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ITICC Operating Procedures

All upper division students in the Institute of Technology (IT) are required to pay a computer fee. Many graduate students and some lower division students are also required to pay this fee. Current information on computer fee requirements are published in the University of Minnesota Class Schedule. The fee is explicitly intended to support instructional computing for IT students.

The funds collected by this fee are supplemented by an allocation from regular Instructional Equipment funds made available to the Institute of Technology Dean's Office from central university funds.

The distribution and supervision of these funds is carried out by the IT Instructional Computing Committee (IT-ICC). The task of the committee is to ensure that these funds are used to provide the fee-paying students with the best possible instructional computing facilities.

The membership of this committee consists of representatives from each of the departments in IT and from related programs. The voting members of the committee are equally distributed among faculty and students to guarantee accountability of IT-ICC funds management to fee-paying students. The committee is chaired by the Associate Dean for Student Affairs.

The IT-ICC operates public laboratories as a necessary and cost-effective means to meet computing needs that are common among IT departments. All students who have paid the IT computing fee have access to these laboratories. The committee shall maintain a set of guidelines establishing appropriate usage of IT-ICC funds by the public laboratories. All funds distributed by the IT-ICC to the public laboratories must comply with these guidelines.

Recognizing that departments have unique instructional computing needs which cannot effectively be met by the public labs, the IT-ICC also supports the operation of departmental computing facilities. The committee shall maintain a set of guidelines establishing appropriate usage of these funds by departments. All funds distributed by the IT-ICC to departments must comply with these guidelines.

Operating Procedures

1. The Institute of Technology Instructional Computing Committee (IT-ICC) shall manage IT Instructional Computing funds. These funds shall consist of:
   1. All IT Computer Fees collected from students.
   2. An allocation from regular Instructional Equipment funds made available to the Institute of Technology Dean's Office from central university funds.
   3. Other sources, if any.
2. The voting members of the IT-ICC are comprised of: one faculty and one student member from each department within the Institute of Technology, two members at large designated by the IT Student Board, one representative for the Bachelor in Networking program, and one representative for the Rochester Center. In the case that a voting member can not attend a meeting of the IT-ICC, the voting member may designate a proxy. Departmental staff members may serve as proxies. However, the total number of voting members from any one department may never exceed two. A quorum shall consist of a simple majority of voting members.
3. Total funds managed by the IT-ICC shall be sub-divided into the following categories:
   1. 75% of the total funds shall be used to support the IT-ICC public labs. Management of these funds is described in Item (4).
   2. 25% of the total funds shall be used to support instructional computing within the departments of the Institute of Technology. Management of these funds is described in Item (5).
4. Public lab resources shall be distributed as follows:
   1. The IT-ICC shall maintain a set of general guidelines defining what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate usage of IT-ICC funds distributed to public labs. All public lab expenditures must comply with these general guidelines. Proposed amendments to the general guidelines must be submitted to the chair for distribution a minimum of 30 days prior to a regularly-scheduled meeting of the IT-ICC where they will be scheduled for vote. Amendments are approved by 2/3 majority of all voting members of the IT-ICC.
   2. Proposals for management of the public labs will be solicited each spring for the following year. Either single proposals that address all aspects of management of the IT-ICC public labs, or joint proposals that distribute all aspects of management of the IT-ICC between coordinated groups, are acceptable. Proposals must itemize all costs associated with the proposal and all services to be provided within the scope of the proposal. Proposals must be submitted to the chair for distribution a minimum of 10 days prior to a regularly-scheduled meeting of the IT-ICC where they will be scheduled for vote. In the case that more than one proposal or joint proposal set is submitted, a single proposal or joint proposal set will be selected for final development by a simple majority of votes cast. The final proposal must be approved by 2/3 majority of votes cast.
   3. The manager(s) of the public labs for the current year must submit an accounting of expenditures for the current year to the chair by the due date for management proposals for the following year.
   4. Proposals for changes in equipment, software or networking of the IT-ICC public labs will be sought each spring for the following year.
      1. IT students, faculty and staff may submit requests or suggestions in writing to the office of the chair. All requests must be submitted for distribution a minimum of 10 days prior to a regularly-scheduled meeting of the IT-ICC where they shall be announced. A request should state an instructional need, why that need is not being met by available resources, and a suggestion for a product to fulfill the need.
      2. A list of all requests will be distributed to all members of the IT-ICC and placed on the IT-ICC web page.
      3. The chair shall forward all requests to the technical committee. The technical committee shall combine requests where appropriate. The technical committee shall convert requests into proposals for acquisitions, including costs and assessments of impact on the IT-ICC public laboratory network infrastructure.
      4. The technical committee shall forward its proposals to the IT-ICC and place them on the IT-ICC web page. The proposals shall include a statement addressing how the technical committee has responded to each of the open suggestions received from IT-ICC members from Item 4(D)(i).
      5. The proposals will be ranked by written vote of the voting members of the IT-ICC. Available funding is determined by subtracting the amount of the management proposal selected in Item 4(B) from the resources determined in Item 3(A). Proposals will be funded in order of ranking until available funding is expended.
5. Departmental lab resources shall be distributed as follows:
   1. The IT-ICC shall maintain a set of general guidelines applicable to all eligible departments defining what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate usage of IT-ICC funds distributed to departments. All eligible departments must comply with these general guidelines. Proposed amendments to the general guidelines must be submitted to the chair a minimum of 30 days prior to a regularly-scheduled meeting of the IT-ICC where they will be scheduled for vote. Amendments are approved by 2/3 majority of all voting members of the IT-ICC.
   2. A proposed allocation to each department shall be calculated according to the following formula:
      1. "Service Norm": The number of students enrolled in upper division courses and graduate courses offered by each eligible department over the previous academic year are counted. The totals for each individual department are augmented by adding the number of enrollments in lower division courses offered by that department where payment of the IT computing fee is required. Percentages corresponding to each department are determined by dividing each departmental total by the grand total number of enrollments counted between all eligible departments. The service percentage shall be referred to as "P1".
      2. "Student Norm": The number of upper division students with declared majors in each eligible department over the previous academic year are counted. The totals for each individual department are augmented by adding the number of active graduate students in that department. Percentages corresponding to each department are determined by dividing each departmental total by the grand total number of upper division students and graduate students counted between all eligible departments. This percentage shall be referred to as "P2".
      3. The final percentage assigned to each eligible department is taken as the simple average of "P1" and "P2". A proposed dollar allocation is determined by multiplying this percentage times the resources determined in Item (2), Part (B).
      4. Non-IT departments (Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Statistics) may opt to receive one half of the estimated revenue generated by their upper division majors paying the fee in lieu of the above allocation procedure.
   3. A plan for expending the allocation proposed for each department, or holding all or a portion of the allocation in escrow, shall be developed by a departmental committee having equal voting representation by faculty and students. This plan shall be delivered in writing to the chair of the IT-ICC, together with a written accounting of the current year's expenditures, at least 10 days prior to the IT-ICC meeting where departmental plans are scheduled for distribution.
   4. In order to identify opportunities for cooperation and improvement, all current year reports and following year plans submitted according to Item 5(C) shall be distributed to all regular members of the IT-ICC and the IT-ICC technical committee and placed on the IT-ICC web page. Comments received within 15 days of their dissemination shall be compiled by the chair and returned to the requesting departments at the time that budget numbers for departmental expenditures are distributed.
   5. If an eligible department chooses not to submit a request for funding according to Item 5(C), the proposed allocation for that department, as determined by Item 5(B), shall instead augment the public labs funding described in Item 3(A).
   6. In the event that the IT-ICC does not consider the current year's expenditure by a department to have met the IT-ICC guidelines defined in Item 5(A), the IT-ICC chair shall submit written notification to the IT dean's office of the committee's objections.
6. Proposed amendments to these operating procedures must be submitted to the IT-ICC a minimum of 30 days prior to a regularly-scheduled meeting of the IT-ICC where they will be scheduled for vote. Amendments are approved by 2/3 majority of all voting members of the IT-ICC.

Operating Procedures Subcommittee

Thomas R. Chase (Co-chair), Mechanical Engineering
Jeffrey J. Derby (Co-chair), Chemical Engineering & Materials Science
Eric H. Bie, Chemistry
Steven A. Hauck, Aerospace Engineering & Mechanics
Peter J. Hudleston, Associate Dean for Student Affairs
Henry A. Kobulnicky, Astronomy
Robbie C. Dohm-Palmer, Astronomy
Roger W. Rusack, Physics & Astronomy

1. IT-ICC funds are to be used to support student computing.
2. IT-ICC funds may be used for computing hardware, software, network support, and operational supplies for use in any of the IT-ICC public laboratories.
3. IT-ICC funds may be used to support staff salaries to provide attendants and systems support for the IT-ICC public laboratories. However, salary expenses may only be claimed in proportion to time actually spent in support of the IT-ICC public laboratories.
4. While normally funded from collegiate or central university sources, IT-ICC funds may be used to supplement remodeling or construction costs associated with IT public laboratories if necessary.
5. IT-ICC funds may be used to pay for local telephone service in IT-ICC public laboratories.
6. Equipment purchased using IT-ICC funds must be accessible to fee-paying students during the first four years of its service life. Exceptions, such as systems required for management of the IT-ICC public laboratories, must be approved by simple majority vote of the IT-ICC.
7. Hardware and software purchased using IT-ICC funds must be installed in an IT-ICC public laboratory for the first four years of its service life. Exceptions are server equipment, mass storage devices and networking software that are accessible to fee-paying students through network connections. Other exceptions, such as systems required for management of the IT-ICC public laboratories, must be approved by simple majority vote of the IT-ICC.
8. All hardware and software installed in IT-ICC public laboratories is intended primarily for instructional computing. While use of this equipment by students in support of research required for their degree programs is allowed, this usage must not interfere with the primary instructional mission of the laboratories.
9. Leveraging IT-ICC equipment funds as matching funds for instructional proposals is encouraged. However, IT-ICC equipment funds shall not to be used as matching funds in proposals without an instructional focus.
10. Hardware and software purchased using IT-ICC funds may not be used for consulting.
11. Usage of equipment or software purchased using IT-ICC funds for special projects, such as University-sponsored short courses, must be approved by simple majority vote of the IT-ICC.

1. IT-ICC funds are to be used to support student computing.
2. IT-ICC funds shall be used for computing hardware and software only. IT-ICC funds shall not be used for staff salaries, construction, remodeling, room furnishings or expendable supplies (such as printer paper or toner).
3. Equipment and software purchased using IT-ICC funds must be accessible to fee-paying students in the receiving department.
4. Equipment and software purchased using IT-ICC funds may not be installed in a faculty or staff office during the first four years of its service life. Exceptions are server equipment, mass storage devices and networking software that are accessible to fee-paying students through network connections.
5. While support of graduate student computing constitutes appropriate usage of IT-ICC funds, equipment purchased using IT-ICC funds is not intended to provide primary support for funded research.
6. Leveraging IT-ICC equipment funds as matching funds for instructional proposals is encouraged. However, IT-ICC equipment funds shall not to be used as matching funds in proposals without an instructional focus.
7. Equipment and software purchased using IT-ICC funds may not be used for consulting.