August 15, 1996 Minutes

Information Technology Advisory Committee (ITAC)

Minutes, 8/15/96

Present: Robert Wolpert (chair), Bill Auld, John Board, Roger Loyd, Jim Dronsfield, Annette Foster, Paul Harrod, Billy Herndon, David Jamieson-Drake, Melissa Mills, Kevin Myers, Caroline Nisbet, Mike Pickett, Evan Scheessele, Marion Shepard, John Sigmon, John Eisenmenger

1. The meeting was called to order at 4:15pm by Robert Wolpert who announced that Betty Le Compagnon was ill and would not attend today's session. Mike Pickett noted that the minutes from the last meeting were distributed prior to the meeting and asked that changes and corrections be sent to him.

2. Announcements: Mike Pickett reported that Betty, Landen, he and other OIT staff members had met with MCIS staff to discuss ways to work together with the goals to collaborate on systems and computer operations efforts, save resources, and provide better service to customers. Several initiatives look promising and discussions will continue. Pickett noted that MCIS is negotiating for a better site license price on Norton's anti-virus software. He also announced that the positions of institutional data administrator and systems integrator will be nationally posted. The site license for Lotus Notes has been signed. Kevin Lee (MCIS) and Neal Paris (OIT) will be responsible for distribution of the software. A meeting was held with other universities in the Triangle to discuss possible R&D and collaborative efforts. Some possible areas of collaboration were identified and discussions will continue. Jim Dronsfield announced that one of the candidates for the director of Tele/Video position has been reinvited to visit the campus and hopefully an offer can be made after the visit. He hopes to make an official announcement in the near future.

3. E-Mail Support Overview: Mike Pickett observed that there were no responses to Betty Le Compagnon's posting of the overview document on e-mail support. (This document was distributed previously to ITAC members.) Marion Shepard asked whether OIT planned to negotiate a site license for Eudora Pro. Pickett responded that this would not be considered until an IMAP version is released.

4. Draft Migration Plan Overview: Mike Pickett distributed the report prepared by Billy Herndon's group with the assistance of an external consultant. The report includes estimates of cost as well as recommendations about the order in which projects should be done. It was prepared after consultation with OIT staff, vendors, WPR staff, and an external consulting group. It was noted that the report is simply a model of how a migration might be accomplished and the costs that might be incurred. Actual plans would need to be made as more information on WPR, the strategic plan, and the external consultants reports are received. The plan would also need to be revised periodically over a several year period. Billy Herndon reviewed the assumptions used in preparing the document as well as the draft report's conclusions. This report is in DRAFT form and comments should be sent to Billy Herndon at herndonb@mail01.adm.duke.edu. Robert Wolpert noted his surprise that that the distributed computing decisions cost more in every category; particularly noting the inflation factor and use of list prices, he felt that the cost estimates could be as much as 50% too high. Herndon responded by noting that distributed computing would provide much more that we presently have and referred to section 5.3 of the document that explains the model used for estimating costs. He noted that new systems would be very functionally attractive, thus increasing the number of users, and increasing costs. Even should Duke remain in a mainframe environment, the older systems would have to be re-written and these costs were not calculated.

5. Draft Strategic Plan Overview: John Board distributed a draft of the strategic plan noting that it is not for distribution at this time. He asked that comments be sent either to him directly or to the ITAC list with one week. It is the sub-committee's intention to present the final report, if possible, at the next ITAC meeting. Board briefly reviewed the document, particularly focusing on section 5--governing principles for IT reform. Board stated that the reports of the sub-committees as well as the planning document prepared by ADAC will be included as appendices. He observed that the IBM consulting group is essentially preparing an IT strategic plan and that the committee would recommend that their recommendations be reviewed in November to continue the planning efforts. David Jamieson-Drake suggested that the IBM report be reviewed by the Gartner Group since the University already has a contract with them.

6. Procurement System Selection Process: Mike Pickett announced that Tallman Trask will endorse the SAP contract once the negotiations for an Oracle contract have been completed. OIT is in the final stage of that negotiation. Pickett stated that the decision process needs to be clear to the Duke community when an announcement is made and a document is being drafted to this end. The Systems Integration Coordinating Committee (SICC) Core Team reviewed financial systems from SAP, Oracle, and PeopleSoft and determined that the SAP product is the leading choice for Duke because of the needs of the medical center as well as the campus. In negotiations with SAP, Tallman Trask was able obtain terms that are very favorable for the University. In addition, SAP will conduct the implementation themselves (as opposed to their usual recommendation of a 3rd party vendor), have guaranteed a successful implementation, and have agreed to an implementation cost ceiling, thus reducing Duke's financial and functional risk.

7. Remote Access Subcommittee Update: An update was distributed on behalf of the chair who was out-of-town. John Board noted new information in this document that had not been made explicit in the previous update; the ADSL trials are to be considered a business secret and should be considered confidential information.

8. The meeting concluded at 5:40pm.

Respectfully submitted, Caroline Nisbet