Hardware and software standards must be managed and applied where possible to keep UAMS’ total cost of ownership (TCO) for desktop software, workstations, printers and servers as low as possible and to enable improved support. Applied standards also enhance the ability to communicate across the campus. Standards management is driven by two major factors - customer requests and industry direction.

• Customer request are generally made in two distinct categories, the first is "I need the newest and greatest", the second is a business-driven need.

• Industry changes occur with great frequency and must be followed to ensure that UAMS continues to cost-effectively supply the appropriate hardware and software

UAMS’ standard for PC desktop software is the Microsoft Suite of Products. That includes Office 95/97, Exchange, Outlook, etc. Our resources are highly skilled with these software products and can provide assistance at a variety of levels. However, Information Technology support resources also have skills in a variety of other products and will attempt to either provide help or find someone who can help, regardless of whether or not the software in question is part of the standard support suite. Our approach to standards management is as follows:

• Standards will be applied to all "Newest and Greatest" requests. Any deviation from standards should have a need justification as to why standard configurations should not be followed.
  
• Standards for "newest and greatest" will be reviewed monthly. The industry essentially dictates many standards based on availability of software version and equipment. (An example of this is PC processors. Processor models change frequently and the old processor becomes unavailable.)
  
• Need configuration – Technical support resources need to be involved in the planning stage, RFP stage and early implementation plan to be sure that any Software driven requirements that cause a different hardware configuration is known and that a "Standard package" can be created to meet customer needs. Early testing is a requirement.
  
• Support resources will focus their training effort on standard supported items to enable an improved level of support for the customers.

Due to constantly changing prices and the introduction of new products, standards must be regularly re-evaluated and modified to ensure the customer receives the best product / value available. Revised specifications are announced after the hardware staff has accomplished thorough testing. Please see the IT Web Page, www.uams.edu/infotech/standard., for the current UAMS minimum hardware / software standard. All new workstations should meet these standards as a minimum.

Campus-wide, supported software includes:

• Office 95 / 97,
• Windows 3.x, 95, 98 or NT Workstation
• Outlook 97,
• Exchange,
• Ms-Mail,
• DOS,
• Lotus

The following is the preferred software setup for UAMS workstations:

• NT 4.0 (Preferred) Windows 95 / 98 (Secondary choice)
• Office 97 Pro
• Outlook 97