Management Committee 2003 meeting minutes

[Minutes entered by Julie Wheeler phone: (317)263-8914].

IHETS Management Committee

May 20, 2003

Board Room

PRESENT

Erv Boschmann, Indiana University

Greg Fawcett, Independent Colleges of Indiana

Hans Giesecke, Independent Colleges of Indiana

Vern Houchins, Vincennes University

Mike Huffman, Department of Education

Lou Jensen, Indiana State University

Bill Kramer, Ivy Tech State College

Steve Mayo, Purdue University

Fred Nay, Ball State University

David Ross, Public Library

Brian Voss, Indiana University

IHETS Staff:

Tim Fisher

Dave King

Richard Miles

Tim Ping

Susan Scott

Ed Tully

Julie Wheeler

Chairman Kramer called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Fawcett moved that the minutes of the March 18, 2003 meeting be approved as distributed. Boschmann seconded the motion and it was unanimously approved. King noted that the minutes are available on the IHETS web page and that the PowerPoint slides used during the meeting will be included in the minutes.

CHAIR'S REPORT

Kramer reminded the group that IHETS must be resourceful to gain funding, contacting outside sources and creating partnerships to bring in revenue.

PENDING ISSUES

King reviewed the 2003 Strategic Initiatives and noted that we are looking at how to move ahead.

1. Brand Management - King reported on a continuing issue when we talk to legislatures and others, all of the acronyms become quite confusing. We will spend a lot of effort to eliminate the confusion.

2. Migration of IHETS TV - King noted that we are on a 3-year timeframe to complete the migration, and the Integrated Technologies Committee and Working Group are working on individual campus migration plans.

3. IHETS Advanced Services - The network goes to assist those who need it (w/fee) associated with ITN. The initial process has begun to contract with the Department of Health, to help them develop their firewall.

4. Lifelong Learning Service - LLS is in the testing phase and is considered a high priority. King and Miles will describe a possible partnership with public broadcasting later in the meeting.

5. Content/Knowledge Management - King noted that we are using Virage Digital Asset Management.

6. Corporate Partnerships - King reported that we are developing ICN at Work. He noted that corporate partnerships have a lot of potential and work continues to acquire initial partner for grant development and be involved in projects, learning modules, IP telephony.

7. ICN Portal - The ICN website will be an anchor tentant of the Indiana Learning Portalt.

8. Indiana Learning Portal - the project is dependent on funds and we expect to release the proposal this summer.

9. I-Light2- The opportunity for dark fiber acquisition

Giesecke asked how we are dealing with customer satisfaction. King responded that we have two staff members on board that are priority functions. In addition, committee members bring issues to the table each month for discussion and resolution.

2003-2004 Operating Budget Review

King outlined the proposed 2003-04 Operating Budget. He stated that last year in April, we cut $1M out of $7M appropriated budget. King added that we have been frugal this year and are at 85% of budget expeditures. He noted two shortfalls - equipment reserve and router fee with Intelenet. The network assumed that when they came off lease that there would be no more fees. Questions about who owned the routers. The network paid fee and routers moved over, so there is no income from fees.

-Travel training and professional development - We spent $110K and we are suggesting the same amount this year.

-$40K for Equipment. If we can acquire the income it will be used for the Virage Web-caster.

-$30K for the E-Learning Group. The IHETS membership with Merlot will be dropped.

Salary adjustents are expected to average 2%. Indiana University is recommending that amount and typically the amount would be in line with what other institutions are doing. King noted that we will be using 1.5% as the average for IHETS and ITN staff. King added that the Accord Video Bridge will become a core service and the supporting staff will move from IHETS to the ITN budget.

Following discussion, Jensen moved that the 2003-2004 Operating Budget be approved. Houchins seconded the motion and it was unanimously approved. budget_pdf

Kramer noted that the budget includes a very low carry forward. He said this is a "bare-bones" budget and that is

of some concern. King noted the flowchart outlining the IHETS and ITN budget.

/committee /mc2/minutes2003/200305may20/images/flow_chart.jpg

PENDING ISSUES

Lifelong Learning Service- Miles reported that we have been comparing the efforts of the LLS with the Educational Television Cooperative which IUPUI has been managing with the help of a volunteer Board. The day to day management structure could only be maintained on a certain level. He contacted Amy Warner and proposed that the responsibility of ETC be moved to IHETS with two channels. One would be used for Marion County and the other for the LLS to be distributed statewide. The benefits to IHETS would be the savings for not building a playback/storage site and it would allow for an existing platform to launch the LLS. The benefits for ETC would be a management team and increased distribution of the channels via Indiana PBS.

The proposal will need to be approved by the volunteer Board before we can proceed.

Following discussion, Mayo moved that staff proceed with negotions to partner with IUPUI and the ETC. Jensen seconded the motion and it was unanimously approved.

Board of Director Meeting- King noted that the Board meeting is scheduled for June 4. Current agenda items include budget, strategic initiatives, ITN relationship and an update on the Portal project. It was the consensus of the group to proceed with the agenda items listed.

King will meet with President Benjamin this afternoon to go over issues for the Board meeting.

I-Light2 - King noted that legislation was passed to fund $5M for the I-Light2 project this year. This allows us the opportunity to acquire dark fiber to provide much better bandwidth across the state. King added that there is language in the leslislation that requires bids for operation. We are looking at how to deal with that. In addition, there is is concern in the Budget Agency that this is not a priority.

King stated that he views I-Light2 as a natural extension of ITN but there is not a clear picture to focus on and there are many outstanding issues to be address, including cost and last mile. Voss added that ITN was not one of the initial planners of the project, but has been supportive

of the effort. The I-Light Steering committee will meet tomorrow for the first time since the legislation was passed.

Campus Executive Briefings - King propsed that we hold at least four executive briefings at key institutions. Many changes have taken place over the past few years and the committee appointments have been more in the technical area rather than provost area. He hopes these meetings will help rebuild the institutional memory for the new appointees.

Huffman suggested that staff might want to create a video that could be used at the institutions to assist with the process.

COMMITTEE REPORTS
ITC report - Nay reported that the group has been discussing ITN support. In January the fees for the institutions were decreased and the group agreed to re-evaluate in a few months. Last week the ITC met and agreed that there is a need for more DS3's. The question is whether to increase DS3's or T1's subsidy. The group will meet by phone later this week and preliminary discussions indicate that the fees will remain the same. If a major change is suggested, it may be necessary for the Management Committee to meet by phone prior to the next scheduled meeting.

IPSE report - Boschmann reported that the Copyright Intellectual Group has proposed that the name be changed to Copyright Comittee. He reported on the All Partners Conference held at Ball State on April 4 and commended Ward for coordinating an excellent conference. The group has also been discussing the Business Plan and migration from satellite. Boschmann added that Fawcett is leaving the group and that his replacement has not yet been named.

Ward reported on the Learning Module Development Grants. She received 62 proposals and 15 were selected for funding and $262,708 was requested. Some cutbacks were recommended bring the the amount

requested down to roughly $250,000. Ward continued her report by describing the selection process.

STAFF REPORTS

Indiana Learning Portal-King reported that the ILP prototype should be completed in 4-5 weeks and will be demonstrated for this group at the next meeting.

ITN Pricing-King reported that there is a three-page document which outlines advanced network services.

Governor's Roundatle on Education Interaction-King reported that Dave Shane is a businessman in Indiana and and is part of an adhoc group involved in technology and education. Members of Governor's Roundtable on Education Interaction. Meetings will hopefully generate information for Roundtable.

Tech Summit-Tully reported that a Tech Summit was held on May 9th. We had approximately 240 attendees.

The day was used to describe products and services that IHETS offers. This year's Summit was combined with the annual video conference for receive sites.

With no further business to discuss the meeting adjourned at 12:05pm.

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