Office of Information Technology

Software Review Process

For all acquired software [either purchased by the University, a free download or donated] it must run through OIT's software approval process:

• Security Review - requires a security questionnaire to be completed by the requester (e.g., professor). If software or service is cloud-based, it may require to be TX-RAMP certified. The security team will let you know if TX-RAMP applies and guide you through the process. All software must be reviewed annually as required by Texas law or when there is an update on the version or change in the type of data handled.
• Accessibility Review - requires the requester to ask the vendor for the VPAT of the software being purchased. If they do not have one available, OIT provides a VPAT form for the vendor to complete. This must also be reviewed annually and is required by Federal law.

Once the software/application has been approved for security and accessibility, OIT will check system requirements and approve the quote provided by the requester or provide a quote if the software needs to be purchased. The security approval, accessibility approval, and quote approval must be provided to your department's administrative associate so he/she can submit the requisition for processing to the Purchasing Department.

Note:

OIT strongly encourages requesting software several weeks in advance since the request must be routed through different sources for approval.

Preferably submit your software requests before or at the beginning of the semester so they can be reviewed

After the software has been approved, OIT can install it on a TAMIU device (Office/Lab/Loaner computer). Please follow the guileless depending on the device type specified below.

Office Computers

Contact the OIT Help Desk via phone (956.326.2310) or email (helpdesk@tamiu.edu) to request the software installation.

Lab Computers

Contact the OIT Media Services via email(oitavmedia@tamiu.edu) to request the software installation.

Loaner Laptops

Student Loaner laptops are university-owned devices with a basic set of pre-installed programs. Additional software installation is prohibited per section 1 of the Equipment Loaner Agreement Terms & Conditions. Occasionally, students may need to install course-specific software on these machines.

Provided the loaner laptop meets the minimum system requirements of the software requested, OIT will work with student loaner laptop recipients to install software that is part of their course curriculum only upon request from their faculty member to the OIT Help Desk. In addition, only software formally reviewed for accessibility and security (as described below) may be installed on loaner laptops by OIT staff. The request should include the name of the program, the contact information of the student(s), and reference the Security/Accessibility approvals that were secured for the program (See software review process above).

Please click on the link to check the software approved for loaner laptops.

Please note that the process above is limited to university-owned loaner laptop computers. OIT staff is prohibited from working on student-owned devices.