STATE GOVERNMENT COUNCIL
Nebraska Information Technology Commission
Thursday, April 12, 2007, 1:30 p.m.
Executive Building-Lower Level Conference Room
Lincoln, Nebraska
MINUTES

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Bob Beecham, NDE Support Services
Dennis Burling, Department of Environmental Quality
Randy Cecrle, Workers’ Compensation Court
Tom Conroy, OCIO - Enterprise Computing Services
Brenda Decker, Chief Information Officer
Keith Dey, Department of Motor Vehicles
Pat Flanagan, Private Sector
Dick Gettemy, Department of Revenue
Dorest Harvey, Private Sector
Jeanette Lee, Department of Banking
Bill Miller, Supreme Court
Mike Overton, Crime Commission
Doni Peterson, Department of Administrative Services
Jayne Scofield, OCIO - Network Services
Bob Shanahan, Department of Labor
Bill Wehling, Department of Roads
George Wells, Correctional Services

MEMBERS ABSENT: Mike Calvert, Legislative Fiscal Office; Josh Daws, Secretary of State’s Office; Rex Gittins, Department of Natural Resources; Lauren Hill, Governor’s Policy Research Office; Jim Ohmberger, Health and Human Services; Terry Pell, State Patrol; Rod Wagner, Library Commission; and Joe Wilcox, Budget Office

ROLL CALL, MEETING NOTICE & OPEN MEETINGS ACT INFORMATION
                                                                         
Ms. Decker called the meeting to order at 1:35 p.m.  There were 15 voting members at the time of roll call. It was stated that the meeting notice was posted to the NITC, State Government Council and Nebraska Public Meeting Calendar Websites on February 28, 2007 and that the agenda posted to the NITC Website on April 5, 2007.

PUBLIC COMMENT

There was no public comment.

APPROVAL OF FEBRUARY 8, 2007 MINUTES

Mr. Harvey moved to approve the FEBRUARY 8, 2007 minutes as presented.  Mr. Dey seconded.  Roll call vote:  Beecham-Yes, Burling - Abstain, Conroy-Yes, Wehling-Yes, Decker-Yes, Gettemy-Yes, Flanagan-Yes, Harvey-Yes, Shanahan-Yes, Cecrle-Yes, Dey-Yes, Peterson-Yes, Scofield-Yes, Wells-Yes, and Miller-Yes.  Results: Yes-14, No-0, Abstain-1.  Motion carried.

Mr. Overton and Ms. Lee arrived at the meeting.

STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES

FOLLOW-UP FROM FEBRUARY MEETING - DNS Forwarding Standard
Steve Hartman, Security Officer, Office of the CIO

The purpose of the standard: “All outbound (Internet) DNS traffic must be forwarded through the State of Nebraska’s internal DNS servers that are managed by the Office of the CIO.”

Mr. Harvey moved to recommend approval of the DNS Forwarding Standard.  Mr. Dey seconded.  Roll call vote:  Beecham-Yes, Overton-Yes, Burling-Yes, Conroy-Yes, Wehling-Yes, Decker-Yes, Gettemy-Yes, Flanagan-Yes, Harvey-Yes, Shanahan-Yes, Lee-Yes, Cecrle-Yes, Dey-Yes, Peterson-Yes, Scofield-Yes, Wells-Yes, and Miller-Yes.  Results: Yes-17, No-0.  Motion carried.

New - Remote Administration of Internal Devices Standard
Steve Hartman, Security Officer, Office of the CIO

The purpose of the standard is to define standards for agencies that connect from any State of Nebraska network or device to any State of Nebraska network or device.  Objectives include:

• Provide guidance to State of Nebraska agencies employees, contractors, vendors and any other agent that access any State of Nebraska network or device.
• Provide a high level of security through industry standards and best practices.
• Ensure a solution that is scalable to meet the current and future needs of state agencies, their employees, clients and customers, and business partners.
• Meet federal security requirements for remote access control.

Mr. Conroy moved to forward the Remote Administration of Internal Devices Standard to the Technical Panel to be posted for the 30-day public comment period.  Mr. Harvey seconded.  Roll call vote: Miller-Yes, Wells-Yes, Scofield-Yes, Peterson-Yes, Dey-Yes, Cecrle-Yes, Lee-Yes, Shanahan-Yes, Harvey-Yes, Flanagan-Yes, Gettemy-Yes, Decker-Yes, Wehling-Yes, Conroy-Yes, Burling-Yes, Overton-Yes, and Beecham-Yes.  Results: Yes-17, No-0.  Motion carried.

Discussion - Update to Workstation Guidelines
Rick Becker, Government I.T. Manager, Office of the CIO 

The purpose of the guideline is to provide a suggested set of minimum configurations that agencies can adopt or modify to meet their specific needs. These guidelines are not intended to endorse or support any single hardware or software vendor.  These guidelines are subject to periodic review and revision.

The guideline has not been updated since August 2003. The Technical Panel recommended that the State Government Council to discuss its value and purpose and make recommendation.  After discussion it was recommended to eliminate the standard and refer agencies to the Office of the CIO for specific configurations.

Mr. Hartman alerted the council that the Security Work Group is developing a data security standard that will include compliance or reporting mechanism via an annual reporting requirement.  The work group anticipates it will be presented at the next State Government Council meeting. Mr. Becker informed the members that all the NITC standards and guidelines on the web site will be imported into html format. 

SHARED SERVICES

Consider Adoption of New Short-term Shared Service(s).  It has been approximately two years since a group was convened to discuss the concept of shared services.  There were over 40 services identified but these were narrowed down to 8 projects. The list of potential shared services identified by the council in the 2007 Statewide Technology Plan was distributed for review.

It was recommended to review the list of potential shared services and to bring a recommendation to the next council meeting.  Members should contact Rick Becker if they have suggestions.

Update: E-mail
The State of Nebraska has been reviewing and assessing its email platforms – Exchange, Lotus Notes, and Basic email. The Office of the CIO hired a consultant, Avanade, to visit with state agencies about their business needs.  The CIO staff are researching other states and businesses that have converted to one communication system successfully. Discussions and communications have been occuring with agencies regarding the impacts of changing to a new system – training, importance of current applications in use, conversion, and expense.  It is expected it will be a 3-year transition from the time a decision is made.

The Governor is very interested in this topic and is also supportive of having one naming convention for state government email addresses.

Members asked about centralized support and administration of user accounts.  Ms. Decker stated that there will be a centralized support if there is one unified system. The administration of user accounts has not determined at this point. One possible method would be that the Office of the CIO would set up an agency account that could be administered at the agency level.

OTHER BUSINESS

Mr. Hartman announced that the Cyber Security Conference is being held next Wednesday, April 18th, at Southeast Community College, Division of Continuing Studies.  There are currently 130 participants signed up for the conference.  The keynote speakers include Ira Winkler and Howard Schmidt.

AGENCY REPORTS

Department of Revenue.  Mr. Gettemy reported the following numbers:

Department of Corrections.  Mr. Wells reported that the video conferencing with Tecumsa Correctional Facility and county court rooms had been very successful.

Health Human Services Systems.  Mr. Larson reported that currently the efax cost per page is below 10 cents and the trend is for costs to continue going down.

Crime Commission. Mr. Overton reported that at the CJIS Tech Conference, the State of Nebraska was acknowledged for its collaboration in the area of information sharing among county, state, and federal law enforcement.  This does not occuring in other states.

Department of Environmental Quality. Mr. Burling reported that the Secretary of State’s Office has been assisting with the agencies records retention plans.

NEXT MEETING DATE AND ADJOURNMENT

The next meeting date of the State Government Council is scheduled for May 10, 2007, 1:30 p.m.

Mr. Flanagan moved to adjourn.  Mr. Wells seconded.  All were in favor.  Motion carried by unanimous vote.

 

Meeting minutes were taken by Lori Lopez Urdiales and reviewed by Rick Becker of the Office of the CIO.Meeting Minutes