BP.03.012 - Business Practice for Hardware End-of-Life and "Red Tagging"

BP.03.012 - Business Practice for Hardware End-of-Life and "Red Tagging"

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Table of Contents

• History
• Purpose
• Background
• Business Practice
  • Accountability
  • Applicability
  • Definition(s)
  • Text
• Exhibit(s)
  • Assessment History

History [top]

• Business Practice Number: BP.03.012
• Version: 2
• Drafted By: Carlos Miranda
• Approved By: James August
• Approval Date: 01/05/2016
• Latest Revision Date:  12/07/2023

Purpose [top]

To describe a sustainable process for equipment end-of-life (EOL) and to clarify support structure, process, and limitations for equipment that has reached its end of life or is categorized as non-standard and/or consumer-grade equipment. 

Background [top]

The University currently supports a portfolio of more than 3900 active personal computers, including desktops, laptops, and tablet devices. To maintain a modern, reliable, and secure computing environment for the campus and to ensure that CI students and employees have good working equipment to perform their daily assignments, it is necessary to regularly remove older computers from production and replace them with newer, more reliable computers. A regular refresh cycle reduces the burden of support by technicians in the Information Technology Services (ITS) for older, less reliable, and increasingly non-standard equipment. 

There are also instances where campus organizations may want to procure & use non-standard consumer-grade computer equipment. The establishment of a standard practice for how such equipment shall be supported by ITS helps ensure adequate support of standard equipment and makes efficient use of limited University resources. 

Business Practice [top]

Accountability [top]

Associate Vice President for Information Technology Services

Applicability [top]

All recipients of the following University-owned equipment: personal computers (including desktops, laptops, and tablet devices); televisions; classroom or conference room audio/visual equipment (including projectors, switchers, amplifiers, speakers); and printers. 

Definition(s) [top]

1. End-of-Life - A description of any University-owned computer equipment which has reached the end of its useful life for any one of the following reasons, including but not limited to:

   1. the original and extended warranty purchased for the equipment has expired.

   2. the original equipment vendor (e.g., Dell, Apple, etc.) ceases to market, sell, or support the equipment.

   3. Operating Systems and Application patching for vulnerabilities is part of the maintenance of all university systems.

   4. Support is limited when it reaches the complete lifecycle of four years (warranty).

2. Red Tag – A red-colored tag with a unique ID number (example pictured below) that is affixed to computer equipment when the equipment when it meets any one of the following criteria: 
   1. The equipment has reached the End-of-Life and requires replacement.
   2. The equipment does not run a University standard computer operating system (OS) version.
   3. The equipment is not a University standard make or model.
   4. The equipment is being used by University students or employees, but the equipment was not purchased using University funds.
3. Red Tagging - the process of applying a Red Tag to University-owned or University-operated equipment (example below):

Text [top]

General

Each division receives funding from the University budget to support the regular, timely refresh of computer equipment, and each division is expected to prioritize and manage the regular refresh of out-of-warranty and red-tagged computers using those funds at their discretion. ITS shall support each division by providing guidance and reporting on which computers, televisions, audio/visual equipment, and printers are the best candidates for refresh, i.e., those which are unsupported and those which have expired warranties. 

End of Life (EOL) university computers (desktops, laptops, and tablets)

Each university computer purchased with university funds (both standard and custom-configured computers, including desktops, laptops and mobile devices) shall be purchased with a corresponding four year warranty from the manufacturer. 

Each computer purchased with university funds has a designated End of Life Date as part of its lifecycle (see Exhibits). At that time, the computers will be affixed with a “EOL” by ITS staff, and marked by the same ITS staff member in the ITS personal computer inventory as a “EOL” computer, in accordance with BP.03.009 Business Practice on Personal Computer Inventory (see Exhibits). 

On a monthly basis, ITS user services staff shall: 

1. review the inventory of computers that should be marked off as EOL.             

Any computer marked as EOL may continue to be used and operated by university employees and campus organizations as long as the computer meets all of the following standardcriteria for operation: 

• The computer is in working condition.
• It can start up & login successfully to a working desktop.
• It is running a current and supported operating system version.
• It receives monthly security and operating system updates.
• ITS staff are not requested to repair or support the red-tagged computer.

If any of the criteria for operation are not met for the computer, the computer shall be immediately disconnected from the campus network and immediately delivered to ITS for decommission and disposal. ITS staff shall mark decommissioned, red-tagged computers in the ITS personal computer inventory, in accordance with BP.03.009 Business Practice on Personal Computer Inventory (see Exhibits). 

ITS staff shall not maintain, repair, or support red-tagged computers without advance written authorization from the AVP for Information Technology Services or designee. 

On an annual basis, ITS shall provide a report to each division vice president with a list of computers assigned to employees within their division which have been red-tagged; or are scheduled to be red-tagged; or whose warranties have expired.

Red-tagging of other equipment (including televisions, printers and audio visual equipment)

Non-standard, consumer-grade, or other computer equipment deemed by ITS to be outside of the scope of its support shall be red-tagged by ITS in accordance with the End-of-Life Time Frame appropriate to that equipment (see Exhibits). Normal ITS support is available on CSUCI standard equipment until the end-of-life date is reached.  ITS shall maintain a list of standard CSUCI computer equipment on the ITS website (see Exhibits).  

All equipment marked with a Red Tag may continue to be used by University employees and campus organizations as long as said equipment meets the basic criteria for operation (as outlined in the previous section). If any of the criteria for operation are not met, the equipment shall be immediately disconnected from the campus network. 

ITS will arrange for the pickup of said equipment and will commence the decommissioning process which includes but is not limited to the following actions: mark decommissioned red-tagged equipment in an appropriate inventory, remove access to the decommissioned device, remove the device MAC address from appropriate firewall rules and access list, remove the device from all monitoring tools and enterprise management tools, remove the hard drive for degaussing, and make arrangements with the property clerk for final disposal.

ITS staff shall not maintain, repair, or support red-tagged equipment without advance written authorization from the Vice President for Technology & Innovation or designee. 

Exhibit(s) [top]

List of Equipment Lifecycles and End-of-Life Dates

List of Standard Computer Equipment

A list of standard computer equipment is available here: https://www.csuci.edu/its/purchasing/quotes.htm

These documents are incorporated by reference. Please consult the ITS Policy website for the latest versions:

BP.03.009 Business Practice on Personal Computer Inventory: https://www.csuci.edu/its/policy/bp-03-009.htm

Assessment History [top]