Minutes

May 23, 1996

The ITAC meting was held on May 23, 1996 in room 211 TelCom Building. Robert Wolpert, Chairman, called the meeting to order. There was no previous minutes available for review.

Announcements

  1. Betty Le Campagnon suggested that the new OIT position descriptions for Institutional Data Administrator and Systems Architect be reviewed by a Medical Center Information Systems (MCIS) consultant.
  2. Mike Pickett reported that handouts given to the ITAC members during our meetings will be posted on the ITAC e-mail list.

Institutional Data Issues Update

  1. Data Warehouse - Suzanne Maupin of OIT reported what she has accomplished since 7/1/95 related to the Data Warehouse project. She has been educating herself about the subject and the various tools available to assist us with the project. An extended relational modeling tool for Windows has been selected (ERwin). She is currently searching for data repository tools. A request for information about data is being sent out to systems administrators outside of OIT. A consultant has been hired with hands on experience with data warehousing. In addition, the hardware has been delivered for the data warehouse prototype.
  2. Duke Unique ID - Suzanne Maupin reported that this project will attempt to assign a unique identifier to each member of the Duke community. There are currently several problems with using Social Security Numbers, particularly with foreign students. Planned uses for this will include electronic authentication, e-mail, and linking applications.
  3. Brio Query Pilot - Suzanne reported that they have been looking for a tool to access several databases and have purchased a 10 user license of this tool. If the pilot goes well the tool then may be used more widely.

Proshare Video Demo

Brent Carter of Multimedia Comm gave a demonstration of Proshare Video Conferencing system. This system (LAN/ISDN based) includes a whiteboard file sharing function, and the ability to simultaneously work on a spreadsheet, document or other application. We had hope to see a demonstration of Proshare and Lotus Notes from Paul Stamer of the Medical College of Georgia, but could not make the phone connection. If you are interested in contacting Paul Stamer directly, his number is (706) 721-7802.

Review of Proposed Hardware and Software Support Process

Neal Paris of OIT gave a status report on the OIT Hardware & Software Suggestions & Guidelines. Neal distributed a new draft document in matrix format based on comments from the initial draft document. UPSs will be added to the server configurations. A narrative will also be included with the Guidelines. Melissa Mills suggested that these should be student guidelines, not for employees. Betty Le Campagnon commented that employees check with their own departments in addition to reviewing the guidelines. Mike Pickett suggested using price ranges instead of one price. Mike also wanted some way to keep these guidelines current. Annette Foster suggested that information should be included on hardware requirements for applications (DAFT,BPA,...). Further comments should be sent to Neal Paris.

Submitted by,
Paul Harrod