TECHNICAL PANEL
Nebraska Information Technology Commission
Wednesday, November 22, 2006, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Varner Hall - Board Room
3835 Holdrege St., Lincoln, Nebraska
APPROVED MINUTES
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Brenda Decker, Chief Information Officer, State of Nebraska
Christy Horn, University of Nebraska, Compliance Officer
Kirk Langer, Lincoln Public Schools
Walter Weir, University of Nebraska
Mike Winkle, Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission
OTHERS PRESENT: Gene Hand, Public Service Commission; Jim Emal, University of Nebraska; Roger Adams, Qwest; Mike Spinharney, MSI Systems Integrators; Ben Meinke, Jayne Scofield, Tom Rolfes, and Steve Henderson, Office of the CIO; Ron Cone, Educational Service Unit 3; Gordon Roethemeyer, Distance Education Council; and Roger Hahn, Nebraska Information Network
ROLL CALL, MEETING NOTICE & OPEN MEETINGS ACT INFORMATION
Mr. Weir called the meeting to order at 9:05 a.m. A quorum was present to conduct official business. The meeting notice and meeting agenda were posted to the NITC website and the Nebraska Public Meeting Calendar website on October 25, 2006. The agenda was posted to the NITC website on November 20, 2006. The Open Meetings Act Information was posted to the on the south wall of the meeting room.
PUBLIC COMMENT
There was no public comment.
APPROVAL OF OCTOBER 2006 MINUTES
Ms. Decker moved to approve the October 20, 2006 minutes as presented. Mr. Winkle seconded. Roll call vote: Decker-Yes, Langer-Yes, Weir-Yes, and Winkle-Yes. Results: Yes-4, No-0. Motion carried.
Ms. Horn arrived at the meeting.
PROJECT PROPOSAL REVIEWS - FY2007-2009 BIENNIAL BUDGET
Health and Human Services Systems
25-01, New Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS)
25-02 Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS)
Jim Ohmberger was present to address questions from the panel members.
It was recommended that staff from the Office of the CIO be involved in the RFP process for both projects.
Mr. Winkle moved to approve the Health and Human Services System projects’ technical reviews. Ms. Decker seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Horn-Yes, Decker-Yes, Winkle-Yes, Weir-Yes, and Langer-Yes. Results: 5-Yes and 0-No. The motion was carried.
PROJECT REVIEW: DL EVENT CLEARINGHOUSE & SCHEDULING SOFTWARE - PURCHASE
LB 1208 stipulates that all Distance Education Council (DEC) purchases over $10,000 must be approved by the NITC Technical Panel. The Office of the CIO had released RFP 1683Z1 which resulted in a successful bid and contractor of Qwest Interprise, Inc. using Renovo Software. Renovo Software prefers that each state network set up its own server hosting and management. Gordon Roethemeyer, Executive Director of the Distance Education Council, is proposing that the Technical Panel approve the DEC purchase of the software and also the server hosting solution presented by the Office of the CIO. Mr. Langer serves on the DEC Advisory Committee and stated that the group had no issue with the CIO hosting providing that the service and cost were satisfactory. Mr. Winkle stated that although NET could possibly host the software, that they had no interest. Mr. Cone commented that the Educational Service Units looked at scalability and monitoring requirements and thought the Office of the CIO to be the logical choice, with their server team, security, and disaster recovery.
The Technical Panel is aware that there are other public entities (Military, Dept of Roads, Dept of Corrections, Homeland Security, etc…) that may be interested in the clearinghouse and scheduling software solution, once established. In order to meet the timeline for implementation of LB 1208 and the DEC, Jayne Scofield and Ben Mientka of CIO Network Services recommends to use existing virtual server configurations, and then work with Renovo Software on expansion, as needed, over the life of the project. The Panel stated that video distance learning and videoconferencing should have a global scheduler available for its operation.
Mr. Weir thanked all the entities involved for their efforts. Mr. Rolfes reported that the scheduling software costs may come in considerably under budget, depending upon the hardware and software solutions chosen by the distance learning sites. However, one type of codec solution that could be chosen at each site would triple the upfront scheduling software costs and ongoing maintenance.
Ms. Decker moved that the Technical Panel approve the Distance Education Council’s DL Event Clearinghouse & Scheduling Software Purchase, and to approve the hardware recommendation offered by the CIO-Network Services Division. Ms. Horn seconded. Roll call vote: Winkle-Yes, Weir-Yes, Langer-Yes, Horn-Yes, and Decker-Yes. Results: Yes-5, No-0. Motion carried.
Mr. Winkle moved that the Technical Panel strongly recommend to the Distance Education Council that the Office of the CIO serve as the host server solution. Ms. Horn seconded. Roll call vote: Horn-Yes, Decker-Abstain, Weir-Yes, Winkle-Yes, and Langer-Yes. Results: Yes-4, Abstained-1, and No-0. Motion carried.
STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES - NEBRASKA STATEWIDE TELEHEALTH NETWORK – EXEMPTION FROM SCHEDULING STANDARD FOR SYNCHRON OUS DISTANCE LEARNING & VIDEOCONFERENCING
This agenda item was tabled until the next meeting.
STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES - - REMOTE ACCESS STANDARD
Steve Hartman, Security Officer, Office of the CIO
No comments were received during the 30-day public comment period.
Mr. Winkle moved to recommend the Remote Access Standard to the NITC for final review and approval. Ms. Decker seconded. Roll call vote: Horn-Yes, Decker-Yes, Winkle-Yes, Weir-Yes, and Langer-Yes. Results: Yes-5, No-0. Motion carried.
STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES - EMERGENCY INFORMATION PAGE
No comments were received during the 30-day public comment period.
Ms. Horn moved to recommend the Emergency Information Page guideline to the NITC for final review and approval. Mr. Winkle seconded. Roll call vote: Weir-Yes, Winkle-Yes, Decker-Yes, Horn-Yes, and Langer-Yes. Results: Yes-5, No-0. Motion carried.
REGULAR INFORMATIONAL ITEMS AND WORK GROUP UPDATES (AS NEEDED)
Accessibility of Information Technology Work Group, Christy Horn. Revisions to the charter are being developed.
Security Architecture Work Group, Steve Hartman. For the next Technical Panel meeting, the work group will make recommendations for a Minimum Server Standards and a SMTP Routing Standard.
ELECTION OF TECHNICAL PANEL CHAIR
Ms. Horn nominated Walter Weir to serve as chair for another term. Ms. Decker seconded. Roll call vote: Horn-Yes, Decker-Yes, Winkle-Yes, Weir-Abstained, and Langer-Yes. Results: Yes-4, Abstain-1, and No-0. Motion carried.
OTHER BUSINESS
Mr. Rolfes alerted the panel members that LB 1208 suggests that standards be set for a learning management system. He has been developing a work group charter to address this issue. The Distance Education Council’s Advisory Group strongly recommend that further study be conducted before a decision being made regarding the selection of management structure to oversee a statewide learning management system. Ms. Decker clarified that the Technical Panel is only responsible for the technical aspects and not the decision for purchases. It was suggested to discuss this at a future meeting.
NEXT MEETING DATE & ADJOURNMENT
The NITC Technical Panel will not meet in December. The next meeting will be held in January. Mr. Becker will get communication out to members as the meeting date approaches.
Mr. Weir moved to adjourn. Ms. Horn seconded. All were in favor. Motion was carried by majority voice vote.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:07 a.m.
Meeting minutes were taken by Lori Lopez Urdiales and review by Rick Becker, Office of the CIO.
Technical Panel Minutes