Minutes - February 11, 2000
1:30-3 pm - I.G. Greer Room 224
I. Welcome and Announcements
Jeff Williams called the meeting to order at 1:32 p.m. All representatives and guests were welcomed. Members absent were Teresa Canton and Lynn Lysiak. Guests present were Michael Bennett, Steve Breiner, Brian Brown, Terry Combs, Tom Culver, Wayne Fee, Steve Hopper, Charles Kesler, Mick Kreszock, Ray Pittman, Mary Reichel, Tom Van Gilder and Gary Yorkdale.
It was noted that Al Rapp has announced his retirement in June and Clayton Cooke has been named his replacement on ITAC.
II. Review of Minutes - January 14, 2000
The minutes of the last meeting as posted on the web were approved.
III. Administrative Applications Update
A. DRAS, Classroom Mgmt, On-Course
Don Rankins briefed the committee on several projects. The DRAS (Document Retrieval and Archive System) project is being more widely used as a means to distribute reports electronically. The campus recently purchased the SCT Classroom Management System to take full advantage of classroom space and for ease of scheduling rooms. The SCT On-Course module is a critical component to allow for degree audits and advising. His office continues with their efforts to load the information from the catalog. To review the SISU2000 webpage, click here http://www.appstate.edu/www_docs/training/index.html
B. HRS RFP process
Clayton Cooke briefed the committee on the RFP process in search of a Human Resource System that would replace the existing campus personnel/payroll system on the campus. The vendor response deadline is February 14. The evaluation committee will review the responses and select several vendors to campus for product demonstrations and discussion. At some point in the near future, they hope to make a recommendation on how to proceed.
C. UNC Web Student workgroup activities
Jeff Williams gave a brief update on the status of the UNC Web-enabled Student workgroup. A meeting was held on campus on February 8 of the major stakeholders with consultants from PriceWaterhouseCoopers to go over the proposed baseline services list. There will be a follow-up video-conference held on February 14 with the same group that will include all the UNC campuses. Once the baseline is finalized over the next few weeks, implementation will begin for the most critical easy to achieve services first.
D. Demo web forum, web survey, web student elections, electronic announcements.
Steve Hopper gave a demonstration on the web of several web applications that should be of general use to the campus. These products were researched, tested and purchased for use by campus departments. They included forum software which provides an opportunity for users to comment on various topics or issues and view the responses of others. Another application was for survey information to be posted and allow users to respond. This could be targeted to certain groups and provide immediate results to the person conducting the survey. We were able to acquire software from the University of Delaware for student elections. We hope to have this in use for the SGA elections this semester.
E. Electronic Announcements and Email Lists
Another major issue for us on campus is how to get timely information to a targeted group of users. Taking the idea from the Campus Pipeline attribute messaging application, Steve showed a mock-up of an electronic announcement application that would provide a robust means of posting information. Instead of sending paper copies or email, this application would provide the ability to post personal relevant announcements to any group (primarily students). The user would have the ability to keep the message as a reminder, block certain types of messages (example, preferring not to see announcements about athletic events), or view previous messages. These capabilities keep the user from having a cluttered announcement space. This approach has great promise.
IV. Server Directions
A. VMS, Unix
Terry Combs briefed the group on efforts to enhance and protect the applications running under VMS and Unix. The clustered approach mirroring data to multiple locations is optimal, but the most expensive solution. All applications are under review to determine the level of criticality and risk. In addition to servers, the infrastructure disk system is being replaced which not only better protects us from faults, but positions us to provide RAID and mirroring opportunities. The Winchester disk system will be shipped on February 18 and he hopes to find out more about our options in the near future.
B. NT, Novell
The discussion of NT and Novell servers followed the same approach as with VMS and NT. Once the Winchester system is in place, we hope to pursue rack mounted servers to provide robust and reliable service.
C. Media, Back-up services
These types of servers are being considered and discussed in a decentralized approach. There was discussion about whether this was a good idea given it would be harder to support and possibly more expensive for the campus. Doug May and Steve Breiner will pursue this and meet with those interested in discussing our options. V. TLT update Steve Breiner briefed the group on the activities of the UNC TLT (Teaching and Learning in Technology) workgroup. They are in the process of hiring an executive director and other staff positions to move this initiative along. They are discussing collaborative opportunities that could be done in the near term. One possible opportunity for our faculty would be to request a grant to work with other faculty in the UNC system. Steve would like to get input from the campus so he is better prepared to represent ASU on the workgroup. VI. ISP discussion Tom Culver distributed a document that described our current policy and use of the existing model pool and the direction we’re considering. The 72 modems are aging and it is probably in our best interest to let them die a slow death over the next several years. We plan to go out with an RFP (Request for Proposal) to find a preferred ISP (Internet Service Provider) to leverage our size to get the best price for current ASU users. The committee felt is was important that faculty and staff have access from off-campus. To view the document, click here.
VII. Other Business
A. Standards
David Sampson distributed a proposal to set-up sub-committees to evaluate and recommend standards for web development, shared information resources, security standards and office software suites. After some discussion, it was suggested that the central support staff with responsibility in these areas follow through with more discussion. These issues also include licensing, support and directions. On the security topic, we have invited several vendors to the campus to discuss firewalls.
B. Update on Campus Pipeline
Jeff Williams reported that the system has preformed better than the previous release (prior to January 15), but a few problems needed to be resolved before we felt comfortable deploying further. We expect vendor fixes to those problems sometime today and they will be applied over the weekend. Once we are stable for at least two weeks, events will be scheduled on the campus to encourage students to give it a try. At this point, it is still optional. There was lengthy discussion about whether the advertising issue is a deterrent from moving forward. The previous student survey of those using the product doesn’t seem to indicate that the majority of students have any problem with the issue. Although there haven’t been any recent comments from the faculty on the issue, there are still faculty concerns that need more discussion. It was suggested that more forums should be held on campus on this issue. Since the portal approach is critical for better communications with specific groups, the plan is to continue pursuing the idea of making it mandatory for students to use this portal during the Fall 2000. Faculty, staff and other groups will be given accounts and can use it if they wish.
C. System performance
Terry Combs commented that we think system performance is affected by our current disk farm limitations, but those should be corrected with the new Winchester system
D. Update on Winchester Disk System
Terry Combs commented on this item several times.
E. Student printing
Mick Kreszock reported that his group along with Academic Computing have researched several systems that would track, route and charge for printed output to any number of available campus printers. One issue is the increasing use and cost of an unchecked resource. The students have no incentives to minimize their printed output since that cost is not currently passed back to them. Mick said that they will install a system to test the use and efficiency and report back to the group about the results.
F. Serious about email use - Wall Street Journal article - February 4
Jeff Williams pointed out an article in the Wall Street Journal about employees losing their jobs over the inappropriate use of email. It appears that Corporate America is losing their tolerance related to personal use of email and the internet especially with inappropriate messages, jokes and images.
G. Miscellaneous
Jeff Williams pointed out an article in the Wall Street Journal relative to firing people in the workplace for the distribution of inappropriate email and web materials. There is beginning to be little tolerance in the workplace for such activities.
The next meeting will be on March 10 at 1:30 p.m. A note will be sent out the week before asking for possible agenda items. The meeting was adjourned at 3:30 p.m.
