Information technology, Georgia. University System of Georgia. Board of Regents. Office of Information and Instructional Technology

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September - December 1994: Volume 6, Number 2
Contents
From the Vice Chancellor Chancellor Portch Keynote Speaker at University System Computing Conference Initiatives Approved for Library and Student Services BANNER Update Calendar of Events Publishing Information
From the Vice Chancellor
*** At the September Board of Regents meeting, Chancellor Stephen R. Portch presented a set of budget initiatives to the Board for approval. The Board approved all proposed initiatives and forwarded the package to the Governor with a request that funding be approved in the upcoming legislative session. See related article which describes two of the initiatives, A Vision for One Statewide Library and Connecting Students and Services. *** Chancellor Portch presented the keynote address at the recent annual University System Computing Conference where he received a standing ovation. (See related article below.) The OIT made a video of the presentation and plans to share the Chancellor's message with all System institutions. Copies should be available in System libraries by Christmas. *** By executive order, the Governor recently created a new state-level Council on Information Technology Policy. The council will function as an advisory board to a new state-level chief information officer, currently being recruited. Dr. Portch is a member of the council; I will serve as his designee. *** The DOAS Division of Telecommunications has formed a Customer Advisory Council, which will provide advice, feedback, and planning input to the division. Two University System institutional representatives and I will be members of this council. Membership will rotate periodically. *** The OIT and Apple Computer have signed a Collegiate Partnership Program (CPP1) agreement whereby many System institutions may purchase Apple products at below state contract prices. Products will be ordered electronically and shipped directly to the ordering institution. Institutions already participating in individual CPP1 agreements-the University of Georgia, Georgia Southern University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Medical College of Georgia-are excluded from the OIT agreement. *** The OIT now holds a Master License Agreement with Apple which provides that copies of Apple System 7.5 and Mac TCP/IP software are available to all University System institutions. *** Georgia State University has announced establishment of a Mosaic interface to the PALS Library System. The URL is http://www-pals.gsu.edu:8001/pals/gateway. From all reports, access to PALS through Mosaic is very user friendly.

*** The OIT announces the following personnel changes: 1) Academic Administration Systems has hired Mr. Erik Bowe as a Programmer II and Ms. Elaine Boris as an Information Analyst; 2) Ms. Michele Oyster has filled a vacant Educational Program Specialist position with Academic Services and Distance Learning; 3) Administration and Planning welcomes Mr. Brad Bacon as a Program Specialist; and 4) Telecommunications and Networking has promoted Mr. Charles Menser, III, to Network Systems Analyst and Mr. Ron Plumley to Lead Technician; Mr. Richard Biever has filled the Technician Trainee position. The OIT regrets to announce that Mr. Brian Hill, Telecommunications and Networking, has resigned to accept a position as Southeast Regional Field Service Manager with Johnson Controls. We wish him well.
J. B. Mathews, Vice Chancellor
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Chancellor Portch Keynote Speaker at University System Computing Conference
by Michele Oyster, OIT
Chancellor Stephen R. Portch presented the keynote address at the annual University System Computing Conference on November 11, 1994, at Rock Eagle 4-H camp. His presentation, "Avoid Being Roadkill: Moving the System Along the Technology Highway," served as a positive message for those utilizing the increasing technology now available in Georgia's educational institutions.
The primary message delivered by Chancellor Portch revolved around a set of principles that define the philosophy, direction, and goals of the University System. Six of the principles were directly related to the implementation of educational technology:
use educational technology, innovation, and other means shown to work best to engage students actively in their own learning, collaboratively with other students. ensure that each institution provides an educational, physical, and social environment which supports student learning and growth and which prepares students for an increasingly international, technological,and environmentally responsible society. make teacher education a high priority, holding all its programs for prospective and continuing teachers to a high standard of quality, innovation, and technological advancement. design and build facilities to provide flexibility in accommodating tomorrow's technologies and educational methods. encourage institutions of all sizes to be full partners in inter-unit collaboration. The University System shall provide incentives for technological and other innovations. pursue coordinated approaches to statewide telecommunications and other technological initiatives to maximize public access to information.
Three main points stressed throughout the keynote address were collaborating rather than competing, raising expectations, and, in everything, upholding quality. The next step? Setting measurable goals and focusing on implementation. Dr. Portch reviewed new budget initiatives in an effort to show how implementation can be a reality once we define our direction through measurable goals. Chancellor Portch summed up the issue: "We've got the people. We've got the talent. As long as we know where we want to go and how we're going to measure that, we can get there."
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Initiatives Approved for Library and Student Services
In a strategic planning effort begun in August, the Board of Regents, Chancellor Stephen R. Portch, his staff, and campus presidents committed to make the University System of Georgia a world-class university system. Further, the Board developed a vision statement stressing the importance of making good academic use of available technology and equipment and preparing the infrastructure to implement the plan.

To achieve this objective, the Chancellor has submitted to the Board of Regents a set of budget initiatives to address critical elements of the plan, two of which are discussed in this article: A Vision for One Statewide Library and Connecting Students and Services.
A Vision for One Statewide Library
This initiative will provide for universal access to materials and information services for all students and faculty in the University System and will establish an information infrastructure which will place the System in the forefront of information technology. This project comprises eight objectives:
to provide PeachNet/Internet access to all System and off-campus center libraries; to acquire system-wide, sharable subscriptions to electronic full-text of core academic journals; to convert all System card catalogs to computer format; to automate each System library; to support universal borrowing; to facilitate sharing of research journals; to provide electronic access to state census data; and to distribute state publications electronically.
A steering committee and two work groups have been appointed to plan and to oversee expeditious implementation of the project. Ultimately, all System students and faculty will benefit from A Vision for One Statewide Library:
Students and faculty will know what resources are available and will be able to check out books from any system library. Students and faculty will have access to a computerized catalog of their own library's holdings, thus providing faster and more effective searching. From their homes, offices, dormitories, distance learning or off-campus locations, students and faculty will have access to a core level of materials and services. Students and faculty will be able to readily access Georgia census data and other information published by Georgia's state agencies. Students and faculty will have electronic access to certain journal articles without physically searching, without pulling the journal from the shelf, and without copying the article. In effect, they will be able to spend their time reading and studying rather than retrieving. From the office, a faculty member will be able to work with a student on the available resources for a particular term paper or project and direct the student to resources. No student will be limited to or by the available information at the institution of enrollment.
The universal borrowing component of this project will further enhance and expand the resources available to System faculty and students. Books requested through interlibrary loan will be delivered in three to five working days rather than the current ten to fifteen working days-two to three weeks wait in a ten week quarter is a major problem.
Connecting Students and Services
This initiative will make it possible for high school students to acquire accurate and timely information about required college prep courses, transferability of college credit, and career opportunities. Students will be able to acquire electronically college admissions information.
Connecting Student and Services comprises nine objectives:
to secure hardware and software, debugging systems, and training staff for automated telephone or personal computer-based registration at units lacking these capabilities; to develop coordinated system-wide articulation agreements-among System units and with vocational institutes; to develop system-wide compatible software programs, training staff, and data entry for computerizing transfer information at units lacking these capabilities; to provide data entry training to bring degree audits and advising information up to date at all units where such computerized information is lacking; to provide networked computers capable of accessing systems such as the BANNER Student System on the desks of faculty and staff involved in student advising and training; to provide electronic mail and PeachNet access and training for students and faculty;

to initiate electronic networking programs to link minority students at traditionally white institutions to minority faculty and staff mentors across the System; to extend PeachNet to link state and public libraries and high school guidance counselors; and to install the Georgia Career Information System on PeachNet and to train faculty and staff advisors in its use.
With the successful implementation of this project, Connecting Students and Services, all University System students and faculty will benefit:
Georgia students who inquire about admission to a System institution will have easy and immediate access to institutional information. Georgia students who transfer from one System institution to another or who transfer from Georgia Technical and Adult Educational institutes to System units and all System advisors will have increased ease of access to transfer articulation agreements and current information on these agreements. With increased student access to advisors and advisor access to relevant information, students can more efficiently move through academic programs and into promising entry-level jobs. The System will have improved capability for tracking student transitions from high school to college, through college, and from college to the work environment by ensuring comparable data collection from unit to unit and compatible systems for sharing the data.
A steering committee and three work groups will be appointed to plan and to oversee expeditious implementation of these services.
The ambitious objectives of these two initiatives demand solid, systematic planning and will establish the University System of Georgia as a model in the use of available technology, equipment, and human resources to enhance the academic mission.
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BANNER Update
by Debora Exum, OIT
The BANNER Student and Financial Aid Implementation project is making progress throughout the University System.
GABEST-L Listserv
Activity is picking up for the first group of BANNER implementation schools. To provide adequate communication, a listserv has been established for the University System BANNER project. To subscribe to the list, send the following message: subscribe gabest-l yourfirstname yourlastname to listserv@uga.cc.uga.edu. This is a public but confidential list; anyone interested in following the project is welcome to join.
Group One Kick Off Successful
In September and October, Cindy Blair-Miller of SCT and Debora Exum of OIT identified tasks that should take place prior to any formal training in the BANNER Student System at each of the four-year institutions in the first BANNER implementation group (Clayton State College, Fort Valley State College, Georgia Southern University, Valdosta State University, and West Georgia College). Ms. Blair-Miller and Ms. Exum recommended that each of the institutions perform an operations analysis of areas critical to the student system implementation and that each institution review its policies and procedures, as well as establish project teams and committees for the implementation. Following the site visits, the group one project leaders met at the Athens OIT office for a two-day training session on successful project planning. Ms. Blair-Miller of SCT led the training sessions.
Implementation Progress

Aggressively pursuing implementation milestones, Armstrong State College has passed the halfway mark with its student system training. Registration training began at the end of October, with the final two weeks of training scheduled for November and December. Armstrong State has planned a mock registration for March 16, 1995, and also has begun data conversions.
Brunswick College has successfully upgraded its BANNER Student System from the version running as part of the Department of Technical and Adult Education system to BANNER 2.0 running under ORACLE7 on an HP 9000.
DeKalb College has completed several student training sessions, as well as its first financial aid training session. A steering committee, along with several sub-committees, is meeting regularly to review validation table values.
Georgia Institute of Technology has completed student training and has loaded data in approximately ninety percent of the validation tables required by the student system. After analyzing and developing some institutional enhancements for student access, Georgia Tech plans a mock registration for August, 1995.
By December 10, the BANNER Student System will be installed at nine University System institutions.
Student Information System Committee Meets
The initial meeting of the Student Information System Committee was held on October 10, at the Athens OIT office. As a result, a subcommittee chaired by Jim Davis was established to develop formal procedures for reporting problems and requesting enhancements for the BANNER systems. Members include Bill Leslie, Ron Barden, and Bill Hamrick.
Another subcommittee, chaired by Tommy Moore, will recommend appropriate Georgia enhancements for the HOPE grant. Members include Tonya Hobson, Deborah Barbone, and Gary Moore.
Potential enhancements for additional GPA requirements have been referred to the Administrative Committee on Records and Admissions for recommendations.
Accounts Receivable Workshop
During the week of October 17, a work group met at Brunswick College to learn about BANNER Accounts Receivable and to establish a standard working interface with the University System CUFA Accounting System. Representatives from the Office of Information Technology (OIT), Armstrong State College, Brunswick College, DeKalb College, and the Georgia Institute of Technology attended. Mary Ann Correll, an SCT consultant, provided an intense training session on the Accounts Receivable module and indicated how the BANNER Accounts Receivable module will interface with the CUFA Accounting System. Based on recommendations of the work group, the OIT will provide each institution examples of data needed in the BANNER Accounts Receivable system.
BANNER Support
A support feature has been added to the BANNER main menu to allow institutions to seek help from the OIT through the BANNER software. A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) database has been established to compile reported problems and requests from institutions, as well as solutions and information from the OIT. Institutions will have access to this database through a remote database link. Any user of BANNER software will be able to query the database for similar problems. All new problems and requests will go through a central contact on each campus for entry into the database. More information about this feature of the BANNER system along with other support information was presented at the University System Annual Computing Conference at Rock Eagle on November 10.
BANNER Training
A group training curriculum is under development for use with the student system. The curriculum includes twenty basic and advanced courses which are two to four days long. The initial training will

take place on each campus with the remainder of the courses taught at the Athens OIT training center. The final course catalog will contain information about prerequisites, recommended participants, and course descriptions. The catalog, along with a schedule for group one and group two institutions, will be available by mid-November. In January, a similar document will be available for financial aid training.
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Calendar of Events
All of the following ORACLE Relational Database training sessions will be held at the Athens OIT Training Center.
January 16-17 Relational Database Design
January 30-February 3 Basic Development and Reporting
February 13-15 PL/SQL For Developers
February 16-17 ORACLE Programmatic Interfaces
February 27-March 2 ORACLE Advanced Development and Reporting
March 13-17 ORACLE7 Database Administration
March 27-28 ORACLE7 Advanced Performance Tuning
March 29-31 ORACLE7 Advanced Database Administration
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Publishing Information
Information Technology, The Office of Information Technology (OIT) News Bulletin, is published by the Board of Regents, Office of Information Technology, 244 Washington St. SW, Atlanta, Georgia, 30334. Suggestions and contributions are solicited. Unless otherwise stated, permission to reprint articles in whole or in part is granted provided appropriate credit is given.
Editor: Jayne Williams Office: Georgia Southern University E-mail: jayne_williams@oit.peachnet.edu
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