Concordia Administrative Information System

CAIS Council Minutes

26-27 October 2000

Present: Don Sylwester, Eric LaMott, David Kluth, Ron Fonger, Tom Phillip, Dennis Witte, Ed Dollase, Hal Whelply, Robert Meier, Robert Roethemeyer, Scotti Hermansen, Alan Borcherding, Paul Setze

The devotion was given by Don Sylwester.

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as published.

Reports

CAIS Project Manager

Scotti Hermansen reported on recent project activities and management issues.

SCT Project Manager

Paul Setze reported on recent project activities and management issues.

EduCause Report

Don Sylwester reported on the programs presented at EduCause.

WebCT and OTG licensing; Web products updates

Alan reported that WebCT and OTG imaging will be made available at no additional charge, but the contract has not been signed with SCT yet.

Eric LaMott reported on progress at St. Paul in the area of Pipeline and other web products.

Campus reports

Reports from the campuses were presented. Items were classified as successes or needs, and the items were analyzed to consider the solutions.

Action Items

Skipping Banner version 4

The following resolution was adopted.

Resolved,     that CAIS not install Banner 4.x and that Banner 5.x be installed in late spring of 2001.

New Items

Ministry Technology Mentor program

Tom described a South Wisconsin District program called “Ministry Technology Mentors.” CUW is considering a concept that would make the campus a provider of technological consulting to congregations, schools, and teachers.

Acquisition of Evisions Payroll Check package

When the needed information is received by the Chicago Service Center it will be distributed to the HR team for evaluation.

Network Performance Issues

Scotti presented a detailed explanation of recent network performance issues and their resolution. It is important that CAIS be contacted while the problem is happening and that specific information about the application and the problem be provided.

Council Self-Review

The Council discussed several review questions in order to reflect on its role and function. Notes are below.

Next Council meeting

The next meeting will be on 25 January (1:00) to 26 January (noon), 2001.

Alan W. Borcherding,
Recorder

 

CAIS Council Self-Review

The following points are offered by way of facilitating review and discussion about the Council and its work.

CAIS Organization (Alan)

What are the purposes of the CAIS Council?

Facilitate administrative computing

Involving the whole council in decision-making facilitates communication

Participate in decision-making as partners not customers

Participate in deciding on projects, priorities, and costs

Will this become a CIO forum? What about CUEnet, which makes decisions apart from a CIO forum?

What are the roles associated with leadership positions? (Project Manager, Director of Chicago Service Center, Council officers, Contract Administrator, CUS Director of Univ. Education)

The Project Manager and Director of CSC roles are very different. The PM is a temporary assignment for Banner implementation with emphasis on pushing the project. The Director of CSC is an ongoing position that focuses on providing services.

As the Council gains experience in managing discrete tasks, what is the higher level of collaboration and how do we get there?

Broadening the focus from Banner and including more of the tech environment issues

A Concordia Information Technology Board could be a group of CIOs that deal with high-level tech issues and oversee groups of detail persons

Responsibilities of Council Members (Don and Eric)

How do Council responsibilities relate to campus responsibilities?

How do Council members reconcile CAIS project tasks with on-campus AIS/CIO tasks?

Council members will step into system-level roles when working as a Council and view their campus needs in light of the whole. Sometimes this involves sacrifice.

Thesis for discussion: Although some tasks can be done on campus with a minimal level of documentation and reporting, the task of CAIS project management requires that reports exhibit a higher level of formality.

Preparing formal reports is simply a requirement to manage a project of this complexity.

Developing the process of using more detailed reporting for work on campus is a campus benefit. The Post-Implementation Review reports are very important to ensure something is not forgotten.

Optimizing the Chicago Service Center (Scotti)

How does the task of resource allocation and scheduling at the Chicago Service Center relate to communication with campuses?

It is not possible to schedule and release personnel without knowing what will be needed.

By what methodology does (should) the Chicago Service Center maximize services within contained and acceptable costs?

An important activity is to ask the Council to periodically review a list of CSC projects and tasks, so that priorities can be clarified.