Minutes
ITANA Conference Call
May 29, 2008

*Attendees*
Jim Phelps, University of Wisconsin (chair)
Bill Thompson, Rutgers University
Michael Enstrom, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Chris Aburime, Minnesota State University system
Gary Windom, University of Arizona
Duffy Gillman, University of Arizona
Marina Arseniev, University of California-Irvine
Brendan Bellina, University of Southern California
Hebert Dies-Flores, University of California-Berkeley
Jeremiah Adams, University of Colorado-Boulder
EA workshop from the University of Alaska
Tom Zeller, Indiana University
Dean Woodbeck, Internet 2 (scribe)
Steve Olshansky, Internet2

*Agenda*
(0) Roll Call. Agenda Bash.
1. Accept minutes of last call
2. Joint call with University of Alaska - launching an EA initiative

Future Agendas:
• June 12 - Scott Converse - 6 Sigma in Higher Ed
• June 27 - Post Face 2 Face report out.

Items on the shelf:
1. Architecture Tool discussion (All)
2. UC Irvine's open source tool - Protoge
3. Chicago's I.T. Ecosystem Tool (Tom B)
4. Paul's piece on Standards for Arch Documents - standards for architectural documentation (Paul H)
5. UC-Berkeley Roadmap document (Hebert)
6. Mellon New Initiative: Framework for scholarly studies tools (Keith H)
7. Web CMS RFPs (Jim P)
8. Face2Face Planning Committee Check-In (Committee)
9. ECAR Bulletin - Centralization/Decentralization
(99) Next steps, next call

*Face2Face Update*

Thirty-six people are registered for the Face2Face, with room for four more. This will be twice the number that attended the Face2Face last year. For more information, see the ITANA wiki: https://spaces.at.internet2.edu/display/itana/Home

In addition, there are more than 200 people on the ITANA e-mail list, making it a great resource for asking questions and sharing information.

There is also a growing resource of information on the wiki, including the life cycle matrix from the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). See:
https://spaces.at.internet2.edu/pages/viewpageattachments.action?pageId=1517

*Life Cycle Matrix and EA*

UC-Irvine reports using a process similar to BCIT for the last two years and that it is working well. The key is having the time and staff to keep up with the process. Irvine has established an EA team of three or four people to keep up with the standards and the changes. The security architect is also on the team, since that role spans across the institution.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has an EA team that includes process architects, data architects, network architects and application development architects.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is exploring how to do a life cycle management process on a more distributed basis, perhaps distributing the responsibility by domains. The university would also like to explore the best method for bringing domain architects onto the EA team and providing their expertise to the entire community.

At Cal-Berkeley, security is the only area that has successfully adopted university-wide standards. There is a coordinating committee that includes representation from data architects, application architects, infrastructure architects, and others, but each of these people represent a role on the committee, they are not there to provide services. Gaining traction for the level of collaboration and participation necessary to implement EA standards is challenging.

There was a general discussion that times of budget constraints can help with the EA process. During such times, campus officials are more likely to explore areas of overlap - such as several departments or colleges operating their own email servers - and looking for ways to leverage existing infrastructures. In addition, if a solid EA roadmap exists, when budget times are brighter, there will already exist agreed-upon priorities for funds available for such things as infrastructure improvement.

*Outsourcing Services*

Times of budgetary challenges can provide an opportunity to consider outsourcing a service. For example, several years ago, email was seen as a service of value that a university could offer. Now, students come to campus with existing email addresses and may prefer to assert their existing identity, rather than create a new one with a campus email address.

Campuses, however, may need to continue to provide an identity infrastructure in cases (such as health information) where information cannot be stored on a server outside of the university's control. But at some point, universities may serve more as email facilitators between users and providers, but with the technology outsourced.

Indiana reported that, beginning this fall, the university will provision but not provide email services for new students.

*EA Conference at Alaska*

The remainder of the call consisted of listening in on a presentation by Scott Bernard at the University of Alaska's EA conference in Fairbanks.

*Agendas for Future Meetings*

June 12 - Scott Converse - 6 Sigma in Higher Ed
June 27 - Post Face 2 Face report out Face2Face and CAMP

*Next Call, Thursday, June 12, 2008, 2:00 p.m. EDT*