Technical Support Standards

Purpose and Scope

The following technical standards are designed to assign the appropriate support tier for college technologies. These standards avoid delving too deeply into specific technical features or criteria to streamline evaluation. It’s outside the scope of this document to outline the entire tiered support framework, but a short summary is provided here for context.  

Tier 1 - Technology that is business critical and receives full support. These are generally enterprise-wide technology solutions that are mandated by our system office and/or delivered by ITS to the entire college community. 

Tier 2 – Technology selected by college departments or business units. Solutions must meet the following technical standards to meet T2 requirements. A vendor support contract is required, with ITS providing support as necessary. 

Tier 3 – Technology selected by college departments or business units that do not meet one or more of the following standards. T3 solutions receive limited support from ITS (e.g. basic network connectivity, or SSO integration) and may require compensating controls.  The business unit must accept any risks, and the vendor is responsible for support. 

Software 

Endpoint installed 

• Supports Windows 11, or macOS/iPadOS within one major version of the latest vendor release. 

• Compatible with ITS application management platforms: Jamf, Intune 

• Solution must support deployment via Citrix or Azure VDI (if virtualization is required) 

• Does not require the end-user to have local administrator role 

College hosted 

• Compatible with Microsoft Azure virtualization standards (e.g., Hyper-V, Azure-hosted VMs) 

• Supports current standard MS Windows Server or Redhat Enterprise Linux version 

• Must support Azure SQL Managed Instance (if database required) 

SaaS 

• Vendor-guided implementation and ITS project request required 

• Must support enterprise licensing model (no single-payer credit card subscriptions) 

Compatibility and standards 

• Meets or exceeds accessibility standard WCAG2.1 AA 

• Supports latest version of Microsoft Edge and other Chromium-based browsers 

• Supports delivery of software updates via ITS application management platforms (e.g., Intune). 

Identity and Access 

• Supports SAML2 and/or Microsoft Entra ID SSO 

• Includes role-based access permissions 

• Supports group-based role provisioning via SCIM, Entra ID, or API integration 

• Administrator access requires SSO if supported; local admin logins require MFA 

Data and integration 

• Integration methods: Ellucian Ethos, WebAPI, or structured data file transfer 

• College data must be stored in USA 

• Vendor must comply with all applicable regulations (e.g. FERPA) 

• Solution supports data export in non-proprietary forms (e.g. JSON, CSV) 

Hardware 

Endpoint devices 

• Compatible with ITS hardware management platforms: Dell TechDirect, Intune, Extron 

Other standards 

Networking 

• Wi-Fi connectivity must support 802.1x or WPA2-PSK for Wi-Fi authentication and be compatible with 802.11ac / Wi-Fi 5 

• Wired connectivity must support 100/1000Mbps RJ45 Ethernet 

• Power Over Ethernet requirements must not exceed 30W (PoE+) 

• Must support enterprise networking capabilities (e.g., routable across VLANs, compatible with DHCP and DNS)  

• Must support encrypted protocols such as HTTPS, SMBv3, and SSH 

Support  

• Vendor provided technical support with defined escalation paths and SLA 

• Vendor provided end-user and technical documentation  

• Vendor provided implementation and configuration assistance 

• Solution must support automated delivery of firmware and software updates via enterprise app management platforms (e.g., Intune, Jamf, SCCM) or native OTA (over-the-air) update mechanisms.