Software Request Process - Paid Software

The below Software Request process for paid software details the collaborative effort between Technology Services, Procurement, and the Office of General Counsel to provide the associated information and systems security approvals and risk assessments to get your software request from request to reality. Note that the typical New Software Request process can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months to complete. Refer to the table below the diagram to see detailed descriptions and tips and techniques to moving your request as efficiently as possible through the Software Request process.

To more easily read the content in the diagram below, download the attached PDF document shown here to the left. Below that is a downloadable copy of the Software Request Intake form. These are the same questions asked when completing the online intake form in Jira.

 

The below table corresponds with the numbered components in the above pictured process flow diagram.

ID

Summary

Description

ID

Summary

Description

1

Create Software Request in Jira

To create a Software Request (SRQ) ticket, navigate to the FPU Customer Portal and select “Software Request,” or directly follow this link: https://floridapoly.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/2

For Administrative Assistants, please feel free to utilize the downloadable copy of the Software Request intake form to aid in information gathering discussions with the requesting faculty/staff member. 

Note: Please work with your administrator to submit this request.

2

Review SRQ Intake Form

The SRQ Admin reviews the SRQ Intake form for completeness and does a series of checks to help position the request to move through the SRQ process as efficiently as possible. For example, she may ask “Has your department contacted the supplier about signing Florida Poly’s Master Supplemental Addendum? Is the vendor able to work with us to process a Purchase Order?” 

3

Initiate TS Assessments 

Depending on the scenario and how questions are answered in the Software Request Intake form, there can be 2-3 Technology Services (TS) Assessments required. The SRQ Admin will assess the scenario, pull in the applicable approvers, and set up the Jira “Approvers” feature so that each approver is asked to complete their assessment and provide an approval.

  • All software requests required an Information and Data Security Risk Assessment. This is to make sure that any University data transferred or externally stored is done so in a way that minimizes risk to the University and our community.  

  • If your software is being requested for classroom and lab use, a representative from the IT Help Desk is pulled in to complete a Supportability Assessment. If your software requires regular software updates and patching, a representative from the Administrative Computing Systems team and/or Software Development team is pulled in to identify and better understand supportability risks.  

  • Depending on the complexity of the request (e.g. if additional system integrations are required for implementation), member(s) of the TS Leadership team may be brought in for a Systems Impact & Implementation Assessment to understand impact to other existing FPU systems and implementation scope.  

4

Initiate Procurement Assessment

Best case scenario, the SRQ ticket is submitted before any of its components are kicked off. In some cases, the Procurement assessment is initiated before the SRQ ticket is submitted (e.g. if a standard requisition is later identified as software). 

5

Negotiation

Procurement, TS, and the vendor review and discuss whether or not the software presents risk to the University (e.g. the technology terms and conditions). Please note that even widely used and/or inexpensive software may present risk from not only a data security perspective, but from a contractual and legal perspective as well.  

6

DECISION POINT: Full legal review required? 

In most cases, it is not required to obtain a legal review for software under $75,000. For many of these cases, Procurement is able to vet out the more basic legal concerns via contractual review. However, there may be instances Procurement will choose to still pull in the Office of General Counsel (OGC) for contracts under $75,000 (e.g. unusual terms and conditions). Per University policy, legal is required to complete the full legal review for proposed contracts totaling over $75,000.

7

Negotiation (optional round 2)

If the OGC is pulled in, the software request team does another round of reviews in light of any direction or recommendations provided by OGC.  

8-10

Update Jira Request with decision 

TS, Procurement, and the OGC will update Jira, the primary system of record, with comments and feedback 

11-13

DECISION POINT: Assessment approved? 

In Jira, there’s a feature that displays who the required approvers are as well as an indicator once the request is approved by each approver.  

14

DECISION POINT: Have all required approvals been received? 

The last approval is completed by the SRQ admin once all information and approvals are received. The SRQ admin concludes the assessment portion by confirming with the Requestor and advising the Requestor to include a copy of the request with the Requisition paperwork. 

15-16

Submit and Process the Requisition in Workday

This is the standard process for making a purchase - ideally, having a Purchase Order (PO) issued.

17

Provide Software

Once the software is purchased and/or PO is issued, the vendor will provide the software to the Requestor. This may require additional follow-up by the Requestor to the vendor as needed. 

18-20

Requestor confirms receipt and DECISION POINT: SRQ Admin determines if additional implementation next steps are required

Once the Requestor confirms receipt of the software in Jira, the SRQ Admin helps to determine if the IT Help Desk should be looped in to complete installation of the software (e.g. on an end user’s device, or made available on classroom and lab computers). Then, depending on the complexity of the software implementation, the SRQ Admin pulls in the TS Project Manager to initiate the Project Management process. 

21-22

IT Help Desk Installation (if applicable)

If required, the SRQ Admin will open an implementation ticket with the IT Help Desk to assist in software installation.

23-24

TS Project Management process initiation (if applicable)

If required, the SRQ Admin will pull in the TS Project Manager to initiate the PM process for software implementation. Chances are, the TS PM was brought in previously as well to provide input for the Systems Impact & Implementation assessment. This process is usually triggered if software implementation requires multiple system integrations or implementation components. The TS PM will create a linked Project ticket in Jira to act as the landing page for software implementation. Additional linked Service Requests may be created off of that depending on the scope complexity of the implementation project. 

25

Close Request

Note that closing this ticket does not mean that implementation is complete (e.g. if either the software installation or Project Management processes were initiated). Implementation will be tracked in separate, but linked Jira tickets. Closing the SRQ ticket simply means that the Software Request process is complete. 

 

RELATED -

COMING SOON … 

  • Project Intake & Management process documentation 

  • Software Request Process - Release 2 Enhancements