Software Site Licensing Policy Guidelines

The Office of Information Technology
The Ohio State University
May, 1990

The Office of Information Technology (OIT) provides support to The Ohio State University campuses for site licensing of software under the following guidelines:

A. Tasks

The Office of Information Technology will take a leadership role in:

• Maintaining a database of existing software licenses on campus.

• Announcing availability of newly licensed software to the campus community.

• Providing technical support and education on use for a set of widely used, OIT licensed software packages .

The Office of Information Technology can assist a requester in:

• Determining demand for a software package on campus.

• Coordinating license negotiations with the vendor, the buyer and Contracts Administration.

• Coordinating distribution of software and upgrades.

• Determining continuing need at renewal time.

B. Funding

1. If the requester can demonstrate that the beneficiaries of the site license represent a broad cross section of the university community, OIT will consider full funding or cost sharing of expenses (including purchase price and cost of technical support and training where appropriate) within the limits of the OIT budget.

2. In general, the percentage of funding supported by OIT will be based upon the distribution of beneficiaries of  the software. For example, if most of the beneficiaries reside in one college, with some measurable percentage distributed elsewhere, OIT will negotiate the appropriate split of funding with the college involved. This may be waived in special circumstances.

3. Even if not involved in the funding of a site license,  OIT will offer to act as negotiator, technical contact with the vendor, and distribution site should the unit so desire. In certain circumstances, OIT may be able to provide or arrange for education and technical assistance for such software as well.

C. Conflicts

In the event of a competition between several software packages for the same funds decisions will be based upon (in order):

1. Broadness of and size of beneficiary base.

2. Acuteness of need.

3. Relative cost of software.

OIT will consult with various committees when making decisions on conflicts.

Main and Regional Campus Software License Arrangements
The Office of Information Technology
The Ohio State University
November, 1996

The Office of Information Technology (OIT), with advice from the faculty Research Computing Advisory Committee (RCAC), and the Business Partners' Advisory Committee (BPAC), as well as assistance from the Office of Academic Affairs (OAA), has examined the issues surrounding regional campus access to site licensed and volume purchased computer software. While historically most software vendors have agreed to include regional campuses with the main campus, a small group has not. The review identified several key issues and resulted in a policy to continue inclusion of regional campuses with all main campus licenses at the main campus cost whenever possible.

There is a clear advantage both for user ease-of-use and campus support costs in maintaining consistent software throughout the main and regional campuses. In addition there is also a benefit to using one common vendor-supported software version whenever possible. This is particularly true in the case of widely-used productivity and connectivity tools such as electronic mail interfaces, word processors, and spreadsheets. Campus licensing or volume discount arrangements for these software products should include both the main and regional campuses by whatever means can be arranged.

In the case of special-purpose or less widely used software, such as specific statistical or mathematics packages, arrangements that make sense at the main campus may not be useful at regional campuses. In these cases, the potential benefits should be balanced against cost and the potential regional campus user base.

OIT software licensing staff will continue work to include regional campuses with the main campus at the same cost levels as the main campus in all software site license and volume discount purchase arrangements. In short, OIT will continue to ask vendors to treat all of Ohio State as one university.

If a vendor refuses to include regional campuses, OIT will look for alternative software to provide the needed function. If the software product is a commonly used connectivity or productivity tool impacting the integrated functioning of the main campus and the regional campuses and satisfactory alternative software cannot be identified, OIT will work to negotiate a cost-matching arrangement with the regional campuses.

For special-purpose or other less widely used software where local use predominates, OIT will offer to arrange or negotiate a license, but each campus will pay it's own cost.

For example, Qualcomm, vendor of the Eudora cross-platform client-server electronic mail package for Windows and Macintosh, declined to include regional campuses in a license arrangement without additional fees. At the request of the regional campuses and OAA, OIT software licensing staff reopened discussions with the vendor. However, Qualcomm held firm on their proposal to set the cost for each regional campus at $2,000.

To help ensure a consistent and supported Email interface throughout OSU, OIT provided a match of $1,000 for the cost of each regional license.

CONTACT: For questions concerning this web page, please contact software@osu.edu or 614-688-HELP.

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