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University of California, Berkeley
MINUTES OF THE E -BERKELEY STEERING
COMMITTEE
Meeting of January 29, 2002
Chancellor's Conference Room - California Hall
Members present: EVC
and Provost Paul Gray,Chair, AVC Greg Brown, VC Beth Burnside, AVC Ron Coley,
Director Jon Conhaim, VC Ed Denton, Professor Michael Frenklach, Dean Ralph
Hexter, Director Phyllis Hoffman, VC Jim Hyatt, Executive Director Helen Kelly,
Executive Director Rosemary Kim for VC Don McQuade, University Librarian Tom
Leonard, VP Christina Maslach, Dean Mary Ann Mason, AVC Jack McCredie, VC
Horace Mitchell, Director Ralph Moon, Director Barbara Morgan, Dean A. Richard
Newton, VC Genaro Padilla, Director David Scronce, Professor Philip Stark.
Also
attending: AVC David Moers, Human Resources; Director
Victor Edmonds and Obie Greenberg, Educational Technology Services; Director
JR Schulden, Randy Ballew, and George Suennen, Student Information Systems;
Registrar Susanna Castillo-Robson; Director Faye Fields, Travel Manager Joe
Knowles and Systems Manager Shannon Thorn, Business Services; Barbara VanCleave
Smith, Financial Services; and Michele Grisham and Carol Stillman, Cisco Systems.
1. Welcome
and Approval of Minutes from October 24 meeting
Paul Gray welcomed
the group and noted that, thanks to the Governor's 2002-03 budget, we can
continue current e-Berkeley activities, plus make some funds available for
small innovative pilot projects.
Minutes
were approved as distributed.
2. Update
on Human Resources Management System
David Scronce
distributed an "Update on HRMS Project," outlining the status of
each project element (Self-Service Modules, Core Modules, one-time Conversions,
on-going Interfaces, Portal, and Security). Different pieces of the
project are at different stages: testing, development, and requirements
definition.
Key Milestones for 2002 are:
|
February
15
|
Functional
Requirements Cut Off (for possible 7/1 delivery)
|
|
March
1
|
Technical
Analysis & Estimates on 2/15 Submissions Complete
|
|
May
1
|
Freeze
Development for 7/1 Release
|
|
May
15
|
Training
Begins
|
|
July
1
|
In
Production, Roll Out Begins (central offices and about 10 departments)
|
3.
E-Travel Update (Plan for Travel System Improvements)
As Executive Sponsor
of the E-Travel Initiative, Ron Coley presented slides highlighting findings
and recommendations of a joint report from Business & Administrative Services,
the Controller's Office, the E-Berkeley Project Management Office, and Information
Systems & Technology (the full report was distributed at the meeting).
Ron's presentation summarized the project's development from its beginning 18
months ago to its selection as the #1 E-Berkeley priority to its present status
as a project that has brought insight to the University's approach to project
development and a "course correction." One task force led by the Business
Services Systems Group evaluated Extensity's worthiness as a potential vendor
from service, culture, and technology perspectives. Another group, led
by the Controller's Office, examined overall travel business processes and risks.
The E-Travel Project Team's analysis of campus readiness, business processes,
technical components, and vendor relations has resulted in a new focus on training,
process improvement, and change management rather than an immediate electronic
solution. The Roadmap for the next 18 months includes these action items:
|
Jan.
– July 2002
|
Complete
RFI reviews (original vendor Extensity will also be considered)
|
| |
Implement
five E-Travel "Quick Wins"
|
| |
Reassess
campus/departmental readiness for E-Travel, after HRMS implementation
|
|
July
02 – June 03
|
Reengineer
Travel expense reimbursement process
|
| |
Deploy
classroom training, including new web-based forms and quick guides
|
| |
Partner
with departments to begin process streamlining and standardization
|
| |
Complete
evaluation, selection, and implementation of an appropriate fully functional
E-Travel solution
|
4. Changes
to Business Processes and Controls
Greg
Brown and Jon Conhaim are proposing new processes for analyzing business problems
and potential solutions, partly in response to lessons learned from e-Berkeley
projects such as Kronos and E-Travel. These processes were outlined in
a slide presentation, which included risk assessment, resource planning, implementation
and training, and concluded with these next steps:
-
Offer
Controller's Office services to departments to help analyze business problems
-
Provide project management training for appropriate
staff
-
Work
with project managers to create documentation that is useful and easy to
maintain
-
Work
with campus training personnel to improve training for e-Berkeley applications.
Greg
and Jon requested feedback, and Greg stated that the Chancellor's Controls
Initiative could provide structure for these new emphases. Beth Burnside
commented that training doesn't seem to have been included in project proposals,
and she recommends a list of training resources. Richard Newton suggested
creating a network of designated trainers in all departments (as we do for
Safety Officers), and a certificate program for "approved trainers."
5.
Success of E-Grades
Susanna
Castillo-Robson distributed copies of the attractive new "E-Grades Faculty
User's Guide" and reported that 74% of Fall 2001 grades were submitted
electronically: 92,000 grades from 4,225 courses (63%). Ninety-five
percent of all departments used e-grades; only 7 departments did not participate.
This compares to 60,600 grades and 2,900 courses (47%) in Spring 2001.
No other AAU institution has been this successful without mandating the use
of e-grades (only 15 of 63 institutions use e-grades and use is mandatory
at only 5 of the 15 schools - including Stanford). UCLA had a 2% voluntary
participation in Fall 2001. The UCB Office of the Registrar is strongly
considering mandating e-grades for Fall 2002, after gathering additional feedback,
fine-tuning features that caused problems for faculty, and training staff
in the departments who have not been participating.
6.
Demonstration of New
CourseWeb System
Victor
Edmonds and Philip Stark introduced the CourseWeb system, which will give
faculty an easy way to create and modify their course web sites. Philip
noted that the original e-Berkeley proposal had involved licensing commercial
“enterprise level” course management software, but we realized
we needed to solve some data integration problems first.
Student
Information Systems and Educational Technology Services collaborated on the
CourseWeb development. JR Schulden and Randy Ballew of SIS talked about
the architecture of the new system, which conforms to the new e-Berkeley architectural
framework. Obie Greenberg of ETS demonstrated instructor and student
views of the CourseWeb system, which will be the gateway for all courses,
with links to services such as Books in a Box and Black Lightning Notes.
The first release must be ready before April 8, when fall registration starts;
testing, documentation, and a communication plan are being worked on now.
Jack McCredie noted that there will be a UC all-campus
meeting in early March to talk about strategies for course management systems.
7.
E-Berkeley Updates for
Cabinet and Deans/Chairs
Helen
Kelly handed out a draft "E-Berkeley Update" document that could
be used for upcoming Cabinet and Deans/Chairs presentations. Snapshots
of Academic and Administrative/Infrastructure projects are given, along with
Next Steps for e-Berkeley. ACTION:
Helen wants to know whether this is the kind of report the E-Berkeley Steering
Committee would like to use for this purpose; she asked for comments via email
by the end of the week. Paul Gray commented that the two groups are
very different; the Cabinet is interested in an overview and the Deans/Chairs
group is interested in practical information about what they need to know
in the next 6 months.
8.
Other Topics
Jack
McCredie distributed a draft proposal about "Required Student Email Addresses."
ACTION: Jack asked committee members
to review the proposal for discussion at the next meeting.
Jack
distributed the current "IST Operational Highlights." (IST reports
its accomplishments each semester to the E-Berkeley Steering Committee and
the UC systemwide senior IT managers group.) These accomplishments demonstrate
the synergy of many groups working together across campus.
Michael
Frenklach asked for a formal response from the E-Berkeley Steering Committee
to last spring's proposal from the Senate Committee on Computing and Communications
and the E-Learning Policy Committee. ACTION:
Paul Gray will arrange for a response.
Paul asked that committee members review the list of
future topics on the back of the agenda and let him know whether there is
interest in discussing some sooner than others.
The meeting was adjourned at 12 noon.
9.
Future
Meetings
Thursday,
March 21, 2002, from 1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m., in the Chancellor's Conference
Room, California Hall.
Thursday,
April 18, 2002, from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m., in the Chancellor's Conference
Room, California Hall.
Tuesday,
May 14, 2002, from 10:00 a.m. – noon, in the Chancellor's Conference
Room, California Hall.
Thursday,
June 27, 10:00 a.m. - noon, in the Chancellor's Conference Room, California
Hall.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Email
group: e-berkeley_steering@listlink.berkeley.edu
Please send corrections
and comments to: Sheila Press, avc_asst@uclink.berkeley.edu