Here is some information about what will happen to Pitt software and computers after you retire from Pitt.
Note: This does not apply to Emeritus Faculty, those returning as SERP All-Temps, or current students.
This includes the following information:
- Software you will lose access to
- Software you will retain access to
- Purchasing software at a discount
- Hardware
- Purchasing hardware at a discount
Last Updated: 09/15/2020
You will lose access to:
1. MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, Outlook, Skype for Business). All the Office apps will stop working eventually.
Go to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/buy/microsoft-365 to purchase a license. Make sure the version includes Outlook or Access if you want them.
2. Malwarebytes. It will stop working eventually.
Go to https://www.malwarebytes.com to install the free version of Malwarebytes (it only scans, it doesn't actively protect you) or the paid version (which does actively protect you, currently $30 per year), or install some other malware protection.
3. Adobe products (Acrobat, Creative Cloud, Photoshop, more). They will change to a Trial license, then stop working 7 days after that. Go to https://www.adobe.com to set up a personal account or sign in with an existing account (use Adobe ID Personal Account, not Company or School Account), and purchase what you need.
4. Box and OneDrive. You will lose access to these, so make sure you have local copies of your files before you retire. Both services currently offer a free account with 10 Gigs of Box storage, or 5 Gigs of OneDrive storage. Contact Box or Microsoft to purchase a license for more storage. If you purchase a license for MS Office, OneDrive might be included.
5. Zoom. Your account will change to a Basic (free) account, limited to a maximum of 100 participants and 40 minutes for a meeting. If you need more than that, you can purchase a Pro license (currently $150 a year, or $15 a month). NOTE: Any future Zoom meetings that you've scheduled will expire, even if you've scheduled a co-host. Those meetings will have to be rescheduled by a Pitt employee.
6. Collaborative sites (Box, OneDrive, DocuSign, Qualtrics, Lab Archives, Cognos, others). If you own collaborative files/folders/queries on sites like these, make sure ownership is transferred to someone else.
7. Websites. If you own or manage a website, make sure someone else has full administrative access to it.
You will retain access to:
1. Pitt account/mailbox. Retirees can request to keep their Pitt email when they retire. Your own mailbox and everything inside it will remain exactly as it is. But remember this does not include a license for Outlook. You can buy a version of MS Office that includes Outlook, or you can access your mail through my.pitt.edu webmail, or you can install another email program to open your Pitt mailbox.
Important notes if you continue using Outlook for your email:
a. If your Outlook currently shows other Pitt mailboxes, you will lose access to those.
b. If your Outlook currently shows other folders that are actually outside your mailbox (Outlook calls these personal or data or archive folders), you will lose access to those if the actual folders are not located on your home computer. They can be moved back into your mailbox or to your home computer before you retire; contact your department IT administrator for help.
c. If you have work-related email that you'd like to leave for your replacement or co-worker, make a folder in your Inbox and move the emails to that folder. When it's ready, let your department IT administrator know. That folder can be exported to a file on the fileserver, and then imported into your replacement's mailbox. You can delete the folder from your mailbox after you retire.
2. LastPass. You will lose access to the Enterprise version, but will keep the Premium version for life.
3. Pitt Wireless and Eduroam. You will still be able to connect to these services when on campus.
4. My.pitt.edu. Your account will still work on my.pitt.edu, but Multifactor Authentication (by Duo Push or a phone call or a hardware token) will no longer be required. You will still be prompted to change your password every 6 months. You will have access only to:
- Pitt Email
- Spam and Virus Filter
- Account Administration
- United Way
Purchasing software at a discount:
Faculty/Staff can purchase software at reduced prices while employed at Pitt, but almost all the licenses must be renewed annually, so they will eventually expire. Only a few licenses never expire. You can go to https://technology.pitt.edu/software, look for a software title that has "for Faculty/Staff/Depts", then open that title. Check for a column that says "Personal Purchase by Faculty & Staff" to see if it is offered, then check the "Annual Maintenance Renewal Date" column to see if the license doesn't expire. Corel is one example of licenses that do not expire - you can purchase a personal Corel Word Perfect Office X8 license for $39 while you're employed at Pitt, and it will be good forever.
Hardware:
All retiring employees will need to return any borrowed office equipment to the School (computer, keyboard, mouse, monitor, printer, scanner, webcam, speakers, headphones, docking station, chair, etc.). Contact your departmental IT administrator to arrange a date and time to meet someone at the School's loading dock to return the equipment.
Purchasing hardware at a discount:
While you are still a Pitt employee, you can purchase a personal Dell or Apple computer at a discount.
- Log in at my.pitt.edu
- Then type PittPerks in the search box at the top right of the page
- Then click the magnifying glass
- Open the PittPerks link
In PittPerks, type Dell or Apple in the search box, then click Search, then click the result below.
Click the link for Get this Offer.
The Dell page is a little confusing. Pitt offers three laptops at a steep discount of 15% to 40% (click the Click Here link). But you can purchase other equipment using the links at the bottom of the page at a much lower discount (less that 5% on a couple things I checked).
The PittPerks Apple site will require you to sign in with your Apple credentials.