Attending: Ed Anapol, Pakis Bessias, John Board, Alan Halachmi (for Kevin Cheung), Chris Cramer, Bob Currier, Dick Danner, David Ferriero, Nevin Fouts, Pete Goswick, Mike Gower, Donna Hewitt, Bob Newlin (for David Jamieson-Drake, Betty Leydon, Roger Loyd, Angel Marlowe, Melissa Mills, Caroline Nisbet, John Oates, George Obelander, Lynne O'Brien, Charles Register, Rafael Rodriguez, Leslie Saper, John Sigmon, Clark Smith

Call to Order: Meeting called to order by John Sigmon, Temporary ITAC Chair

Review of Minutes and Announcements:

Minutes of the January 28 meeting accepted without revision.

Betty Leydon welcomed John Sigmon to his new role as ITAC's Temporary Chair during Robert Wolpert's sabbatical.

New Members Pete Goswick of Alumni and Development Systems and George Oberlander of Auxiliaries Information Systems were welcomed to ITAC.

A printout of Rob Carter's OIT Public Computing Facilities Usage (http://www.oit.duke.edu/~rob/cluster-usage/) was distributed for discussion at a later meeting.

Network Principles and Procedures

  • All users should have access to a robust, reliable, and secure network and the network should be used in a responsible manner.
  • The replacement and upgrade cycle needs to be flexible, taking into account:
    • Users' needs
    • Growth rate
    • Network utilization
    • Technology changes
  • The implementation of new technology and the utilization of the collective network environment needs to take into account the effect and impact upon local, enterprise, and wide-area network infrastructures.

  1. The lastest draft of Network Principles and Procedures was reviewed. The new draft incorporated some of the concerns raised during the last discussion; i.e., open and participatory environment, tone, and micromanagement issues. After some discussion and agreement that the draft lacked a user focus, the following Preamble and Principles has the unanimous consensus of the group.

    The Duke University network is a shared and vital resource of this institution. This obligates all users as well as those responsible for network administration to adhere to the following principles:

    The "Procedures" section of the draft was renamed "Responsibilities."

    Specific suggestions for this section, either new or revised language, should be sent to Bob Currier or Rafael Rodriguez within the next week. A revised draft will be circulated before the next meeting.

IT Security Officer Position and Role

  1. education
  2. development of tools and services, and
  3. policies.

  4. Charlie Register has assumed the responsibilities of IT Security Officer. A draft of the job summary, primary job responsibilities, and the current security priorities was distributed for review. While a position of data security officer was recommended at the time the Chief Information Officer post was created, this new position reflects the increasing problem with intrusion and hacking experienced across the University.

    Charlie highlighted recent security incidents on campus and stressed the need to educate and establish good lines of communication across campus with Duke Police, the Office for Institutional Equity, Student Affairs, etc.
    John Board noted the School of Engineering has addressed the problem created by exposure on shared hubs.
    Alan Halachmi reported on student concerns about internal attacks, citing recent incidents on The Chronicle server and student "practical jokes" which compromise the entire network.
    Melissa Mills reported that ASNA has formed a group to address security issues and they have developed an order of business to be pursued:


    Charlie is interested in establishing a small, focussed group to provide guidance on security priorities. ITAC members interested in serving on this advisory group should contact Charlie.

Sibson Study Update

  • Senior Advisory Consultant, IT
  • Senior Executive, IT
  • Supervisor, IT

  1. Angel Marlowe distributed "Tailored Rewards Program Overview" prepared as part of Phase Two (Design of Pay and Rewards Systems) which Sibson and Company has done for the University.

    The document describes the new world for knowledge workers, articulates what Duke IT provides to employees, sets forth guiding principles, and provides salary ranges and competencies.
    The program will be implemented on 1 August 1999 and will start with Job Family 08 in the first round. Some 90 job titles have been collapsed into six new titles and Angel is seeking suggestions for alternative titles for the following:

    Suggested titles should be sent to Angel.

    A Technical Resource Group of 6-8 people, with rotating membership, will be established to provide guidance to smaller units trying to analyze staffing needs, prepare job descriptions, etc.

    The handout is not for wider distribution at this point.