Information Technology Committee
Minutes
May 1, 2000
Minutes of the March 6, 2000, ITC Meeting were approved.
Dean Baker gave a report on the new VCCS Administrative Information System (AIS) project that will use PeopleSoft software. Training is currently underway for the VCCS workgroups that will be customizing the software and developing implementation plans. The Fit-Gap exercise that matches the software to our specific needs to identify potential problem areas to be fixed will be held later this Summer.
Dr. Sachs reported on the VCCS Student Information System (SIS). Current
plans are for implementation throughout the VCCS in four waves, with all
to be converted by the end of 2001. The software that has been adapted
for the VCCS by the workgroups will be released this Summer. The VCC Technical
Utility will run the software and main servers. Each campus will have several
small servers. The main efforts of the College during implementation will
be on re-engineering business practices and staff training.
Mrs. Simpson presented a draft revised form of the College Web Policy
document. The document primarily takes existing policy and puts it into
a cleaner, easier to read format. It also incorporates recommendations
approved at the March ITC meeting. Several additional recommendations from
the Web Policy Steering Committee were presented in the draft document.
Minor editing changes were made. The addition of a representative of the
Continuing Education Directors Working Group to the Web Policy Steering
Committee was approved. Mrs. Simpson was directed to fix the heading and
wording on page 6 of the document to include other prohibitions or to change
it to specify "Commercial Use." On page 3, section C#3, she was to clarify
students' ability to publish on the Web. A policy for student Web sites
is needed and should appear in the Student Handbook. There was a brief
discussion of where the disclaimer link should appear that indicates that
faculty and student sites are not official college sites. The ITC approved
the draft as written and directed that it be published on the Web as is.
Meanwhile, the Web Policy Steering Committee is to continue working on
the remaining issues and report back to the ITC.
There was a discussion of the latest draft of the 2000-2001 College
Technology Plan. Dr. Sachs gave an overview of the process used to develop
the plan and provided a handout summarizing the projects and funds with
a comparison to the current year's plan. It was suggested that if more
money is available it should go to instructional software and to providing
web support for continuing education. A request from the President to include
support for the Dogwood Project was presented. A request was made to provide
a stronger statement on distance learning. Mr. Sener distributed information
showing less funding for ELI and academic computing. In the discussion
it was pointed out that there were campus infrastructure needs that had
been neglected for several years that received higher priority in the draft
plan. After discussion, no major changes to the draft plan were approved.
The final draft of the plan will be presented to the ITC in June for approval
and forwarding to the Administrative Council. The goal is to have the plan
to the Chancellor by July 1.
Dr. Sachs reported that the committee that worked on the technology plan helped draft specifications for this year's PC purchases, and that the campus ITMs, after considerable testing and discussion, selected Dell computers. Pricing for additional purchases is good through September 30. Ordering information has been provided to the Provosts, Deans, LRC Directors and ITMs.
New Business
Dr. Butler requested that retirees be allowed to keep their College
email accounts. The ITC approved this recommendation. Dr. Sachs agreed
to bring it up at Administrative Council.
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Steven G. Sachs
Dean of Information Technology
Chair:
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Alison Baker
Dean of Financial and Administrative Services
pc: Dr. Wheelan