Present: Arlene Allen, Debbie Anglin, Eric Brody, Glenn Davis, Bill
Doering, George Gregg, Chuck Haines, Phil Handley, Gail Johnson, Rick Johnson,
Bill Koseluk, Tom Marazita, Elise Meyer, Alan Moses, Joan Murdoch, Larry
Murdock, Lisa Peppin, Dan Ringwald, Jamie Sonsini, John Vasi, Karen Whitney
Not Present: Kevin Barron, Art Battson, Ken Bowers, Tom Lawton, Ed Mehlschau,
Stan Nicholson, Kevin Schmidt, Deborah Scott, Vince Sefcik
The BEG Wiring Subcommittee is grappling with the number of wall plates
per room that should be the standard target. It's a tradeoff between
the initial cost of wiring for high density and the higher incremental
cost of adding ports as needed later.
Due to a spreadsheet error, UCSB's share of CalREN-2 and related
ISP costs turned out to be $37,380 higher than previously anticipated.
After a short discussion the group recommended that Communications Services
pay the difference from Network Augmentation & Maintenance core funding.
The impact of this change on funds available for NGB remains to be calculated.
GTE/Genuity does not appear to have any ISP contract options that appeal
to UCSB. We know that GTE currently bills UCSB about $1,931 per month
for users who have their ISP service billed to their departments.
(The number of users who pay for home service on their own is not known.)
The minimum amount proposed by Genuity is $3,500 per month and requires
that we feed an authentication server. Communications Services will
ask GTE the following three questions regarding the present contract: (1)
What will happen to current customers on September 1, 2000?, (2) Will GTE
continue billing UCSB for departmentally supported customers? and, (3) Who
will notify current customers of changes in service, rates or billing procedures?
The question of the propriety of sharing single accounts was raised.
Could departments obtain a single ISP account and then share it among their
staff members who were traveling? There would be only one user at
a time, but many people might share the same account at different times.
It was reported that GTE's DSL service does not block NETBIOS traffic
as Cox Cable service does.
The survey group reported that the faculty data have been keyed and
quality control checks are now in progress. Keying of student data
is nearing completion.
Auth/Dir reported that definition of additional attributes for the student
data schema is underway. Completion of this task will raise the issue
of funding for the license additions required to populate the LDAP with
student entries. The plan is to document the source of each LDAP
entry so that those who find errors will be able to request their correction
at the source. Prototype web pages for finding one's LDAP entry and changing fields (e.g.,
password) that are user maintained are available for initial testing.
A white paper on management of email addresses in the LDAP can be found
on the Auth/Dir web page.
The prototype public LDAP is also available for perusal . This read-only version contains
a subset of fields that are extracted nightly from the production LDAP.
The student NFR flag has been generalized to faculty and staff for any
fields that should not be visible to the public.
Decaf has been discussing the collection of web applications that are
becoming available to students. A handout was provided showing how
authentication is accomplished on several of these applications.
The Registrar's Office has expressed a preference for providing Perm/Pin
routines and database downloads to the colleges, as opposed to individual
departments. L&S will set up a proxy. The question of authenticating
using the LDAP arose and received significant attention. Which applications
are or are not appropriate for authenticating directly from the LDAP (versus
a separate security server) will require further study.
Additional issues covered by Decaf included the following: (1) encouraging
the use of seven-digit perm numbers whenever possible, (2) coordination
of a conference call with Gartner regarding the configuration of campus
"portals," and (3) a handout showing the "bare minimum" and the "recommended"
personal computer configurations for students.
The Wireless Scouting Party plans to produce two reports this summer.
UCD has requested wireless stories for coordination at UCCSC. Please
forward any reports of progress on experiments to Jamie.
The Library Proxy Server is currently running with about twenty
test users. The proxy seems to work, but certain databases behave
in unexpected ways. The Library is testing both the functionality
of the server and the adequacy of the instructions before advertising the
service more widely.
Recruiting and retention of IT staff were the major discussion topics
of the meeting. Workload and salary are major issues, according to
those who recently met in Oakland to discuss the situation. Our discussion
was focused on the question of what should be done with additional resources
if the campus were to get them. Should new funding be distributed
through traditional control points and managers, or would new funding
present an opportunity to do things in more effective ways? (For
example, would the NGB present the opportunity to centralize router support,
thus freeing departmental staff for new activities more closely related
to instruction and research?) Training was also suggested as an activity
that might be better supported centrally. In general, the question
is how best to use new IT funds to build infrastructure necessary to support
future services.
One person thought that matching funds for departments wishing to hire
additional staff might be a possibility. Others questioned extending
the model of all departments having their own IT staff for all services.
Some services might be more efficiently provided at the control point or
campus levels. It was agreed, however, that more resources coming
to campus should be used to create more staff positions rather than being
spent on additional hardware and software requiring support.
It was noted that the UCD HR web site provides salary comparison data.
It was also noted that recruiting and retention are not just IT problems;
salaries for administrative positions are also falling behind the market.
The rapid turnover of administrative staff increases the training and support
burden on IT specialists. Perhaps an "IT certification" program could
be initiated to give staff the basics of computer and printer operation.
Another idea that was expressed was the possible use of new core
funding to convert existing recharge operations to core support services.
A "mortgage origination program" for staff was also mentioned as a possibility.
Reduced charges for enrollment of family members, parking, childcare
and RecCen memberships were also mentioned as possible perks that would
assist recruiting and retention.
If one-time funds are available, we might consider another round of
"structured requests" for projects, training or experiments.
It was noted that the "return to base +12% policy" when positions are
vacated is a campus decision with the difference in funding between the
vacated position and the new one being returned to an EVC-managed pool
that supports reclassification requests.
It was agreed that the faculty and student surveys would be valuable
in deciding how to direct new funding.
It was suggested that exit interviews conducted by HR might be helpful
(although others thought we already have a pretty good idea why people
have left). The creation of an HR specialist in IT recruiting and
participation in "work fair" events were also suggested. A campus
"Work/Life Committee" was noted and it was suggested that we invite Cynthia
Cronk, HR Director, to attend a future meeting to discuss the recommendations
of that group.
The next ITPG meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 17, 10:30 a.m. until
noon in North Hall 1131. Future meetings are also scheduled for Thursday,
August 17, at 10:30 a.m., and Thursday, September 14, at 10:00 a.m.
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