CCFIT > Calendar & Minutes > 2006-07 Minutes > October 08, 2007 Minutes

Excused: Paul Gepts, Jeff Gibeling, Niels Jensen, Rob Kerner, Bob Sams, Pete Siegel.

I. Welcome and Membership Introductions
Chair Caroline Bledsoe welcomed the committee members to the 2007-08 academic year.  The membership individually introduced themselves and the constituencies they represent.

II. Review of CCFIT Charge and reporting “from and to” members’ constituents.
Chair Bledsoe reviewed the CCFIT charge (see http://ccfit.ucdavis.edu/about.cfm).  As stated in the charge, members address topics and initiatives relating to information technology, review the background information presented, discuss the information with their constituents, and bring feedback to the committee for incorporation into recommendations.  The recommendations are vetted throughout the CCFIT communities, and final recommendations are summarized in a report that is presented to Interim Provost Barbara Horwitz and IET Vice Provost Pete Siegel at the final CCFIT meeting of the year (June 2008).  Chair Bledsoe stressed the importance of the committee members’ discussions with their constituencies, and bringing feedback to the committee to help shape the committee’s focus for the year and to help inform the final recommendations.

Chair Bledsoe reviewed the CCFIT website and pointed out where the membership (http://ccfit.ucdavis.edu/membership.cfm), and the 2007-08 meeting schedule can be accessed.    Additionally, Chair Bledsoe reviewed the preliminary list of CCFIT Topics for 2007-08 (see http://ccfit.ucdavis.edu/documents/CCFIT_Topics_2007_08.pdf).  This document is to assist the committee in mapping out and prioritizing discussions for the year.  Chair Bledsoe asked that members review the document and submit any new suggestions they feel would be appropriate for the committee to discuss.

Chair Bledsoe invited comments on the minutes from the June meeting.  The minutes were approved as submitted. 

III. CCFIT Annual Report and Recommendations – Babette Schmitt
Babette Schmitt, Director for Strategic Planning and Communications, IET, reviewed the “CCFIT Action Plan” hand-out distributed at the meeting (see http://ccfit.ucdavis.edu/documents/Response_CCFIT_Recs_100807v13.pdf).   The document provides a brief action plan and update for each of the 22 recommendations from the 2006-07 Annual Report.  Schmitt stated that much progress has already been made on several of the CCFIT recommendations since last June, and a few have reached completion (e.g., VPN implementation, roll-out of Cyrus, progress on MyTravel and Effort Reporting, etc.). Others are in the planning or exploratory phase. The Action Plan will be updated as progress continues to develop throughout the year. Updated versions will be posted on the CCFIT Web site for members to review and share with their constituencies.

The committee members were asked to review the current version with their constituencies and to submit comments and suggestions about the various updates provided in the Action Plan and about the general usefulness of the document to council-support@ucdavis.edu. 

IV. Administrative Roadmap – Dave Shelby/Mike Allred
Dave Shelby, Assistant Vice Provost, IET, discussed the latest developments of the UC Davis Core Administrative IT Services Roadmap, an initiative jointly led by IET, Office of Administration, and Student Affairs.

The campus has contracted with the Exeter Group, a third party consulting company, to assist in building a campus-wide administrative IT services inventory through discussions with campus leadership and oversight committees.  The purpose of this initial phase is to understand the current systems on campus, where we want the systems to be in five years, and the work required to meet those goals.  Once completed, this foundational document will be used to plan and coordinate improvements and investments in technologies.  This can improve information-sharing and benefit of students, faculty, and staff.

Mike Allred, Assoc. Vice Chancellor, Accounting & Financial Services, added that the plan includes developing a vision of administrative systems and governance across the campus, with the goal of finding investments that would be beneficial for several systems.  Jon Wagner asked how big a system had to be to be considered  “a system.”  Shelby stated the current phase is at a high-level, using a broad-brush approach.  In the future, drilling down to the smaller systems will be beneficial.  Allred stated he would send the guiding principles and comments to the CCFIT membership.

For additional information and updates on the Administrative Roadmap initiative, see http://vpiet.ucdavis.edu/itroadmap.cfm,

V. Gmail Student Pilot
Morna Mellor, Director of Data Center and Client Services, IET discussed the Gmail Student Pilot project scheduled to roll out during fall quarter. 

For background information, Mellor summarized factors that prompted UC Davis to explore new options for email services to students.  The electronic messaging landscape is changing as many students come to UC Davis with their own email accounts through providers such as Microsoft, Google or Yahoo. An increasing percentage of students forward their university email to these accounts. Simultaneously, UC Davis is challenged to provide the rich feature sets provided by these companies and to meet the increased costs associated with higher storage volumes, virus protection, and spam filtering. Creating or updating a locally-developed email solution comparable to tools offered by companies like Google, would be prohibitively expensive.

UC Davis began exploring other email options for students during fall 2006, with extensive consultations with groups representing students, faculty, and staff, including CCFIT.  The decision was made late in the spring 2007 to explore using an external email provider in the form of a student pilot. Based on our functional and technical analysis, as well as feedback from the campus community, Google’s Gmail application was selected.

Gaston De Ferrari, Project Manager for the Gmail Pilot, discussed details for the upcoming pilot.  The pilot is expected to last from late November 2007 to mid-January 2008.  IET will invite approximately 500 students to participate in the pilot.  The main pilot objectives are:

1. Gather feedback from student participants.
2. Ensure integration works properly in UC Davis live environment.
3. Study impact and implications for UC Davis.
4. Evaluate service, socialize findings, and if successful develop project plan for roll-out to all students.

A group discussion ensued regarding the pilot.  Shelby stated that the pilot is to be a true evaluation phase for potential long-term student email possibilities.  It was asked if the pilot could be opened up to other groups, such as faculty.  Shelby stated that faculty could forward their email to Google today, without having to be part of the pilot.  Paul Harms, ASUCD representative, stated that because Gmail offers significantly more space than the campus email client, he had switched to Gmail 1.5 years ago.  Anna Pruitt, GSA representative, stated that being able to keep the “@ucdavis.edu” extension on the Gmail account would be very advantageous for students.  Pruitt did ask what parameters are in place with regards to Google having access to students’ information.  Bob Ono, IT Security Coordinator, stated that securing students’ information is a component built into the contract with Google.

For additional information and updates on the Gmail Student Pilot, see http://vpiet.ucdavis.edu/student.email.cfm; or contact Gaston De Ferrari, gdeferrari@ucdavis.edu.

VI. Wireless Expansion Subcommittee Report – Matt Bishop, Subcommittee Chair
Matt Bishop, Chair of the Wireless Expansion Subcommittee, distributed the Wireless Expansion Subcommittee’s proposal for the expansion of wireless throughout the campus. 

• Recommendations of the CCFIT Wireless Working Group

Bishop stated that wireless networking should be considered an integral part of the campus network.  The proposal presents priority for wireless in buildings and areas on campus to provide state-of-the-art, near-ubiquitous coverage of the campus. The areas are organized into four groups: high benefit at low, medium, and high cost, and other locations.

Bishop stated the proposal doesn’t discuss the funding component of delivering wireless across the campus, only recommendations as to where the expansion should be prioritized.  Additionally, Bishop stated that Access Point (AP) costs reflect costs to connect the APs to the data NAM.  It does not consider retro-fitting or additional building costs that may be required. 

Roger McDonald stated that it appears in the proposal that the low cost areas do not include very many teaching areas on campus, and asked if cost was the overriding issue in developing the proposal.  Bishop replied that cost wasn’t the overriding criteria, but it was a component when looking at the “low hanging fruit” as the first priority of recommendations for campus to consider.

A long discussion ensued as to what departments should do who have invested in their wireless networking over the last several years.  One recommendation was to turn over the departmental wireless devices to IET Communications Resources to be folded into the campus wireless managed network.  The benefits to do this would relieve the department from escalating maintenance costs, ensure security issues are being addressed, and avoid long-term costs when the equipment needs to be upgraded.

Dave Shelby introduced Kelly Ratliff, Assist. Vice Chancellor, Office of Resource Management and Planning, as a new CCFIT member, and as the lead in reviewing and developing a long-term funding model for the campus network.  Ratliff confirmed that she is engaged in the funding model efforts.  Mike Hogarth asked if there is a consulting service available to advise campus departments interested in expanding wireless coverage for their students, staff, or faculty.  Dave Klem, Director, IET: Communications Resources, indicated that to date, CR has deployed wireless access on campus in the common areas, and has worked with departments on a case-by-case basis for installing wireless access points in their areas.  For new building construction, wireless is designed into the infrastructure just as voice and data nams are designed.  However, to develop and deploy a campus-wide wireless service, a fundamental change to the network funding model would be needed.

For more information about wireless networking, see http://wireless.ucdavis.edu.

VII. Chancellor’s Fall Conference Update – Dave Shelby
Dave Shelby reported that at  this year’s Chancellor’s Fall Conference (September 2007) the theme was “Information Technology as a Vehicle for Innovation.”

Attendees were divided into five break-out groups and each group discussed the role of information in one of five areas:  1) Teaching & learning, 2) research and scholarship, 3) campus culture, 4) insight and innovation, and 5) planning.  Each group was charged with identifying the 3-4 most important recommendations to bring forward to the campus for review and possible implementation.  These draft reports will be made available online as soon as the facilitators have had a chance to finalize their recommendations. Some of the presentations and podcasts from some of the sessions will also be posted online.

As a follow-on to the conference, Vice Provost Pete Siegel is establishing a small committee to review the recommendations from the conference and to develop an action plan for moving the recommendations forward. The formation of the committee should be announced by early November.

To review the recommendations from the break-out sessions, as well as the keynote speaker’s address, some of the presentations, and podcasts of some of the discussions, see http://vpiet.ucdavis.edu/fallconference.cfm.

Meeting adjourned at 4:40pm