Software Retention

1. Policy Statement

In order to manage the support of software that is made available through OIT, certain terms will apply to the availability of software. The terms call for all software to have an owner, and limit the number of versions that may be available to faculty, staff and students at any given time. The terms allow OIT to contain required support at a level that can be managed by retiring older or obsolete products.

2. Policy

All software provided by OIT through channels including OIT images, web sites and public servers is required to have an “owner” to help ensure continued interest and oversight of the software. This may be OIT, a member of the campus community, or a department. Any such software provided by OIT is subject to decommissioning due to loss of ownership unless a new owner is identified.

OIT will normally make available on OIT images, software web sites and public servers one version of a software package (e.g., MatLab, Mathematica, S-Plus). Where exceptions are deemed necessary, OIT will provide up to three major versions of a software package. Prior versions will not be made available if there are licensing, security or administrative issues (e.g., incompatibility between an older version and the current operating system).

OIT will utilize regular communications channels to notify users of version changes and of the decommissioning of software and images. The communication to users will be announced 6 months in advance of decommissioning and will include information on requesting retention of a prior version. 

3. Procedure

There is no content for this section.

4. Who is Affected by this Policy

All Princeton University faculty, staff and students are affected by this policy. 

5. Definitions

There is no content for this section.

6. Related Policies

University Information Technology Policy

7. Update Log

October, 2010:  Policy issued.

September 25, 2012: Policy updated.

October, 5, 2015:  Policy updated.

Policy Title: Software Retention Policy

Responsible Executive: Vice President for Information Technology and CIO Daren Hubbard

Responsible Office: Office of Information Technology

Contact: Rebecca Goodman; (609) 258-3620

Effective Date: October 2010

Last Update: October 5, 2015