Asset Management.

Faculty and staff are provided suitable assets as part of the employment. Each new hire is assigned particular SPH owned assets to enable them to perform their core duties and responsibilities. Upon analysis of what is needed for each employee, assets are ordered from preferred vendors per Boston University Procurement regulations.

Hard assets such as office furniture, specialized equipment, computer hardware, and licensing (software) are different types of assets an employee may be issued. As older assets are decommissioned, and newer assets are acquired, the original equipment that has completed its life-cycle will be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner. Older assets are reviewed for condition and performance and repurposed accordingly.

To request that an asset be purchased, please use the Asset Management Request (AMR) form. This form prompts the user to answer questions that are required to create a shopping cart, as well as to account for existing equipment. The completed form will be sent to the SPH Facilities Manager, and a copy will be sent to the user and respective supervisor for recordkeeping. Within 48 hours after a request has been submitted, a shopping cart is created, and the order is placed. Depending on the funding source(s) and value of the shopping cart, the ordering process, which includes proper approvals, may take a few business days to complete. Furniture assets typically take six to eight weeks to be delivered, whereas computer assets typically range between two to four weeks.

Upon termination of an employee’s relationship with Boston University, any SPH property/assets assigned to that employee must be returned to SPH on the employee’s last day of employment with the school. All computers purchased or reimbursed with SPH funds (including discretionary and grant funds) remain the property of SPH until properly disposed of through the BUMC IT recycle program. Computer assets do not become a gift or property of the current user at the termination of grants nor with the procurement of new assets.

a. Expenditure Operations Hierarchy

To promote equity in our purchasing decisions, and protect the school’s financial resources, all asset purchases at SPH, follow the expenditure hierarchy below.

Requester	Comments	Electronic Devices*	Other Physical Assets*
New Faculty	This hierarchy refers to expenses incurred for a newly recruited primary faculty member during the initial contract period.	244XXX0020 – Recruitment 909XXXXXX2 – Faculty Discretionary 909XXXXXX1 – Chair Discretionary	2446390000 – SPH Plant Reserve** 244XXX0020 – Recruitment 909XXXXXX1 – Chair Discretionary
Existing Faculty	This hierarchy refers to expenses incurred at the request of an existing faculty member.	95XXXXXXXX – Grant*** 909XXXXXX2 – Faculty Discretionary 909XXXXXX1 – Chair Discretionary	2446390000 – SPH Plant Reserve** 909XXXXXX2 – Faculty Discretionary 909XXXXXX1 – Chair Discretionary
Staff/Students on central funding	This hierarchy assumes that the staff/student is working in central school or department functions.	244XXX0000 – Dept Operating	2446390000 – SPH Plant Reserve** 909XXXXXX1 – Chair Discretionary
Staff/Students on extramural funding	This hierarchy assumes that a staff/student is working on an extramurally funded project.	95XXXXXXXX – Grant 909XXXXXX2 – Faculty Discretionary 909XXXXXX1 – Chair Discretionary	2446390000 – SPH Plant Reserve** 909XXXXXX2 – Faculty Discretionary 909XXXXXX1 – Chair Discretionary

Notes:

*Electronic Devices Include Computers, Tablets, Docking Stations, Monitors, and Printers. Other Physical Assets Include: Furniture (desk, table, chairs, bookcase, filing cabinets, etc.), Carpet, and Paint

**The SPH Plant Reserve shall be billed only for physical assets with approval from the Dean or designee, provided that the request is in line with efforts to refresh all physical assets at SPH periodically. However, the table above also provides the hierarchy of accounts that should be used when it is not appropriate to charge the physical asset to the SPH Plant Reserve.

***It is understood that some departments have a history of charging computers centrally. Respecting that history, we anticipate that some departments may wish to budget computers on Chair Discretionary funds.

This hierarchy falls within the established finance guidelines for SPH vis-à-vis potential account deficits. Grant purchases are limited to project personnel and related expenses; grant accounts must be charged in accordance with award notices and established cost principles. Where relevant, 93XXXXXXXX – Gifts and 925XXXXXXX – use Endowment Spendable accounts for all as a priority. Gifts and spendable endowment funds may be used if appropriate based on donor specifications.

b. Purchasing a Computer at SPH

Information Services & Technology, in cooperation with Sourcing & Procurement, sponsors Boston University’s PC and Apple Standards initiative. Standardization lowers the total cost of ownership through reduced support costs and encourages collaboration and efficiency between all BU IT support staff. By leveraging the buying power of the University, we also can receive significant cost savings for our purchases. BU’s recommended vendors for all desktop and laptop purchases are Lenovo and Apple.

Key benefits of the Standards Initiative are:

Cost savings through negotiated pricing on selected models
Quality
Sustainability
Extended Warranty Support
PC systems pre-installed with BU Software Image

Getting Started

BU PC and Apple Standards are purchased through the Terrier Marketplace catalog in BUworks.
For model information and pricing, visit Sourcing & Procurement Computer Standards
IS&T supported departments are encouraged to consult with IS&T Desktop Services when selecting a computer. To contact IS&T Desktop Services, please email ithelp@bu.edu.
Non-IS&T supported groups are encouraged to consult with your local IT support. For contact information, please use this directory of Other (Non-IS&T) Technical Support Resources

Recommended Refresh Cycle

Information Services and Technology (IS&T) recommends that University-owned computers be replaced on a regular cycle. Older machines in our environment increase our total cost of ownership as they become less supportable, less secure, and less sustainable than more current devices. For standard computing situations, IS&T recommends a refresh cycle that replaces laptops every four years and desktops every five years. IS&T has suggested that typical lifecycle for standard Lenovo/Apple laptops may be 1 to 2 years beyond the 4 year extended warranty, and desktops may be up to 2 to 3 years beyond the 4 year extended warranty.

Requirements

Participation in the standards initiative is required for administrative departments and highly recommended for academic units. Exceptions must be approved by vetting the business requirements for a non-standard purchase with either your Desktop Services Primary Responder or local IT Partner support staff.

The BU Standards Initiative was born out of the need to improve the procurement of desktop and laptop systems at the University. Prior to the Standards Initiative, the wide variety of computer models, many of which were consumer-grade equipment, caused confusion and reduced support efficiency. Additionally, BU was not receiving bulk pricing discounts from our vendors due to our lack of standardization. To this end, a committee was formed, consisting of IS&T staff and IT Partners from both the Charles River Campus and the Medical Campus. The goal was to select a single vendor for PC systems and to select systems that met the needs of the majority of University users.

Lenovo (ThinkCentre and ThinkPad) was selected as the University’s PC standards vendor after a lengthy RFx process as well as testing of evaluation units by the IT Partners. While Apple is the only vendor for macOS and iOS systems, they, too, were carefully evaluated to select the best options for the University.

IS&T and Sourcing coordinate a PC Commodities Council that meets regularly to maintain and evaluate the University’s standard configurations. The Council has representation from the Charles River Campus, the Medical Campus, IT Partners, and IS&T, as well as staff from Sourcing & Procurement.

BUSPH Computer Procurement Policy

After visiting the sourcing and procurement site, and deciding on a computer, the next step is to fill out the SPH (AMR). This form will collect the required information to build a Terrier Marketplace shopping cart, as well as update BUSPH asset inventory information.

Once the AMR form is completed and submitted, it is sent to SPH’s manager of operations/facilities, to be processed. The requester also receives an email with a copy of the request. Typically, it takes less than 48 hours to create and submit a shopping cart. Once the shopping cart is submitted, it is viewed by the SPH finance team, and then the existing SAP approval process (departmental sign off) takes place. The Terrier Marketplace then submits the order to the vendor.

Both preferred vendors typically acknowledge a Terrier Marketplace order from BUSPH within 24 hours. Depending on the equipment selected and its availability, the product should be delivered within 2-4 weeks.

When the product(s) arrive, they are delivered to IS&T, and an IS&T ticket is created, using the original Asset Management Request form. This ticket is created with the asset requester email, as to continue communication between both parties. IS&T adds the new asset to the inventory system, tags the machine with a BUMC IT tag/ID number, and images the computer. Laptops undergo an additional process. They have encryption software installed to protect data should the laptop be stolen or lost. Now is when the requestor/end-user would request that existing or new software be installed on the new asset via their ticket. IS&T will need to have proof of ownership before they are allowed to install purchased software. The procurement of software is done with an ISR, which is a slightly different process.

When IS&T completes its tasks, it updates the ticket and coordinates a drop-off of the computer with the requestor/end-user. When this exchange happens, the requestor’s old asset is usually collected to be recycled or re-imaged and redistributed to another SPH member. IS&T can also make sure that printers and monitors are correctly connected, and move data from old equipment to new equipment with delivery as well.

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Asset Management.

a. Expenditure Operations Hierarchy

b. Purchasing a Computer at SPH

c. Ricoh Printers and Photocopiers

d. Routine Facilities Maintenance

e. Non-Routine Facilities Maintenance

f. Other Maintenance