IT Asset Disposal Procedure

Purpose

The purpose of this procedure is to establish and define standards and

restrictions for the disposal of non-leased IT equipment in a legal, cost-
effective manner. Northern Wyoming Community College District (NWCCD)
surplus or obsolete IT assets and resources (i.e. desktop computers, servers,
databases, etc.) must be discarded according to legal requirements and
environmental regulations through the appropriate external agents and the
NWCCD upgrade guidelines. Therefore, all disposal procedures for retired IT
assets must adhere to College-approved methods.

Scope

This procedure applies to the proper disposal of all non-leased NWCCD IT

hardware, including PCs, printers, handheld devices, servers, databases,
hubs, switches, bridges, routers, and so on. College-owned surplus
hardware, obsolete machines, and any equipment beyond reasonable repair
or reuse are covered by this procedure. Where applicable, it is desirable to
achieve some residual value of the IT asset in question through reselling,
auctioning, donation, or reassignment to a less-critical function.

Definitions

1. “Non-leased” refers to any and all IT assets that are the sole
property of the NWCCD; that is, equipment that is not rented,
leased, or borrowed from a third-party supplier or college partner.

2. “Disposal” refers to the reselling, reassignment, recycling,

donating, or throwing out of IT equipment through responsible,
ethical, and environmentally sound means.

3. “Obsolete” refers to any and all equipment which no longer meets

requisite functionality.

4. “Surplus” refers to hardware that has been replaced by upgraded

equipment or is superfluous to existing requirements.

5. “Beyond reasonable repair” refers to any and all equipment whose

condition requires fixing or refurbishing that will likely cost equal to
or more than total replacement.

Guidelines

Disposal procedures of all IT assets and equipment will be centrally managed

and coordinated by the NWCCD ITS department. The NWCCD ITS
department is also responsible for backing up and then wiping clean of
College data all IT assets slated for disposal, as well as the removal of
College tags and/or identifying labels. The ITS department is in charge of
selecting and approving external agents for recycling hardware and/or
sanitizing hardware of harmful toxins before shipment to landfills.

Practices

Acceptable methods for the disposal of IT assets are as follows:

a) Sold in a public forum.

b) Auctioned online.

c) Sold as scrap to a licensed dealer.

d) Used as a trade-in against cost of replacement item.

e) Reassigned to a less-critical business operation function.

f) Donated to schools, charities, and other non-profit organizations.

g) Recycled and/or refurbished to leverage further use (within limits of

reasonable repair).

h) Discarded as rubbish in a landfill after sanitization of toxic materials by

an approved service provider as required by local, state or federal
regulations.

Procedure

It is the responsibility of any employee of the NWCCD ITS department with

the appropriate authority to ensure that IT assets, equipment, and hardware
are disposed of according to one or more of the methods prescribed above. It
is imperative that any disposals performed by NWCCD are done
appropriately, responsibly, and ethically, as well as with College resource
planning in mind. The following rules must therefore be observed:

1. Obsolete IT Assets: As prescribed above, “obsolete” refers to any

and all computer or computer-related equipment that no longer meets
requisite functionality. Identifying and classifying IT assets as obsolete
is the sole province of the NWCCD IT department. Decisions on this
matter will be made according to the NWCCD purchasing/procurement
strategies. Equipment lifecycles are to be determined by IT asset
management best practices (i.e. total cost of ownership, required
upgrades, etc.).

2. Reassignment of Retired Assets: Reassignment of computer

hardware to a less-critical role is made at the sole discretion of the
NWCCD ITS department. It is, however, the goal of the NWCCD to –
whenever possible – reassign IT assets in order to achieve full return
 on investment (ROI) from the equipment and to minimize hardware
expenditures when feasible reassignment to another business function
will do instead.

3. Trade-Ins: Where applicable, cases in which a piece of equipment is

due for replacement by a newer model, reasonable actions must be
taken to ensure that a fair and market trade-in value is obtained for
the old IT asset against the cost of the replacement. The NWCCD ITS
Asset manager will assume this responsibility.

4. Income Derived from Disposal: Whenever possible, it is desirable

to achieve some residual value from retired or surplus IT assets. Any
and all receipts from the sale of IT assets must be kept and submitted
to the appropriate department. Income derived from sales to staff, the
public, or through online auctioning must be fully receipted and monies
sent to the NWCCD Finance department. Sales to staff should be
advertised through the College intranet or via e-mail. Auctioning
methods will be chosen as a joint decision between the Chief
Information Officer and the Dean of Administration.

5. Cannibalization and Assets Beyond Reasonable Repair: The Chief

Information Officer is responsible for verifying and classifying any IT
assets beyond reasonable repair. Equipment identified as beyond
reasonable repair should be cannibalized for any spare and/or working
parts that can still be put to sufficient use within the organization. The
ITS department will inventory and stockpile these parts. Remaining
parts and/or whole machines unfit for use or any other disposal means
will be sold to an approved scrap dealer or salvaging company.

6. Decommissioning of Assets: All hardware slated for disposal by any

means must be fully wiped clean of all College data. The NWCCD ITS
department will assume responsibility for decommissioning this
equipment by deleting all files, College-licensed programs, and
applications using a pre-approved disk-sanitizer. This sanitizer must
completely overwrite each and every disk sector of the machine
with zero-filled blocks. In addition, any property tags or identifying
labels must also be removed from the retired equipment.

7. Harmful Substances: Hazardous materials such as lead, mercury,

bromine, cadmium, etc. must be thoroughly removed from computer
hardware before shipment to a landfill as rubbish. The IT department
may perform this action itself using government-approved disposal
methods, or hire an accredited disposal company specializing in this
service. No matter what the route taken, the removal and discarding
of toxins from NWCCD equipment must be in full compliance with
local, state and federal laws.

8. Donations: IT assets with a net residual value of less than $50 that
are not assigned for reuse, discarding, or sale to employees or
external buyers, may be donated to a College-approved school,
charity, or other non-profit organization (i.e. a distributor of free
machines to developing nations). All donations must be authorized by
the NWCCD. All donation receipts must be submitted to the Finance
department for taxation or auditing purposes.