SOFTWARE INSTALLATION POLICY

The computer systems have been configured with software that has been tested and is licensed to the College. Installation of unauthorized software could result in either making the computer system unstable or subjecting the College to additional licensing liabilities.

If a user requires a particular software program to be installed in order to fulfill a job function that requires licensing or purchasing by the college or that impacts the local registry, he or she must submit a request for that software.

A request to install software should be accompanied by the Software Installation Request Form. If the software has been tested and validated for installation on College computer systems, and if the Software Installation Request Form is completely filled out, including licensing information, then the IT department will install the software within 24- 48 hours.

For software that has not been tested there will be a lead time of one week from the time the IT department receives the software until it can be installed. During this week period, the IT department will install the software on a test machine and test the software to ensure that it is compatible with the computer system and other College applications. In addition, the department requesting the software must make available a user who can test the functionality of the software to ensure that the software does in fact perform the required tasks in the Framingham State College system and network environment.

Unauthorized Software Installation

The Framingham State College IT Department stresses the expense and potential liability associated with the installation of unauthorized software. The College can be held liable for pirating software if licensing information is not centralized and documented. There are problems with software applications that contain “backdoors” which represent a threat to the security of the College. Other types of software may conflict with programs running on College servers and could cause interference with or even crash those programs for staff trying to access those server based programs.

Users who install unauthorized software place the College at risk. In the event of an unauthorized software installation, the affected computer may be taken off the network until the unauthorized software program can be removed from the computer system by the ITS Department.