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1. Minutes Approved
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Minutes of the December 8, 1997, ITC Meeting were approved.
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2. 1998-2000 NVCC Technology Plan
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Dr. Sachs distributed a memo requesting suggestions for things to include
in the College's next technology plan from each campus and administrative
unit. The VCCS has established a framework for the plan and has indicated
that the plan should focus on applications of technology rather than just
hardware or infrastructure. A Technology Plan Steering Committee has been
established, and will develop a college-wide plan for consideration later
this Spring. The VCCS must approve the College's Plan prior to distributing
technology funds.
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3. SNA to TCP/IP Conversion
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Dean Baker reported on negotiations with the VCCS concerning elimination
of all SNA devices at NVCC and total conversion to TCP/IP by the end of
June. The VCCS has mandated this conversion and it was part of NVCC's current
Technology Plan. However, subsequent analysis indicates that this would
be extremely expensive and difficult to accomplish. For example, NOVANet
is an SNA application that would be very difficult and expensive to replace.
Any changes would be effective for only a short time, since they would
all be replaced by the new SIS that is expected to be implemented within
the next two years. The College has requested permission from the VCCS
to continue limited use of SNA until the new SIS is implemented. (Note:
following the meeting permission to continue limited use of SNA was received
from the VCCS.)
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4. Cabling of Smaller Campus Buildings
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Mr. Ballard reported that a list has been prepared with the help of Campus
Information Technology Managers of cabling that still needs to be completed
for smaller buildings and other areas that may have initially been overlooked
at each campus. At the request of Dr. Sylvas, this list will be distributed
to the Provosts for their review. The Plan is to have connections to these
buildings completed with the current year's funds.
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5. Reports on Campus Use of Mentoring Funds
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Each campus and College Staff reported on their use of Mentoring Funds
provided under the Technology Training Budget. None of the campuses or
College Staff have used all of their funds to date. A variety of faculty
proposals have been funded and some campuses have funded equipment or other
resources to support faculty use of technology. Several campuses expect
to use some of their funds to fund registrations to the New Horizons Conference.
All the units expect to spend their total allocation of funds.
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6. Allocation of Remaining Training Funds
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Mr. McGrory reported that the campus training provided by CSS&T continues
to be successful and will continue through May. He indicated that the trainers
can be used for classes, small workshops, individual consultations, advanced
classes and special classes as needed. He also reported that all the LRCs
now have bound copies of the training handouts and copies of training videos
on MS Office.
The ITC subcommittee composed of Mr. McGrory, Mr. Ballard and
Dr. Sachs recommended funding $32,665 of training requests from faculty
and staff and $22,249 in training software. In addition, it was noted that
a bid is currently in process for Microsoft support training. If that bid
comes in under budget, additional faculty and staff training requests could
be funded. Following discussion, a motion was made by Mrs. Egan and seconded
by Dr. Bassett to approve the subcommittee's report with additional funding
of $4,111 to fully fund the IST faculty proposal for a GMU course plus
textbooks. The additional $4,111 is to come from surplus campus faculty
tuition assistance funds or savings on other training activities. If these
sources do not cover the entire amount, funding from the money for training
software is to be used. The motion passed unanimously.
Mr. McGrory gave special praise to the IST faculty proposal for
originating in the cluster, identifying a strategy, and pulling together
all the pieces necessary to meet the identified need.
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7. Technical Support Services Report
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a. Help Desk - Mr. Ballard reported that the help desk software is up and
running and can be used by campus Technology staff. The full implementation
and publication of the help desk is dependent on obtaining a final phone
number. This is expected within a month. Calls to the help desk will either
be handled by help desk staff or be routed to someone on the campus who
can provide assistance. Software will assist in providing help remotely.
If the problem cannot be solved immediately, it will be logged for campus
staff follow-up. All campus technology staff will have alpha-numeric pagers
and will instantly be notified of major system problems.
b. Web Page Access - Paul Parker has made the necessary changes
to allow individuals to directly control their own web pages without going
through a central test site. Changes made to their pages will take effect
immediately. MS Front Page extensions are expected to be added to the Web
server this month. The Webmaster function will be distributed to appropriate
offices to make responses to questions that come to the College through
the Web. Every request for a Web page directory has been filled. Efforts
are underway to automate the process to simplify establishing new Web sites.
c. Computer Based Training - Multi-media on-line training is being
purchased from Technology Training funds. These materials will be available
to all faculty and staff throughout the College. On-line training will
be available at introductory, intermediate and advanced levels for MS Office
95 software, HTML, Visual Basic and related technical topics. It should
be operational in approximately 2-3 months.
d. System Management Software - SMS software is expected to be
deployed later this month. This software will help manage the entire computer
inventory on the LAN and allow for remote diagnostics, inventory control,
troubleshooting, network monitoring, remote software distribution and remote
help desk support. When SMS starts up the first time it will ask the user
some questions it cannot determine from the hardware alone.
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8. Replacement and Repair of Borrowed Equipment
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Dr. Sachs distributed the following draft of a proposed policy on replacement
and repair of borrowed equipment based on discussion at the November ITC
meeting. The proposed policy will integrated into the redrafting of the
computer technology section of the ASPM.
Each campus and administrative unit is responsible for the
repair or replacement of its equipment. Faculty, staff and students may
borrow equipment for use off-campus with appropriate permission as designated
by the campus or administrative unit, consistent with College policy. If
the borrowed equipment is damaged or lost as a result of carelessness,
misuse or neglect; the borrower is responsible for the full cost of repair
or replacement. In all other cases, the borrower is required to promptly
file a police report, where appropriate, and a claim with their personal
insurance carrier. The College must be notified and provided with copies
of any police reports and insurance claims. The borrower must reimburse
the campus or administrative unit for the full amount of any claim payment
received. The borrower will have no further liability.
Discussion was held on possible distinctions in liability when
faculty and staff are on travel status and whether negligence on campus
should be treated any differently than negligence off-campus. Mr. Himes
moved to approve the proposed policy in principal for inclusion in the
redrafting of the ASPM. The motion passed unanimously.
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9. E-Mail
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a. Use of the "Everyone" List - Dean Baker recommended that use of the
"Everyone" e-mail distribution list be restricted to the College Public
Relations Office for distribution of information electronically similar
to the distribution of information in INTERCOM. Individuals wishing to
distribute items to "Everyone" would forward them to the Public Relations
Office. Dean Baker proposed creating campus-specific distribution lists
to be under the control of the Provosts or College Deans. The goal is to
minimize junk e-mail. Dean Baker is interested in seeing examples of good
e-mail use policies. There was no disagreement with these proposals.
b. Accounts for Emeritus Faculty - Dean Baker proposed allowing
Emeritus Faculty to keep their e-mail accounts. They would be subject to
the same e-mail policies as everyone else. No objection was raised by the
ITC.
c. Student E-mail - Mr. Ballard reported that a test of student
e-mail supported by the VCC Technical Utility will be conducted this month
at Manassas. The VCCS server is not yet ready for the test. NVCC staff
will be looking at support requirements on local NVCC staff and will develop
an implementation plan based on the results of the pilot test. It is still
expected that student e-mail will be implemented College-wide by the end
of Spring semester.
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10. Remote Internet Access for Faculty, Staff and Students
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Dr. Sachs distributed draft specifications for a bid to provide dial-up
internet access for faculty, staff and students to use from their homes.
The individual users would pay for the service if they chose to use the
service recommended by the College as a result of the bid process. The
goal of the bid is to get a low price for users. The proposed specifications
had been distributed widely prior to the meeting. Woodbridge ITC representatives
recommended that Stafford County be added to the list of required local
access phone areas. There was no objection to forwarding the specifications
to the Purchasing Office to initiate the bid process.
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11. Future Items
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Discussion of LAN, E-mail and CICS approval requests; and ITC member terms
was postponed until a future meeting.
cc: Dr. Ernst
Attachments
Notes prepared by:
Steven G. Sachs
Associate Dean for Information Technology
Committee Chair:
Alison Baker
Dean of Financial and Administrative Services
This page maintained by Steven G. Sachs, Associate Dean for Information
Technology
Last update:4/17/98
nvsachs@nvcc.edu