Area 51 notes, May 10, 2012

Present:  Mike Roy, Mark Backus, Shel Sax, Chris Norris, Carol Peddie Terry Simpkins and Doreen Bernier

The ADs discussed the timing of the Google/MS Live evaluation.  In order to take into consideration staff workloads, Mike asked the ADs to estimate project timelines/completion dates for major current projects to see when it would be feasible to complete this evaluation step.

In anticipation of an upcoming discussion with the Web Team, Terry asked the ADs for input on elements of a new charge for Web Team III.  The ADs suggested a number of topics, which Terry will bring to the team for discussion.  Among the initial ideas we discussed were these:

  • assessing the “extended” web presence (blogs, wikis, etc.)
  • research into new features and functionality that we may want to implement
  • improving the “self-service” aspect of the site
  • modifying design, features, etc., of the site to bring highly sought-after pages closer to the forefront
  • working with content managers to review analytics, etc., in an effort to keep site content relevant and prune obsolete information/pages/etc.

On a related note, Chris presented a draft of a team charge for the Security Team to the ADs for approval.  Rather than a list of specific tasks, this charge serves as a sort of “statement of purpose,” which the Team can use on a continuing basis to set goals each year.  This approach might also benefit other teams as well.  After some discussion, the ADs approved the charge and are happy to meet with Team members for follow-up, if desired.

Mary Backus presented a proposal for printer consolidation to review and discuss prior to presenting it to President’s Staff.  ADs were interested in learning more about the money saved and time gained from supporting fewer printers, as well as the criteria for deciding which printers to remove (e.g., distance or easy access to printers, no. of pages printed, etc.)  Mary will provide more information on this.

Chris provide a system level monitoring & availability update, sharing the data compiled in the last 3 months on how College systems are performing.  Over this period of time, systems were performing at 99.81% and not the preferred 99.9%, due to downtimes on systems for a variety of reasons (migration, Middfiles affects, scheduled upgrades, and other planned outages). Some systems of concern are iGreentree, Frontrush, Segue and the MIIS Drupal site. Systems working at 100% were Google, Rave, Cybersource and Blackberry.

Thanks for reading,
Terry & Doreen

5 thoughts on “Area 51 notes, May 10, 2012

  1. Arabella Holzapfel

    99.81% sounds darn good to me.
    Question – does that statistic include somehow the “availability” of our online library resources?

    Reply
    1. Carol Peddie

      Good Question and yes it does take into account resources like III, Illiad, Eres, ContentDM,etc

      Reply
  2. Mike Roy

    It does not however account for things like JSTOR or other on-line resources provided by a third-party. We’ve talked about someday adding those to the things we track, although we do worry some that it might be a very large project to add them all.

    Reply

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