Technology Planning and Priorities Committee
April 19, 2013
Present: Bev Nagel, Fernan Jaramillo, Fred Rogers, Hudlin Wagner, Janet Scannell, Laura Chihara,
Absent: Paul Thiboutot, Don Hasseltine, Linda Thornton
Agenda:
- Comments and observations from Janet Scannell
- ITS open positions
- St. Olaf Collaboration
- Update on SQL migration
Minutes from the November 12, 2012 meeting were approved.
Comments and observations from Janet Scannell:
Bev Nagel welcomed Janet Scannell, new Chief Technology Officer in ITS, to the committee. Bev asked the group what they thought Janet should focus on. Janet then made some comments on what’s she’s observed in the short time that she’s been here. She reflected on staffing and the flat structure in ITS, project management, and the need for flexibility and autonomy as part of the higher education culture. As we move into the Strategic Planning initiatives and collaboration with St. Olaf, it’s good timing for new leadership and staff to think about things differently.
Fred commented that making decisions (mostly technology) are sometimes hard for us – even this committee. Separate software decisions are being made that have implications across campus. An example is selection of the new housing software will have an effect on summer conferences. How do we get things to come to this committee for discussion? The new technology request program may help with this -software selection. Several members gave examples of how decisions made surrounding technology had an effect on their work environment.
As we strive to collaborate across divisions and utilize technology to support academics, the committee welcomed Janet’s observations and continued conversation.
ITS open positions:
Jeremy Kramer was recently hired as part of the Enterprise Information Systems team. Jeremy has programming, but no Colleague experience. He will be going to training in a couple weeks. We’ll likely have Jeremy work with integration of the new housing module.
Chad Miller –Systems and Project Manager: We plan to leave this position open for some time to give Janet a chance to think through staffing.
PEPS – Liz Evison is leaving sometime this summer or fall. We will be hiring for this position and are moving along with the hiring approval form. Tucker MacNeill in PEPS will also be leaving the College sometime this fall. The PEPS area needs a complete review.
Sue Traxler, Associate Director in ITS: Janet plans to take some time to figure how she wants to structure things in ITS.
Fiona MacNeill, Academic Technologist – in talks that Janet has had with Bev Nagel, they both agreed that there is a need for more support in the academic area. Where the strategic plan takes us might have an effect on academic support areas. For now, we will hire a 1-2 year position that focuses on the Arts. It was suggested that the job description could be brought to the Academic Technology Advisory Committee for their input. Janet and Austin Robinson-Coolidge also plan to get the opinions of some faculty.
Janet recently had a conversation with Brad Schaffner/ Library about the possibility of someone from his area partnering with us on project management. Someone who thinks in a research point-of-view, who would attend our management meetings, and help with project management policies and procedures. Brad thought this was an interesting proposal. Janet plans to define her idea in more detail for Brad in the coming weeks.
St. Olaf Collaboration:
Janet and Roberta Lembke, St. Olaf IT Director, met twice last week and are in agreement about the proposal that will be submitted in the next Mellon Grant application. There are four projects connected to the President’s Mellon Grant; in addition IT groups at both campuses are exploring shared knowledgebase, project management, events calendar for IT/Library, and network infrastructure.
WordPress support – St Olaf uses WordPress for their entire Web platform. We are exploring outsourcing Carleton’s WordPress hosting and support. Our academic technologists and Web Services would provide some advice. Web Services will help to identify a consultant with WordPress expertise that could help with more advanced things. Should we abandon Reason? What’s the right direction to move in with regard to content management systems? The Web Group has a lot invested in Reason and are looking for additional schools to partner with. The Cloud might be good from a department, but not necessarily a campus point-of-view. It was suggested that a framework/metric be developed for evaluation and give the Web Group a timeframe (within 5 years) to move away from Reason.
Update on SQL migration –
There has been concern recently at the Colleague Steering Committee meetings that we will not be able to meet the July migration date. They have talked with the Administrative Computing Advisory Committee and made them aware of the situation. Janet is working with the migration team to evaluate the scope of the remaining work, track the progress, and report back to her. As new reports are written, departments are able to use them and have been satisfied with the ones that are done. The next projected timeframe the migration team is looking at is next November (Thanksgiving weekend) or July 2014. As the project moves along and we consider all options, Janet will keep this committee informed.
Meeting adjourned at 3:25pm
Submitted by, Candyce Lelm