InCommon Steering Committee Minutes - August 7, 2017
Attending: Sean Reynolds, Klara Jelinkova, Michael Gettes, Ted Hanss, Michelle Norin, Ann West, Marty Ringle, Dee Childs
With: Kevin Morooney, Brett Bieber, Steve Zoppi, Mark Scheible, Ken Klingenstein
Action Items
(AI) Dean will schedule the Trust and Identity webinar (including Steering) and communicate with InC Steering.
(AI) Ann will discuss co-chairing the Attributes working group with Mark McConnahay (Indiana University registrar) and someone from the InCommon community (perhaps the research community).
(AI) Kevin will send an email to Steering with some information that provides context to the consent issue.
Internet2 Board Presentation
Kevin led a brief discussion of his recent presentation to the Internet2 Board of Trustees. He provided the board with a broad overview of the ongoing efforts in the trust and identity area. The engagement level of the board was very high. He discussed three major areas:
- Community Engagement - a summary of all of the planning sessions (deep dive, paths forward, joint meetings) and discussed observations and recommendations
- Closing the gaps - Progress on closing the gaps
- Next steps for both TIER (campus success program and adoption) and InCommon (baseline expectations, the issue of “value leading satisfaction” from the marketing study, brief comment on the need for sustainability)
Sean mentioned the ad hoc meeting of some Steering and PAG members with CEO Howard Pfeffer at the recent RUCC meeting.
Trust and Identity Webinar Scheduling
Among the proposed dates, it appears that September 29 will work. We’ll need one or two Steering and/or PAG members to help with the presentation. (AI) Dean will schedule and communicate.
Baseline Expectations Implementation
The community consultation for the implementation plan for Baseline Expectations will end August 18. Brett Biebier reviewed the outreach that has taken place so far, and also mentioned that InCommon operations is working on methods for an automated testing method for metadata elements. Initial assessment shows that a large percentage of participants are not in compliance with the metadata requirements.
There was discussion about the process that will be involved with monitoring and rectifying any deficiencies with metadata. Once InCommon operations starts the automated checking, ops will work with entities to bring metadata into compliance. If those efforts don’t work, there will be communication to the community and eventually non-compliance could lead to removal or modification of metadata.
There is also the possibility of a dispute among parties, given that some of the expectations involve self-asserted compliance. In the case of a dispute, participants will work at resolving things between them. If that doesn’t work, it will escalate to InCommon operations and eventually to the AAC for resolution.
There was also discussion about support for small schools with small IT departments. The TIER Campus Success Program may provide some support, given the TIER versions of practices and software will support Baseline Expectations.
Marty Ringle reported that the Northwest Academic Computing Consortium (NWACC) is launching an initiative with members helping one-another get past any barriers for joining InCommon. Such schools may not have the funding for consultants, so this peer support may help.
Overall, Steering members did not have any objections to the Baseline Expectations implementation plan. Ann mentioned that InCommon staff view their role as helping participants meet the expectations and make sure their metadata is accurate. There are a number of things that can be automated, but also things that will need to be done through a community outreach and education plan.
The consultation closes on August 18. If community comments are minimal, the AAC will finalize the implementation plan and have this program ready for conversations at TechEx.
There will be recommendations for changes to the Participation Agreement (since this new process will replace the POP - Participant Operating Practices), and to the FOPP (Federation Operating Policies and Practices). The PA changes require a 90-day notice before taking effect.
The AAC will also ask Steering to change the AAC Charter, which currently focuses on assurance profiles, to provide responsibility for the Baseline Expectations. This will also mean recruiting new AAC members with specific expertise, with the goal of starting in January 2018.
Scalable Consent
There was discussion about the recent IAM Online (by Ken Klingenstein and Rob Carter) concerning the CAR (Consent-informed Attribute Release) software. Duke is using the software and it will be made available as an add-on to the TIER suite. (AI) Kevin will send an email to Steering with some information that provides context to the consent issue.
Attributes for Collaboration and Federation Working Group
This working group has some specific stakeholder roles to fill and Steering agreed at the July recommend people for some of those roles. Klara and Ted both volunteered to participate as needed. (AI) Ann will discuss co-chairing this group with Mark McConnahay (Indiana University registrar) and someone from the InCommon community (perhaps the research community).
There is also a shared AACRAO and Internet2 shared working group forming (to be driven by AACRAO): “Student Records and Data Disclosures in a Collaborative World.” The group will provide guidance to registrars as to the protection of student identity while still facilitating access to collaboration services.