NEBRASKA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMMISSION

Tuesday, March 15, 2005, 1:00 p.m.
Executive Building – 5th Floor Conference Room
521 South 14th Street, Lincoln, Nebraska
APPROVED MINUTES

MEMBERS PRESENT:
Lieutenant Governor Rick Sheehy, Chair
Greg Adams, Mayor, City of York
Linda Aerni, Chief Executive Officer, Community Internet Systems
Dr. Eric Brown, Manager, KRVN Radio
L. Merill Bryan, Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer, Union Pacific
Senator Phil Erdman, Ex-officio
Susan C. Heider, Chief Information Officer, Regional West Medical Center
Trev Peterson, Attorney, Knudsen, Berkheimer, Richardson, and Endacott, LLP

MEMBERS ABSENT:
Dr. L. Dennis Smith, University of Nebraska, and, Dr. Doug Christensen, Commissioner, Nebraska Department of Education

Prior to the meeting, Governor Dave Heineman provided opening remarks. He welcomed Lieutenant Governor Sheehy as the new chair of the NITC and he thanked the current NITC Commissioners and staff for their efforts and service to the Commission. Governor Heineman stated that Nebraska needs to be in a better state in the area of technology and that the legislature needs to be aware and informed about the state’s technology issues and projects. Consequently, Senator Phil Erdman was asked to serve on the NITC as an ex-officio member. Education and economic development are of vital importance to the state. The state is in the process of developing closer working relationships with the K-20 educational sectors. Some of the interrelated issues include the need for distance education at all levels, the need to get beyond regional groups and more towards a statewide system, the need to make sure we have jobs for our students coming out of higher education, and the need to grow the economy. E-commerce will play a vital role in economic development. Lieutenant Governor Sheehy presented Governor Heineman with an appreciation plaque for his service to the NITC.

CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL AND MEETING NOTICE

Lieutenant Governor Sheehy called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. There were seven voting members present at the time of roll call. A quorum existed to conduct official business. The meeting notice and agenda were posted to the NITC and the Public Meeting Calendar Web sites on Wednesday, March 9, 2005.

APPROVAL OF NOVEMBER MINUTES

Commissioner Peterson moved to approve the November 10, 2004 minutes as presented. Commissioner Brown seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Adams-Yes, Aerni-Yes, Brown-Yes, Bryan-Yes, Heider-Yes, Sheehy-Yes, and Peterson-Yes. Results: 7-Yes, 0-No. The motion was carried by unanimous vote.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Roger Hahn, Executive Director, Nebraska Information Network, presented information and handouts regarding availability of broadband access to the Internet in Nebraska. Below are links to the documents presented:

NIN Public Comment given March 15, 2005 - First Document (PDF 1MB)

Telephone Company - Northeast Nebraska Provision of Broadband Internet (Transport) (PDF 66k)

Telephone Company - Frontier Provision of Broadband Internet (Transport) (PDF 69k)

The information indicated on the spreadsheets is data from last year’s Nebraska Telephone Association survey (NTAonline.net website). Data from the current survey will be done soon.

STRATEGIC INITIATIVES UPDATE (PDF 102k)
Brenda Decker, Chief Information Officer, State of Nebraska

Telehealth. The June 14th NITC meeting may be hosted at one of the hospitals participating in the network in order to conduct a Telehealth demonstration. Legislation has been introduced which may affect the support of telehealth from the Nebraska Universal Service Fund.

Statewide Video Synchronous Network. If LB 689 passes, it is anticipated that the NITC will assist the Distance Education Enhancement Task Force with this initiative.

Community IT Planning & Development. The Community Council has been discussing the focus of these funds. In the past, the $20,000 has been used to award mini-grants to communities to develop an IT plan or for IT project in their community. Last year, six communities were awarded monies for IT projects. $20,000 may be available. E-commerce is being discussed as a possible focus.

e-Learning. Workshops were conducted across the state to build awareness and solicit input from the educational sectors. The Education Council has been instrumental in heading up this initiative.

Enterprise Architecture. The State Government Council has begun taking steps towards this effort. It has become more of a process of meeting with agencies. More specific information will be covered in the State Government Council report later in the meeting.

E-government. Several items have been completed such as providing citizens the service of tracking legislative bills as well as the service of online filing to renew licenses. Governor Heineman has been helpful soliciting agency support. Lieutenant Governor Sheehy stated that the Governor has a strong interest in e-government.

Security and Business Resumption. A meeting with state agencies was held on April 4th to discuss this initiative and future steps. Efforts are on schedule.

Ms. Decker asked Commissioners to give consideration as to the future direction of the councils, as well as staff, in regard to the NITC initiatives. This will be discussed at a future meeting.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Rick Becker, Government IT Manager

The NITC has a listing of bills on its Web site. The list was distributed to Commissioners. Lieutenant Governor Sheehy has spoken with Senator Schrock regarding NITC’s involvement in LB 722.

STAFF AND COUNCIL REPORTS - COMMUNITY COUNCIL

Anne Byers, Community I.T. Manager, and
Bob Sweeney, Co-Chair, Community Council

The Nebraska Statewide Telehealth Network Update Report was distributed to the Commissioners. A few items highlighted included the following:

• A request of $875,000 annually for three years from the Telemedicine Network Grant Program, Office for the Advancement of Telehealth, HRSA was submitted to Nebraska’s Congressional delegation.
• Max Thacker, University of Nebraska-Medical Center, is forming a group to address network scheduling.
• A conference on telehealth and electronic health records was held Feb. 18 in Kearney. A second conference in western Nebraska is being planned.
• Meetings have been held to discuss coordination of efforts to develop electronic health information systems.

Ms. Byers entertained questions regarding physicians’ willingness and cooperation with the state’s telehealth efforts as well as incentives and issues of smaller hospitals involvement. It was recommended to ask the Nebraska Hospital Association to provide an update to the NITC. It was also suggested to invite the Columbus Hospital staff involved with telehealth.

Membership (PDF 99k). At the February 23, 2005 meeting of the Community Council, the following names were approved for membership and final recommendation to the NITC:

New Members

• John Jordison, Great Plains Communications
• Lynn Manhart, Central City Public Library
• Steve Williams, Nebraska Department of Economic Development

Renewals

• K.C. Belitz, Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce
• Norene Fitzgerald, York County Development Corporation
• Georgia Masters Keightley, City of Crawford
• Mary Wernke, Letter Perfect Communications

Commissioner Aerni moved to approve the Community Council’s recommendation for new and renewed memberships. Commissioner Heider seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Peterson-Yes, Sheehy-Yes, Heider-Yes, Bryan-Yes, Brown-Yes, Aerni-Yes, and Adams-Yes. Results: 7-Yes, 0-No. The motion was carried by unanimous vote.

STAFF AND COUNCIL REPORTS - EDUCATION COUNCIL

Tom Rolfes, Education Information Technology Manager, and

Alan Wibbels, Co-Chair, Educational Council

Mr. Rolfes introduced other members of the Education Council that were present. The council has met twice since the last NITC meeting. Meeting agendas have focused on the Network Nebraska, Statewide Video Synchronous Network, and e-Learning initiatives, as well as the distance learning white paper. The next council meeting is scheduled for Friday, March 18. One of the agenda items is LB689 that Senator Raikes has designated as his priority bill. The ESU Instructional Materials Group has been asked to develop a white paper to help explain the vision of educators for eLearning and digital media distribution. Mr. Wibbels stated that Network Nebraska is bringing entities together to work toward a common goal. In the past, this would have been difficult to do. With Network Nebraska, the spending for Project 42 went from $10,000/month to $8,000/month and is expected to drop even more next year. Mr. Wibbels suggested that the council or co-chairs have a joint meeting, along with the Telehealth Sub-committee, to discuss scheduling needs. Questions were entertained.

STAFF AND COUNCIL REPORTS - STATE GOVERNMENT COUNCIL

Brenda Decker, Chief Information Officer, and
Rick Becker, Government Information Technology Manager

On February 4, Governor Heineman named Brenda Decker as the new Chief Information Officer for the State of Nebraska. In addition, the CIO would be responsible for all information technology efforts that were formerly under the CIO, Division of Communications and Information Management Services. At the present time, this is a collaborative joint effort. The Governor is exploring the possibility of making this a statutory change for the next legislative session. One of the goals for state government is Shared Services. As state agencies, we need to assess where we can share services as an enterprise. The first meeting was held March 10. There were 45 projects identified that could be shared. These were narrowed down to 8 projects: Directory Services; Blackberry; Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery; Enterprise Licensing for Software and Hardware; E-mail; SANS (Storage Area Networks); and Shared Field Support. Questions were entertained.

STAFF AND COUNCIL REPORTS - TECHNICAL PANEL

Walter Weir, Chair, Technical Panel, and

Rick Becker, Government I.T. Manager

Mr. Weir introduced other Technical Panel and CAP (Collaborative Aggregation Partnership) members that were present. The Technical Panel has brought four items for review and approval by the NITC:

FY 2005-2007 I.T. Budget Request: Workers Compensation Court (Revised). During the first round of project recommendations by the NITC, agencies were given an opportunity to resubmit the project for a second review. Workers Compensation Court was the only agency that opted to resubmit their request. The Technical Panel has done a second review of the project and found it to be technically feasible. Mr. Weir commented that the project would be a good pilot project for content management. Glenn Morton, Director, and Randy Cecrle, IT Manager, were present to answer questions from the Commissioners.

Commissioner Peterson moved to include the Workers Compensation Court revised “Court Re-engineering-Adjudication” Project (PDF 235k) in the Tier I group budget recommendations from the NITC to the Legislature. Commissioner Brown seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Adams-Yes, Peterson-Yes, Aerni-Yes, Sheehy-Yes, Brown-Yes, Heider-Yes, and Bryan-Yes. Results: 7-Yes, 0-No. The motion was carried by unanimous vote.

Standards and Guidelines: Lotus Notes Standards For State Government. This standard addresses the following issues: 1) Password Requirements, 2) User Names, 3) Generic Notes Ids, 4) Server Names, 5) Organizational Unit Names, and 6) Group Naming Conventions. The Lotus Notes Work Group and Notes Administrators have discussed and agreed on the standard. There is an exception allowance.

Commissioner Bryan moved to approve the Lotus Notes Standards for State Government (PDF 94k). Commissioner Aerni seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Bryan-Yes, Heider-Yes, Sheehy-Yes, Brown-Yes, Aerni-Yes, Peterson-Yes, and Adams-Yes. Results: 7-Yes, 0-No. The motion was carried by unanimous vote.

Standards And Guidelines: Lotus Notes Guidelines For State Government. This guideline addresses the issues of Internet Address and Similar Names.

Commissioner Peterson moved to approve the Lotus Notes Guidelines for State Government (PDF 87k). Commissioner Brown seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Aerni-Yes, Sheehy-Yes, Adams-Yes, Peterson-Yes, Bryan-Yes, Brown-Yes, and Heider-Yes. Results: 7-Yes, 0-No. The motion was carried by unanimous vote.

Standards And Guidelines: Identity Access Management Standard For State Government. The purpose of this standard is to provide an enterprise solution for identity and access management capabilities to reduce security administration costs, ensure regulatory compliance, and increase operation efficiency and effectiveness. This standard focuses on web applications, because most if not all new applications will utilize web technology. To incorporate non-web applications into the Nebraska Directory Services would require additional cost and different policies to implement.

Commissioner Bryan moved to approve the Identify Access Management Standard for State Government (PDF 99k). Commissioner Peterson seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Adams-Yes, Aerni-Yes, Brown-Yes, Bryan-Yes, Heider-Yes, Sheehy-Yes, and Peterson-Yes. Results: 7-Yes, 0-No. The motion was carried by unanimous vote.

WHITE PAPER: "CONVERTING DISTANCE LEARNING NETWORKS TO A HIGH BANDWIDTH FLEXIBLE INFRASTRUCTURE" (PDF 400k)
Walter Weir, Chair, Technical Panel, and
Tom Rolfes, Education Information Technology Manager

LB 689, sponsored by the Legislature’s Education Committee and Senator Raikes’ priority bill, is proposing $10 million for FY06-07 and FY07-08 for distance education. If the bill does not pass, contracts that are in place to provide connectivity to schools will expire. CAP (Collaborative Aggregation Partnership) recommends that state provide the fix now so that there are no repercussions. Several entities have been involved with the development of the white paper. The Technical Panel has reviewed this document as well, and made the following recommendations: 1) a broader representation of K-20 on the Distance Education Enhancement Task Force; 2) the NITC should be the agency to provide staff support for the task force; and 3) the white paper could be utilized as a resource document for the task force. Questions were entertained.

Commissioner Adams moved that the office of the NITC provide staff support for the Distance Education Enhancement Task Force, if LB689 is passed. Commissioner Heider seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Peterson-Yes, Sheehy-Yes, Heider-Yes, Bryan-Yes, Brown-Yes, Aerni-Yes, and Adams-Yes. Results: 7-Yes, 0-No. The motion was carried by unanimous vote.

NEXT MEETING DATE, TIME AND LOCATION AND ADJOURNMENT

The next meeting of the Nebraska Information Technology Commission will be held on Tuesday, June 14th, 2005, at 1 p.m. Commissioner Heider offered to host the June meeting in Scottsbluff. Commissioner Brown also offered to host a future meeting in Lexington as well.

Commissioner Adams moved to adjourn. Commissioner Brown seconded. Roll call vote: Peterson-Yes, Sheehy-Yes, Heider-Yes, Bryan-Yes, Brown-Yes, Aerni-Yes, and Adams-Yes. Results: 7-Yes, 0-No. The motion was carried by unanimous vote.

Meeting minutes were taken by Lori Lopez Urdiales and reviewed by the staff of the Nebraska Information Technology Commission.

Meeting Minutes