CLASSIFIED EMPLOYEE PERSONNEL ADVISORY COMMITTEE

November 2, 2005 - Saralyn Sebern reports
So far as I know, nothing has been put in place to replace ITAC. If there is a new Information Techonogy oversight body in place, again - so far as I know - CEPAC has not been contacted to participate in that organization.

August 17, 2005 - extract from CEPAC Minutes:
Saralyn Sebern, the CEPAC-nominated classified representative on the Information Technology Advisory Committee attended today's meeting. Saralyn reported that two reviews of campus IT needs and services were conducted during spring 2005. The results are available on the web but Saralyn had some concerns that most classified staff have not looked at the reports and thus have missed useful information on IT issues and proposed policy or procedure changes.

The smaller review recommended that ITAC be dissolved and replaced with a small body of administrators. The larger review recommended changes to ITAC. A group of MSU administrators has been charged with overseeing the reorganization. Saralyn has recommended that CEPAC be included in the process to provide important classified input into the continued administration of IT services which obviously impact a large proportion of MSU's staff. Saralyn also expressed some concern over her perception that staff may not be aware that avenues exist for the communication of their IT concerns and ideas. She mentioned that ITC also encourages maximization of information dissemination, and wondered if CEPAC could assist in this area.

May 4, 1005 - Saralyn Sebern reports:
Many of us, along with students, faculty, and administrators, took part in two separate assessments of information technology services and issues at MSU. Information from the surveys that we filled out will soon be accessible on the web to anyone at MSU. The only material that will be modified somewhat are comments that refer to any MSU staff member by name. Even those comments will be generalized so that the information in them is available to all of us.

Eventually, we will also have access to the recommendations made by the consultants who conducted the IT reviews. Computer and network services are used by all of us - we all have a stake in understanding what the priorities and issues are and what MSU administration is being advised to do to make our IT resources better serve us. So when the info is available, please take a look at it and give your feedback.

I will let you all know as soon as I am informed of where to access the survey results and interpreted data.

The proposed plan to change the time when network maintenance is conducted each week came from IT responsiveness to being informed of difficulties many people were experiencing when the network was taken down at 5:00 on Thursdays each week. There are better channels than ever (and I am a part of one of them) to make requests for information and to suggest improvements that would benefit us all in the way IT services are delivered - so use those channels for your requests and suggestions. you will be heard and responded to.

Another major issue that is being discussed in ITAC that has to do with shared governance and input to campus planning has to do with developing a strategic plan for campus networking and, more broadly, a strategic plan for campus IT services. The first steps in developing such a plan involve deciding what kinds of purposes such a plan needs to serve - both for the university as a whole and for each of the divisions and groups of users that make up MSU. If you have ideas about who should be involved in such a process - about overall purposes that might be overlooked or any other suggestions about the process of strategic planning for IT - please contact me so that I can carry your concerns and suggestions to ITAC.

Also, if you have requests, suggestions, or concerns about IT policies or services in general, please let me know so that I can bring them to ITAC or channel them to the appropriate person in ITC.

An issue that is periodically an item of discussion and information in ITAC meetings is the MSU Portal project. This is a campus-wide project that is considered to be monumentally important by our most sophisticated IT managers and service providers, but it is also very little understood by members of the campus community as a whole. ITAC members are aware of this lack of awareness and information and are working on ways to bring information to the campus community in the most effective and digestible way. If you have suggestions about this information process or about the Portal project as a whole, again please let me know and I will pass suggestions on and connect those with questions with the best channels and sources for information.

February 10 and 24, 2005 - Saralyn Sebern reports:
The items of interest to CEPAC members at the February 10 and February 24 meetings are the proposed formal reviews of information technology services at MSU. Where January agendas had dealt with complex funding issues related to IT services, these reviews offer the hope of providing good quality objective information about the strengths, the limitations, and the resource needs related to MSU IT services. This information could in turn inform future funding for the university and future budgeting planning from within the university that would have beneficial results campus-wide for improving IT services.

Classified staff at MSU who have been chosen as part of the random sample to take a survey about MSU IT services have a wonderful opportunity to influence information and planning about information technology at MSU. The survey has been very well designed to be both detailed and yet brief and easy to take - and everyone who completes the IT survey will receive a coupon for a free cookie at the SUB Sweet Shop.

So, CEPAC members who have been invited to take the IT services survey - please contribute to the quality of planning information by taking the survey.

The issue of Thursday night IT maintenance interrupting work and communications with abrupt outages was raised at the February 10th meeting. The suggestion of transmitting a 15-minute electronic warning broadcast before the 5:00 outage was offered and will be taken under consideration. Several ITAC members use a variety of self-set timers to remind themselves to be prepared to save before the outage occurs.

For more information, see ITAC meeting minutes at the link above.

If you have questions, input, or issues that you would like raised through ITAC, please contact Saralyn Sebern at 994-3884 or saralyns@montana.edu

Report on ITAC Meetings of Dec. 9, 2004 and Jan. 13, 2005 - Saralyn Sebern reports:
The first ITAC meeting I attended as CEPAC representative was the Dec. 9 meeting. (The Dec. 23 meeting was cancelled.) The Dec. 9 meeting was very complex, with quick, brief reports on a lot of ongoing issues and projects. There wasn't anything that I recognized or identified as something that classified staff might require notice about or need to take action upon, but for those interested in IT issues on campus, a very good strategy would be to look at meeting minutes, where people might find info or issues on which they want to give input or take action.

A link to the minutes for the Dec. 9 meeting can be found at http://www.montana.edu/itac/ [You will see - as I discovered - that I am listed as absent from the Dec. 9 meeting, but I was present, and eventually that correction will be made.]

The meeting on Jan. 13, was completely focused on ITC budget issues. To my mind, there were 2 major points from that meeting:

1. The most important point is very over-arching and potentially could impact the MSU budget in major ways. Every year, ITC faces costs or cost increases related to basic campus IT services that occur, for example, because vendors of hardware and software maintenance services increase their prices each year, but ITC is funded only for the previous year's prices. These costs HAVE to be paid whether or not ITC has received sufficient funding in their budget. Often the costs are met by cutting support for other desirable but less urgent IT services or projects.

   Thus, these costs are similar to standard fixed costs that are usually an automatic part of the basic annual MSU budget. However, these ITC costs have never been treated as fixed costs and have often gone unfunded. Most of them will be presented to the Administration and Finance planning committee as priority items requested by ITC. Then the Admin and Finance committee will add them into a larger mix of budget requests and will create an overall prioritized list to be offered to the President.

   The consensus at the ITAC meeting yesterday was that one of ITAC's basic responsibilities should be to persuade UPBAC to treat these costs as annual fixed costs and also to inform all constituencies on campus about the essential nature of these costs, so that there is understanding of and support for budget recommendations related to these items.

   IMPORTANT - Because ITAC and ITC are in preliminary stages of developing budget recommendations, specific info on items being considered isn't available yet. If anyone has budget issues or items of concern, contact me and I will see if they are included in the draft info I received, or I will find a way to channel that info to someone in ITC or ITAC.

2. The less urgent but important and easier-to-state issue from yesterday's meeting is the reminder that ITAC's charter requires that ITAC be concerned with and serve as a channel for information and advising on ALL campus information-technology-related issues, not just issues from ITC. ITC reps totally agreed, all the committee agreed, so this will inform future treatment of issues within ITAC. Mark Sheehan suggested that representatives from other campus divisions that have IT-related budget needs should bring those to ITAC before they are submitted to UPBAC so that there will be an integrated set of IT budget requests or recommendations. ITAC chair Joe Fedock agreed with that approach.