To:
?
Senate
From:
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W. R. Heath, Sec
Senate CommittE
Date:
?
March 30, 1994
ki
a
For Information
?
S.94-32
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY ?
Memorandum
Subject:
Proposal to implement charges for Computing Service
At the request of SCAR, the proposal to implement charges for Computing service was
reviewed by the Senate Committee on Academic Planning. The response from SCAP
to SCAR is attached herewith for the information of Senate.
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SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
?
Office of the
Vice-President, Academic
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MEMORANDUM
To: ?
Senate Committee on Agenda and Rules
From: ?
J.M. Munro, Chair, Senate Committee on Academic Planning
Subject ?
Proposal to implement charges for Computing Service
Date:
?
March 14, 1994
In November 1993, SCAR referred the proposal to implement charges for computing
service to SCAP for review. At its meetingsof 26 January and 9 March, 1994 SCAP
considered the proposal, and the attached memorandum has been approved by SCAP.
@1
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SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
OFFICE OF THE ASSOCIATE VICE-PRESIDENT, ACADEMIC
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MEMORANDUM
To:
Dr. J.M. Munro, Chair ?
From:
?
Judith Osboine2
Senate Committee on Academic Planning
?
Associate V-P Academic
Re: Proposal to implement charges for
?
Date: ?
March 7, 1994
Computing Service
Simon Fraser University is one of the few universities in Canada which does not charge
for the use of its computing resources. Faculty, staff and students have thus been
encouraged to acquire and enhance their computing skills. Unrestricted use, however,
has not always resulted in responsible and efficient use of what is a valuable and costly
resource. In particular, the demand for disk space and off-campus dial-up access seems
infinite. For example, a study of modem use conducted in April 1993 found that it was
not unusual for some users to be logged on to the system for anywhere between 3 to 7
hours a day.
In the current climate of shrinking budgets, some controls on the use of central
• computing resources, particularly those with a significant marginal cost, must be
considered. Indeed, some units within the university already charge for locally
controlled computing services such as access to assignment labs. The only feasible
alternative to the fee-for-service model would be a rationing of services - x amount per
person - but this seems too draconian and inflexible.
Principle
#
1: User chargeback should be used to encourage the responsible
use of computing.
This proposal aims to strike a balance between encouraging all members of the
university community to make optimal use of our computing resources and
discouraging excessive use. Accordingly, it is designed to enable the vast majority of
individuals on campus to meet their computing needs free of charge. It is proposed to
impose modest charges for those services which have high marginal costs, such as dial-
up access, disk storage, assignment labs and computing tutorials. Charges have been in
place for printing for some time. It is not proposed to charge for compute cycles and
similar infrastructure services for which economies of scale can be
realized.
Principle # 2: Students, staff and faculty should receive sufficient access to
computing free of charge such that they can use electronic mail, access on-line
information and store data to the extent necessary for their job or for their
studies.
Disk Space Students will be provided with 500k of disk space, free of charge. This stores
approximately 250 pages of text. No charges will be made for short-term (i.e. less than
19
one week) overruns of this allocation. Faculty and staff will be allocated 1 Meg of disk
space. Beyond that, all users may purchase additional space at a cost below that charged
?
40
at other universities.
Modem Access Faculty and staff will have 5 minutes of modem time per connection at
no cost. This would generally permit them to down-load e-mail without incurring any
charges. Students, faculty and staff would continue to have free access to the system
from on-campus where modem routing is not required. The revenue generated from
modem users would be used to increase the number of modem lines to satisfy user
demand and improve the level of service.
Assignment Lab Fees It is proposed to initiate a $5 charge for an hour a week for 13
weeks. That is, if a student requires 3 hours a week for the fall semester, she will pay
$15. Assignment lab seats which are empty because of "no-shows" will be available free
on a drop-in basis. ACS will also work with course instructors to ensure that students
are not required to pay for unnecessary assignment lab fees i.e. that the labs are not
"overbooked" by instructors. Some departments/faculties already charge their students
an assignment lab fee. Under the current proposal, they will only be able to do so for
departmental and faculty labs, not for ACS facilities.
The charging system will be made as simple as possible in order to minimize the cost of
administering the system. Users would buy the additional services they require in
advance to avoid billing costs. ACS is working with Financial Services to implement a
"Smart Card" system for collecting user fees. If this is not feasible, ACS will institute its
own method of collecting fees through credit and debit cards, which would cost about
$30,000.
If approved, the charges will be gradually phased in between May and December, 1994.
.
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Schedule A
Basic Account
•
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Unix Account
• ?
Access to General Unix Server (Fraser)
•
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500K Unix Disk Space Quota
• ?
Eudora E-Mail Access
•
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NuPop E-Mail Access
•
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Library Access
•
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CWJ.S Access
•
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Netnews Access
No charge
•
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Parti Access
• ?
Wordstation Access
•
Drop-in Lab Access
• ?
Internet Access
Staff Account ?
No Charge
• ?
Basic Account with 1 Meg Disk Space Quota
•
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5 minutes of modem time per connection
S ?
Faculty Account ?
No Charge
• ?
Basic Account with I Meg Disk Space Quota
•
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Access to Unix Research Servers (Beaufort, Monashee & Selkirk)
•
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Access to Unix Instructional Servers (Kits & Malibu)
•
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5 minutes of modem time per connection
Assignment Lab Account
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$5/1 Lab Hour a week for a Semester
•
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Adds Assignment Lab Access to Basic Account
Instructional Account
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$10/Semester
•
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Requires the authorization of a Departmental Signing Authority
•
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Adds Access to Unix Research Servers (Beaufort, Monashee & Selkirk)
•
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Adds Access to Unix Instructional Servers (Kits & Malibu)
Additional Service Charges
Disk Quotas
Modem Charges (2400 Baud)
Modem Charges (High Speed)
S ?
Manual Account Setup
File Restores
Tutorials
$.15/Megabyte/Month?
$.01 /Minute
?
$.015/Minute ?
$25/Account ?
$10(1st File + $50/File
?
$5/Seat Hour
6*-.
Schedule B
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a
Revenue Estimates
The following are the projected revenues generated by computing accounts, lab
fees,
disk quota charges, and modem charges.
Category
?
Description ?
Semester ?
Annual
Assignment Lab Accounts
Instructional Accounts
Research Accounts
Disk Charges
Modem Charges
Total
5,810 Seat Hours
$29,000
$87,000
200 Undergrads
2,000
6,000
100 Graduates
1,000
3,000
Undergrads
800
2,400
Graduates
550
1,650
Staff
550
1,650
Faculty
550
11650
2400 Baud
81000
24,000
$42,450
$127,350
[II
Dr. J.O. Stubbs
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