University Computing Committee

Draft minutes of the meeting held at 2.15pm on 1 March 2012

Present: Stephen Smith (Chair), Michelle Blake, Kingsley Boulton, Terry Edhouse, Tim Elsworth, Byron George, John Grannan, Heidi Fraser-Krauss, Ian Hall, Kath James, Ian Jennings, Oliver Larkin, Lorraine Moor, Dave Surtees, Stephen Town, Geoffrey Wall, Eliza Xu

Apologies: Apologies for absence were received from Kriss Fearon, Elizabeth Harbord, Dave Hay, Alison Tayor, Adrian Whitwood

12/01 Minutes of the meeting held on 1 December 2011

These were accepted.

12/02 Matters arising

(a) Terms of reference (11/31). The matter was referred to ISG who agreed that a review would be helpful.

12/03 Report on the meeting of Information Strategy Group on 25 January 2012

Stephen Town reported on the latest meeting of Information Strategy Group.

The meeting had discussed progress on the Information Strategy since 2008. Much had been achieved but further work is needed in some areas. Preparation of the new strategy will commence soon in consultation with departments.
Progress had been made with the proposed restructure of information governance; University Computing Committee was seen to be a valuable and important part of this structure.
Subsequently to the ISG meeting, a paper had been submitted to Research Committee who had approved the creation of a policy on research data across the University.

12/04 Notes from IT Infrastructure Forum meeting held on 31 January 2012

It was noted that the minutes had not yet been published but should be available shortly. Steve Smith will review them to identify any items requiring attention by University Computing Committee.

12/05 Information Strategy developments

Ian Hall gave an update on new developments.

The three-year Library refurbishment programme had reached completion last week.
The Web Office was working on a new series of online maps, to be launched soon.
Additional developments were summarised in the Information Strategy Update which was circulated to departments, colleges and other main buildings and centres on campus in January. It was noted that the printed format of the document, with eye-catching colour photographs, seemed to be a successful means of communicating this type of information and was possibly more effective than electronic media in reaching a wide audience. It was suggested that the revival of the IT Services newsletter, Keynotes, in printed form might be considered and Michelle Blake, Head of Relationship Management, Information, reported that the Directorate was reviewing methods of communication in general and would take this point into account.

12/06 IT Services developments

Dave Surtees gave an update on developments in Enterprise Systems:

The move to Google had accelerated and a total of 10178 accounts, 6500 of which were students, had already migrated or were scheduled to migrate. Twenty per cent of staff accounts still needed to migrate and it was intended that they should do so by Easter. Additional resources had been put into providing support for the move and the Directorate intended to arrange workshops to demonstrate how to make best use of Google and share good practice; any input from departments would be welcome. It was suggested that a statement to provide reassurance on privacy would be helpful and Dave Surtees offered to look into this (Action: Dave Surtees). Further work was still needed in some areas such as non-personal accounts and automation of list management. Some concern was expressed that ownership and storage of Google documents was personal rather than institutional, which posed potential issues when staff leave the University.
A project had commenced to roll out Change Management procedures within IT Services by the summer.
IT Services was exploring the possibility of implementing a request management system based on JIRA. It was suggested that Andrew Male might be invited to demonstrate this at a future meeting.
Development of a managed laptop service was in progress.
DCOs have been contacted by Adrian Young regarding the rollout of Windows 7 to department.
Recruitment was underway for a Linux Systems Developer based in the Digital Workspace Group.
The management of non-traditional PCs, such as iPads, was under consideration.
The Digital Recording of Lectures project had been accorded a higher priority and it was hoped to provide a service by October 2012, the scale of which was still under discussion.

John Grannan outlined current and planned Infrastructure work:

A number of major incidents had occurred recently; Estates-related issues were the root cause of all of these. IT Services is working with Estates to attempt to remedy shortcomings and improve infrastructure resilience, for example by retro-fitting a generator in the Berrick Saul building and by resolving UPS and air conditioning problems. We are also striving to improve communication with Estates in general and to speed up response times when issues arise. Lessons continue to be learned from major incidents; post-incident reviews are held and action plans put together. Business continuity plans are under consideration but input is needed on the requirements and priorities of the University; it is hoped to address this via the University’s Business Continuity Group which will be led by David Duncan. A perennial problem is that of finding a level of downtime for maintenance work which is acceptable to users.
A large project is commencing to consider the networking and telephony which will be required on Heslington West when the current analogue telephone system reaches the end of its life in three years’ time.
Further new buildings on Heslington East require networking.
Funding for wireless provision was delayed this year but future expansion is planned and we hope that wireless will be included in the capital programme for next year; this will necessitate the installation of much wiring with its associated asbestos issues. Byron George reported that the wireless service in Alcuin is sporadic and that the price quoted to resolve this was significant. UCC agreed that the typically high cost of wireless provision should be flagged to ISG so that an adequate level of funding might be considered, and also so that the requirement to include wireless provision at an early stage in the planning of new buildings could be communicated effectively to the appropriate bodies (Action: Steve Smith).
An increased capacity link to JANET is now in place.
The internal partnership with Computer Science is producing a service catalogue.
We are exploring the feasibility of arranging a device repair service for laptops and other devices.
Work is ongoing on change and service management, based on ITIL principles.
The York Print Plus project is progressing well and the student service is up and running. The second stage involves survey and managed deployment to roll out the service across the University. We are also looking at e-printing from mobile devices.
Men and Mice has been deployed to IT Services; stage two will involve deployment to DCOs.
UCC noted the extensive work carried out by IT Services despite the limited resources available, and expressed concern that significant constraints and missed opportunities arise from this shortage of resources. It was suggested that clear priorities need to be identified to minimise the impact of this on the service provided. This matter will be referred to ISG (Action: Steve Smith).

12/07 IT Services Survey Results

Ian Hall gave a it-services-survey2011 (PDF , 605kb) on the results of the recent IT Services survey of users. The TechQual IT survey is still immature in comparison with the Library version, LibQual, but the Directorate is engaging with the supplier to enhance future questionnaires, which are intended to be annual. We will investigate the possibility of breaking down the results by department in future. The survey results were not unduly surprising and initiatives are already in place to address most of the issues raised. The results will be publicised via YorkExtra and Twitter.

12/08 Proposed community of practice for software developers across the University

Heidi Fraser-Krauss outlined a proposal to bring together people with similar expertise in developing software, to share ideas, frameworks or projects. The work of the group would co-ordinate with and be complementary to IT Services developments, and the first meeting would discuss possible themes. It was agreed that such a group would be valuable, and that there are probably other areas in which IT and other expertise could be usefully shared.

12/09 Current priorities

No priorities were noted but the item will be retained on the agenda. All members are encouraged to inform the Chair by email of any current priorities.

12/10 Any other business

(a) Misuse of facilities

Heidi Fraser-Krauss provided an update on an ongoing case of misuse, in which an individual had copied large sections of a Google email address book to send out a bulk email to staff and students. Heidi clarified that there had been no breach of University systems, but simply a misuse of email addresses. Investigations were underway and measures had been taken to block the account in question. DCOs had been informed of the situation.

12/11 Date of next meetings

Thursday 14 June 2012

LSM