March, 2012, updated December, 2022
One of the core services of ICIT is to provide an effective computer user environment in support of the learning, instructional, administrative and communication functions of the UW-Whitewater campus. The purpose of this policy is to establish guiding principles for maintaining and supporting this environment. ICIT strives to reach an appropriate balance between technology advancement, reliability of the computing environment, and cost containment.
Technology advancement: As any institution of higher learning, UW-Whitewater is faced with the rapid adoption rate of technological change among its constituents, particularly in student and home computing. In addition, some members of UW-Whitewater community are interested in exploring new functionality offered with upgrades and new releases, and prefer to explore on their office or lab equipment.
Reliability: When introducing upgrades to the computing environment, ICIT is bound by its responsibility to the campus to assure minimal disruption to mission critical applications which support instruction, administrative functions and communication.
Cost containment: ICIT seeks to maximize its support of the computing environment for campus-wide constituencies while minimizing the cost of providing this environment. Therefore, ICIT limits support to commonly used operating systems and web browsers, as well to versions of the operating systems and browsers that are in widest use.
ICIT uses the following principles to determine which operating systems and web browser versions are provided and supported for the campus community:
Market Share | UW-Whitewater Campus |
---|---|
Browser Usage - 2022 | |
Chrome = 66% Safari = 19% Firefox = 3% |
Chrome = 81% Safari = 19% Firefox = 11% |
Operating Systems Usage - 2022 | |
Windows = 76% |
Windows = 70% |
Mac = 16% |
Mac = 30% |
Other = 5% |
Other = 0.42% |
ICIT will migrate campus workstations to new Operating Systems (OS) versions after first following a process of certification and internal testing of compatibility with the University’s enterprise and departmental applications, as well as hardware requirements and campus readiness. Delivery of new operating system versions will proceed through the setup of new equipment and the re-imaging of existing computers as appropriate. OS updates and service packs will be delivered through a separate process.
Primary Default Browser: The primary “default” browser is the browser provided by the Operating System manufacturer. ICIT begins the evaluation and testing process of a new browser when it is officially released.
Secondary Browser: Secondary browser status is determined by market share and is defined as the browser with the second greatest market share for at least 12 months. Secondary browsers will not be tested for compatibility and functionality with any campus or other systems. No customization will be offered. New releases of the secondary browser will be implemented only during Summer and/or Winterim sessions (or other breaks in the academic calendar). Secondary browsers are updated to the latest major release that has extended support offered by the vendor.
ICIT currently supports the following web browsers: Microsoft Edge, latest versions of Firefox, Safari, and Google Crome.
Operational Procedures define ICIT's services, expectations, and role as part of the campus community.