About the STC Departmental Partnership Agreement

At Indiana University, UITS plays a large role in providing leveraged IT services across all campuses and in partnership with many academic and administrative units. Student Technology Centers (STCs) contribute to this role with the software deployed in STC labs and classrooms (i.e., the STC Build), and with print management services. Following are details on how departments can pursue these partnerships and take advantage of these offerings.

On this page:

• Mac and Windows Build partnerships
• STC Printing Partnerships

Mac and Windows Build partnerships

The UITS STCs, located on the IU Bloomington and IUPUI campuses, provide students with access to a broad range of applications in support of IU's academic mission. UITS encourages academic departments to offer student access to these applications in a departmentally funded, discipline-specific setting.

UITS provides this access by deploying the standard STC Build on departmentally owned workstations. To participate in a hardware partnership with the STCs, the partnering department agrees to adhere to standards and practices designed to ensure the success of the partnership while providing students with the same computing experience that they expect in the STCs.

Use of the STC Mac and Windows Build in this setting constitutes a partnership between UITS and academic departments, and the following basic criteria exist for participation in the STC Build partnership. These terms and conditions are subject to change as technology evolves, and continued use of the STC Build following such a change constitutes acceptance of the new terms. Partners will be made aware of changes long before they occur.

1. Because it is made available solely by the Student Technology Fee, the STC build is only intended for student-accessible workstations and instructor stations in classrooms.
   
   
2. Partners wishing to make changes to the STC Build environment can submit requests for consideration through the STC Request System.
   
   
3. Partners agree to designate a local support provider (LSP) who will act as a primary point of contact. The LSP will be considered the authoritative source of information regarding the partnered site. Units whose designated LSP is not an IU faculty or staff member must designate an IU faculty or staff sponsor or other full-time employee to act as a permanent point of contact. Additionally, partners agree to establish a suitable group username to serve as this single point of contact.
   
   
4. Partners will be asked to fund any discipline-specific application they wish to add to the STC Build. Similarly, partners may be asked to contribute to the funding of other departmentally sponsored applications if their participation affects the original requesters' use of that application. This determination will be made based upon:
   
   
   • The terms of applicable license agreements
   • Significant changes in launch statistics
   • The presence of non-standard hardware components
   • The local deployment of UITS-funded applications
   
   
5. OEM-provided applications intended to support special hardware or promote the OEM or its partners may not always be suitable for deployment in the STC Build. The partner agrees to fund licenses supporting special hardware configurations. In the event that superior alternatives are already available or can be acquired under reasonable terms, the STCs may elect not to deploy such OEM-provided applications. Partners must provide the STC group with a duplicate piece of specialty hardware, components, and associated software during each of the development periods to test software and hardware compliance with our build.
   
   
6. Partners are urged to acquire hardware recommended by the responsible STC technical team, and partners running the STC Build should plan to replace their hardware on a three-year lifecycle. Changes will not be made to the STC Build to accommodate non-standard hardware. If non-standard hardware is in use, partners are expected to provide sample hardware to remain in the possession of the STC technical teams for the duration of build deployment. The STC team will provide hardware requirements to partners before each academic year to ensure hardware and software compatibility with the STC Build; see Where can I find a list of available software and hardware in the IU STCs?
   
   
7. Partners are responsible for funding configuration upgrades. The STC technical teams may occasionally deem that a particular hardware configuration can no longer be supported. Any costs associated with hardware and software upgrades and recertification will be incurred by the partnering department.
   
   
8. The partner agrees to provide and maintain a suitable connection to the IUB network. This may change from time to time to meet the changing needs of the STCs. Currently, the minimum requirement is a 100Base-T Ethernet LAN (or equivalent network connection) with sufficient bandwidth to ensure ongoing nightly maintenance of the STC Build. A wireless connection is not acceptable.
   
   
9. The partner must resolve network issues in partner locations with UITS Communications and Network Operations Services. Issues include support for network protocols, firewall settings, and anything else determined to be unsuitable.
   
   
10. The partner agrees to make every effort to accommodate STC nightly maintenance procedures. This includes leaving the workstations on and booted to the STC Build every evening. Failure to follow this procedure may result in loss of user data, system corruption, or loss of functionality. The STCs are not responsible for losses resulting from failure to follow nightly maintenance procedures. To protect the security of the STC environment, STC routinely takes measures to remove workstations that are not obtaining updates correctly from use until their issues are resolved. STC provides daily reporting to help partners identify these issues.
    
    
11. The partner agrees to handle all special software requests through the appropriate STC process. We will make every effort to meet such partner requirements whenever possible; see At IU, how can I request that software be installed on UITS STC computers?
    
    
12. The partner LSP takes responsibility for installing or rebuilding systems as needed. The STC technical team will provide the partner with instructions and necessary files to allow the LSP to install the STC Build on partner hardware. Although partners will be able to utilize the STC Build, they will not be provided administrative access to the rebuild process. Perceived need for variance from this standard will be addressed on a case-by-case basis. If administrator privileges are granted to the partner LSP responsible for the partner's workstations, STC reserves the right to override these changes in order to meet its partnership obligations. In all cases, a system rebuild will restore STC defaults.
    
    
13. While a Printing Partnership is not required with a software partnership, it will provide users with a consistent printing environment with all of the privileges and responsibilities associated with the STC Printing Services. In lieu of such a partnership, the partnering department is expected to provide a suitable network-accessible printing environment utilizing tools consistent with the STC model.
    
    
14. This partnership agreement addresses a number of contingencies, but circumstances may require unique partnership arrangements. The STC Build Partnership Agreement may be modified to reflect those changes, which can be applied broadly. Interested departments can contact the STCs with questions or concerns at  stcsw@indiana.edu .
    
    
15. All partners must build their systems to the current academic year. A new STC Build will be provided each year before the beginning of the fall semester. Partners not migrated to the new build within this timeframe will be subject to interruption of service.

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STC Printing Partnerships

Use of STC printing resources constitutes a partnership between UITS and academic departments, and the following basic criteria exist for participation in the STC Printing Partnership:

1. Partners must provide a suitable Ethernet connection to the IUB network. As private IP addresses are required for printing, partners are responsible for obtaining these addresses; see At IU, how can I obtain a private IP address?
   
   
2. The STC printing system is intended primarily for student use. It is also available for use by faculty and staff, library patrons, and conference participants with a valid IUB Network ID. Non-students must have a pre-paid printing allotment. This service is not intended for internal departmental use.
   
   
3. Partners wishing to utilize the functionality of a print release station must provide a workstation capable of utilizing the STC Build that meets minimum hardware requirements as outlined by the Windows Build partnership.
   
   
4. Partners agree to designate a local support provider (LSP) to act as a primary point of contact. The LSP will be considered the authoritative source of information regarding the partnered site. Units whose designated LSP is not an IU faculty or staff member must designate an IU faculty or staff sponsor or other full-time employee to act as a permanent point of contact. If a software partnership is in place, partners may designate the same contact.
   
   
5. Partners agree to establish a suitable group username to serve as a single point of contact. If a software partnership is in place, partners may use the same group username.
   
   
6. Partners agree to provide these printers without expectation of compensation from the Student Technology Centers for consumables or over-quota printing.
   
   
7. The partner agrees to fund the cost of all hardware and maintenance costs, as well as all lifecycle replacement costs for printers and release stations. Partners are also responsible for all printing consumable costs.
   
   
8. Partners will be expected to replace their printers and hardware on at most a four-year lifecycle. Partners entering into a hardware partnership using outdated printers and workstations technology will be urged to upgrade their hardware at the earliest opportunity. UITS is not responsible for substandard performance due to outdated hardware.

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