SPSS for Administrative Users
As a result of changes to IBM’s SPSS licensing rules and a re-categorization of our legacy licenses, administrative use of Tufts’ legacy SPSS licenses for administrative work is no longer permitted. Over the summer, I asked the university’s software coordinators that I regularly work with to identify administrative users in their respective areas. Based on the names they provided, we have completed a one-time purchase of 30 SPSS licenses (covering Base, Advanced and Regression) for administrative users.
I’ve attached a copy of the list of administrative users for whom administrative licenses were purchased. All of the individuals on this list are now permitted to use SPSS Base, Advanced and Regression for administrative work. All Institutional Research users are licensed for Custom Tables in addition to the other three modules (Base, Advanced and Regression). For those administrative users that already have legacy licenses installed, Iris Schwartz, our SPSS representative, assures me that the software can continue to be used until the current activation nears expiration and is re-activated. Software does not have to be re-installed.
As in the past, UIT’s Site License program will continue to cover maintenance for these administrative SPSS licenses as long as funding is available. New administrative users, that is, users who will require licenses in addition to those already purchased, will need to acquire the software licenses on their own. And again, as in the past, new users who wish to add their licenses to UIT’s SPSS Software Site ID will have maintenance covered by the Site License program in the out-years, as long as funding remains available.
These licenses are assets of the University. When an individual in a business unit no longer requires use of an SPSS administrative-use license, it may be re-deployed to a different administrative user at the University.
SPSS Campus License
IBM’s licensing changes also eliminated our right to install licenses acquired under our legacy agreement in computer labs, libraries and the like. To address this, Tufts has now acquired a Campus Edition license for SPSS. This is a subscription license agreement, which must be renewed annually. However, it allows for an unlimited number of installations of SPSS Base, Advanced and Regression modules on institutional computers in computer labs, libraries and offices. These licenses are strictly for teaching and research use. This agreement covers all available SPSS desktop OS platforms. It does not, however, cover home use rights on personally-owned computers at this time.
Policy Change for SPSS
Please be aware of the following additional change in SPSS license management at Tufts. We are implementing a policy change for SPSS installations. Going forward, all requests for SPSS installations or activations, administrative or otherwise, will only be processed if they have been received via a Tech Connect ticket. When you submit the Tech Connect ticket requesting an activation code, include the machine-ID where the software is to be installed/activated. Further, LANDesk or a comparable product that will permit discovery is a pre-requisite for any future SPSS installation, upgrade or activation.
Please let me know if you have any questions about these changes. In the next few weeks, I will be sending out a general post service about the changes to SPSS licensing at Tufts.