Attending: Ed Anapol, Kevin Cheung, Dick Danner, David Ferriero, David Jamieson-Drake, Pete Goswick, Mike Gower, Patrick Halpin, Betty Leydon, Melissa Mills, Kyle Johnson (for Caroline Nisbet), George Oberlander, Mike Pickett, Rafael Rodriguez, Leslie Saper, Robert Wolpert Guests: Billy Herndon, Angel Dronsfield, Susan Simko

Review of Minutes and Announcements:

The minutes of the August 12th, 1999 meeting were approved with one minor revision.

SISS Implementation Timetable Update

  1. There would be ample time allocated for the test phase,
  2. they would request a pre-release version of 7.6 and
  3. not depend on PeopleSoft to adequately test the software prior to delivery.
  4. program the web interface to turn off hard drive caching altogether, and
  5. notify the students to close their browsers at the end of the session to clear the memory cache.

  6. David Jamieson-Drake reported that the Records and Financial portion of SISS, scheduled to be implemented in October, has been delayed due to problems in upgrading from version 7.0 to version 7.5 this past summer. November, December and January will be used to test version 7.5 of the Records and Financial portion with an implementation date of February 2000.
    David was asked if there were any proactive plans for implementing version 7.6. He responded:

    Kyle Johnson asked how data extracts for students admitted via PeopleSoft would be combined with those for continuing students.
    David responded that all the students had been converted to legacy records files so extracts being generated from the legacy system are functional and comprehensive.

    David presented a paper describing a potential security risk because of the way browsers treat cache. The problem is that browsers need to use cache to improve performance but that information is only released when the web browser is closed. The proposed solution was to:

    Students logging in from noncompliant browsers would be warned and notified where to find versions that support the necessary security but permitted to continue the sessions if they wish. The proposal was passed unanimously.

Report on the President's Retreat

  1. Supporting faculty research
  2. Funding for IT - innovative methods for funding IT at Duke need to be identified.
  3. Training to use technology, new systems, etc. - With current systems and new development being implemented, a structured training agenda needs to be in place for the end-user community. Duke hires in excess of 4,000 employees each year. Many in need of training on use of production systems. A proposal for this training may need to be written by OIT.

  4. Betty Leydon attended a senior officers retreat in July to review the 1998-99 priority areas and to develop University-wide priorities for 1999-00. The three (3) priorities for Information Technology (IT) in 1999-00 that Betty identified were:

ADSL Update

Rafael Rodriguez gave an update on ADSL service. He mentioned that OIT ran into difficulties during the testing of the upgrade of the line from the GTE central office to the Duke campus for ADSL service. The plan is to upgrade to a DS3 line from the current T1 line. The expected number of ADSL connections that Duke's router was expected to support was 1,000 users based on information provided by the GTE testing labs with support from Cisco. The actual results was a very low number of users (around 5) before the router performance significantly degraded. DataCom has tested the DS3 upgrade with the new routers for the backbone and the performance issue is significantly improved. There is an expected cutover of the current ADSL users to the new DS3 line beginning Tuesday, August 31.

Additionally, there were some concerns with the ADSL contract with respect to CIR (committed information rates) for the new service. These issues have been resolved based on GTE technical assurance that ADSL users can normally expect to see the advertised communication rates during the peak usage periods unless there are some unusual circumstances.

The announcements of the new ADSL service and the monthly charge are expected to be made by mid-September. The new service will provide faster service at a lower price. The current ADSL users will be notified first and will be given thirty days to make changes to their selection without a fee.

Discussion IBM eBusiness workshop and possible areas for pilots

  1. personalized services
  2. new revenues for Duke University
  3. could create more competition for Duke by others
  • View monthly statements
  • View current balances
  • View transactions
  • Report lost/stolen cards
  • Reactivate lost/stolen cards
  • Sign up for Flex account
  • Deposit funds into Dining/Flex account
  • Change dining account
  • Tickets to Duke events could be purchased via the Web
  • Tickets.com provides an add-on feature to their internet ticketing system that allows Events Management (EM) to link to them from the latter's web site while keeping the look and feel of the EM web site
  • Tickets.com has developed a secure, scalable open-standard middleware layer with open API's called TAG (Transaction Application Gateway)
  • Security uses a combination of SSL protocol, proprietary packet formats with Blowfish encryption, unique device ID's, names logins to databases and unpublished communications ports/sockets
  • Web patrons are connected to the Tickets.com server and not directly to EM's ticket database
  • Tickets.com clones, as much as possible, the look and feel of EM's website and creates the frames necessary to sell tickets
  • Students could receive invoices for their OIT services (telephone, cable TV, etc) via the Web
  • Could pay their bills via the Web - Current costs (labor, paper, postage, lockbox fees, etc.) to invoice students for OIT services are very large and time consuming. Cost saving would be realized by employing eBusiness for these services.
  • University departments could receive their telephone statements via the Web tailored to their own specifications.
  • Departments could "drill down" on a line item to get exact details about the service.
  • Department billing or accounting changes could be accomplished via the Web thus providing better customer service hours at a much lower cost
  • Ultimately would like to add the front-end business process to the eBusiness as well (ordering, moving or disconnecting service). This would really save a lot of redundant effort and streamline the ordering process.
  • OIT will begin with a pilot program with the PDCs this fall.

  1. Betty Leydon took a group to IBM in New York to discuss and define the meaning of eBusiness and to explore how it would benefit Duke. eBusiness is doing business on the Web, retail and non-retail. Studies confirm that there is substantial cost saving by doing business via the Web. eBusiness could offer Duke:

    George Oberlander presented ideas on how eBusiness could apply to selected Auxiliaries Services:

    Duke Card Services

    Events Management Ticket Sales

    Angel Dronsfield presented ideas on how eBusiness could apply to OIT invoices.

Meeting adjourned at 5:30pm