June 26, 2002, 2 p.m. Minard Hall, Room 120
Present: Latimer, Tareski, Schroeder, Egeberg, Pikalek, Juell, Kloberdanz, Fawley, Grosen, McClean, Nygard, S. Kapaun, Wittrock
ITS has developed a Desktop Standards Initiative (http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/its/desktopstandards/) which would establish an ITS supported desktop environment for university personnel. The current draft is in the form of a Statement of Principals and an FAQ. This draft has been reviewed and approved by Vice President for Academic Affairs Schnell.
John Grosen talked about the goals ITS has in proposing this initiative. The purpose of this initiative is to establish hardware (desktop, laptop, & peripherals) standards for “average” and high end users. It will also establish software standards for operating systems, certify supporting software as compatible, and set approved applications. Finally, the initiative will create a mechanism for the review of hardware and software to determine compatibility with the standard.
ITS has two primary motives for initiating the desktop standard: 1) to improve service; and 2) to reduce costs.
Service. ITS believes that the initiative will:
1. Reduce or eliminate the need for ITS staff to have visit
2. Eliminate support issues due to incompatible software
3. Improve service by moving away from the current service model of having specific staff assigned to a particular academic unit.
4. Improve productivity because it would facilitate collaborations between faculty members and make it easier for staff to transfer between academic units.
5. Result in more efficient and better training of staff and faculty.
6. Improve reliability of computing tools and support infrastructure
7. Improve security
Cost. ITS believes that costs will be reduced for:
1. Purchase of hardware
2. Maintenance
3. Software licensing
CITPG members suggested that ITS develop a goals statement for the initiative (P. McClean and J. Latimer agreed to work with ITS on the goals statement). Several CITPG members expressed concerns about the requirement that users cede the administrative rights to the machine they work with to ITS. There was also concern about the fact that this is an opt out rather than an opt in initiative; there were also concerns about the level of support that would be available for individuals who chose to opt out. Several faculty members were concerned that this initiative might actually reduce productivity because it would create barriers to the use and development of innovative software applications in teaching and research. CITPG members suggested that ITS develop a goals statement for the initiative (P. McClean and J. Latimer agreed to work with ITS on the goals statement). CITPG also expressed a desire to be involved in the further development of this initiative.
ITS would like CITPG to assist in (or assume responsibility for) the Campus Computing 2002 Survey of Information Technology in US Higher Education. A copy of the survey was distributed to CITPG members in attendance.
ITS needs space in order to expand the Technology Learning Center. The TLC is an initiative that was originally funded by the technology fee, it provides campus wide IT training for students. ITS would like to explore the idea of moving the SOD cluster and locating the TLC in the current SOD cluster room. Questions were raised about current usage of the SOD cluster and whether a new, smaller facility would be adequate for demand. R. Kloberdanz is going to check on current SOD cluster usage statistics. P. Juell, K. Nygard, & R. Pikalek will consult with ITS on this issue.
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