Nebraska Information Technology Commission: Meeting Minutes

NEBRASKA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMMISSION

September 9, 1998,
State Capitol, Room 1507
MINUTES

Members Present
Lt. Governor Kim Robak, Chair	Greg Adams, Mayor of York
Eric Brown, GM of Station KRVN, Lexington	L. Dennis Smith, President, University of Nebraska
Doug Christensen, Department of Education, Commissioner, (Proxy-Ann Mathers)
Members Absent
U.S. Senator Robert Kerrey	H.H. Kosman, Chair & President, Platte Valley Financial Services, Scottsbluff
Gary Kuck, President & CEO of Centurion International, Lincoln	Joyce Wrenn, Chief Information Officer, Union Pacific
Others Present
Michael Winkle, NITC Executive Dir.	Walter Weir, CIO University of Nebraska
Carmel Ortiz, Skjei Telecom Inc.	Sidney Skjei, Skjei Telecom Inc.
Roger Bartlett, NET	Dr. Jack Huck, NITC Education Council
Jim Crosland, F&S Fiber Systems	Loren Hiatt, AT&T
Leslie Perry, Priority One Inc.	Rick Golden, University of Nebraska
Linda Aerni, NPPD	Paul Schumacher, Attorney
Shawn Nolan, Legislature	Tim Erickson, DAS-IDSD
Rick Becker, DAS-CIO	Chris Hoy, DAS-CIO

The meeting was not called to order at 1:30 p.m. due to not having a full quorum. Since no official decision on action items could be conducted, Lt. Governor Robak proceeded with the meeting and asked for reports from the NITC councils.

EDUCATION COUNCIL REPORT:

Dr. Jack Huck, Co-chair, reported on the process for the Education Proposals. In mid August correspondence was sent to K-12 with a letter from Doug Christensen and to post-secondary sectors with a letter from Dr. Huck. Copies of the process were in the commissioner's notebooks. Proposals are due September 15th. The council's next meeting is Wednesday, September 16th. Their goal is to have recommendations to the NITC by October 15th for approval. Dr. Huck also reported that there is a sub-committee within the council working on the NEB*SAT Coordinating Council and the NITC Education Council transition.

Questions/Comments from the Commissioners: Questions were raised regarding simplification of the process and who gave final approval. Dr. Huck reported that a subcommittee was immediately formed to review the NITC recommendations and make appropriate changes. June minutes did state that the Education Council would develop and approve a new simplified format. Dr. Huck also reported that the Education Council was more assured in their activities and role but that there were still questions about the internal processes and the structure of the NITC.

Ann Mathers, Administrator of Education Policy and Programs, arrived as proxy for Commissioner Christensen. Formal business could now be conducted. Lt. Governor Robak officially called the meeting to order.

GOVERNMENT COUNCIL REPORT:

Yvonne Norton-Leung, Information Resources Cabinet Chair, reported that the council has held 3 meetings since the last NITC meeting. The agendas and minutes are on the web. There is also an archive section devoted to various topics. State agencies are continuing to connect the State of Nebraska homepage. Mrs. Norton-Leung has materials from two conferences she's attended and offered to share these with any interested commissioners. Mrs. Norton-Leung then reviewed the "Technology Planning and Budgeting Review Process" for the commissioners. In the review process, a proposal must meet three criteria: (1) minimum standards, (2) systems connection support and (3) enterprise goals. The committee would tier the proposals into three groups according to criteria and priority. The committee would not individually prioritize proposals or determine dollar amounts. Commissioner Smith asked for definition of some of the acronyms. Mrs. Norton-Leung suggested that we have a list of acronyms for the commissioners available for the next meeting.

Government Collaboration Fund Proposals:

Rick Becker, Government Information Technology Manager with the Office of the Chief Information Officer, presented the list of eleven agencies that submitted proposals and then made recommendations for funding to the commissioners.

Questions/Comments from the Commissioners: There were questions raised regarding the request submitted by the Post Secondary Coordinating Commission, as well as, questions raised regarding UNL's role and the community colleges' role in facilitating this process of the statewide post secondary database. It was by group consensus to table a decision on this grant proposal until the next meeting when information and questions can be clarified. A copy of this proposal will be sent to the commissioners for the next meeting.

Commissioner Smith moved and it was seconded by Commissioner Brown to accept the Government Collaboration Fund proposal recommendations as presented by the Information Resources Cabinet with the exception of grant number 8 submitted by the Coordinating Commission for Post secondary Education. There was no discussion. All were in favor. Motion carried.

COMMUNITY COUNCIL REPORT:

Christopher Hoy, Community Information Technology Manager, reported that 16 proposals were submitted for the August 14th deadline. Council recommended funding 10 of these proposals. List of proposals and recommendations were provided to the commissioners. After awarding recommendations, there will be a balance of $19,740 in the Community Collaboration Fund for mini-grants due January 1, 1999. The only problem encountered was that the on-line application form did not work properly.

Questions/Comments from the Commissioners: It would have been helpful for the Commissioners to receive a paragraph about each of the proposals submitted for all of the collaboration funds prior to the meeting. Commissioner Adams suggested contacting the League of Municipalities to publicize this information in their newsletter for the next funding cycle. Lt. Governor Robak would like the council to give consideration to devoting a portion of the funds for small communities, like the Hastings proposal, to assist them in the "catch up" game.

Commissioner Adams moved and it was seconded by Commissioner Brown to accept the council's Community Collaboration Fund proposal recommendations with the recommendation to solicit an assessment on the application process. There was no discussion. All were in favor. Motion carried.

Mr. Hoy shared that while on his trip to Australia the people there were very impressed with Nebraska's initiatives in the area of technology and with the close working relationship between the private sector and decision-makers.

STAFFING REPORT:

Mr. Winkle introduced the staff for the Office of the Chief Information Officer and announced that the Education Information Technology Manager will begin employment on Friday, September 11th. The Chief Information Officer position has not been filled yet. An updated list of staff members and phone numbers will be sent to the commissioners.

Commissioner Christensen arrived to the meeting.

SKJEI Telecom, Inc. Presentation:

Carmel Ortiz, Senior Partner, gave a brief overview of the Skjei organization. They are consultants hired by NET to define a plan for the future transmission infrastructure. This will be done in three steps: (1) Define requirements, (2) Evaluate existing infrastructure, and (3) Develop detailed transition plan with costs. Project timelines are as follows:

September 18 - Infrastructure requirements document completed

September 29 - Infrastructure evaluation & transition plan (Draft)

November 3 - Infrastructure evaluation and transition plan (Final)

Questions/Comments from the Commissioners: Commissioner Adams suggested that municipalities would be a good source of information for user needs. Lt. Governor Robak asked that as the consultants continue their project would they also look at NITC's goal of a statewide infrastructure plan and how will it work as well as to recommend how the process that Skjei completes can be expanded to help the state.

ACTION PLAN UPDATE:

A written update was included in the Commissioners notebooks.

Expanded Needs Assessment: After attending the Kearney Conference on Commerce (August 20th) and conducting the Providers Special Forum (August 27th), NITC staff received feedback from attendees who wanted to have an opportunity to discuss their needs and questions. Chris Hoy and Michael Winkle recommended that the NITC, through the Community Council, and in collaboration with the Public Service Commission and the Legislature's Transportation Committee conduct special forums for special sectors of the community such as tele-medicine, municipalities, micro enterprise, etc. The Community Council would become the conduit to make this happen. The goal would be to facilitate communication between NITC, state government, providers, and the public.

Questions/Comments from the Commissioners: Commissioners were very much in favor of conducting discussion forums. This would provide opportunities for discussion and information sharing especially regarding regulatory issues. It would also be a good way for the NITC to provide information as well. Lt. Governor Robak wanted to make sure that the forums are inclusive and recommended that staff determine a way to reach out to new sectors. Commissioner Brown suggested conducting these forums across the state and not only in Lincoln and Omaha. Commissioner Christensen recommended and by group consensus to do this with all the councils.

It was the consensus of the Commissioners to conduct the forums and to do this with all the Councils (Community, Education and Government).

Interstate Fiber Right of Way Proposal:

Lt. Governor Robak reported that changing Nebraska statute involves a lot of work and research. Lt. Governor Robak requested that Mr. Winkle meet with the Transportation Committee headed by Senator Bromm on this issue.

NITC & CIO BIENNIUM BUDGET REQUEST:

Mr. Winkle reported that the budget is very much the same as this current year with the exception of moving Mr. Hoy's salary from the Division of Communications to the CIO budget. Commissioner Christensen asked about the reporting lines. Lt. Governor Robak indicated that intent of LB986 was as follows - Mr. Winkle reports to the NITC, the Information Technology Managers report to Mr. Winkle, and the CIO reports to the Governor.

Commissioner Brown moved and it was seconded by Commissioner Adams to approve the budget with the recommendation to review at a later time whether D.A.S. is the best placement for the office. There was no discussion. All were in favor. Motion carried.

RECOMMENDATION OF MINIMUM TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS, GUIDELINES, AND ARCHITECTURES:

Walter Weir gave a report on the Special Forum with Providers held on August 27th in Lincoln. Mr. Weir has volunteered to work on the statewide database for information technology inventory.

A set of minimum standards to assist with the development of a technology plan by July 1, 1999 was presented at the end of the presentation. Mr. Winkle explained that the intent was to define a broad set of standards that could be changed and more narrowly defined as a statewide technology plan was developed and as "user needs" change so does the architecture.

Questions/Comments from the Commissioners: Commissioner Christensen stressed the importance of "user needs" when developing the statewide plan. Lt. Governor Robak requested that Mr. Winkle provide the commissioners with timelines and measurements, including cost effectiveness at their next meeting.

After discussion, Mr. Winkle made the following recommendation: "The standards submitted are the common broadest standards in the industry. In the development of the state-wide technology plan, these standards would continue to be customized based on the user needs assessment as determined from the councils."

Commissioner Christensen moved and it was seconded by Commissioner Smith to adopt the standards and the procedures recommended by the staff. All were in favor. There was no discussion. Motion carried.

NEW BUSINESS:

Lt. Governor Robak asked Mr. Winkle if any work has been done on the Clearinghouse project. Staffing has been an issue. Now that the office is almost fully staffed there will be more progress made.

NEXT MEETING DATE:

Commissioners were asked to check on their availability for a November 10th afternoon meeting. The location of future meetings will alternate. November's meeting will take place in the western part of the state. Staff will make sure that meeting information gets to all commissioners.

Commissioner Smith moved and it was seconded by Commissioner Smith to adjourn the meeting at 4:50 p.m. All were in favor. Motion carried.

Minutes taken by Lori Lopez Urdiales, Administrative Assistant, Office of the Chief Information Officer/NITC.

Meeting Minutes