October 24, 1996 Minutes

Information Technology Advisory Council (ITAC)

Minutes, 10/24/96

211 Telcom

Attending: Brian Eder, John Eisenmenger, Alex Reutter, Landen Bain, Roger Loyd, Caroline Nisbet, Jim Dronsfield, Mike Pickett, Betty Le Compagnon, Robert Wolpert, John Sigmon, Evan Scheessele, Pakis Bessias, Anne Beckwith, Steven Natelborg, John Brehm, Dick Danner, Charles Register, David Jamieson-Drake, Bill Auld

Previous meeting's minutes approved.

Procurement Reengineering Project - 3 level governance group put together for implementation. Will present the IBM/OIT computing survey results and make recommendations to senior management as to who should be involved in implementation.

SICC reviewing SAP and PeopleSoft. SICC core team preparing an evaluation and will ask ITAC to review.

Computer Acceptable Use Policy - revised policy distributed as handout; changes made by Legal Counsel in italics. Discussion that followed centered around whether the new wording gave the University authority too broadly over the individual's right to privacy : J. Sigmon asked whether this wording of the policy was more restrictive than Federal law or policy, in so far as it restricts the rights of individuals. R. Wolpert noted that email is sometime read for troubleshooting purposes and, therefore, inadvertently compromises privacy. He also noted that approval for the changes was not be sought at this meeting. D. Danner asked whether the policy would go to the Academic Council; J. Brehm suggested it be taken to the Human Subjects Review group; John Eisenmenger asked whether it applied to students and faculty since they are not expressly mentioned in the policy.

IT Survey results by school were distributed by D. Jamieson-Drake.

* Motion was made to rename ITAC to Information Technology Advisory Council (from Committee), noting the permanent, representative nature of the group. Motion passed.

OIT Supported HW/SW Lists - suggestion was made that OIT provide a regularly updated list of supported products. This would include brand names supported. Will work with Student Stores to coordinate efforts. Suggestion was made that the Stores should offer several "official" bundled systems so buyer can expect OIT support. Several comments regarding the differences between software and hardware support. Duke users should expect support on site licensed software (DJD). B. Eder pointed out the difficulties in supporting laptops as opposed to desktop machines. There seemed agreement that the lists shouldn't dictate, but should offer some guidelines for those wanting them. Prices should be competitive - lists should be reviewed every six months - 1 year warning for obsolescence - all University site licenses listed. This topic is to receive further work and will be returned to ITAC for additional review.

Site License Review Committee Nominees - chaired by Ginny Cake. OIT Customer Service Group involvement. See handout. Concern was raised that there was no faculty representation and that a number of issues involving instructional computing are likely to come before any site license committee. J. Sigmon asked just what the process would be for bringing forward recommendations for site license. R. Loyd indicated the need for Libraries involvement. L. Bain summarized the discussion by saying there were really two issues: what software are we after; and, the mechanics issue - how to strike the deal and distribute. Suggestion was made that there should be two committees - one which would review site license recommendations and needs, the other to oversee implementation of selected software. The first committee would be largely comprised of faculty and students, with the possible administration representation. DJD indicated that he would take a first attempt at a review process design. This to be discussed again at next meeting.

Web Pages Overview - Charles Register provide ITAC with an overview of the current web page support provided centrally by OIT. He indicated that hardware resources were a big issues and outlined support provided to individuals and departments. OIT is trying to provide at least a base level of hardware support for individuals and departments interested in maintaining their own web pages. R. Wolpert suggested that we shouldn't promise currently provided diskspace forever.

Updating Clusters and Web Committee Agenda Topics postponed until next meeting.

John McCann will be joining ITAC as Fuqua faculty representative. Bill Scarborough will be joining, representing Auxiliaries. Alex Reutter was welcomed as new grad student representative. Anne Beckwith is leaving ITAC (but joining OIT); her replacement will be Pakis Bessias.