What to expect when your computer is due for an upgrade

The IT Department meets with Department Chairs when someone in their group qualifies for a computer replacement, or directly with a Faculty member, and a decision is made on the type of computer the person will receive. 

What you need to do

If you already keep all your data in your OneDrive or your departmental SharePoint Site, congrats! You are ready to meet with IT. 

If not, we strongly encourage you move your data such as documents, pictures, and other items to your OneDrive. This will make the data transfer from your old computer to new more efficient. 

What we'll need from you 

You will receive an email with your ticket number and details of your replacement. A member of our Desktop Team will communicate with you through the ticket asking you to: 

• Supply a list of special requests, such as: 
  • Non-standard programs like VPN or department-specific software 
    Special browser configurations, i.e. Banner, Cognos  
  • Names of mapped drives and printers  
  • Whether a loaner will be required during data backup   
• Discuss the need for any additional hardware 
• Schedule a time for a data backup. During that process, your assigned Desktop Support Specialist will make a copy of:  
  • Your files and folders, including documents and desktop items  
  • Your email archive folders  
  • Your internet favorites and browser settings  

What happens next 

Desktop computers are backed up over the network, so they remain in your office while being backed up. For laptops, you have the option to drop it off with us or have it backed up as we would a desktop computer. Once the date and time is set for the data backup you will need to: 

• Make sure you are not actively working on any documents during that time
• Possibly drop off your laptop and pickup a loaner laptop if needed 

The assigned Desktop Support Specialist will contact you after your data backup was successful and schedule a date and time for you to finalize the new computer setup which may include: 

• Configuring your Outlook and other Office products
• Moving your data to your Documents and Desktop 

After everything is done you will be asked to sign off that you have received your new computer, your old computer will be returned to IT, and the ticket created for your computer replacement will be closed the day you received the new computer reiterating what type of computer you received.