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Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes for February 24, 2005

A meeting of the University Information Technology Advisory Committee was called to order at 3:08 p.m. on February 24, 2005 in the Dean’s conference room in the Smith Building. Dr. James Shultz, co-chair, presided. Members present were Dr. Dianne Simons, Dr. Michael Sesnowitz, Ms. Veronica Shuford, Dr. Phyllis Self, and Mr. Mark Willis. Dr. Lynn Nelson, Dr. David Primeaux, Dr. Henry Rozycki, Ms. Fran Smith, Mr. Reuben Dix, Mr. Santa Susarapu, Mr. Carl Gattuso, and Mr. John Ulmschneider were absent. Mr. Scott Davis, Director of Client Services, was also present.

I. REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM JANUARY 27, 2005 MEETING

Minutes were approved as prepared.

II. UPDATE ON E-MAIL PROJECT/CONSULTANT’S REPORT – SCOTT DAVIS

An independent consultant was hired to review VCU’s e-mail strategy and to make recommendations regarding the consolidation project. Mr. Scott Davis distributed a handout entitled “VCU E-Mail Strategy Review, Summary of Findings and Recommendations of Consultant,” and discussed it with the committee.

Five issues were reviewed by the consultant:
1. Is Lotus Domino/Notes an appropriate product to meet messaging and groupware requirements in a large enterprise like VCU?
CONSULTANT RESPONSE – Yes.
2. Has VCU implemented Domino/Notes in a standard and appropriate manner?
CONSULTANT RESPONSE –VCU has implemented an unusual cluster configuration (for its faculty/staff users). The consultant suggested that we adopt a more standard configuration. The proposed student cluster is a more common method for high volume implementations.
3. Is VCU’s e-mail consolidation strategy on the Domino/Notes platform a logical approach from a cost and service perspective?
CONSULTANT RESPONSE – Yes
4. Does VCU have appropriate expertise to manage a large-scale Domino/Notes environment?
CONSULTANT RESPONSE – The consultant felt that VCU staff have good technical skills in Domino, but no experience scaling a system from 4,000 to 35,000 users. He suggested that additional third party resources be engaged when the actual migration begins.
5. Is VCU’s architecture design (Windows platform, clustered servers, server-based databases, etc.) sufficient to meet user service and uptime expectations? Would another platform/design provide significantly greater performance and reliability?
CONSULTANT RESPONSE – The consultant felt that based on ongoing issues with the current platform, additional consideration of the architecture is in order. A unix-based platform would be more scalable and likely provide higher reliability.

The consultant made the following recommendations:
1. Resolve performance and reliability issues with the current platform before implementing a student cluster.
2. Standardize the Domino cluster approach for the enterprise (i.e., architect the faculty/staff and student clusters in the same manner).
3. Select an operating system platform that will excel for business needs and service expectations.
4. Reconsider migration strategy and methodology (i.e., moving data from Mail 1/2 to Notes).

III. E-MAIL POLICY PROPOSAL – SCOTT DAVIS

Mr. Davis distributed a handout entitled “E-mail Policy and Operational Procedures Issues” and discussed it with the committee. These issues had been presented at an earlier UITAC meeting by Mr. Davis.

The following policies/procedures received earlier endorsement by UITAC:
E-MAIL FORWARDING – Do not permit e-mail forwarding by students. Require administrative approval for faculty and/or staff forwarding. Accounts to remain active for 60 days after separation.

SUPPORTED CLIENT/BROWSERS – The Notes client is recommended for maximum functionality; iNotes and a simple, mail-only interface will be provided for standard access; any standard IMAP client will be permitted (except for faculty, staff and students in ACE units), POP and PINE will no longer be permitted.

QUOTAS – Quotas will be established and enforced for UG, GR, faculty, staff, & special groups. Once the quota is reached, mail for faculty/staff will be archived, and student mail will be deleted. Exemptions from quotas will require administrative approval. Need to address quotas on archive in the future.

RESTORATION OF DELETED MAIL - Require administrative approval to restore mail.

PDA/BLACKBERRY SUPPORT - Central support is provided for Blackberry only. PDAs must be supported by departmental tech staff.

DUPLICATE ACCOUNTS - There will be only one individual account per user. User needs to identify primary account prior to conversion. Provide departmental and special accounts as needed.

AUTO ARCHIVING – Implement auto-archiving for all users based on database size and/or date, and develop policies/procedures for purging old items.

Mr. Davis and Mr. Willis will prepare more detailed standards and parameters and bring them back to the next meeting. The vice presidents will be informed of the new procedures prior to implementation.

IV. HIPAA PRIVACY AND SECURITY POLICIES/RULES – PHYLLIS SELF

The University and Health System faces an April 24th deadline regarding HIPAA privacy and security requirements. There are some major areas of conflict between the University and the Health Systems regarding policies. UITAC will need to adopt policies for the University at its next meeting. A special meeting in March may be necessary.

V. BLACKBOARD POLICIES – PHYLLIS SELF

This item will be discussed at the next meeting.

VI. ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES/CERTIFICATES – PHYLLIS SELF

Not covered.

VII. HANDOUT: FINAL DRAFT OF IT STRATEGIC PLAN

The final draft of the IT Strategic Plan was distributed to the committee.

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