Committee Members in Attendance
Sam Averitt, Bill Bayley, Mardecia Bell, Pete Evans, Gwen Hazlehurst, Brian Kemerait, Charles Kneifel, Carl Malstrom, Betsy Mebane, Ron Melbourne, Tom Miller, Mike O’Kane, Bill Padget, Robin Pasquarello, Dan Steen, John Ulmschneider and Jennifer Van Horn
1. Welcome and Opening Remarks
Charles Kneifel called the meeting to order at 9 a.m.
2. Approval of March 1998 minutes
The minutes were approved with minor changes.
3. Special Topics: Charles Kneifel
Attendance/substitutes
Kneifel announced to members that attendance at all meetings is very important and if they could not attend meetings, they should send a substitute. He noted that future meetings might require mandatory attendance.
4. Help Desk software (Remedy) update
Reported that the base server has been purchased from Remedy Corporation. Information Technology will be responsible for databases, licenses and the server. Testing will be performed in August. Contact persons are Bill Padget and Larry Robinson.
Kneifel also announced that Gwen Hazlehurst is interim director of Network Services and Jennifer Van Horn is interim director of Communication Services. They replace Brian Kemerait, who served as director of Network and Communication Services.
Kneifel also reported that two committees would need to be charged with NT application rollout issues. The two committees will consist of a technical group and a nontechnical or steering group. The groups will be composed of two individuals from each college or unit. A meeting will be held in June.
5. Data and Data Access Standards: Mardecia Bell
No report was given.
6. User Authentication: Mardecia Bell
Reported that members of the group have not convened for a meeting.
7. Communication: Brian Kemerait
Kemerait reported that Network and Communication Services is in the process of installing a new telemanagement system for its telephone billing. The new billing will go out in either September or October. The new bills should be reviewed to see if the inventory of services the units/departments are paying for is actually what they have. This review could result in significant monetary savings.
8. Network Plan: Sam Averitt
Averitt reported that all colleges should have received the Network Plan. The Office of the Provost will provide $5.57 per month per desktop for all units that operate under appropriated funds.
9. General Administration (GA) Network Studies: Carl Malstrom
Reported that the project assessed where the 16 UNC campuses are in terms of networking needs, established the baseline for where they should be and determined the cost to move campuses up to the baseline. Malstrom along with Sam Averitt and Ed Rogers worked with a consulting group and UNC personnel to perform the assessment on campus. Results were that every campus had made significant contributions to their infrastructures. Most campuses were above the baseline. A total cost of $77.5 million will be presented to the state legislators to fund networking needs for academic and research buildings and a third of the cost of dormitories. A design study will be done to established true needs and costs.
Averitt also reported that there is a great weakness in process management. In an effort to fill that void, he proposed the hiring of a network operation center manager to allow services to flow smoothly. He also proposed the hiring of a network analyst/technician and more efficient use of students as part-time and full-time help.
Charles Kneifel announced that he is a member of the NCNG board for the next three years. The board has $2.7 million to run the GigaNet, including staff and several graduate fellowships. The group is working with Cisco and IBM.
10. Electronic Mail/Directory Services: Charles Kneifel
Reported that he has received two comments on his white paper on e-mail responsibilities and rulesets. He also reported that the IMAP server is being tested by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Libraries staff. Questions and documentation about the IMAP server should be sent to Tom Karches at twk@ncsu.edu, or the Help Desk.
11. PeopleSoft Implementation: Ron Melbourne
Melbourne gave a PowerPoint presentation to provide additional information on the two PeopleSoft applications currently being implemented on campus. Those applications include the Human Resources and Management System (HRMS) and Financials. His topics of discussion included the SUN 10000 Enterprise Server, client access to the system, e-mail/workflow, general training for customers, help desk strategies, Web presence and end-user reporting platform. A copy of the presentation is available via the University Standards Committee home page at http://www.fis.ncsu.edu/standards_minutes/.
12. Other
Gartner intraWeb:
Melbourne also announced that the Finance and Information Systems (FIS) Division has subscribed to the GartnerGroup, which provides research and advisory services on information technology. Services are available to NC State faculty and staff. The Web address is http://www.acs.ncsu.edu/intraweb.
Mebane noted that the Macintosh user community also needed to be involved in the campuswide implementation of the NCSUGINA.
The minutes of the March 1998 University Standards Committee meeting are available via the Web at www.fis.ncsu.edu/standards_minutes/march98.html.