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Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes for June 24, 2004

A meeting of the University Information Technology Advisory Committee was called to order at 3:00 p.m. on June 24, 2004, in the Dean’s conference room in the Smith Building. Dr. James Shultz, co-chair, presided. Members present were Dr. Henry Rozycki, Ms. Veronica Shuford, Dr. Phyllis Self, and Mr. Mark Willis. Dr. Lynn Nelson, Dr. Dianne Simons, Ms. Fran Smith, Dr. Robert Mattauch, Mr. Charles Anderson, Mr. Rahul Khanna, Mr. Carl Gattuso, and Mr. John Ulmschneider were absent.

I. REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM MAY 27, 2004 MEETING

There were not enough members present for a quorum, so the Minutes will be emailed to everyone for review and approval at the July 22 meeting.

For all future meetings, the draft minutes will be put on the UITAC website (www.vcu.edu/uitac).

II. IT STRATEGIC PLAN

Mr. Willis distributed a document entitled Proposed IT Goals and Strategies. These proposed goals and strategies progressed from Dr. Self’s Academic Technology Strategic Plan.

A section on Web Services has been added.

The section from Academic Technology’s plan that was referred to as a “Student Centered University” was expanded on and added to the proposed goals and strategies as Goal 1 under a new section entitled Student Life.

The committee briefly summarized the sections they had already covered and then proceeded to discuss the final area, IT Governance, Management and Funding.

Goal 1. – We need to clarify the governance groups that are already in place. Maybe change the word “clarify” to “define.”
Goal 2 – Develop a unified central organization. We probably don’t want to do this immediately but we would want to get it back on the table. The university should look at developing a central IT unit.
Goals 4 & 5 are linked together. Maybe a Management Asset process needs to be developed.

What do we want the model to look like? Do we want to move toward a standard IT desktop or a standard way of supporting software? We are going to strike the balance, but we have to support the creativity of the staff and faculty. We need to give some flexibility to the individual. The strategy is to find the balance – aim toward standardization.

Mr. Willis suggested putting together a full package incorporating the issues discussed at the meeting. Some sections of the document may need to be re-arranged. He and Dr. Self will try to prepare a final draft and send it out within a couple of weeks so that the committee can review it. It will then be re-done with edits, adds, removals, changes, etc.

III. OTHER BUSINESS

The committee will be polled to see who will be available to attend the July 22 meeting and a decision will then be made about whether or not to have the meeting.

Mr. Willis re-distributed a copy of the “E-mail Policy & Operational Procedures Issues” (copy attached). Preliminary recommendations on these issues were made at the April 22, 2004 meeting. The issues were discussed and the following recommendations were made.

#1 E-mail forwarding – the preliminary recommendation made at the April 22 meeting was to NOT allow forwarding on student accounts. After discussion, the committee determined that this issue needs more discussion in other circles, including the new interim Provost.

#2 Supported clients – the preliminary recommendation was that selected clients would be supported by the central IT units (Notes, Outlook and Mozilla). Support for other clients would have to be provided by school/departmental IT staff. Web access would be provided through iNotes and simple Web Mail. Pine would no longer be supported. After discussion, it was determined that Mr. Scott Davis needs to provide the committee with the number of Pine users. It was also suggested that more iNotes training be provided.

#3 Quotas – the preliminary recommendation at the April 22 meeting was to adopt a four-tiered system of quotas and enforce it. The tiers would be UG students, GR and PR students, general faculty/staff, and exceptions. After discussion, the committee determined that an educational piece needs to be developed so that users will know how to handle this.

#4 Restoration of deleted mail – the preliminary recommendation at the April 22 meeting was that restoration would require administrative approval (see note at bottom of E-mail Policy document attached)

#5 Mobile access – the preliminary recommendation at the April 22 meeting was that mobile access to e-mail would be provided for Blackberries, cell phones and devices with WAP browsers. PDA support would be provided for the two most predominant devices/operating systems. After discussion, recommendation was made that support for PDAs will be the responsibility of the individual departments.

#6 Duplicate accounts – the preliminary recommendation was that each person be permitted one individual e-mail account. Special and departmental accounts would continue as needed. Committee determined this was not an issue.

#7 Auto Archiving – The committee agreed with the preliminary recommendation that this issue be investigated further for future implementation.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:40 pm.