TECHNICAL PANEL

Tuesday, March 12, 9:00 a.m.
Varner Hall, Regents Board Room
3835 Holdrege, Lincoln, Nebraska

APPROVED MINUTES

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Mike Beach, Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission
Brenda Decker, Department of Administrative Services (Steve Henderson, alternate)
Christy Horn, University of Nebraska, Compliance Officer
Steve Schafer, Chief Information Officer, State of Nebraska
Walter Weir, Chief Information Officer, University of Nebraska

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. Official business could be conducted. The meeting notice was posted to the NITC and Nebraska Public Meeting Calendar Website on February 15, 2002. The agenda was posted to the NITC Website on March 6, 2002.

PUBLIC COMMENT

There was no public comment.

APPROVAL OF FEBRUARY 12, 2002 MINUTES

Mr. Schafer moved to approve the February 12, 2002 minutes as presented. Ms. Horn seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Beach-Yes, Henderson-Yes, Horn-Yes, Schafer-Yes, and Weir-Yes. The motion was carried by unanimous vote.

STATE ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE – WORKSTATION GUIDELINES FOR STATE GOVERNMENT (PDF 110k) AND WORKSTATION GUIDELINES FOR K-12 EDUCATION (PDF 110k)

When the first draft for the workstation guidelines went out for public comment, it prompted concerns from the K-12 educational community. The Network Operations Committee of the Educational Service Units organized a subcommittee to formulate guidelines. Kirk Langer, Internet Services Manager for Lincoln Public Schools and ESU 18, assisted with the development of the guidelines and was present to entertain questions from the panel. The ESU Network Operations Committee reviewed and forwarded the document for consideration by the Technical Panel and encouraged public comment.

Ms. Decker arrived at 9:10 a.m.

Issues discussed: broad needs of K-12; guidelines regarding servers; inclusion of an accessibility clause and related policies; and, the need to formalize procedures for an annual review and update of the guidelines. After the 30-day comment period, the Technical Panel would determine the procedures for updating the guidelines.

Mr. Beach moved to accept the Workstation Guidelines for K-12 Education Architecture for the 30-day public comment period. Ms. Horn seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Weir-Yes, Schafer-Yes, Horn-Yes, Decker-Yes and Beach-Yes. The motion was carried by unanimous vote.

STATEWIDE TECHNOLOGY PLAN – 2002 UPDATE

A Status Report on State Enterprise Architecture (PDF 60k) was distributed indicating the progress and accomplishments of established guidelines and standards

Discussions occurred regarding the lack of awareness of Nebraska’s Statewide Technology Plan and the need for better communication.

Another issue discussed was the influence of vendors in the areas of technology decision options and the development of an RFP. Purchasing entities need to be fully informed of all available options through other vendors. Mr. Schafer recommended the development of a white paper addressing this issue that could be shared with the Lieutenant Governor, the NITC and the Education Council.

For Section 3-Technical Infrastructure of the Statewide Technology Plan (PDF 494k), Mr. Schafer suggested using the plan to communicate the state’s vision. The architectures can be posted on the NITC web site.

The next meeting of the Technical Panel will be spent developing Section 3 of the Statewide Plan.

TECHNICAL PANEL MEMBERSHIP

Changes to the Technical Panel Charter (PDF 91k) dealt with membership and included the following:

• 6.1 Number of Members – The Technical Panel may include but not be limited to seven members, approved by the Commission.
• 6.2 Representation – Add 6.2.6 One member with expertise in assistive technology and 6.2.7 One member representing K-12 education

Mr. Beach moved to approve the Technical Panel Charter amendments for final approval by the NITC. Ms. Decker seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Decker-Yes, Beach-Yes, Weir-Yes, Schafer-Yes, and Horn-Yes. The motion was carried by unanimous vote.

The Technical Panel directed Mr. Rolfes to work with the Education Council regarding a nomination for the Technical Panel K-12 representative. It was strongly suggested that this person must maintain regular communication with their constituency to share information from the Technical Panel. Another suggestion was to have a Technical Panel member provide a Technical Panel update.

Alternate for Assistive Technology Member. Ms. Horn nominated Lance Perez, Department of Engineering at UNL. Mr. Schafer nominated Mark Schultz, Nebraska Assistive Technology Partnership. Mr. Perez has been contacted regarding his nomination and he is interested in serving. Mr. Schultz needs to be contacted. No action was taken on this agenda item. Without objection, this item was tabled until the next meeting.

REGULAR INFORMATION UPDATES (AS NEEDED)

Wireless, Brenda Decker. Ms. Decker provided an update on the status of LB 1211.

Network Architecture, Brenda Decker. The work group will be meeting on March 29th at Varner Hall. The Technical Focus Group of Nebraska Network had similar issues and it was decided to move this group under the Network Architecture Work Group. This Work Group will report to Nebraska Network, as well as the Technical Panel, and will also be working on the NETCOM Pilot Project.

Security Architecture, Steve Schafer. Mr. Weir distributed a memorandum from AAU (Association of American University) regarding USA Patriot Act: Provisions Governing Electronic Surveillance, Computer Networks, and Privacy. Although the article is geared toward universities, Mr. Weir thought it was good information for state government and the K-12 education sector. More information can be accessed from their web site: http://www.aau.edu/. Mr. Schafer stated that the Work Group will meet on Monday, March 25th. Agenda items include agency incident reporting strategy, training, developing an RFP for security audit of state network, contingency planning and disaster recovery, and homeland security.

Accessibility Architecture, Christy Horn. When the Work Group was first organized it was responsible for preparing policies and guidelines for accessibility of information systems for state government agencies and educational institutions. That has been accomplished and now Ms. Horn would like to reconfigure the group with members who can assist with developing training. She is submitting a NIDRR (National Institute on Disability Research and Rehabilitation) Grant to work with training for government, education and community groups. The next meeting will be held in May. Ms. Horn distributed info on the Nebraska Symposium on Information Technology in Education, May 15-17, 2002 (www.ncite.org/NESymposium). The symposium is sponsored by CLASS (USDOE) and NCITE-Nebraska Center for Information Technology in Education.

E-Government Architecture, Steve Schafer. The Work Group has been inactive. The Technical Panel needs to review the purpose and goals of the work group and decide on future reformation and/or reassignment.

Nebraska Network, Steve Schafer. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 14th, 9:00 a.m. at the Nebraska Center for Continuing Education.

OTHER BUSINESS

Gene Hand was available to answer questions about the Nebraska Universal Service Fund. The Public Service Commission will be conducting public hearings on this fund.

NEXT MEETING DATE AND ADJOURNMENT

The next meeting of the Technical Panel will be held on Tuesday, April 9, 2002. Location will be determined. Mr. Weir adjourned the meeting at 11:37 a.m.

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

Meeting Minutes