March 8, 2005

VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT:   PHILIP TURNER, ELIZABETH HINKLE-TURNER, JONEEL HARRIS, MARGARET AMBUEHL, SCOTT JOYCE (for CHUCK FULLER), JUDITH ADKISON, RAMU MUTHIAH, DON GROSE, JIM CURRY, CRAIG BERRY (for MAX KAZEMZADEH), ROBERT NIMOCKS, DAWISEE LAM (for CHRISTY CRUTSINGER), BRUCE HUNTER, GUILLERMO OYARCE NON-VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT:  MAURICE LEATHERBURY, JOE ADAMO, SUE ELLEN RICHEY  (Recording Secretary) MEMBERS ABSENT:  PHILIP BACZEWSKI, LOU ANN BRADLEY, JON NELSON, CENGIZ CAPAN, JOHN PRICE, PATRICK PLUSCHT, COY HOGGARD, KENN MOFFITT, KATHY SWIGGER, SANDRA TERRELL, ABRAHAM JOHN, DOUG MAINS, BOBBY CARTER GUESTS:  CHARLOTTE RUSSELL       

Robert Nimocks moved for approval of the minutes of the February 15, 2005 meeting and the minutes were approved as distributed.

President’s Staff meeting 

Maurice Leatherbury reported that he had attended the President’s Staff meeting.  He is continuing to work on the e-records retention procedure, the policy for which was approved at the last President’s Staff meeting.  He hopes to have the revised procedure to present to the IRC by the April meeting.

Distributed Computing Support Management Team** 

Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner reported for the Distributed Computing Support Management Team that DCSMT has met twice since the last IRC meeting.  On February 18, Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner gave a presentation about the offerings on the Adobe website, Education division, and also reported on the Microsoft e-learning titles.  These modules are only available to faculty and staff as part of UNT’s agreement.  Philip Baczewski reported an e-mail exchange with Joey Saxon, the director of Student Accounting and Cashiering, who had no objections to the use of ID photos and creating a common solution to develop picture capabilities.

Judy Hunter, Willis Library GAL Manager, reported on the Dell printer assessment in this heavy use area.  She determined that it is a viable alternative. The lab has seen some issues, but for anyone who prints less, it is a good alternative. When problems were reported the first week, Dell installed a duplex add-on and they have not had problems since. The cost relationship of the 5300N Dell versus the HPxxx printer is the initial cost, which is $1000 cheaper. The most cost efficient factor, however, is that it’s maintenance agreement is $300 per year. The Library is currently paying $630 per month to HP for maintenance. Toners for both printers have the same average cost per copy.

DCSMT met again on March 4.  Phillip Brooks and Steve Vocelka discussed the Cypress reporting System that is available to about 300 people on campus to print out the financial reports at the local printer. So far it is available for phone bills and some financial aid reports. Human Resources is getting ready to add some of their reports to this software also. Implementation began 3 months ago. Emails were sent to affected end users along with a document with instructions on installation and use. Some problems were discovered with the rollout, including the lack of ActiveX software on individuals' PCs. A lot of these individuals did not have rights to install software, so the network managers had to be contacted to get the software installed. Paul Hons worked with Phillip Brooks to develop a Zenworks Application to install the needed software. Paul will share this with anyone who would like to use it also.

Keith Cullum, Dell account manager, along with Bill Neiderstaff, Printer Products, Dan Smith, Client Technologist, and Elinor Shaw, Student Computing  specialist, presented an overview of Dell's Laptop and Laser Printer product lines. Two separate presentations were done.  The first was about Dell printers.  Bill made an offer to UNT to find 5 laser printers (preferably HP) that could be sent to Dell, and Dell will give us 5 free printers with the purchase of 5 printers with trade in.  A limit of 15 printers was mentioned, but that might be negotiable.  The offer ends the end of March 2005.

Enhanced Learning Planning Group 

Philip Turner reported for the Enhanced Learning Planning Group that in response to questions about the success rate of on-line courses a report had been prepared, copies of which he distributed.  He pointed out that the statistics show very similar success rates when comparing on-line courses to on-campus classes.  They will continue to collect data on this and after each semester will analyze the statistics in an effort to assist faculty to improve in both areas.  The Planning Group plans to discuss the issues Cengiz Capan brought up at the last IRC meeting at their next regularly scheduled meeting.

EIS Planning Group 

Joneel Harris reported for the EIS Planning Group that the status of the project is about the same as last month.  Several people will be attending the Higher Education Users’ Group during the week after Spring Break to try and determine what to expect from the Oracle / PeopleSoft merger.  She reported that there is a person assigned to support UNT now and they have made contact with this person.  They have spoken with the product development specialist, Harriet Franklin, who is the CRM product developer, and Joneel said she had been encouraging.

Student Computing Planning Group 

Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner reported for the Student Computing Planning Group that they had received materials from Business Software Associates, which is an educational program called “Define the Line” about the downloading of copyrighted software.  She shared the information with General Access Lab Managers and they were favorably impressed so she has ordered bookmarks and handouts from the company which she plans to have distributed at orientations and to put in labs across campus.  Elizabeth also reported that SGA plans to set up a link on all computers in labs to enable students to vote in the campus elections.  In addition, progress is being made on the improved signage around campus for the general access labs.  She reported that orientation schedules have been set up and confirmed, and that Lab managers have agreed to use P-counter software in all of the labs. 

Philip Turner reported that there are a few remaining items that have to be fixed prior to the March 31^st deadline for getting WebCT Vista working satisfactorily.  WebCT and a working group of Vista users have devoted a great deal of effort to resolving the problems UNT has been experiencing with this product. New load balancers were purchased by CITC in an effort to solve one of the problems, and are being prepared for testing now.  Because the testing will most likely not be complete before the March 31^st deadline, the deadline for a final decision on this product may have to be extended into April.

LEARN  

Maurice Leatherbury reported that following negotiations with the Governor that would result in LEARN receiving 7.5 million dollars, a contract has been signed and now the LEARN staff is working hard to get the state-wide network started.  There are some questions about which fiber providers to use but that is not holding up progress toward getting the network up and running.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 3:00 pm.