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Governance Minutes ArchiveDecember 1, 1993
MINUTES Computing Committee Information Systems Building December 1, 1993 3:30 PM PRESENT: K.B. Rojiani, John Burton, David Goodyear, Tom McAnge, Gerry McLaughlin, Harlan Miller, Bhaba Misra, Frank Schima, Michael Williams ABSENT: Sean Arthur, Earving Blythe, Gregory Brown, Scott Johnson, George Libey, Terry Rakes, Peter Shires, Lawrence Skelly, Jay Stoeckel, Ernest Stout, D. B. Taylor, John Tombarge VISITOR(S): Barbara Robinson (Computing Center) Stacey Ferraro (Budget Office) Joe Tront (College of Engineering) AGENDA ITEM 1: MINUTES OF THE NOVEMBER MEETING (Rojiani) Motion made, seconded and passed to approve the minutes of the November meeting. AGENDA ITEM 2: COMPUTING CENTER ANNOUNCEMENTS (Williams) Information Systems is discussing with senior administration the feasibility of a wholesale migration to new administrative computing systems within a shorter time frame than previously envisioned. Such a move would require not only additional funding for new software and hardware, but also adjustments in the organization of computing support university-wide and modification of some administrative processes. In October the committee suggested that owners of major application systems which are dependent on mainframes be asked to work with the Computing Center to develop a plan for migration to the distributed environment which is expected to evolve over the next few years. This effort has been delayed pending the outcome of the discussions described above. The committee favors accelerated migration in a systematic fashion with appropriate allocation of resources. The chair will work with Erv Blythe and Michael Williams to investigate ways that committee support might be used to encourage adoption of such a plan. Other areas at the University not directly affected by a wholesale migration of core administrative systems still need to be educated, however, and the program set out by the committee at the last meeting will be pursued broadly later. AGENDA ITEM 3: SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS (Robinson) The Site License Subcommittee met twice last month. Legal and distribution issues have delayed decisions on many proposals, including those for Acrobat, Microsoft and Macromedia products. The committee will meet again next week. AGENDA ITEM 4: COMMITTEE ISSUES (Rojiani) A temporary subcommittee met to discuss the University's transition to distributed computing. It was decided this topic needed further attention and a subcommittee chaired by David Goodyear has been charged with identifying the kinds of problems which will arise during the transition. Other subcommittees may be formed as the subcommittee identifies specific issues. AGENDA ITEM 5: ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA Following a question about the problems of support for multiple platforms, it was observed that, as new computer hardware which supports multiple operating systems comes into wider use, the incompatibilities of various systems will fade, allowing users to choose an interface based on personal preference alone. Users are demanding that the complexities of mixed environments be concealed and vendors are responding. The next meeting will be held on February 2 at 3:30 p.m. in conference room D in the Information Systems Building. Meeting adjourned at 4:40 p.m.
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