UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS
INFORMATION RESOURCES COUNCIL
July 18, 2006
VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT: MAURICE LEATHERBURY (for PHILIP TURNER), JUDITH ADKISON, PATRICK PLUSCHT, TIM CHRISTIAN, LOU ANN BRADLEY, JIM CURRY, ELIZABETH HINKLE-TURNER, UWE ROSSBACH, JON NELSON, DON GROSE, TOBYE RAE NELSON, CENGIZ CAPAN
NON-VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT: JAMES STRAWN, PHILIP BACZEWSKI, DON BUTLER (for JOHN HOOPER), SUE ELLEN RICHEY (Recording Secretary)
MEMBERS ABSENT: MARGARET AMBUEHL, SARA WILSON MCKAY, BRUCE HUNTER, RAY BANKS, ROBERT NIMOCKS, JOHN PRICE, GUILLERMO OYARCE, ABRAHAM JOHN, DOUG MAINS, BOBBY CARTER, CHRISTY CRUTSINGER, RAMU MUTHIAH, CHUCK FULLER, JOE ADAMO
The minutes of the June 20, 2006 meeting of the IRC were approved with the correction of the spelling of Bill Niederstadt’s name in the second paragraph.
Philip Baczewski reported that the DCSMT met on July 7, at which time, representatives from Apple Computer demonstrated Apple's new line of Intel processor-based Macintosh computers and provided an overview of Apple's software strategy and of Apple and third-party software that supports the new hardware. Also discussed at the July 7 meeting was a charge to DCSMT to investigate technical issues related to the use of Microsoft server, network, and e-mail products as replacements for the Novell software currently in use. A committee to examine this issue is being formed from DCSMT members and selected content experts from academic and administrative areas as well as the CITC. The next meeting is Friday, July 21, featuring a presentation by the Gartner Group.
Patrick Pluscht reported for the Learning Enhancement Planning Group that they are waiting for contracts from Legal before they can deploy iTunes and Voice Tools. They hope to find out something soon. Patrick also reported that there will be two pilot projects this fall, with faculty members using different clicker technologies. COBA will also be doing a pilot project using clickers.
Lou Ann Bradley reported that the Communications Planning Group will not be meeting again until the Fall semester.
Don Butler reported for the EIS Planning Group that they have upgraded to Firstlogic version 2.31c and went into production on June 20. This resolved the test score deletion issue that had been experienced with the previous version. The Financial Aid group has made changes to the Mass Packaging chain and Loan processing. They are still in the process of upgrading the EIS Learning Solutions 8.0 to Campus Solutions 8.9, which includes HR/Payroll, Student Administration, and Contributor Relations; this means the production freeze will need to occur sometime between March & May 2007.
Don also stated that the Kronos timekeeping system went live 7/17/06 in select depts. The RFP to obtain professional help for the implementation of Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) is still in progress. The Fiscal Team is up to date on their Bundles and Patches project. This was the most successful effort of its kind in the Finance area. This effort is important because it catches up on over a year's worth of patches and fixes and gets the project back on a regular patch and fix schedule which improves the quality of support that can be received and also positions that area to move to an upgraded version of the financial system. Student Finance worked on changes to Campus ID Card - beginning 7/24/06 students and faculty/staff can sign up for a Wells Fargo debit card at a local Wells Fargo branch; a UNT card will be issued by the bank that will work as both a debit card and an ID card on campus. Student Records area upgraded to DARS version 3.5 and the Giving Club is in production for Contributor Relations.
Maurice Leatherbury added that Jean Bush is looking at a budgeting system to help with the budget process. They had tried to bring up the PeopleSoft budgeting system but could not get it to work. It was thought that a custom system could be built in-house, but they have now have begun to look at some commercially available systems. Uwe Rossbach asked if the new system could be used at the departmental level also. Maurice stated that the systems they have looked at have many capabilities, but he was not sure how many of those capabilities would be implemented at first.
Tim Christian reported that the Standards & Policy Planning Group has not met since the last IRC meeting.
Elizabeth Hinkle Turner reported that the Student Computing Planning Group has not met since the last IRC meeting, but stated that they are half-way through the new student orientation schedule.
Patrick Pluscht reported that WebCT has been stable, and that everything has been going smoothly. Maintenance downtime has been scheduled for August 16 – 18 in order to apply service packs. A large group attended the WebCT National Impact Conference in Chicago last week.
Cengiz Capan commented that the IRC has changed over the years, in the way it works with administrative management, the charges of the reporting groups, the way it operates, etc. He said that lately he has seen task forces and other groups on campus working directly with the administration rather than working through the IRC. Cengiz stated that if the purpose of the IRC is to look at proposed changes for the university, in the area of technology, from a university-wide business perspective and then make recommendations to the administration, then he is concerned that the IRC is losing its influence with the administration, or it is becoming complacent. Maurice expressed his agreement with Cengiz’ view and added that because UNT has a new President this may be a good time to look at the role of the IRC. Further discussion followed.
Maurice asked if IRC would like to have Nancy Footer meet with them to discuss the issues that have been raised regarding the lengthy process of contract review. Maurice stated that he had sent Nancy a message about the concerns that had been expressed in this committee and she responded that people need to contact her if the process is taking too long. Nancy volunteered to come and talk with the IRC if that is desired. Following some discussion, it was agreed that members will collect issues and questions and send them to Maurice, who will, in turn, send them to Nancy Footer and ask for her comments. The IRC agreed that it should invite Nancy Footer to its next meeting to discuss issues regarding the contract approval process.
The consensus of the group was that an August meeting of the IRC would not be necessary.
Uwe Rossbach suggested that a technical initiative be kicked off to create a campus-wide VPN access to go along with the firewall on a priority project basis. There was some discussion about this and some issues regarding the firewall, and Lou Ann Bradley was asked to bring this issue to the Communications Planning Group, and was also requested to bring Datacom’s plan for the firewall to the IRC for its information and review.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.