Enterprise Information Technology Services Press Release
The University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia

Friday, January 5, 2007

WRITER: Bert DeSimone, 706/542-5110, bert@uga.edu
CONTACT: Jennifer Waters, 706/425-3162, jmaner@uga.edu

Office of the CIO launches Web site to facilitate Information Technology purchases

ATHENS, Ga.— The Office of the Chief Information Officer has launched a new Web site to assist UGA personnel with major IT purchases. All IT purchases, including hardware, software, or services, with a one-year expenditure cost total above $10,000 must be reviewed through an approval process administered by the Office of the CIO.

This review process, known as the CESS process (Computer Equipment, Software, and Services), requires different levels of approval. All purchases between $10,000 and $100,000 are reviewed for approval locally by the Office of the CIO. Purchases over $100,000 are reviewed for approval locally or at the University System Board of Regents level, depending on use of the purchase and purchase source. These uses and sources are clearly defined and described on the CESS Web site:

http://eits.uga.edu/cess

"We designed the Web site to give UGA personnel the information they need to expedite IT purchases," said Jennifer Waters, an accountant in the Office of the CIO. "We invite everyone to become familiar with the CESS procedures and the Web resources available on the Web site."

The site includes links to CESS forms, step-by-step process instructions, a list of the CESS Unit Coordinators, as well as UGA and Board of Regents policies and procedures for CESS requests.

"The Web site will help the Office of the CIO better respond to campus IT purchasing needs," said Waters.

Additional help is available through a class offered by UGA Training and Development. Office of the CIO staff will conduct a training class in March to further explore policies and procedures for CESS requests.

The first class is scheduled for Thursday, March 15, from 9:00am to 11:00am and is titled "CESS: UGA and Board of Regents Processes." To register for the class, please see the Training and Development online catalog:

http://www.busfin.uga.edu/staff/courses.html"

More classes are planned for spring of this year. These classes will be advertised in the spring 2007 issue of the Training and Development online catalog.

About EITS
The Office of the Chief Information Officer and Enterprise Information Technology Services (EITS) are committed to the mission of UGA as a land-and-sea-grant institution where academics come first and the research extensive university community encourages research efforts at the undergraduate and graduate levels. To that end, under the direction of the University´s Chief Information Officer, EITS endeavors to provide a robust, reliable, and secure information technology infrastructure, maintain essential production services, and offer world-class support.