Institutional Technology Advisory Committee
Meeting Minutes
April 20, 2011
I. Call to order
The meeting of the Institutional Technology Advisory Committee was called to
order at 1:00 PM on April 20, 2011 in the IT Conference Room.
II. Roll call
The following were in attendance: Steve Vieira, Deb Aiken, Cody Houghton,
Donna Mesolella, Ruth Sullivan, Mike Kelly, Peter Woodberry, John Panzica,
Kay Johnson and Carl Toft.
Absent Peter Woodberry.
III. Approval of minutes from last meeting
Minutes were approved through email response.
IV. Discussion Items
a) Prioritization Feedback from Advisory Groups
A spreadsheet was distributed (and shown below) concerning the recent set of
proposed projects and the grading assigned to each by the members of the IT
Governance team. The committees involved in this governance of IT are
ITAC, ISAC, ATAC, Change Advisory Board and the Blackboard User
Group. The spreadsheet was discussed and explained in summary form to the
members.
A question about previous projects was asked and it was indicated that these
new projects are for future consumption and that prior projects will be worked
to completion or explanations will follow for how they might be delayed or
dismissed in the event of changing technology. The CIO also introduced the
concept that a project management web site is being built that will provide the
charter, project plan and status for each of the projects presented over the last
two years.
Another tool will be introduced at the next meeting to prompt additional
participation to the prioritization process and to provide additional weighting
to the individual items.
Project Name
Blackboard Enterprise Learn Course Delivery
Disaster Recovery Build Out
Network Infrastructure Update
Classroom Video Switchers
Ave.
5
7.6
7.8
8.8
Acquiring two (2) Dell 710 servers
Classroom Crestron Media Control
Banner Network Support Equipment
Wide Area Network Electronics Upgrade
Centers for Instructional Technology Application License Renewals
Second Internet Connection Design for Providence and Newport
Additional Storage Disks
ADA Support
Mobile Technology Support
Media Services Equipment
Desktop Replacement Plan
System Center Configuration Manager
Classroom Projection Systems
Expanding the Collaborative Technology Suites
Avaya Telephony Upgrade
IT Conference Room Technology Upgrade
Virtual Desktop Initiative
Lincoln Closet Upgrades
TechSmith Camtasia Relay Pilot Expansion
Power Rack Management through Power Distribution Units
Low Level Electronic Systems Support
Knight Campus Data Center “Green” Initiative
Headphone and Camera bundles
Additional Track-It licenses
Office Communicator Systems High Availability
Projector Security Mounts
Thin Client purchases
10.2
11.2
11.4
12.2
12.2
12.4
12.6
13.2
13.8
14.6
15.8
16
16.2
17
18
18.2
19.6
19.8
20
20.8
21.2
21.4
22.6
23.6
23.8
24.2
29
b) Report on PCI Risk Assessment
Compass IT Compliance has been hired to provide a comprehensive PCI Risk
Assessment for CCRI. This assessment is designed to identify and evaluate
the credit card handling process of the college and gauge the effectiveness of
those methods based upon the Payment Card Industry’s compliance rules.
The vendor met with a group of departments on the four campuses where
credit cards are used for payment and took a detailed look at each area.
Once the data is collected, a report will be forthcoming to CCRI which will
indicate facets of our credit card handling that need attention. The report will
provide recommendations and alerts to those areas of concern. This report
will be shared with the departments confidentially. Follow up will proceed
with considering recommendations and how best to resolve issues and
concerns expressed.
c) Report on Office 2010 Rollout
IT will be rolling out Microsoft Office 2010 to all labs, libraries and
classrooms where feasible. The department has been working closely with
faculty to ensure that this requested upgrade is seamlessly implemented.
Much communication has already been sent to students concerning this
upgrade as well.
As in the case of any enterprise software upgrade, IT has taken care to look at
those older applications still being used by faculty to prevent interruptions in
their instructional process. Accommodations have been made to ensure a
seamless implementation without issues.
d) Report on VDI
CCRI is entering a pilot program of 100 virtual desktops through a
collaborative effort of six vendors, each best of breed in their expertise. The
CIO explained that this would be the beginning of a long-promised venture
into trying to reduce the number of desktop computers on campus and get to a
highly efficient system of offering a network-based, centralized service.
The hope is that this pilot would start before the beginning of start of classes
in September and continue through the semester. Additional units could be
added in the January 2012 timeframe and evaluated over the spring for even
greater implementation for next summer.
Questions were asked as to how IT would determine what software should be
offered to various constituents. The CIO assured members of the committee
that IT would be working closely with faculty and staff to determine the
correct combination of applications to offer to every student, faculty and staff
member.
e) Online Directory Completion
A recent President’s council meeting saw a motion approved for IT to
complete the online directory offered by CCRI. Over time, there are various
areas where information is missing or incorrect. Based upon the motion from
the council, this summer the MIS and Infrastructure groups will create a single
document that has every title, office and phone number for all faculty and staff
on campus. This will be entered into the online directory in order to increase
its functionality and usefulness.
f) Information Security Council
The Information Security Council (ISC) is a group of four CCRI staff
members interested in ensuring that information at CCRI is both secure and
protected. With the number of breaches increasing every day, it is just a
matter of time before CCRI is attacked.
The group, made up of Tom Pitts, Manny Correia, Dawn Lewis and Steve
Vieira, will soon be looking for additional members to begin the process of
developing policies and standards for information security for the college.
Currently there are a number of “understood” policies in place. These need to
be documented and approved at the highest level.
An invitation will soon be going out to all departments on campus to increase
the membership of this group with folks who believe in the mission of the ISC
but who also have the wherewithal to question the actions taken by the team.
Action Item: The CIO to send out an invitation to all departments concerning
membership in the Information Security Council.
g) First Sunday of the Month IT Working Day
Through a recent motion of the President’s Council, IT has been granted the
first Sunday of every month as a working day. Scheduled downtime and
interruption in service could occur on this day based upon the requirements
for patches, upgrades, fixes, etc. that might arise during the month for the IT
departments and the essential services it supports.
This day was requested because, for several years, the department struggled
with when and how to interrupt the business of the college to do required
upgrades and apply security patches that were absolutely necessary. With the
inherent risks of not applying these patches in a timely manner and the fact
that they pile up month after month, it was determined that one day a month
had to be discharged to this type of activity. It was also determined that it was
best to give all users a heads up in advance for these potential interruptions.
The next IT service day is scheduled for June 5th. An announcement will
follow with times for system interruptions during that day and which systems
will be affected.
h) Resumption of the CIO Newsletter
The CIO reported that he will resume publication of the monthly newsletter
with an edition in May. This missive will include all things IT and non-IT on
campus involving the Department of Information Technology. Included in
this report will be project updates, hints and tips for security and other
applications, upcoming important events and anything else deemed necessary
to communicate.
If you have any items that you would like to see in the CIO newsletter, please
submit them to savieira@ccri.edu
i) Other Topics
Ruth Sullivan reported that HELIN was moving their servers to a remote
location and were scheduled to be finished by August. The CIO requested
contact information for someone who would know what this meant to CCRI in
regard to URL or connection changes.
Action Item: Ruth Sullivan to provide contact information from someone
with knowledge of the server moves this summer.
An inquiry was also made concerning print management and it was reported
that the system is working well and that statistics will be shared with the
group at our next meeting which will probably be after the semester has
concluded.
l) Adjournment
Steve adjourned the meeting at 1:55 PM.
Minutes submitted by: Stephen A. Vieira