Overview
Students, faculty, and staff may suggest new software titles to be considered for distribution by Pitt Information Technology for use in the Student Computing Labs, via the Software Download Service, and for departmental or site-license use.
Detail
Software for Academic and Administrative Use:
Priority is given to the following software requests (other requests may be submitted as needed):
- Those supporting academic and instructional purposes
- Those supporting departmental and business functions
- Those providing vendor-supplied information (including trial versions)
The following criteria are used to evaluate requests:
- For the site licensing program, evidence of widespread usage (or substantial growth in usage) of the software by the University community
- Availability of a publisher/vendor license program that is acceptable to the University
- The ability to acquire a license to distribute the software at a price reduction sufficient to ensure that the software can be distributed to University students, faculty, and staff at low cost
- The ability to acquire the rights from the publisher/vendor to distribute the software to students
- Funding availability
- Availability of other similar software
Software for the Student Computing Labs:
-
Requests must be submitted using the New Software Title Request form.
-
Submissions must meet the following deadlines.
| Term |
Deadline |
| Spring |
October 1 |
| Summer |
February 1 |
| Fall |
May 1 |
-
Student requests must include the name and contact information of a faculty sponsor who serves as the contact person and possible support resource for the package. Prior to the start of each academic term, faculty sponsorship is verified before any student requests are processed.
-
You must verify that your software is not currently offered (see the list of software available in Student Computing Labs, and the lists for students, faculty, staff, and departments). If similar software is available, explain why your version is required in your request.
Software license usage and availability is monitored closely, and additional licenses are acquired only if specific evidence of need exists. Software licenses are maintained in a pool that is shared by Student Computing Labs and a program that provides academic courseware titles to faculty. The number of licenses that Pitt IT maintains for a given software package is determined by several factors, including:
- Peak period usage for academic and instructional purposes
- Cost
- License availability
Additional criteria for installation consideration include:
- Number of students who might use the software
- Software compatibility with operating systems used in the Student Computing Labs (Windows and/or Macintosh); the software publisher/vendor must offer a platform-compatible version of the software
- Because we must ensure that new software does not cause conflicts with existing software installed in the Student Computing Labs, no new software or upgrades are installed on production systems during an academic term; all updates are made prior to the start of a term