-used. To submit a request for academic software, contact your T&I relationship manager.

Administrative Software & Enterprise Applications

Davidson uses over 200 administrative software applications, from departmental applications used by specific teams to enterprise-level software used by all students or employees. Our Engagement team works with departments and divisions to continually assess technology needs that may apply to the entire campus. 

Funding

As a general rule, and subject to T&I’s approval of the selected system, department- or division-specific technology solutions are funded and managed by the unit using the solution. Costs for solutions used by multiple divisions are either shared by those divisions or transferred to T&I. The division(s) funding the service make decisions about the solution’s renewal, replacement or retirement. Regardless of who covers costs, solutions used by the college must meet expectations set forth in the Technology Purchasing Guide (Davidson login required)

Purchasing Process

If you or your department are considering a new application or a contract related to technology, contact T&I. Our Engagement team will work with you to perform a thorough assessment, including:

• Ensuring the solution meets a stated business need, integrates into our environment and is aligned with our technology strategy, and Technology Purchasing Guide (Davidson login required).
• Assessing the solution’s security and compliance, beginning with Educause's higher education community vendor assessment process
• Reviewing the solution provider’s contract for IT-related issues 

Per the college’s Contracts Policy (Davidson login required), our Chief Information Officer will also perform a review of the solution, prior to general counsel review.