July 2022 Agenda/Minutes

Meeting Date: July 22, 2022

Time: 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm

Location: Teams

Remote Attendance: Craig Woolley, Elahe Russell, Tony Gonce for Chad Brackin, Alex Basse, Andy Maverick, Julie Perkins, Stephen Beck, Kappie Mumphrey, Jacqueline Bach, Rudy Hirschheim, Matthew LaBorde, Tommy Smith, Melanie Thornton, Bret Collier

Presenters: Katie Bouey, Sumit Jain, Robin Ethridge

Others: Susan Crochet, Mickey Kees, Sean Robbins, Jason Normand, Ric Simmons

Absent: Sandi Gillilan

 

Opening

1. Administrative Announcements

2. Executive ITGC Updates [Craig Woolley]

 

Action

3. Approval of the Minutes from the Meeting held on April 26, 2022

 

Information/Discussion

 

4. PM-36 Draft Policy & Standards [Sumit Jain]

5. Strategic Planning Process [Craig Woolley]

6. Workday Student Project Update [Robin Ethridge/Craig Woolley]

7. Classroom Project Update [Craig Woolley]

8. ITS ITGC Project List/Teams Telephony [Katie Bouey]

9. Call Center Software [Craig Woolley, Kappie Mumphrey] 

10. LSU-E Moodle Migration [Kappie Mumphrey]

 

Wrap-Up

 

11. Information sharing/Announcements [All]

12. Suggested agenda items for future meetings, including ITS topics of interest [All]

13. Next steps/Follow-up items [Chair]

 

July 2022 Minutes

1. Administrative Announcements

The CIO informed the Council that the Computer Hardware Resale program has been renamed to ITS Computer Sales and is located in 160A in the Student Union. He added that it would be staffed Monday through Friday and announcements would go out soon. He stated that quantities of Dell desktops and laptops, monitors, keyboards, and mice, as well as a few Apple computers have been purchased. He informed the council that these purchases are for department resale only. He stated that if the purchase price was over $1000, they have already been tagged for inventory purposes. Craig added that the computers were purchased with a four-year warranty instead of a three-year warranty. There was a brief discussion concerning the availability of Teams phones for purchase in the program at the Student Union.

 

3. Meeting Minutes Approval

April meeting minutes approved with no revisions. Motion to approve by Alex Basse; second by Elahe Russell.

 

4. PM-36 Draft Policy & Standards

Sumit Jain, ITS, began by discussing Policy Statement (PS) 125 for IT Asset Management, specifically referring to hardware such as laptops, desktops, virtual servers, external storage devices, and mobile devices. He discussed the standards of IT Asset Classification (including classification of data that is stored, processed, accessed, or handled on the device), Inventory Management, Configuration Management (including the establishment of a minimum standard configuration baseline), and Asset Provisioning and Deprovisioning (including the establishment of an operating system and software baseline). There was a brief discussion concerning who to report lost or stolen assets to. Sumit also discussed PS-126 for Encryption. He briefly discussed several encryption standards including encryption of data at rest, encryption of data in motion, encryption methodologies, and encryption key management. There was a brief discussion concerning who would deploy encryption for computers. There was a brief discussion concerning encryption on Apple computers. There was also a brief discussion concerning encryption of student data in motion and use of email to share information. Sumit also discussed PS-127 for Compliance. He discussed contract management that establishes procedures to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of University data, systems, or applications. He added that any external entities with access to University data, network, systems, or applications must complete a security questionnaire as determined by LSU ITSP. Sumit also discussed the Compliance Program, related to various compliance requirements such as Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). He stated that depending on the compliance program, annual training must be conducted for all users in the scope of the program. He also discussed Login Banners Disclaimers and Consents, which would display a login banner notifying a user of his or her responsibilities related to compliance with University policies, processes, and procedures.

 

5. Strategic Planning Process

The CIO gave an update on the LSU A&M Strategic Planning, specifically the Business Working Group. He discussed the group’s charge including refining and improving budget and finance models, providing a world-class physical infrastructure and facilities environment, aligning IT initiatives that will enable the academic and research enterprises, and providing a safe and secure campus environment. He discussed the group’s goal of enabling better data driven decision making across the LSU A&M campus, which includes the objectives of finishing the creation of a data warehouse, implementing data governance for the A&M campus, and investigating the possibility of streamlining the CRM use across the LSU A&M campus. Craig also discussed the goal of enhancing and optimizing classroom and lab technology environments, both physical and virtual. He stated the need to work with faculty to determine their needs for classroom technology and standards. Craig also discussed the goal of enhancing the ability to support the broad IT and data needs of researchers. He discussed the objective of creating a research computing team in ITS to provide technology services tailored to researcher needs. He discussed the need to invest in software solutions and services to help researchers with data storage, acquisition, and sharing. Craig also discussed instituting a system-wide approach to research publishing and institutional repositories, as well as establish a researcher hub that aids researchers with a one-stop-shop portal. He stated the need to establish a researcher feedback loop and marketing services to researchers. Lastly Craig discussed the goal of enhancing the cybersecurity posture of the University to support academic and research endeavors. He discussed the objectives of developing infrastructure to support sensitive research which requires compliance with the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), establishing a Security Operations Center (SOC) to support robust information security environment, and enhancing cybersecurity awareness.

 

6. Workday Student Project Update

Robin Ethridge, ITS, gave an update on the Workday Student Project. She stated that there has been an adjustment to the project timeline, including the creation of separate timelines for Cohort 1 (LSU A&M and LSU-Eunice) and Cohort 2 (LSU-Shreveport and LSU-Alexandria). She stated that Workday’s emphasis is now on Cohort 1 with continued engagement with Cohort 2. She added that Workday concluded a planning workshop and is now preparing for the foundation tenant build. Robin stated that work has been performed with the data conversion team to begin preparing bio-demographic information and basic curricula information. She added that the data conversion and HCM/FIN team are working to get some additional foundational data ready, including the academic units that were set up. Robin discussed next steps including finalizing the project charter, coming up with a more formal project plan, reviving a tenant management plan, undergoing a customer readiness review checkpoint, and updating the integration tracker.

 

7. Classroom Project Update

The CIO gave an update on the Classroom Upgrade Project. He reminded the Council that a survey was sent out in early spring, with the results showing the top request of enhancing hybrid capabilities in the classrooms. He added that colleges were asked in April to project a list of their top classrooms they would like to see upgraded to provide hybrid capabilities. ITS visited each of the rooms on the list provided by the colleges to take a current inventory of equipment and room setup. In May, ITS gave the final proposal to each college of the top four rooms (in priority order) to potentially be upgraded. Craig stated he asked for additional funding for partial upgrades to all classrooms in Tureaud Hall. He stated that ITS sent out a bid and received responses for the Tureaud Hall upgrades and added that vendors that are interested in bidding are visiting the various college classrooms. Craig shared with the Council the confirmed college room priorities for Tier 2 upgrades, including rooms in Res Life and added that the budget for this project is $1.3 million. He shared that Tier 2 upgrades would include auto-tracking camera, sound reinforcement, PC refresh with dual monitors, podium as needed, projector and screen, USB switching, Crestron switching, wireless display, and document camera. He also discussed the Tureaud Hall upgrades which would include a new camera, microphones, and amplifiers. It would also include wireless display and USB switcher if budget permits. Craig also discussed the timeline, adding that supply chain issues are still a major issue for the project. He hopes to have the cameras installed in Tureaud Hall before Fall classes begin and hopes to have all work complete for the college classroom upgrades by the beginning of Spring 2023. Jacqueline Bach added that Vet Med opted out of the program.

 

8. PMO Update/Teams Telephony

Katie Bouey gave an update on the Tier 4 projects including MS Telephony. She informed the Council that the Yealink T31G is not compatible with e911 and would not be offered as an option for purchase. She stated that the Yealink MP54 and MP56 are still available and ITS is working to add a third, lower-cost phone, as well as cordless phone options. She also discussed the four available headsets, adding that the Microsoft wireless headset has been on backorder. Katie shared that rollout for Teams telephony has been completed for ITS, Center for Academic Success, Vet Med (Stephenson Building), Sea Grant, and Mathematics Department. ITS is scheduling rollouts with Auxiliary Services and College of Engineering and are in discussions with LSU Online, Thomas Boyd Building, and Department of Chemistry. She gave a brief update on the Mainframe Data Transition, Report, and Decommission, stating they are working in tandem with the Workday Student Project. She also gave a brief update on the Identity Access Management (IAM) Project.

 

9. Call Center Software

The CIO stated that Teams does have some functionality to do basic call center, but groups such as LSU Online would need a separate solution for their advanced needs. The choices have been narrowed down to AWS Connect, with LSU Online working on an implementation. Craig added that there would be a cost for any call center that wishes to use AWS Connect. Kappie Mumphrey added that AWS has subbed out an implementation partner called Concentrix and LSU Online has been working with them at AWS’s expense. She stated that their Salesforce CRM system is very tightly integrated with their call center software. She shared that the go live date would be sometime in September for LSU Online.

 

10. LSU-E Moodle Migration

Kappie Mumphrey stated that LSU has established a Moodle Center of Excellence, supporting the main LSU A&M Moodle instance, as well as Moodle instances for LSU Online, Ag Center, University Lab School, and Continuing Education. LSU-E didn’t have much support for their Moodle instance, so they will also be managed by the Moodle Center of Excellence. She added that migration was completed at the end of May and they have been incorporated into the Faculty Technology Center (FTC) with the FTC providing support to faculty at LSU-E.

 

13. Next steps/Follow-up items

The CIO asked the Council to review the Data Governance Charter if they haven’t done so already and provide any feedback.