Computer Lifecycle

The Computer Lifecycle team assists faculty, staff, and research labs with purchasing recommended computer models, receiving, inventory management, facilitating the deployment of computers, and managing the end of life retirement of computers.

Supported Computers

Policy

  • LAITS supports a limited number of end-user computer models to ensure compatibility, efficient support, and security. LAITS has this policy for several reasons:
    • Older computers may not be able to run current secure operating systems or software
    • Supporting non-standard computers increases overall support costs which must be passed on to our customers
  • The list of supported computer models is updated regularly when new models are released.
  • LAITS will no longer support a particular computer model at the end of the calendar year, 8 years from date of model release. (For example, a computer with a model release date in 2015 would be supported through the end of calendar year 2023). LAITS may modify this as required for specific computer models as needed.
  • Upon a computer becoming ‘unsupported’ it is the responsibility of the department or faculty member to replace that computer with a supported model. If ‘unsupported’ computers are not replaced, they are subject to network quarantine.
  • LAITS will provide bi-annual notification to departmental administrative staff listing the current end of support status for computers in use by the department.
  • LAITS may grant exceptions to this policy depending on circumstances. Any exception requests should be submitted to: laits-help@utexas.edu.

Supported Models

LAITS does support the following computer models:

  • Apple iMac, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac mini, Mac Pro models
  • Dell Latitude, Precision, and OptiPlex models
  • Apple iPad tablets
  • Microsoft Surface tablet/laptops

LAITS does NOT support the following computer models:

  • Toshiba
  • Lenovo
  • HP
  • ASUSTek
  • Intel NUC
  • Dell consumer-grade models, including Inspiron, Dimension, Vostro, XPS models

Service Description

Computer Purchasing and Receiving

Inventory and ISORA

  • LAITS assists departments with annual inventory by providing a report of all known computers as well as registering them in the ISORA application.
  • Inventory
    • Computer deliveries to BEL 228 will be tagged and added to DEFINE as part of our deployment process
    • Computer deliveries to departments must be tagged by the owning unit and transported to BEL
  • ISORA
    • The ISO requires that all devices that are on the UT network are registered within the ISORA Inventory application. LAITS regularly updates this inventory to ensure compliance with this policy.
    • Computers that are registered in the ISORA Inventory application with certain required fields (MAC Address, system type, priority, and location) that are recently seen on the network or are actively reporting in via the Nessus agent will be automatically marked as FOUND in DEFINE during the annual inventory process. 

Computer Deployment

LAITS provides:

  • A computer configuration process to provision computers for faculty and staff, including migration of their existing settings and configurations to new computers.
  • Curbside pickup service out of Bellmont Hall (BEL), as well as delivery to service desks and/or offices (for desktop computers, as required)
  • Remote or in-person configuration and data migration
  • Standard and customer-specific software applications
  • Security and management configurations to ensure ISO compliance
  • UTBackup (Crashplan) installation and configuration

Computer Repair

See Desktop Support for details on Computer Repair.

Computer Surplus

  • All UT Tagged computer surplus requests should begin with a LAITS Surplus Pickup Request Form
  • LAITS coordinates the surplus of UT Inventoried standard computer equipment for supported customers per University requirements
  • Our standard process consists of:
    • Customer request for surplus pickup
    • Transfer via CCART of customer assets to a LAITS unit code (removes the item from your inventory)
    • Hard Drive removal or wiping (dependent on model)
    • Transfer via CCART to Surplus
    • Coordination of pickup by Surplus
  • LAITS only accepts computers and monitors for surplus. Computer accessories, furniture and other items are the responsibility of the department.
  • All non-tagged equipment should be picked up by submitting a Pick Up Request with Facilities Services

Client Responsibilities

In order for LAITS staff members to be able to view inventory data for LAITS-supported units and generate Equipment Transfer NT1 electronic documents via CCARTS, it will be necessary for the Electronic Office Management (EOM) manager for each client to link their own unit/subunits to an Authorization View named INVMGMT. LAITS Administrative staff can assist client with setting up this required configuration.

Last Updated: 2023-08-11

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