Requesting Non-Supported Software on a University-Owned Device

Purpose

The purpose of this procedure is to ensure that the application products that are installed on University-owned computers are supportable and do not negatively impact the security of University information and systems.

Description

The Office of Information Technology (OIT) maintains a list of software products that have been approved for use at UHCL. To have a software product from the list installed on your system, all you need to do is to submit a request to the OIT Support Center at extension 2828 or supportcenter@uhcl.edu to install the approved software product onto your computer.  Depending on UHCL’s contract with the vendor, the software product may or may not have a charge associated with it.

In cases where you need to have a software product installed that is not on the approved product list, you may request that the product be considered for inclusion onto the approved application list, or for installation on your system as a special case. The following procedural steps is intended to accomplish either of the aforementioned options.

Procedure

1. Download Form SR001A: Request to Install Non-Supported Software on a University-Owned Device
2. Fill in the Product and Requestor sections of the form, sign it and ask your supervisor to sign the form in the spaces provided
3. Submit the form to OIT Technical Services
4. An authorized member of OIT Technical Services (for workstation software) or OIT Infrastructure (for server software) will review the product’s specifications to ensure that the product can integrate effectively into our workstation, server and network environments
5. For workstation software, we expect that the requested software product will operate as a standalone product on your computer. However, if there are requirements that involve network or firewall changes, or integration with OIT server-based software, the authorized OIT representative will involve personnel from the appropriate areas of OIT to ensure that the software product will not negatively impact the University’s computing environment.
6. The authorized OIT representative will fill out the appropriate section of the form, will summarize his or her findings, and will sign the form in the space provided. If the software product cannot be implemented without impacting OIT operations, the form will be returned to the requestor with the comments highlighting the issues.
7. If it is determined that the software product can be implemented with no negative impact, the authorized OIT representative will forward the form to the Information Security Officer
8. The Information Security Officer (ISO) will review the authorized OIT representative’s comments and will evaluate the security capabilities of the product. If there are security concerns, the Information Security Officer will work with the requestor and the authorized OIT representative to find an acceptable alternative. The Information Security Officer will summarize the results of the security assessment and will indicating whether the product is approved for installation or not. If approved, the assessment will also specify any restrictions that must be applied as part of the implementation. 
9. The ISO will then send the form, approved or not, back to the authorized OIT representative
10. If the request is approved, the appropriate OIT resources will install the requested software and make any approved adjustments