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Technology Advisory Council Meeting Minutes - May 23, 2002

Attendees: Kurt Collins, Carolyn Alduna, Kim Cousins, Stan Hampton (rep for Jeff Hicks), Mike Ross, Bill Takehara, Ian Jacobs, Jim Monaghan

The BATS Web Server Policies and Guidelines was passed out with the suggestion that everyone is to review the documents and email any suggestions or comments to Kim Cousins at kcousins@csusb.edu.

The next official BATS meeting is June 7 and should be a planning meeting. No meeting is scheduled for June 14.

Meeting Maker Funding - A new quote (#98638) for Meeting Maker was obtained for 1000 seats at $7.00 per seat making the one year cost $7,000. This will be a year-to-year renewal. BATS will cover the cost for Meeting Maker this year and in the fall it will be reviewed and discussed as to why BATS funds this program.

Discussion focused around going to 2 different scheduling programs, Outlook's security issues, trying to force compliance and getting more people to use Meeting Maker. Training was suggested as a tool to encourage greater use. The idea was to show the Deans how the scheduling software can be used to manage the use of their rooms. Also suggested was publicizing Meeting Maker as the campus standard.

A motion was made to purchase a one-year renewal of the Meeting Maker software for $7,000. The motion was seconded and then passed unanimously.

Budget - Bill Takehara reported that the Chancellor's office is reluctant to release figures for exactly where the cuts are going to take place. There is going to be $42 million cut in the Technology Budget but the impact is yet unknown. This brought up to question of without a budget what can BATS do in regards to new initiatives? Discussion will continue in the fall.

Request - It was requested that at the June 7 meeting that people come up with tentative budget options.

New Initiatives - A question was asked if there is a way to auto monitor student lab use? The response was yes there is a way. Also suggested was that all labs on campus should register their existence with BATS as a way to justify BATS funding of those machines. TAC and Dr. Aguilar desire to see open labs get funding. Perhaps a survey could be used as a carrot to get the information. Challenging the status quo, someone asked if it was counterproductive to fund labs when the goal should be to get away from funding machines and funding initiatives like Citrix. The Citrix pilot begins in the fall with possible expansion by winter quarter. Still needed is a method of evaluating its usefulness.

TAC Strategic Plan - The Committee reviewed TAC's Strategic Plan and BATS version of its part in TAC's Strategic Plan.

TAC's Strategic Plan: Modify/expand role of Technology Advisory Council to an ongoing technology advisory group. Such expanded role might include meetings with campus innovators and providing guidance in planning for the assessment of technology use on campus.

BATS Plan:

1. Develop student technology fee referendum
2. Assess new technology initiatives in progress and recommend expanded initiatives to assist the teaching & learning process.
3. Devise ways to maximize use of Smart Classrooms and new technologies and assess them
4. Monitor student lab use and number (NEW, but we've been wanting to do this for a while!)
5. Expanded input through: ?? (Quarterly meetings, periodic surveys, periodic email invitations to visit web site, continued participation in advising TAC implementation council, quarterly/yearly reports to the campus)??

Draft Plan - Infrastructure

1. Plan for on-going replacement and support for infrastructure and licensing agreements. Telecommunications and Network Services, Academic Computing & Media Services and Data Center Services need to develop a complete inventory of all infrastructure components. Using the inventory as a basis, there is a need to develop a replacement/upgrade cycle, determine annual maintenance/licensing costs. Once all of the above is accomplished an estimated annual budget needs to be developed along with any known source of funds.
2. Plan for optimal staffing level for technical staff to support IT in all units on campus. This element is probably best accomplished with a consulting firm who has experience in IT staffing. An inventory will need to be made of all current IT positions, their job responsibilities, and their current skill sets. A separate analysis will have to be accomplished on the IT staffing needs of the university to obtain a gap analysis.
3. Plan of a converged telecommunications infrastructure. A converged telecommunications infrastructure is inevitable where voice, video and data communications will take place over the same network as opposed to the current model of separate wiring and switching for each of the elements. This will require planning, study, preparation and training to insure the convergence is accomplished with as little or no degradation in service and features. A joint plan by TNS and ACM needs to be developed to insure this is accomplished.

In the discussion that ensued one of the questions that came up was: "Should BATS rename itself?" The desire was to choose something that impacts teaching and learning. One suggestion was Academic Technology and Advisory Committee. This new name would reflect the change in BATS role. And it was generally agreed that implementation should be the role of another committee.

Technology Fair - it was requested that a date for the Technology Fair be set for the fall.

The meeting adjourned at 2:45 pm. The next Committee meeting will be Friday, June 7 at 1:15 pm in PL-002.

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