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University of California, Berkeley

Members present: Professor Alice Agogino, AVC Greg Brown, VC Beth Burnside, AVC Ron Coley, VC Ed Denton, EVC & Provost Paul Gray, Divisional Computer Manager Tim Heidinger for VC Genaro Padilla, Dean Ralph Hexter, VC Jim Hyatt, Executive Director Helen Kelly, University Librarian Thomas Leonard, AVC Jack McCredie, VC Horace Mitchell, Director Ralph Moon, Director Barbara Morgan, Associate Dean Jeffrey Reimer for Dean Mary Ann Mason, Director David Scronce for AVC Sandra Haire, VP William Webster.

EVC Gray requested that those attending the meeting introduce themselves. He announced that an overview of e-Berkeley was presented at the Chancellor's Cabinet last week, and was very well received.

Minutes were approved as presented. EVC Gray thanked Carol Stillman and Michele Grisham from Cisco Systems for their presence today, and their guidance and advice during this process.

AVC McCredie said that there had been no further comments regarding the Charter, and that it had been revised as recommended at the previous meeting, by adding a statement that individual privacy will be ensured in all transactions. In the committee structure, the Communications Working Group has been added to the Governance chart as a sub-committee of the e-Berkeley Implementation Task Force. The language of the Charter has also been revised to remove the "all" from the phrase "Making (all) transactions for students, faculty, staff, alumni, business partners and the public available over the Internet." The Charter was adopted as amended.

Michelle Grisham from Cisco Systems was invited to facilitate the discussion of this item, based on the priorities arrived at last fall in meetings with Cisco. Ms.Grisham suggested an interactive discussion of the mission and goals as a way to help prepare for the budget criteria section of the meeting. She proposed a quick review to start and then a shift to ideas from members about 1-to-2-year goals for Berkeley as a way to deal with prioritization issues.

Ms. Grisham noted that last fall's group developed a common vision of what it would mean to function in an online self-service environment. This interactive web-based world would support Chancellor Berdahl's vision for UC Berkeley:
"The vision of the University of California, Berkeley, is to be the world's leading university in the creation, dissemination, and application of knowledge. Through the continuous pursuit of excellence in all of its endeavors, the University will advance the frontiers of knowledge in the traditional disciplines and open new frontiers in and between new and old realms of knowledge. As a University committed to fulfilling its public trust, it will endeavor to educate citizens for the global responsibility of enlarging understanding, promoting justice, reducing suffering, and enriching the human experience."

The success statement for e-Berkeley is "Transforming Our Community through Technology-Enabled Learning, Discovery and Engagement."

Short-term goals that are tied to real accomplishments are a good place to start for a 1-2 year vision of success, according to AVC McCredie; specific examples of what is being done and has been done include e-Giving, WebCT and Blackboard, web-cast lectures, and SETI@home. The vision he holds is that these new services will be in production in a fully integrated way over the next 1-2 years.

Professor Agogino suggested that each control unit could think about ways to measure or benchmark progress toward the broader goals by tracking data on specific accomplishments, keeping in sight 1-2 year goals. This would give focus to high-impact opportunities and help the department staff to be engaged in the achievement of the goal. For example, she would like to see 90% of the top 50 high-impact courses using in-depth web sites in 2 years, with a target of 60% within the next year.

VC Burnside suggested that within 2 years all web-based research compliance handling procedures should be handled online, i.e., forms, protocols, requests for information, and submissions. In the first year, she would like to see 100% of the transactions dealing with animal care and human subjects online.

UL Tom Leonard offered the idea of turning transactions into relationships as a goal. In the library, for example, excess books are sold and prints are loaned out. If these transactions were tracked, the information on those who are interested in the library could be used in various ways, such as for development. Ralph Moon mentioned library administrative transactions, many of which are being placed online, reducing paper shuffling to a minimum. Difficulties with moving data between campus systems are slowing this process.

Tim Heidinger stated that it is important to have a target date for participation by faulty and staff in the CalNet authentication system. He thinks in 1 year there should be 100% participation. Two components he identified are: faculty being able to do e-grades, and notification to faculty of students who need accommodation. Many processes are not Kerberized, which is a major obstacle. Another is that some faculty email addresses are missing from the LDAP directory.

After a discussion of similar needs and opportunities for graduate students and undergraduates, the short-term goal regarding students was refined and expressed as:
"Systematically and promptly integrate the information associated with application, admission, degree progress and financial support of students within 2 years."

The administrative side of this goal was addressed by VC Mitchell, who made the following goal statement:
"Reduce processing steps and time for high-volume transactions for campus users through web-based applications, and achieve 100% user utilization within 2 years."
Examples of "high-volume transactions" are JVLs and the hiring process, travel reimbursements, building maintenance requests, purchasing, and 100% EFT paychecks.

AVC Brown discussed the controls initiative, which is looking at paper vs. electronic signatures, with the expectation that hand signatures are only needed for Exceptional Entertainment approval. His goal is to have 99% of financial transactions electronic in the short term; AVC Coley said it would be reasonable to achieve this in less than 2 years.

VC Burnside asked whether there could be an "Ask Jeeves" database for Policies and Procedures. AVC Brown responded that he wants to provide a way for people to enter a word or phrase (such as "arsenic" or "hiring people from Malaysia") and get their questions answered or find out whom to call.

Ms. Grisham asked what measures could be used to track progress in building more of a sense of community on campus. She encouraged the group to think beyond transaction improvements and consider how much resource can be applied to larger purposes.

AVC Coley responded with the example of using the Blackboard Learning Management System for students of administrative training courses, such as the Procurement Card class. All of the coursework can be put on the web, where people can take courses, obtain their procurement card, and continue to function as a group through the electronic system.

The message that there are positive community-based goals related to increased technology must be communicated to staff, so that they know the investment in technology and training has some benefit for them.

EVC Gray mentioned the need to expand the campus community to the broader community - to make university information and knowledge more widely available. Examples might include streaming videos of talks, access to museum databases, and the Interactive University Project. We need realistic, achievable 1-2 year goals for this area as well.
Ms. Grisham will send the notes she has taken during this discussion to Barbara Morgan for distribution.

4. Discussion of Budget Process and Proposed Criteria for April 23 Budget Meeting
VC Hyatt presented the e-Berkeley Budget Process sheet distributed with the packet. A total of 70-100 budget requests are expected. Staff will prepare these for review by the committees listed on the Timeline chart. The guidelines for information to be included in each request for the review process are also listed on the budget process page.
Five criteria for prioritizing projects are also listed; VC Hyatt stressed the importance of the commitment of the sponsoring entity and partners. EVC Gray noted that it's going to be difficult to rank these requests relative to each other, since we will see dozens of individual projects to do good things. Preference should be give to projects with "overall benefit to campus." VC Webster added that he would give weight to the risk of not being able to accomplish a project. AVC McCredie would make certain that projects fit with the architecture. Ralph Moon noted that since these will be the first e-Berkeley projects selected, they will make a strong impression on staff, students, and faculty as to whether they are beneficial. AVC Coley would like to see projects pay for themselves in dollars or in measurable savings in time and reduction of workload. VC Hyatt commented that promises of reduced cost are not usually delivered, although there will be benefits and cost savings are an added incentive. VC Webster proposed another criteria: robust plans for testing new projects, so that when they are brought on-line they are successful; the cost of testing projects should be included in the budget request.

EVC Gray introduced the plan as one that was developed in meetings with Cisco Systems, and which has proved useful in getting started on the e-Berkeley initiative. Professor Agogino presented an update, saying that she sees some of the goals as a little ambitious and unrealistic, but thinks that much has been accomplished, especially in the Governance area. Some highlights:

The draft e-Berkeley Communication Plan web site has been developed, and will include a clip from a video put together by AVC McCredie for a SCUP (Society of College and University Planning) PBS broadcast, showing Chancellor Berdahl speaking about the development of technology on campus and the future of e-Berkeley. The video was shown to the group, as was the web site.

Director Helen Kelly, acting as the Project Manager for the e-Berkeley enterprise, stated that the main goal of the Communication Plan is to get the word out on campus, and to generate enthusiasm and support for the e-Berkeley initiative. She stressed the importance of credibility for the project, which should be strengthened through the use of the web site to provide opportunities for people to be included, through submission of projects to be connected with the site, discussion groups, and the use of the e-Berkeley logo (and perhaps a phrase such as "powered by e-Berkeley") on many products, other web sites, and projects. The focus of the web site will be toward campus, not toward the committees working on the e-Berkeley initiative.

The web site will hopefully go live on April 20. Many groups have reviewed the site and made suggestions, and other comments were welcomed. VC Webster recommended beta testing before putting the e-Berkeley logo on projects. A suggestion was made to set standards for projects requesting inclusion as part of the web site. Monitoring of the plan's success will be important, and will be seen through participation or lack of it by individuals and groups on campus. The web site use is a good indicator of this. It will be well placed, with a link from the UC home page.

The Communication Plan and the web site will be maintained by the new e-Berkeley Program Management Office; the PMO will also make sure that e-Berkeley activities are well coordinated with other initiatives. The PMO will also help smaller projects establish their web sites; this may help motivate academic units (and others) to create an e-Berkeley web site.

Ralph Moon asked whether the Communication Plan would have a UC system-wide component; VC Hyatt said yes; we will be reporting our progress to OP.

Future meetings:
Monday, April 23, 2001, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon in the Chancellor's Conference Room, California Hall
Monday, May 21, 2001, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon in the Chancellor's Conference Room,
California Hall