IT Refresh Policy?

[FN-GM]

Hi,

 

I was wondering if anyone has an IT refresh policy I can take a look at please?

 

Thanks

[X-13]

I'd also be interested in seeing this...

[GeekyPete]

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that this kind kind of policy is no longer relevant. Over the last 20 years you could see the sense in replacing PCs after 4 or 5 years, and laptops maybe a year sooner. These days there are more options and the way it is being used is evolving. Think, cloud services, tablets, Citrix/rdp, virtualisation, sdd drive prolonging the life of hardware. I no longer replace kit because of an arbitrary age is reached. We look at alternatives when it's bevoming no longer fit for purpose, unsupportable because of OS sopport or call analysis is showing that certain items or ranges if kit is not reliable any more.

[FN-GM]

Please can we keep this on topic. If you want to discuss the pros and cons etc please can we open another thread. I would like this to be for people to share policies.

 

Thanks

[FN-GM]

Can i bump this please? Thanks

[Geoff]

Basically, when the warranty runs out. We then take a view of extending the warranty vs buying new equipment (we generally are extending warranties on desktops but buying new servers/laptops).

[GrumbleDook]

The policy works in lots of different ways and each school is likely to do it differently.

 

Work on the following principles though.

 

1 - All desktop and general use equipment (including projectors, cameras, etc) are purchased with a life expectancy. This is likely to be at least the warranty period but you may opt to add in an extra year as you roughly know how many machines that are out of warranty are likely to be unusable within that year. You can opt to have spare parts or spare devices to use in the case of failure. Some kit may have an expected failure rate of 10% in the first year outside of warranty but others might have 25% ...

 

2 - All servers are purchased with a life expectancy. Follow point 1 for most of this but remember that some systems cannot afford to be down whilst you do out of warranty repairs.

 

3 - Network infrastructure does have a life expectancy. Your network kit may be based on warranty or it may be based on how long the device will be supported in general. Cabling also has a life expectancy and speak you the cabling engineers (or manufacturers of the relevant parts / cable) for this.

 

4 - All this information should be in your asset register.

 

5 - Having a refresh policy allows you to do like for like comparisons when done like above, but your refresh policy should also consider changes in technology and views should be taken whether the same functionality can be obtained via different setups instead of just repeating what you already have. Physical to Virtual Servers is one example, desktop to mobile devices is another. Don't forget to include *all* your costs ... including time to plan and migrate as well as any changes to time for support (proactive and reactive support).