Nebraska Information Technology Commission:

TECHNICAL PANEL
Nebraska Information Technology Commission
Tuesday, September 11, 2007, 9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Executive Building - Lower Level Conference Room
521 S 14th Street, Lincoln, Nebraska
APPROVED MINUTES

MEMBERS PRESENT:
Brenda Decker, CIO, State of Nebraska
Kirk Langer, Technology Director, Lincoln Public Schools
Walter Weir, CIO, University of Nebraska
Mike Winkle, Assistant GM, Nebraska Educational Telecommunications

ROLL CALL, MEETING NOTICE & OPEN MEETINGS ACT INFORMATION

Mr. Weir called the meeting to order at 9:04 a.m. Roll call was taken. There was a quorum present. The meeting notice was posted to the NITC Website and the Nebraska Public Meeting Calendar on August 16, 2007. The meeting agenda posted to the NITC Website on September 7, 2007.

PUBLIC COMMENT

There was no public comment.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Mr. Winkle moved to approve the August 14, 2007 minutes as presented. Ms. Decker seconded. Roll call vote: Decker-Yes, Langer-Yes, Weir-Yes, and Winkle-Yes. Results: Yes-4 and No-0. Motion carried.

PROJECT REVIEWS – ON-GOING REVIEWS

Retirement Systems - Jerry Brown: Mr. Brown provided the following update.

The first Steering Committee meeting is tomorrow, September 12, 2007.
The equipment that will be utilized for system testing and user acceptance testing will be installed at the NPERS office location. When the new space at the Office of the CIO is available for client hardware hosting, some of the equipment will be located there for a “proof of concept” process. This will validate response performance, backup processes, client accessibility, etc.
An arrangement for office furniture for the project team is being pursued this week.
The Quality Assurance function will be provided by the University Office of the CIO through the State Office of the CIO. The QA team (Kimberly Harper and Joshua Mauk) have added a third member, who will perform the majority of QA detail activities.
Skip Philson, who was the designated State Project Manager for this project retired from State employment effective September 6, 2007. We have since replace Skip with Robin Goracke, a contractor, who has had a professional relationship with the State. We are pleased to have Robin on the Project.
Requirements Validation for the financial and employer reporting functions (Phase I) began this week.
Two JAVA programmers from the Office of the CIO have been designated for the project. They will be attending the Requirements Validation sessions.

Health and Human Services, LIMS (Laboratory Information Management System) Project - James Ohmberger: The State of Nebraska runs a laboratory system used to test water and air quality. The challenge has been the interface of the laboratory equipment with the computer system used for reporting functions. The primary customers are cities and municipalities. The Department of Health and Human Services worked with the Office of the CIO to release an RFP to build the interfaces. Five bids were submitted and are currently being reviewed. The approximate cost of the project is $200,000-$500,000. The staff member most familiar with this project has left the State which has caused a reorganization of staff.

Health and Human Services, MMIS (Medicaid Management Information System) Project – James Ohmberger: The system is used to pay all of the State’s medical claims and does reporting functioning as well. The system is 30+ years old and was developed internally. An RFP was released. Three bids were submitted and are being evaluated. The agency is looking at Gold’s Building for the Project’s office space. It is estimated that the Project duration will be 2-2 ½ years. The steering committee for the project consists of representatives of the Office of the CIO, Budget Office, and Department of Health and Human Services Directors. The Steering Committee will make all executive decisions. The Project is funded primarily with federal dollars. Overall budget identified by the Governor is $50 million. This is a combination of state and federal funds. The State’s contribution is approximately $7.5 million. The anticipated award date is January 2008. Currently, an RFP is being drafted for project management staff.

Nebraska State College System (Student Information Administrative System): Ed Hoffman, Vice President, State College System. During the last biennium budget requests, the NITC requested that the State College System and the University of Nebraska systems collaborate on this endeavor. If both projects were funded, the NITC request progress reports. The State College System is exploring a comprehensive system that would include student information, financial capabilities, and Human Resources information. The State College System has released an RFP. Bids have been received are currently being reviewed. The Student Information System is on the agenda for State College Board which will be meeting Friday, September 14. The goal is to have an enterprise system from a single provider by December 11, 2007. The estimated budget for the project is $6-10 million dollars. It was not funded last biennium.

University of Nebraska (Student Information System)-Walter Weir, CIO, University of Nebraska: The University of Nebraska is facing the same situation in that the University Student Information System will no longer be supported after 2011. A steering committee has been meeting regularly to discuss this issue. The budget is estimated at $30 million dollars of which $15 million is a one-time cost. The University of Nebraska will submit a deficit budget request. The University cannot operate without a student information system. And an RFP for consulting services has been released and bids have been submitted. Vendors were charged with the following priorities: benefit to campus, cost effectiveness, and merging data from all four campuses. The University’s Board of Regents will make the final decision. Implementation would involve that all fourl campuses and continued communications will occur with the State College System to assure collaboration of efforts wherever possible.

Panel members requested that projects provide a written report similar to that submitted by the Retirement System.

STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES - RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE NITC
[Note: Links to the "Comment Version" are for the documents as posted for the 30-day comment period. Links to the "Strikethrough Version" are to versions showing recommended changes.]

Mr. Becker stated that all four have gone through the 30-day comment period. The State Government Council held three informational meetings to discuss and review the Information Security, Password, and Data Security standards. The Technical Panel Security Work Group has met and approved the changes. The State Government Council approved these, with the recommednded changes, at their meeting last Thursday.

INFORMATION SECURITY POLICY (Comment Version | Stikethrough Version) and the
DATA SECURITY STANDARD (Comment Version | Stikethrough Version)

The panel did not have any additions or changes to the documents. Mr. Hartman and the Security Work Group were commended for their efforts.

Mr. Winkle moved to recommend apporval of the Information Security Policy and the Data Security Standard as revised. Ms. Decker seconded. Roll call vote: Decker-Yes, Langer-Yes, Weir-Yes, and Winkle-Yes. Results: Yes-4 and No-0. Motion carried.

PASSWORD STANDARD (Comment Version | Stikethrough Version)
Comments Received - Security Related Documents

At the State Government Council meeting there was discussion whether this should be a standard for initial sign-on to the network only or for each application employees access. Another issue of discussion was whether or not there should be different rules for e-government applications. If an agency can make a business case not to do this, they can file for an exemption with the Technical Panel. Mr. Hartman would bring these to the Technical Panel for review and evaluation.

Ms. Decker moved to recommend apporval of the Password Standard as revised. Mr. Winkle seconded. Roll call vote: Winkle-Yes, Weir-Yes, Langer-Yes, and Decker-Yes. Results: Yes-4 and No-0. Motion carried.

The State Government Council members requested that if approved that the NITC be informed that there were several agencies that had concerns and issues with the standard.

EMAIL STANDARD FOR STATE GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
Comments Received - Email Standard

The State Government Council recommended that this be a policy rather than a standard. It was explained to the council that this addressed employee email only.

Mr. Winkle moved to recommend approval of the Email Standard for State Government Agencies as revised. Mr. Langer seconded. Roll call vote: Winkle-Yes, Weir-Yes, Langer-Yes, and Decker-Yes. Results: Yes-4 and No-0. Motion carried.

REGULAR INFORMATIONAL ITEMS AND WORK GROUP UPDATES (as needed)

Accessibility of Information Technology Work Group, Christy Horn. Ms. Horn was not available to report but asked Mr. Golden to report that she is working on the recruitment of new work group members.

Learning Management System Standards Work Group, Kirk Langer. No items to report.

Security Architecture Work Group, Steve Hartman. Work group’s efforts reported earlier in the meeting in the standards section.

OTHER BUSINESS

There was no other business.

NEXT MEETING DATE & ADJOURNMENT

The next meeting of the NITC Technical Panel will be held on Tuesday, October 9, 2007.

Ms. Decker moved to adjourn. Mr. Winkle seconded. All were in favor. Motion carried.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:37 a.m.

The meeting minutes were taken by Lori Lopez Urdiales and reviewed by Rick Becker of the Office of the CIO.

Technical Panel Minutes