FACULTY SENATE UNIVERSITY COMPUTER & ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF October 24, 1996

Approved:  November 21, 1996

 
Present: D. Blanchard, D. Chesley, S. Cook, E. Cutting, B. DeLong, J.
Dubach, M. Fast, G. Fisher (Chair), E. Hurn, J. Kunkel, B. MacDougall, B.
McCandless, R. Sailer, M. Wingertsman.
 

1.  In a clarification to the minutes we decided that G. Fisher would
coordinate an additional meeting of the Committee to hear a presentation by
Randy Bell, Project Manager for the Administrative Redesign effort.  

The minutes of the meeting of September 26 were accepted.

2.  Family Housing Telecommunication Concerns

E. Cutting presented a list of problems Family Housing residents had
experienced with telephone service in Family Housing, covering the general
areas of quality, functionality, and rates.

E. Cutting will send a written description of his problems to the
Committee.  The next meeting's agenda will include a further discussion of
the problems, and specifically ask if the Committee should recommend that
Family Housing residents be allowed to buy Nynex telephone service or if
OIT can meet Family Housing needs.  G. Fisher will notify Housing that the
discussion will be taking place.

3.  Subcommittee Reports

J. Kunkel and E. Cutting reported that no subcommittee meetings had taken
place.

4.  Student Information System Update

J. Dubach reported that there would be a public meeting to discuss the SIS
status on Nov. 6.   The SIS design currently includes a WW browser
interface for most people.  There may be special screens available for
technical staff and for manipulating the internal system components.  The
design will be modularized to  promote flexible upgrades.

He reported that various focus groups have met.  The next stage in the
design process will be the release of the Business Systems Concept document
at the end of the 1996.  The projected time for release of the RFP is March
1997.  E-mail Heidi Dollard for more information.

In response to an inquiry from E. Cutting, D. Blanchard reported that the
current campus backbone was running at 10% of capacity.  D. Blanchard also
reported that there are now 250 off-campus access lines.  The lines are
busiest from 8 PM to 11 PM.  He is considering further increases in the
size of the pool and tighter management of the pool to improve access.  He
will put the usage charts on line.

5.  New Business

In response to a question from E. Hurn, J. Dubach reported that UMass had
joined the group of universities that is planning the Internet II project.
Details on Internet II are not yet available.
 

Next Meeting:  November 21, 1996   11:30 AM  CC 174-176  


--
Duncan Chesley             chesley@oit.umass.edu
Director, OIT Computing Administration