Minutes

President's Cabinet Meeting

August 12, 2009 - Barge 412

Present: Jim Gaudino, Wayne Quirk, Bill Vertrees, Charlotte Tullos, Ellen Hall, Libby Street

Guests: Shelly Johnson, Mark Lundgren, Sherer Holter, Carmen Rahm, Wendy Rittereiser, John Swiney, David Kaufman, Gene Rau, Don Diebert, Debra Feinman, Ed Day

Focus items:

1. ITS Five-Year Plan - Carmen Rahm et al.

Carmen Rahm presented the ITS five-year plan. Mr. Rahm updated the cabinet on the system overhauls that are occurring in the IT department at this time. He talked about the history of IT EIS funding, focusing on one-time and carry-forward funding. Discussions included state statutes that prohibit student technology fees being used for upgrades. Dr. Gaudino asked Dr. Street to provide a copy of the RCW for review by the cabinet.

Dr. Ellen Hall and Dr. Gaudino recommend a person from advancement be included on the EIS Governance Team. Mr. Rahm suggested that the steering committee determine project priority on the basis of actual need instead of on funding availability. Dr. Gaudino and Mr. Vertrees feel there should be a coordination of strategic planning related to EIS and learning management software across all divisions and functions.

Mr. Lundgren discussed the rationale behind creating a decision support team (See the attached memo from Mr. Lundgren) to create a data dictionary and to ensure that data provided to internal and external users does not vary according to who is asked to provide it. Although the data warehouse project is currently on hold, Mr. Lundgren noted that he and his staff have been unable to find a university that has successfully implemented the PeopleSoft data warehouse. He reiterated the importance of finding appropriate data warehouse software to assist in data presentation and analysis.

Mr. Rahm recommended in parting that the cabinet members become the IT Steering Committee and set aside time to discuss IT matters at least once a month.

Dr. Gaudino wants a better understanding of the role of the decision support team before it is established. Mr. Lundgren reiterated that the purpose of the team would be to develop common protocols and definitions for data requests and to create a shared understanding of what data are available. Definitions are one of the key components since coding of data is inconsistent across the university, hence query tables yield different results based on which department performed the query.

Ms. Holter noted that this team will take some of the staff resources from the other projects.

Dr. Gaudino wants to discuss this further with the cabinet members before making a decision on creating a decision support team.

The cabinet thanked Mr. Rahm and his staff and Mr. Lundgren for bringing the information to the cabinet.

2. Groove
Dr. Gaudino asked that the cabinet members all start using MS Groove for document review. Ms. Magdlin will coordinate with the administrative assistants to make sure all cabinet members have the program on their computers and receive training.

Action items:

1. Approval of Cabinet Minutes from July 15, 2009
Dr. Gaudino reported that the minutes from July 15, 2009 stand approved.

Note: It was suggested that Libby Street and Kim Dawson be added to the OFM email distribution list.

Future items:

1. Cab/PAC structure (Lead - Libby)
2. Strategic planning, Assessment and Evaluation (Lead - Libby)
3. Center Plan (Lead - Wayne)
4. Enrollment Management (Lead - Charlotte)
5. Communication Plan (Lead - Ellen)
6. Marketing/Branding Plan (Lead - Ellen)
7. Research/Service Agenda (Hold for now)
8. Economic Development (Hold for now)
9. Budget/Finance System (Lead - Bill)
10. Management Information System (Lead - Bill)
11. Legislative Agenda (Lead - Jim)
12. Capital Campaign (Lead - Ellen)
13. Diversity Structure (Hold for now)
14. Town-Gown Relationship (Hold for now)
15. Electronic Workflows (Lead - Bill)
16. Athletics/Budget Plan (Lead - Bill)
17. IT System (Lead - Bill)
18. Distance Education (Lead - Wayne)
19. Budget Allocation Model (Bill/Libby)