The University’s IT infrastructure is a very complex fabric of technologies and services. It is very rare now that an IT-based system or service is completely stand-alone. Increasingly the University is making use of “Software as a Service” (SaaS) products that, to the lay person, looks like they will have minimal impact on the institution’s IT resources and processes. However, issues such as authentication, security, backup and recovery can place significant demand on the University’s IT resources, even though the system/service may be provided by an outside vendor and be remotely hosted.

For that reason, the IT Division requires, as specified in University Policy 67, that any office considering the purchase of an IT-based system or service to consult with Dixie Lawson (ext. 2315 or lawson@wcu.edu), who is responsible for coordinating the IT impact analysis and development of a Service Level Agreement (SLA) for the anticipated acquisition before the purchase is requested. An SLA outlines roles and responsibilities of the various parties (owning department, IT, vendor). Dixie will involve the appropriate IT staff. She can also provide consulting services to help coordinate technical discussions between the department purchasing the system or service and the vendor.