Information Technology Council
May 8, 2008
3:00 p.m., Carrington Hall 203

Minutes

Members Present: Bill Cheek, Lorene Stone, Kent Kay, Steve Robinette, William Hader, Greg Burris, Don Aripoli

Ex Officio Members Present: Greg Rainwater, Shirley Mitchell, Kevin Piercy

Announcements

Bill Cheek brought the meeting to order at 3:05 p.m.

Change of Chairperson

Bill introduced our new SGA representative, William Hader, replacing Bryan Diaz who has stepped down to take on a Disney internship. William is the SGA director of technology resources and a graduate student in the MPA program here at MSU.

Request for SCUF Funding

The SCUF committee met and went through requests. Dr. Cheek turned discussion of budget items over to Greg Rainwater. The SCUF Ongoing Commitments FY09 (Projected) handout was distributed to the council.

Reduction in cost to photo services added to the bottom line. Jim Taylor's numbers were adjusted up according to items from last year, and 4% added for graduate assistants. Title 3 money, for purchase of Blackboard, was fully funded in this budget from SCUF revenues. We assumed $1,150 for a standard computer. No increases were made for student wages. Software budgets remained flat. The budget shows a carry-forward of around $100,000. Kent Kay clarified that it actually shows $58,000 carried forward at the end of April. Greg Burris noted that a surplus is essential for unforeseen items. Greg Rainwater put the budget together on existing revenues.

A portion of the student fees increased, increasing the SCUF fee. It was part of the discussion at the last board meeting. Paying of network connections was discussed. Greg Burris and Kent Kay recommended keeping the $13,000 as a reserve.

Kevin Piercy said the FY10 planned computer rotations will be the same as this year. The campus license agreement remains the same for 2008, but there may be a 7% increase for next year.
The council discussed campus-wide licensing. The cost is split between the SCUF and networking budgets. There was an adjustment made to it last year and it remains unresolved this year.
The council discussed the issue of future increases and how they will be handled.
Kevin Piercy brought up another issue, beyond the Microsoft Office agreement, concerning the antivirus software that is not covered by the entire campus, and the funding is split. There is a shortfall for the campus agreement.

Per-computer costs were discussed. SCUF now funds more than in the past, such as Blackboard licenses. The increase in the number of network connections for classrooms and labs was discussed. There are more computers set to be replaced this year, verses three years ago. SCUF pays for 42% of the campus license agreement.
All of our budgets are funded by student fees. The issue is handling the unbudgeted items.
The council discussed the amount of the budget that will be funded by SCUF.

Kevin Piercy pointed out some licenses and software that will likely increase upon renewal affecting the projected amount for FY09.

The PC SAS licenses line item will be moving into Computer Services from the Provost Office.
The intention with Banner is to avoid transfers, and instead set up budgets that are allocated correctly.
The projected income is over 2 million.
A central funding setup was discussed. Steve Robinette requested that Kevin Piercy put together a concept paper for the budgeting. The council discussed the split of budgeting for the library labs between the library's budget and ETC on page 2 of the handout. Greg Burris suggested that they could be combined, and the council agreed. Steve Robinette will look further into the library and ETC budgets possibly being combined.

It was noted that centrally-purchased items are a volume purchase with a discount.
It will be identified where every computer is going. There are some special cases with specific work stations costing more.

The council discussed the options verses utilizing the SCUF funding. Last year the I.T. Council had decided to permanently divide out expenses. Kent Kay suggested making a decision package each year due to changing issues and expenses. For example, Microsoft has cost increases around every three years, Kevin Piercy noted.

The council also considered the request and proposal process.

Ongoing Budget Issues

The $18,000 budget deficit was discussed at length, and options for covering it were considered. Information technology is fully funded by SCUF, but some were concerned that the shortfall is another issue which will continue. Greg Burris discussed the flexibility of the former budgeting process.

The $18,000 is an FY09 bill that is due in August. A prorated tax was one option. An allocation was also discussed. Long-term solutions were considered. It was agreed that the bill is a priority that will need to be funded this year. The council will look at terms of where it will be funded in future meetings.

An FY10 decision package which could include the projected increases was discussed.
The computer infrastructure remains a high priority to the council.

Greg Burris raised another SCUF issue concerning the question of allocating money when the purpose wasn't clear. A thorough audit has not been done in several years—and we are due to spend some time asking departments for input on the allocations. Dr. Cheek agreed that the departments should be able to make new requests and have input in order to give the colleges an opportunity to highlight new priorities and changes in funding.

Kevin Piercy noted that original allocations are based on SCUF proposals. This year the colleges were awarded money based on the proposal sets and the deans were told they could review it. Adjustments were made. Some colleges received additional funds not based on specific proposals. However, starting fresh for FY10 was discussed last year. Printing costs are now much higher. Minimum wage increases for students were also significant. Some budgets were able to supplement the wage increases. There will be another minimum wage increase in Missouri next year. Greg Burris recommended starting fresh with the life-cycle mentality.
Steve Robinette recommended looking at each of the items and allocations for FY10. Greg Burris noted that the departments will require some lead time, and Steve Robinette agreed that it should go through the council and go out early to the departments. Kevin Piercy added that some items do not need proposals every year—some items should be priority funded.

Some ongoing budget issues were tabled until the next meeting.

Other Business

The meeting adjourned at 4:23 p.m.