DIGITAL MEDIA
Appendix F5: Supplies & Services Requests [Acct. Category 4000 and 5000]
Audience: Administrators, Budget Committee, PRBC
Purpose: To request funding for supplies and service, and to guide the Budget Committee in allocation of
funds.
Instructions: In the area below, please list both your current and requested budgets for categories 4000
and 5000 in priority order. Do NOT include conferences and travel, which are submitted on Appendix
M6. Justify your request and explain in detail any requested funds beyond those you received this year.
Please also look for opportunities to reduce spending, as funds are very limited.
Project or Items
Requested
Adobe Creative
Suite Web and
Design Premium
software
2012-13 Budget
Requested Received
$0
$0
2013-14
Request
$26,980 (for
76 Macs and
PCs at $355
per seat) or,
if that's not
possible,
$15,265 (for
43 Macs
only). This
request will
not be
necessary if
Chabot
purchases
the Adobe
site license
described in
the Section B
narrative.
Rationale
Keeping our software up to date allows
students to learn more current skills
based on newer technology, and to
become proficient with the same
versions of software that professionals
use. It also presumably bolsters our
enrollment, since students generally
want to take classes only at schools
that are teaching the most current
versions of software.
Unfortunately, software companies
never announce in advance when they
plan to release a new version of a
program, and even if a new version is
rumored to be imminent, the pricing
remains unknown. The request on this
form based on Adobe's current perseat price for the Web and Design
Premium package, but that price may
change after this request is submitted.
It's also quite possible that the new
version will be released before our
current software maintenance
agreement expires in October, in
which case there will be no budget
request needed at all.
The solution to all this uncertainty —
which I've mentioned in previous
program reviews — would be a
software fund that would have a
certain amount of money put into it
each year, from which money could be
withdrawn whenever it’s needed for
new software. Doing this wouldn’t cost
any more than we’re currently
spending on software, but it would
obviously require a significant change
in the system.
In the absence of such a fund, we have
problems like this: If Apple were to
release a new version of Final Cut Pro
later this spring — after my Program
Review has been submitted — I would
have to wait until spring of 2014 to
submit a budget request for it.
Assuming the request is approved, I
wouldn’t be able to order the software
until fall of 2014, and it wouldn’t be
installed until spring of 2015. As a
result, students would be using out-ofdate software for nearly two years,
and hence would be at a disadvantage
when trying to move into the
professional world.