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Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes for January 27, 2005

A meeting of the University Information Technology Advisory Committee was called to order at 3:05 p.m. on January 27, 2005 in the 4th floor conference room of Cabell Library. Dr. James Shultz, co-chair, presided. Members present were Dr. Lynn Nelson, Ms. Fran Smith, Dr. Michael Sesnowitz, Ms. Veronica Shuford, and Mr. Mark Willis. Dr. David Primeaux, Dr. Henry Rozycki, Dr. Dianne Simons, Ms. Aimee Hanson, Mr. Santa Susarapu, Mr. Carl Gattuso, Dr. Phyllis Self, and Mr. John Ulmschneider were absent. Mr. Jim Yucha, Director of Web Support Services, Academic Technology, represented Dr. Self. Also present was Mr. James Thomas, ARIES Project Manager.

Before proceeding to the agenda items, Dr. Michael Sesnowitz, the new administrative representative, was introduced and welcomed to the committee.

I. REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM NOVEMBER 17, 2004 MEETING
Minutes were approved as prepared.

II. ARIES PROJECT – JAMES THOMAS
Mr. James Thomas, ARIES project manager, was present to brief the committee on the status of the ARIES project. He distributed a report on the project to committee members. The ARIES project mission is to implement the SunGard SCT Banner Enterprise Resource Planning system and use that system’s advanced capabilities in re-engineering VCU’s administrative processes to be more customer-focused, value-added, resource-efficient and cost-effective.

The ARIES project will take three years to complete. The Finance and Human Resources components development will be complete and functionally ready for operation by January, 2006, and will go into production at the beginning of the next fiscal year (July 1, 2006). Implementation of the Student Enrollment Services and Financial Aid components will begin in January, 2006 and be completed by August, 2007.

Project oversight is through a steering committee. Representatives of various constituencies at the University provide guidance on the scope and magnitude of the project. There are seven process teams as well as a departmental users team.

Mr. Thomas stated that they are six months into the project and have just completed the Initiation and Planning Phases of the System Development Life Cycle. The Execution and Control Phase is underway.

For more information on the ARIES Project, there is a VCU ARIES Project website that can be accessed by selecting “ARIES Project” under the “Sites of Interest” drop down menu on the VCU home page. There is a general area for public access and another area for VCU personnel that can only be entered with your VCU eID. You can also link to the SunGard SCT web site from VCU’s home page.

Under the new Banner system, almost every interaction with administrative systems will be through the web. Mr. Thomas stated that this is NOT a replacement of a system – it is actually brand new.

Mr. Thomas will update UITAC on project progress every six months or so.

III. UPDATE ON E-MAIL CONSOLIDATION – MARK WILLIS
Mr. Willis stated that since the last meeting in November, the system has continued to be stable. However, there is one remaining problem with web access to the server. As a preventative measure, the server is being re-booted about once a week to minimize the likelihood of crashing. All other open problems have been resolved with IBM.

Mr. Timmreck, Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration, has established an internal task force to review the e-mail situation. The group met once in December and will meet again in a couple of weeks. On February 1, there will be an independent review of VCU’s e-mail strategy by a consultant. The consultant will submit a report the following week. We are moving forward with the consolidation project, but are about 6-7 months behind schedule. Under the new timeframe, faculty and staff will be migrated from Mail 1/2 by the end of the academic year, with all students moved by the start of the next academic year.

Mr. Willis also reported on the implementation of a new spam control product, Brightmail Anti-Spam. This was put into production in December. Spam is now being kept out of individual inboxes (65% of email coming into inboxes is spam). Mr. Willis passed out a report that depicts daily amounts of spam detected and quarantined. Although there have been some technical problems with the spam quarantine (now resolved) Brightmail is doing its job and working well.

IV. TELECOMMUNICATIONS MODERNIZATION PROJECT – MARK WILLIS
Mr. Willis distributed a handout entitled “VCU ACES Project: Telecommunications Modernization.” This project will replace and modernize telephone services for the University. The Board approved the project in August, and we should get approval from the Secretary of Education on January 28. State approval should be completed by the middle of February 2005. A contract will probably be awarded by April and initial installation will begin by June 2005, and be completed by early fall of 2006.

V. FINAL DRAFT IT STRATEGIC PLAN
Mr. Willis and Dr. Self took the comments and revisions offered by the committee members and incorporated them into this final draft. Three items still need to be addressed:

1. Constituent Support (item 2.3, page 6) – The committee discussed this item further. The intention is that everyone be trained so they will have basic computer skills (knowledge of browsers, where to put a floppy, virus protection, word perfect basics, etc). Mr. Willis and Dr. Self will re-word this one.
2. Administrative Options (item 1.4, page 7) – The committee decided to leave this item in place, but to take out the brackets.
3. Governance Management and Funding (item 1.4, page 9) – There had been lots of discussion on this item previously. The consensus was to leave it as presented.

The Final Draft will be finalized and distributed at the next meeting.

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