IT Management Council
ITMC Meeting 8/3/04
Present:
John O'Brien, Robin Raygor, Mike Lopez, Beth Adams, Linda Skallman,
Jigang Liu, Jan Doebbert, Tim Stoddard, Paul Wasko, Mark Malachek, Glen
Guida, Nizami Namazov, Sharon Mohr, Joanne Chabot, Mike Seymour, Ray
Lou, Walid Safwat, Leslie Mercer
D2L Update:
The cutover from the Canadian servers to our servers was completed on July 20. The RFP has been completed, and Minnesota State University, Mankato, was selected. Plans are underway to upgrade to version 7.3. It is hoped that this update will solve some of the current problems. The upgrade from 7.2 to 7.3 is planned for August 16
John explained that there have been some concerns expressed about D2L and FERPA. The concerns expressed have to do with the ability of students in an online course to see the names of other students. There are compelling reasons to believe that there is not a FERPA violation, and John explained that several colleague institutions are content with the data protection resulting from closing classes to students other than those enrolled.
The group discussed some ways the D2L software could be changed if necessary, as well as other potential workarounds that might be useful. The upgrade to D2L version 7.3, John said, may include a feature that attempts to deal with FERPA issues. It was agreed that it would be difficult not to turn on such a feature if it was acceptable and available.
[Late Note: Several days after this meeting, D2L withdrew the FERPA feature from the 7.3 release, because they did not feel it was adequate for user needsAlso, since the meeting, the Office of the Chancellor Office of General Counsel concluded that a disclaimer may be sufficient to conform to FERPA]
Action Item: Joanne will take the issue to the Infrastructure Committee
should be discussing this � they meet on the 11th. Kris Kaplan
will be invited to the Infrastructure Committee meeting.
Action Item: John will continue to work with D2L to consider program
changes.
ASSC Committee and Workplan Priorities
Joanne Chabot handed out information on the criteria used by the Administrative System Advisory Committee. Joanne discussed the criteria items, which the committee used to develop priorities.
Joanne mentioned that she would like to change the development release system from weekly to 3 times a year. Monthly service packs would need to be minimized.
Required Maintainance Items is an ongoing concern, as there are an increasing number of items that are falling under this category.
Several members suggested that there is a disconnect between ISRS features and campus needs.
Paul discussed that many of our concerns emerge from differing business practices between campuses. Communication was brought up as a part of the problem, because many issues get resolved but campuses don�t hear about them.
The group discussed how items can be prioritized effectively. It was questioned whether ITS needs help prioritizing or if this is designed to let campuses know that their opinion is valued. Joanne said that IT would be willing to handle the ranking. It was agreed that ITS would come up with a recommended list, which this committee would subsequently review. Joanne suggested everyone taking the handouts to their campuses to get suggestions for ITS to come up with the master list for the group to look over.
Using member feedback, user group priorities, available resource issues, and considering Business Practice Alignment needs will come up with master list for the group to review.
Special Meeting in October?
The group discussed getting response from the IMTC in advance of the next scheduled meeting on the subject of data center consolidation.
Action Item: It was agreed that a meeting (in person or phone conference) should be scheduled after 19 Sept.(not Sept. 24) / before Oct. 5.
John asked everyone to send agenda items for the next meeting. Future agendas should include Bev Schuft discussing electronic signatures.
