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Campus Agreement

Academic & Distributed Computing Services and the Office of Information Technology, which are both located on the Twin Cities campus, have purchased popular software for the entire University of Minnesota colleges and departments, system-wide, to participate in the Campus Agreement Program. Available software products are listed below.

The cost of this agreement is being paid for by central U of M funding. There will be no additional cost to departments beyond a possible modest fee to cover the cost of creating CD media kits.

Who is included?

All campuses of the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities, Duluth, Morris, Crookston, Rochester, and other outlying groups that are included with any of these campuses) are included in this broad Campus Agreement. The computers must be owned by the University of Minnesota to be covered.
Software must be installed on University of Minnesota computers only. Personal computers are NOT covered as part of this agreement, however software can be purchased for a substantial discount. For more information, please visit the site below:

U of M Microsoft Software License Program for Faculty/Staff Personal Computers

Are students included?

The basic Campus Agreement does not include students. However, the U of M Board of Regents has recently approved the purchase of licenses for Windows XP upgrades and the Microsoft Office Suite (Windows or Macintosh) for all students taking at least one course credit. All software orders must be placed through an online order form. For more information about this program, please see the link below:

U of M Microsoft Software License Program for Students

Why Campus Agreement?

There are several reasons that the University of Minnesota decided to enter into this agreement:

Savings - By purchasing software for the entire University of Minnesota, the U of M is able to save a significant amount of money.
Software Compliance - The Campus Agreement ensures software compliance for the entire University.
Decreased Administrative Support - Campus Agreement eliminates the need for meticulous record-keeping by departments recording what software is installed on what computer, etc.
Upgrade and Downgrade Rights - Software license agreements include all vendor upgrades during the year of the software license agreement, as well as downgrade rights.
Future Software Savings - When U of M departments order computers in the future, they will not need to upgrade the operating system or add an Office product to the price of the computer. We suggest ordering the computer with the standard Microsoft operating system the manufacturer is offering and then upgrade the operating system to the most current one, and install Microsoft Office software when you receive the computer.

What software is available through the U of M Campus Agreement?

Microsoft software products: The Board of Regents approved a 3-year agreement, commencing July 1, 2003, between the University of Minnesota and Microsoft Corporation to provide a suite of Microsoft's most popular software for use on computers that are owned by the University of Minnesota. We have entered into a subscription license that lasts for one year with a full commitment for three years of participation. In addition, the parties that have approved this recognize that it is an expensive proposition to drop the program. They have agreed, in principle, that this will be an ongoing, continuing program beyond the initial three years.

The following software products are covered under this license:

Windows Operating System Upgrades
Office Professional for Windows
Office for Mac
FrontPage
Publisher
Visual Studio .NET Professional
Virtual PC for Mac
All Windows Client Access Licenses (CALs), including SQL CAL

Under the license arrangement you have rights to use the most current releases of any of this software or any older versions of the software. You must have purchased a Microsoft operating system license of some sort for each computer in order to exercise your rights to the Windows OS upgrades. In most cases this means selecting the no-cost or least-cost option when ordering a new computer and then installing the desired version of Windows when you purchase the computer. Because the University has paid for these licenses and has rights to use all of the software in the suite on both existing and new computers, care must be taken to be sure that you do not order software that is already covered by this license agreement.

For a complete list of software available for the Campus Agreement, please visit:

http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/software/softwarelist.html

What if I need software that's not included?

There are at least three options available for software that is not covered under the Campus Agreement:

Purchase individual licenses through the MS Academic Select Program. The goal of this program is specifically to give University of Minnesota departments the opportunity to purchase individual Microsoft software products at significant discounted prices. The U of M Academic & Distributed Computing Services (ADCS) negotiated reduced prices with Microsoft for popular Microsoft software products.

Academic Select Program Advantages:
- An economical option when purchasing individual Microsoft software
- Departments own the software, CDs, and documentation
- Departments can purchase any time of the year
For more information, please visit U of M Microsoft Academic Select Program
Departments may enter into subscriptions for the software they need through the Campus Agreement. Under this method all staff and faculty in the department must be enrolled. In return, all computers owned by the department are licensed to use the software. There are other considerations that need to be met in order to create a subscription.
Purchase full product through another source such as the UMD Computer Corner. In general, this is the most expensive option but it may be appropriate for specific situations.

How does my department obtain Campus Agreement software?

UMD ITSS will provide access to the Campus Agreement software and product license keys to collegiate offices and department technology coordinators through CD media kits. If you would like to obtain an updated kit or have any questions about the program, please contact msagreement@d.umn.edu or visit Kirby Plaza 165.