MEMBERS PRESENT: Paul Dworak, Bruce Pollock, Abraham John,
Craig Berry, Bill Buntain, Tim Christian, Paul Hons, Ginger
Boone, Jim Curry, Barbara Hall, Cengiz Capan, Dallas Newell,
Cyndie Harris, Robert Pierce, Eric DuChemin, Chris Strauss,
Maurice Leatherbury (Chair).
GUESTS PRESENT: Ovee Rahman, Richard Harris
This group was formed as a result of a committee that Bill
Buntain headed that began in January, 1996 as an ad hoc committee
under the IRC which was charged with looking at issues relating
to support of computing across campus and the relationship
between central and distributed support areas. The committee met
several times and reported to the IRC, recommending the addition
of several new positions to bring the level of computing support
up to roughly 100 users and machines to one support person. The
Chancellor and Vice Presidents approved that recommendation and
there are 12 new positions for the support of computing, to be
available in the Fall. Another outcome was the recommendation
that a support management group be formed, which was approved by
the IRC; therefore, the Provost instructed Maurice to form this
team, the charge of which is primarily to foster cooperation and
coordination of computing support across campus. Up to now,
everyone has seemed to operate in isolation and Maurice expressed
his hope that this group can work to support one another in the
effort to provide computing support to the users on this campus.
This team should be an "action" team, rather than a
committee that makes recommendations; getting approval from the
IRC only on major, controversial issues.
Cengiz remarked that working alone has not worked, and that he
is encouraged by the formation of this team. He expressed his
hope that everyone will now work together in this effort to
support distributed computing.
Tim Christian asked if there should be a representative of
Telecommunications on this group. Bill Buntain explained that
when issues arise that involve them, they will most certainly be
invited to attend the meetings.
It was agreed that regular meetings of this team will be held
on Friday afternoons. Considering some of the pressing issues
that need to be dealt with, such as standardization of desktop
configuration operating system, software applications, desktop
management software, network management packages and software,
and call-tracking systems, it was agreed that the group will meet
on the first and third Friday of every month, with the next
meeting being on Friday, August 2, 1996, in ISB 204 until
otherwise notified.
The group discussed operating systems for desktop computers.
Maurice commented that it appears that DOS and Windows 3.1 are
fast becoming obsolete. In a poll of the group, it seemed that
most units are using Windows 3.1, although some have tried
Windows '95. Chris Strauss reported that in the Help Desk, they
have nearly every application being used on campus running under
Windows '95. Their direction for Fall is to install Novell's
Client 32.
Bill Buntain commented that the ad hoc committee's perspective
was a decision on desktop standardization coupled with a plan for
a desktop management platform. Their hope was to establish a
strategic plan on how to roll out the desktop standardization on
a campus-wide basis.
Maurice noted that with so much diversity of platforms across
campus, software compatibility with applications that people are
using is the issue that this group needs to come to some
agreement on.
A memo from Paul Schlieve was distributed, which expressed
objections to specifying a standard for desktop operating system
(see Attachment #2). Maurice acknowledged that it would not be
practical to mandate that every Intel machine on campus run a
particular operating system, because in an academic environment
experimentation with different computing systems is necessary.
The question is what operating system is going to be supported,
and what we can afford to support. Paul Dworak commented that
rather than establishing a standard operating system, a standard
"for" an operating system could be established, so that
there is a standard way of implementing an operating system for
whatever system is being used. He pointed out that by the time
the campus standardized on one particular operating system, there
would be a newer, better one on the market. In the discussion, it
was pointed out that caution needs to be heeded in making any
changes in operating systems because of the training factor
involved in changing the way people do their work. Maurice
suggested that smaller sub-committees be formed to study these
individual issues and bring summarizations of the problems to be
addressed in the larger group. For the desktop operating system
and standardization of desktop management software, he appointed
the following persons to serve on a sub-committee: Barbara Hall
(Chair), Mike Hatch, Andy Kreiling, Chris Strauss, Robert Pierce,
Paul Dworak, and Bruce Pollock. This sub-committee should address
the questions regarding standardizing on a 32-bit Intel operating
system in a desktop environment, taking into consideration the
issue of compatibility of software that has to run in the various
administrative areas.
Network Management Software selection is an issue that was
addressed by the ad hoc distributed support committee, and they
identified some questions that this team needs to answer, with
regard to what software should be adopted campus wide to provide
support of the operating systems, setting NDS standards, server
management tools, back-up software - actually anything that
relates to the management of the network operating system as
opposed to the desktop.
Bill Buntain suggested that a time line be set for each
sub-committee to deal with the issue assigned to it.
Maurice asked the following people to work on the issue of
support for operating systems, setting NDS standards, etc. (as
stated above): Tim Christian (Chair), Ovee Rahman, Abraham John,
Phil Chukwuma. Maurice asked this sub-committee to report back by
the August 2 meeting.
Maurice presented the issue of call tracking as a problem that
also needs to be dealt with right away. There seems to be a
proliferation of solutions in use now and a standardized system
would be a distinct advantage for users in reporting problems.
Cengiz commented that it would be important to address
establishing a model for call tracking and the systems around it,
including policies and procedures, response time, etc. Maurice
asked the following people to work on this issue: Chris Strauss,
Cyndie Harris, Jan Brothers, Rich Anderson, Paul Hons (Chair),
Jim Curry, Tim Christian.
Standardization of the desktop application software is another
issue that needs to be addressed. This is an area that will be
very important to users so it will be good to have wide
representation on this sub-committee. Maurice asked Cengiz Capan
to Chair a sub-committee to address this issue, along with the
following members: Sandy Burke, Dallas Newell, Craig Berry, Eric
DuChemin, Cyndie Harris, Christine Pouncey, Bruce Pollock,
Abraham John, Paul Hons, John Bradley, Ginger Boone. Questions
this sub-committee will need to deal with are: Is it desirable to
standardize on desktop application software? Is it feasible? And,
if so, the sub-committee will set priorities of support.
Maurice asked each of the sub-committees to return in two
weeks with a progress report. He stated that he is setting up a
web-site for this group for meeting agendas, member lists, etc.
Maurice left it up to the sub-committee chairs as to whether or
not they keep minutes of their meetings.
Cengiz Capan commented that this group should spend time in
training as managers. It is important to look at what works, how
users are being dealt with, and spend time in exchanging ideas on
how to improve managerial performance. Chris Strauss suggested
that a future problem will be dealing with cross-platforms, and
providing support personnel for that purpose. Maurice confirmed
that it will be increasingly important to share expertise between
departments.
The meeting was adjourned.
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