IT Council - George Mason University

Meeting Notes
4/18/03

Agenda for 18 April 2003 (pdf file)

1. Dee gave a brief background and history of the Technology Council and its mission.

2. Joe Hutchison gave an overview of the current Technology Council project-the LAN Architecture project, now renamed the Mason Enterprise Security Architecture (MESA). Joe's slides will be posted to the Technology Council web site (http://www.gmu.edu/techcouncil/) along with an enlarged diagram of the proposed architecture. The implementation team hopes to have a working model of the new architecture in Innovation Hall. The Council members reminded Joe of the importance of having a communication plan when so many changes would be taking place. Walt Sevon was introduced as the chair of the MESA Steering Committee.

3. Joy gave an overview of the new charge to the Technology Council-developing a web architecture for the University. This initiative is driven both by Mason's branding project and by the state's push for more standardization in IT among state agencies. In particular, the state has mandated certain web design standards for state agencies and is currently consulting with higher ed to establish web design standards for higher ed. Joy is heading a state higher ed CIO's group that is preparing higher ed responses to several state IT initiatives, including this one.
a. For example, web pages must meet accessibility standards; web pages must link to certain policy statements;
b. Anne will make sure that the members of the Technology Council have the complete list of state standards.

4. Joy's charge to the Technology Council:
a. Establish credible standards and guidelines for web design that take into account the state standards, Mason's identity/branding project, and Mason's culture.
b. Establish a data-base driven architecture that will move the institution's web presence away from static pages towards dynamic integrated pages and will enhance productivity by enabling the inter-site flow and reuse of information.
c. Develop multi-level templates that will simplify the web redesign and implementation process for departments lacking sophisticated web resources.
d. Develop a communication plan to help the University community understand and implement the standards and architecture.

5. Timeline: Joy needs a draft of the standards and guidelines no later than September since the state is moving forward very quickly with its initiative. For the rest, part of the work of the Web Architecture group would be to determine a process and timeline for accomplishing the charges.

6. Dee led a discussion of what additional information the Tech Council needs in order to begin to define the process and timeline and identify specific tasks to complete the charge.
a. What is the impact of the University's identity/branding project? (Helen Ackerman)
b. What is the taxonomy of our current web site-servers, pages, webmasters, etc. What are considered the most significant, most used, most important pages in our site? (University Web Team)
c. What is the data structure being used in Banner and how might that be available for web sites? (Carrie Gillotte)
d. What are models of database-driven sites at GMU?
e. What are best practices at other institutions that have an enterprise web architecture?

7. Suggestions to consider in planning the Web Architecture work group:
a. Make several teams to address different parts of the charge.
b. Set priorities.
c. In regard to state standards, consider several levels of response, including kinds of sites that shouldn't be covered by these standards such as research funded sites, class web sites, etc.

8. Follow up actions:
a. Anne will distribute to everyone copies of the state standards and accessibility compliance standards.
b. Helen Ackerman will give an overview of the University's branding project at the May 6 meeting of the Web Architecture group.
c. Dee and Ann will arrange for further presentations at future meetings to provide other information needed to answer questions raised by the Tech Council.

Notes taken by Anne Agee

Attending:
Dee Ann Holisky (Chair)
Anne Agee (Associate Chair)
Joy Hughes
Mike Behrmann
Lara Bushallow
Ann Clare
John Creuziger
Andrew Flagel
Andres Fortino
Jim Finkelstein
Carrie Gillotte
Cathy Hubbs
Joe Hutchison
Creston Jamison
Paras Kaul
Deborah Keene
Ruth Kifer
Stephen Nash
Mel Nichol
Roy Rosenzweig
Walt Sevon
Stan Zolteck

Absent:
Doug Casey
Wally Grotophorst
Bob Nakles
Farrokh Alemi
Scott Martin
Mike Wood
MeiHua Zhai

-top-




Home Members Projects Meeting Notes Information Technology Unit	Meeting Notes 4/18/03 Agenda for 18 April 2003 (pdf file) 1. Dee gave a brief background and history of the Technology Council and its mission. 2. Joe Hutchison gave an overview of the current Technology Council project-the LAN Architecture project, now renamed the Mason Enterprise Security Architecture (MESA). Joe's slides will be posted to the Technology Council web site (http://www.gmu.edu/techcouncil/) along with an enlarged diagram of the proposed architecture. The implementation team hopes to have a working model of the new architecture in Innovation Hall. The Council members reminded Joe of the importance of having a communication plan when so many changes would be taking place. Walt Sevon was introduced as the chair of the MESA Steering Committee. 3. Joy gave an overview of the new charge to the Technology Council-developing a web architecture for the University. This initiative is driven both by Mason's branding project and by the state's push for more standardization in IT among state agencies. In particular, the state has mandated certain web design standards for state agencies and is currently consulting with higher ed to establish web design standards for higher ed. Joy is heading a state higher ed CIO's group that is preparing higher ed responses to several state IT initiatives, including this one. a. For example, web pages must meet accessibility standards; web pages must link to certain policy statements; b. Anne will make sure that the members of the Technology Council have the complete list of state standards. 4. Joy's charge to the Technology Council: a. Establish credible standards and guidelines for web design that take into account the state standards, Mason's identity/branding project, and Mason's culture. b. Establish a data-base driven architecture that will move the institution's web presence away from static pages towards dynamic integrated pages and will enhance productivity by enabling the inter-site flow and reuse of information. c. Develop multi-level templates that will simplify the web redesign and implementation process for departments lacking sophisticated web resources. d. Develop a communication plan to help the University community understand and implement the standards and architecture. 5. Timeline: Joy needs a draft of the standards and guidelines no later than September since the state is moving forward very quickly with its initiative. For the rest, part of the work of the Web Architecture group would be to determine a process and timeline for accomplishing the charges. 6. Dee led a discussion of what additional information the Tech Council needs in order to begin to define the process and timeline and identify specific tasks to complete the charge. a. What is the impact of the University's identity/branding project? (Helen Ackerman) b. What is the taxonomy of our current web site-servers, pages, webmasters, etc. What are considered the most significant, most used, most important pages in our site? (University Web Team) c. What is the data structure being used in Banner and how might that be available for web sites? (Carrie Gillotte) d. What are models of database-driven sites at GMU? e. What are best practices at other institutions that have an enterprise web architecture? 7. Suggestions to consider in planning the Web Architecture work group: a. Make several teams to address different parts of the charge. b. Set priorities. c. In regard to state standards, consider several levels of response, including kinds of sites that shouldn't be covered by these standards such as research funded sites, class web sites, etc. 8. Follow up actions: a. Anne will distribute to everyone copies of the state standards and accessibility compliance standards. b. Helen Ackerman will give an overview of the University's branding project at the May 6 meeting of the Web Architecture group. c. Dee and Ann will arrange for further presentations at future meetings to provide other information needed to answer questions raised by the Tech Council. Notes taken by Anne Agee Attending: Dee Ann Holisky (Chair) Anne Agee (Associate Chair) Joy Hughes Mike Behrmann Lara Bushallow Ann Clare John Creuziger Andrew Flagel Andres Fortino Jim Finkelstein Carrie Gillotte Cathy Hubbs Joe Hutchison Creston Jamison Paras Kaul Deborah Keene Ruth Kifer Stephen Nash Mel Nichol Roy Rosenzweig Walt Sevon Stan Zolteck Absent: Doug Casey Wally Grotophorst Bob Nakles Farrokh Alemi Scott Martin Mike Wood MeiHua Zhai -top-
Contact: Anne Agee \| Updated June 7, 2004