TECHNICAL PANEL
Tuesday, February 12, 2002, 9:00 a.m.
Varner Hall, Regents Board Room
3835 Holdrege Street, Lincoln, Nebraska
APPROVED MINUTES
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Mike Beach, Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission
Brenda Decker, Department of Administrative Services
Christy Horn, University of Nebraska, Compliance Officer
Steve Schafer, Chief Information Officer, State of Nebraska
Walter Weir, Chief Information Officer, University of Nebraska
OTHERS PRESENT: Steve Henderson, Department of Administrative Services; Wayne Fisher, Nebraska Department of Education; Rick Golden and Jim Emal, University of Nebraska; Galin Karpisek, Cisco Systems; Mirta Hansen, FUTUREKIDS; Gene Hand, Public Service Commission; Roger Hahn, Nebraska Information Network; Bruce Dienes, IBM; Tom Conroy, NIS Project, Theresa Witwinger, J.D. Edwards; and Anne Byers, Tom Rolfes, Rick Becker, and Lori Lopez Urdiales, Office of the CIO/NITC
ROLL CALL AND MEETING NOTICE
The Chair, Walter Weir, called the meeting to order at 9:05 a.m. Roll call was taken. All members were present. The meeting notice was posted to the NITC and Nebraska Public Meeting Calendar Websites on January 11, 2002. The agenda was posted to the NITC Website on February 6, 2002.
PUBLIC COMMENT
There was no public comment.
APPROVAL OF JANUARY 8, 2002 MINUTES
Ms. Decker moved to approve the minutes as presented. Mr. Schafer seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Beach-Yes, Decker-Yes, Horn-Yes, Schafer-Yes and Weir-Yes. The motion was carried by unanimous vote.
NIS (NEBRASKA INFORMATION SYSTEM) UPDATE
Tom Conroy, Project Manager
A written update on NITC requirements/conditions was briefly reviewed. Some of the newest update items included the following:
- A key technology decision has been made and that is that the deployment will be done on a web browser based interfaced (with the exception of a few persons).
- Four of the five phases are active. The only one that is not is the Inventory Phase which is scheduled to start August 1st.
- The Project is at peak staffing with the exception of the training staff.
- The Project is falling somewhat behind in schedule. The project team will be meeting to make decisions on the ambitious schedule and whether it needs to be moved back.
- Conference Room Pilot (CRP) will be utilized for testing and training. This is a process where individuals sit at a CPU and are shown how the system works per functionality. Integrated CRP’s will occur in April.
- So far, over 144 interfaces have been identified.
Mr. Conroy entertained questions and comments pertaining to the following: time frame and set contract; critical interfaces; data conversion and scope; cost implications to IMS in developing interfacing; late tasks; consultants expertise; diversity of state government business; single warrant writing and impact to UN; functional gaps and responsibility for addressing those gaps; and earned value analysis interpretation.
Mr. Weir offered the assistance of the Technical Panel to the project team.
LB833 IMPLEMENTATION UPDATE – DISTANCE LEARNING SCHEDULING SOFTWARE
Roger Bartlett
Mr. Bartlett introduced Ted Masters, from the TODD Video Network Management group, via the telephone connection. Mr. Masters provided a PowerPoint presentation on TCReliance Video Manager software - administration, conference automation, and web-based reservation manager. Other states are using the software for centralized scheduling for videoconferencing. Mr. Bartlett would like to see such a software program utilized statewide and at a cost savings for all entities.
Questions and discussion followed regarding the following: compatibility with Polycom; responsibility for administrative controls; financial responsibility and issues; and buy-in from all entities.
The Technical Panel members recommended that no action be taken at this time. Further consideration and discussion is needed.
PROJECT REVIEW – COMMUNITY TECHNOLOGY FUND GRANT REVIEW PROCESS
Anne Byers, Community Information Technology Manager
Applications for the Community Technology Fund are due Feb. 15. We received 88 letters of intent and expect about 60 applications. Reviews of applications will be done February 25th - March 15th. The attached spreadsheet lists potential reviewers for the expected applications. Some adjustments to the assignments may have to be done to this list. A list of the letters of intent with links to information on the proposed projects is available at http://www.nitc.state.ne.us/cc/grants/2002/ctf2002intent.htm . The Community Council will make the recommendations for funding which will be forwarded to the NITC for final approval at the April meeting.
Mr. Beach moved to approve the technical reviewers for the Community Technology Fund grant reviews (PDF 81k). Ms. Decker seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Weir-Yes, Schafer-Yes, Horn-Yes, Decker-Yes and Beach-Yes. The motion was carried by unanimous vote.
Discussion followed regarding highlighting successful community projects. Ms. Byers offered to provide a progress report on the current Community Technology Fund projects in July. Mr. Schafer also suggested including a section on community project in the statewide plan, as well as the NITC legislative report.
STATE ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES – SECURITY ARCHITECTURE – SECURITY POLICIES
Steve Schafer, Chief Information Officer
The standards and guidelines were to be reviewed a year after adoption. So far, Mr. Schafer has not received any objections from agencies on the policies. Agencies may need some assistance in developing their own agency specific procedures. Questions are included in the agency I.T. plans regarding the use and implementation of the security policies.
It was agreed to give the agencies more time to utilize and implement the security policies and standards.
UPDATES
Wireless Project, Brenda Decker. The NEVCOM Report (PDF 172k) went to the Legislature on January 14th for the public safety wireless project. LB1211 was introduced this session to address this issue. Ms. Decker provided an update on the project, LB1211 and related issues.
NETCOM, Brenda Decker. A proposal to conduct a pilot project in a community has been discussed. The goal of the project would be to perform a proof of concept for the NETCOM aggregation model. Members suggested informing the Education Council about the pilot project.
Mr. Schafer moved that the Technical Panel endorse the NETCOM Pilot Project proposal. Mr. Beach seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Decker-Abstained, Beach-Yes, Weir-Yes, Schafer-Yes and Horn-Yes. Results: 4-yes and 1-Abstained. The motion was passed by majority vote.
Ms. Decker left the meeting. Mr. Henderson, Alternate, was present for the remainder of the meeting.
Nebraska Network, Steve Schafer. The Work Group held their first meeting yesterday. The next step is to summarize the meeting information and notes and post to the web site: http://www.nitc.state.ne.us/nitc/network/.
Mr. Weir moved that the Technical Panel establish a focus group to research the advantages and disadvantages of the network models of Nebraska’s peer states and report back to the Nebraska Network Work Group at their April 2002 meeting. Peer states may include South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota and Oklahoma. The focus group may include membership from: University of Nebraska (Rick Golden); State Colleges (John Dunning); Community Colleges (Jeff Sovilliere); K-12 (Ron Cove); NET (Mike Beach); Division of Communications (Dan Ward); and IMServices (To be determined). Mr. Schafer seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Horn-Yes, Schafer-Yes, Weir-Yes, Beach-Yes, and Henderson-Yes. The motion was carried by unanimous vote.
E-government, Steve Schafer. No report.
Video standards, Mike Beach. At a future meeting, the Technical Panel will discuss the continuation and/or renaming of this work group.
STATEWIDE TECHNOLOGY PLAN 2002
Statute requires that the Statewide Technology Plan be updated annually. The update is due July 1st. The Technical Panel is responsible for reviewing and updating Section 3. Mr. Schafer recommended tabling this agenda topic until the March meeting.
OTHER BUSINESS
On March 12th, Lieutenant Governor Heineman will be speaking at the Nebraska Higher Education Business Forum being held at the Cornhusker Hotel in Lincoln.
Ms. Horn announced that there is a Web-based Education Conference scheduled for May 15-17 sponsored by the Nebraska Department of Education. She will bring more information to the next meeting.
NEXT MEETING DATE AND ADJOURNMENT
The next meeting of the NITC Technical Panel will be held on Tuesday, March 12, 9 a.m. at Varner Hall, 3835 Holdredge Street in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Mr. Schafer moved to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Beach seconded the motion. All were in favor. The motion was carried by voice vote. The meeting was adjourned at 12:10 p.m.
Minutes were taken by Lori Lopez Urdiales, Administrative Assistant, and reviewed by Rick Becker, Government I.T. Manager, Office of the CIO/NITC.
Meeting Minutes