ITAB Telecommunications Committee Meeting
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Members present: Jerry Niebaum, Denise Moore, Phil Wallack, Ron Rohrer, Mel Chastain and Steve Johnson
Members absent: Tim Blevins, Dick Barta, Bob Eckhardt Andy Scharf, Dave Larson, Guy McDonald and Doug Heacock.
Guests: Allyn Lockner
Recorder: Tracy Barngrover
Niebaum opened and conducted the meeting. The minutes of the last meeting are available on the Internet on the CIA webpage. The address is ciao.da.state.ks.us.
He began the meeting by discussing a new initiative, AInternet II@ which will be used by the universities. The reason for the creation of this initiative is that Universities are finding that there is a real Abottleneck@ for research work. Jerry discussed how the new system would work. He noted that the gigipops have not been defined and paths were not set. There are 70 out of 125 research universities that have committeed to being a part of Internet II. The cost to each university will be a half million dollars per year. It is not clear yet where the management of the gigipop will be.
At this point in the meeting, Allyn Lockner from SRS joined the committee. There was lengthy discussion and brainstorming to come to agreement on the definitions for AKansas State Government@, ATelecommunications@ and ACustomers@. Lockner provided direction for the group and will return to the next meeting to continue brainstorming. A synopsis of what the group arrived at is as follows:
For the purpose of this committee, Kansas State Government means:
. . . . . . .or their successor organizations
Telecommunications means the electronic transmission and/or receipt of information through any media.
Customers means the persons or organizations which contract for telecommunications services from Kansas State Government.
The vision statement drafted at the last meeting was revised as follows:
The State of Kansas provides excellent telecommunications services to its customers.
Excellence regardless of location.
Availability regardless of location.
No penalties for rural areas.
Availablity of proactive customer support regarding current and future telecommunications services
Customers receive proactive support in their telecommunications planning and budgeting process.
Customers receive accurate, timely and cost effective estimates for telecommunications services.
The next meeting of the committee will be January 8 from 10:00 - 12:00 in room 526-S of the Statehouse.
ITAB Telecommunications Committee Meeting
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Members present: Jerry Niebaum, Denise Moore, Phil Wallack, Bob Eckhardt, Andy Scharf, Dave Larson, Guy McDonald and Doug Heacock.
Members absent: Tim Blevins, Ron Rohrer, Mel Chastain, Steve Johnson, and Dick Barta
Guests: Allyn Lockner
Recorder: Tracy Barngrover
Niebaum opened and conducted the meeting.
The minutes of the last meeting are available on the Internet on the CIA webpage. The address is ciao.da.state.ks.us.
At this point in the meeting, Allyn Lockner from SRS joined the committee. There was lengthy discussion and brainstorming to come to agreement on a vision for the committee. Lockner provided direction for the group and will return to the next meeting to continue brainstorming. A synopsis of what the group arrived at is as follows:
1) AThe State of Kansas provides excellent telecommunications services to it=s customers.@
2) Excellence regardless of location.
a) Breadth of Service
b) Performance quality (reliability).
c) Cost-effective (affordability).
d) Forward thinking (future).
e) In-tune with customers.
3) Availability regardless of location.
4) No penalties for rural areas.
5) Availability of proactive customer support regarding current and future telecommunications services.
6) Customers receive proactive support in their telecommunications planning and budgeting processes.
7) Customers receive accurate, timely and cost-effective estimates for telecommunications services.
The next brainstorming session will resume by deciding upon definitions for AState of Kansas@, ATelecommunications Services@ and ACustomers@.
Guy McDonald discussed a recent filing with the Federal Communications Commission. It is his believed that this filing will affect everyone in some way, shape or form. This has to do with the Joint Federal and State Board on Universal Service. The recommendation has over 900 pages. Guy provided copies of the table of contents and the executive summary. The following is the Internet address for the complete Universal Service document and for the Kansas ISP information:
http://www.fcc.gov/bureaus/common_carrier/reports/decision.html
http://www.kcc.state.ks.us/pi/pi.htm
The next meeting of the committee is on December 11 from 10:00 - 12:00 at the KNEA building.
ITAB Telecommunications Committee Meeting
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Members present: Jerry Niebaum, Denise Moore, Mel Chastain, Phil Wallack, Bob Eckhardt, Larry Wilson and Fred Boesch
Members absent: Tim Blevins, Dave Larson, Ron Rohrer, Steve Johnson, Dick Barta and Andy Scharf
Recorder: Tracy Barngrover
Niebaum opened and conducted the meeting.
Larry Wilson from DISC was first on the agenda to discuss the Customer Service Bureau. This part of DISC was formed a year and a half ago as part of a KQM initiative. It gives customers one central location to go with problems. The bureau has grown in it=s responsibilities quite rapidly since its conception.
There are two designated trainers. Computer training takes up about two weeks per month. There are 15 student PC=s and one instructor PC. Windows 3.1 is the operating system and they are on the Internet. The cost to agencies who would like to use these training rooms for their own purposes is $82.00 per day. The training group is responsible for the Internet server and Intranet. They are working on putting services status on the Internet.
Five members of the bureau are designated as LAN Administrators. They are in charge of the Governors LAN, Hardware/Software installations and upgrades. They also support other agencies as time allows. There are about 400-450 devices supported at the present time. This group also runs the SHARP Helpdesk with two lines open from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily.
Four people make up the telecommunications support staff. They process TSR=s (approximately 350-500 orders per month). They deal with phone problems and feature services and installations of LAN jacks. Members of the telecommunications staff are Pete Gonzales, Craig Srna, George Williams and Kirk Dubach.
Jerry Merryman and Jim Parker are the customer service representatives. If you have trouble reaching one of them, you may contact Larry Wilson.
There are two major projects going on in the Customer Support Bureau right now. The first is to automate the work order/problem/billing system. This also includes asset and change management. The second is a mail hub for the state. This is a project resulting from the ITAB Office Automation Committee.
The next item of discussion was the lack of members on the Telecommunications Committee. Tim Peterson and Bill Hall are no longer members due to changes in employment. Niebaum feels KDOT, Revenue and KDHE should have representation. Fred will give Jerry recommendations for new members.
The minutes of the last meeting are available on the Internet on the CIA webpage. The address is ciao.da.state.ks.us.
At this point in the meeting, Alyn Lockner from SRS joined the committee. There was lengthy discussion and brainstorming to come to agreement on what the committees mission, vision and goals are. Lockner provided direction for the group and will return to the next meeting to continue brainstorming.
Lockner wants to group to think about what the 10 year vision of the telecommunications committee should be and to form declarative statements about the committee to bring to the next meeting.
The next meeting of the committee is on November 13 from 10:00 - 12:00 at the KNEA building.
ITAB Telecommunications Committee Meeting
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Members present:Jerry Niebaum, Tim Blevins, Denise Moore, Mel Chastain, Phil Wallack, Bob Eckhardt, and Andy Scharf
Members absent:Tim Peterson, Dave Larson, Ron Rohrer, Steve Johnson, Dick Barta and Bill Hall
Recorder:Tracy Barngrover
Niebaum opened and conducted the meeting.
Minutes of the July 9 meeting were approved as written.
Scharf was first on the agenda to discuss where we were with the fiscal 98 plan. Sharf indicated that Carey Brown is preparing this and therefore he would be unable to answer any questions on it. He mentioned that Don Heiman, Bruce Roberts and Larry Wilson would like to attend a sub-committee meeting to include and present things they have seen happen based on agency initiatives that will impact other agency initiatives. Bruce Roberts would like to review this on a budgetary level. Larry Wilson has been working on an e-mail Hub that would possibly be helpful to the Kansas Highway Patrol.
Niebaum feels that right now the sub-committee needs to work on deliverables. The first charge of the committee was to create the telecommunications part of the Strategic Information Management Plan. There is the feeling that there should be a sub-committee of this committee to work on the planning process.
It was suggested by Niebaum that a steering committee be formed involving the chairs of all of the ITAB sub-committees and that this group be more heavily involved in the strategic planning process.
The majority of the meeting was spent discussing the committees identity crisis. One problem is whether the committee needs to come up with a mission for telecommunications or a mission for the committee. It was decided that a mission for the committee needed to be decided upon. It was decided that it would be best to bring in a facilitator, (possibly Allan Lockner), to help with this. Blevins will invite him to attend the next meeting.
The next meeting of the committee will be October 9, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., KNEA Building.
Meeting adjourned 11:50 a.m.