Communications Committee

Proposed Agenda 11/14/06

1. Behavioral Change Survey for Environmental Grant
2  Silent Auction continuation on the Web Site - Also general update
3  State Standards on SIPS

4. Fundraising Thermometer
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4. Communicating the financial situation and fundraising
5. School Directory  - distribution rules for public schools
6. XSERVE Update

Review Action items 1. Sippets Update (confirm schedule and procedures)
2. Communicating the financial situation and fundraising
3. School Mailing Lists (and Calendars)
4. School Directory  - distribution rules for public schools
5. XSERVE Update
6  Web Site - Update
7. SIPS Evaluaton Update - Discussion of Powerschool Agreement
8. State Standards on SIPS

Proposed Agenda 10/24/06

1. Snippets   (Volunteer Status, Schedule)
2, Web Site - Brouchure Content (Collecting input)

3. SIPS Assessment  - Next Steps

Please add suggested items as comments to this post

Communications Committee Meeting Notes
Tuesday, Oct 18   2:30 AM (Scott’s Office)
Attendees, Scott Cole, David Woolley, Endel Kallas, Kent King
Action Items:

• Everyone to continue to commiserate with Kent upon his turning 40.
• Kent to upgrade XServe and advise of progress.results
• Endel to update Improvement Plan (SIPS Assessment Project Plan) and post action items for tracking on committee BLOG. (Also add Hosting Consideration track and Accounting Software Evaluation, Web site redesign)
• Scott to progress PowerSchool Conversion with Steve Rutledge
• Endel to follow-up with Matt Hillmann of Belle Plaine schools on their SIS assesment and recommendations
• Endel to develop SIPS assessment shared resources on BLOG (Alternatives List, links etc., specs & requirements checklist)
• Everyone to have participated in Powerschool web session and completed preliminary review of alternatives prior to Thanksgiving.
• David to progress Gallery functionality as possible vehicle for silent auction catalog (photos of items)

Notes:
XSERVE Update
Discussion Notes: Kent reported that this was still outstanding. The upgrade is planned for this Thursday.  Scott has let Paula (cmERDC) know that this is our next step. cmERDC is not going to charge us for Tom Cole’s support during our down-time (there were no positive results). We have not heard from Brian about his billing. Brian has sent Kent a list of suggestions about keeping the server in good health/maintenance) . Assuming that the upgrade goes well, the next steps are to install the Tiger server software and resinstall Centerpoint.(try to run the installer again Note: Kent did not remember the cmERDC password). If this is successful on Thursday we will then notify cmERDC that we are ready for data migration back to our server. (Note: This will require some conversion of the data from SQL Server to PostgressQL). It was unclear how custom features (e.g. queries and reports) would be re-established. Endel reported that some of the “repairs” to our data have been completed while tha application has been hosted by cmERDC including succesful resolution of the “Disappearing Menu Bar” issue and the clean-up to allow for the reimportation of State Standards. 
XServe Restoration/Upgrade Plan
Tiger Upgrade
Centerpoint Install
Confirmation of configuration (Brian)
Restoration of Centerpoint Data -including custom pieces (cmERDC)
Confirm functionality
Consideration of Hosting Alternatives
It was suggested that given the time it has taken to address this necessary step in attempting to restore our in-house server, the possibility of longer term external hosting of the server should be considered. There has been no charge/cost for hosting to date. Kent advised that we had been quoted a one-time conversion charge of $480 and annual fee of $540- $560 as based on our data volume size relative to a sliding scale.
Potential +/- facors include:
+

• Reduction or elimination of in-house effort and expertise to maintain server infrastructure (includes redundancy and back-up)
• Familiarity with hosting environment facilitates cmERDC support
• Possible operational improvements due to hosted platform (ability to run report generator?)

-

• Slower response time (perception to be confirmed - navigation, queries and reports)
• Possible loss of access if DSL fails (availability on local area network vs internet plus  other edundant/alternative conduits))

This evaluation is to be continued as “track” in the improvement plan.
The availability of a hosting alternative should be considered as a specifiaction for evaluating SIPS alternatives.
Keeping Centerpoint for use of certain features (would require finding alternatives for MARSS reporting)
Switching to PowerSchool (requires stand-alone local server and would eliminate the possibility of external hosting)
 
IT Improvement Plan. 15
 Scott expressed an interest in persuing investigation of certified accounting systems alternatives (Endel to add to plan). Our immediate focus is driven by the timeline for making a decision on PowerSchool and the benefits of Pearson’s limited time offer of a “free” conversion from Centerpoint. 
SIPS Assessment Project Plan
Preliminary Tasks
Initial assessment of PowerSchool  - Participate in Pearson’s web hosed presentation/demo
Contact Matt Hilman/Belle Plaine on progress of their evaluation of alternatives. (Endel to contact)
Initiate contact with Pearson and progress written agreement. Scott to contact Steve Rutledge and start process. Need to confirm initial services and ongoing costs.
Identify application and provider alternatives (target is to complete initial investigation/review of alternatives by thanksgiving break)
Develop list of alternatives. EK to post links and other info on alternatives. Initial alternative include:
·         Powerschool
·         Infinite Campus
·         Open Admin for Schools (OAS) http://richtech.ca/openadmin/index.html
·         Centerpoint (need to develop alternatives for MARSS reporting.
Develop list of requirements/specifications. EK to draft and post initial checklist/grid.  Requirements target is to handle 160 students.
·         Attendance
·         Gradebook
·         Communications
·         Message Center
·         Parent Access
·         MARSS Certified Reporting.
 List of certified Vendors:   http://education.state.mn.us/mde/static/003223.pdf
The Minnesota Automated Reporting Student System (MARSS) is an individual student record system that serves as the Department of Education’s primary          reporting system for student data.
http://education.state.mn.us/mde/Accountability_Programs/Program_Finance/MARSS_Student_Accounting/index.html
The cost and effort of conversion should also be added as a specification to consider.
Assess Alternatives  Weigh alternatives against specifications. Assess next steps and decide whether or not to commit to Pearson PowerSchool Proposal. Assessment process initiated around Thanksgiving with completion and decision on Powerschool targeted for  XMAS break (Dec.15th?).
Web Site Progress and Community Resource Development - 35 -
CommComm Blog - To be used for SIPS  assessment. EK to develop pages/use categoriess.
BLOG Navigation. General navigation was explored by committee members. Noted  that SIPS/Centerpoint access under currents has changed.
Web Site Redesign (Augsburg effort) to be added to IT plan (Improvement Plan)
Pedagogy  Comm BLOG - Kent suggested that they are not ready to have it opened up for public access. It was noted that individual Pages (sub-pages?) can be password protected. It was also suggested that the committee Group on Centerpoint could be used and information could be moved to the BLOG when ready for broader consumption.
55 -
David reported that a search feature had been integrated into the theme and added to all BLOGS.
We now have a volunteer page.
David has identified some candidates for events calendars (Calendar Plug-ins) to use within our BLOGS. .A non conclusive discussion ensued as to the need to coordinate the several school calendars currently being maintained, the distinction between public and intra-school calendars, and the plusses and minuses of using Centerpoint for the primary/authoritative source for all schoolcalendars.
David would like to focus on the Gallery/Portfolio feature next. Scott mentioned using the gallery to publish pictures of items in the Silent Auction catalog. Endel mentioned possibly creating a PDF to also create the printed catalog for the auction.
Endel mentioned Discussion forums and  Wiki’s and offered David to build on and maintain the list via the on-line improvement plan.
David initiated a consideration of backing up the entire Blue-Host database. We need to develop an automated back-up. There is a tool to facilitate manual back-up, It would be better to have CRON procedure setup.. David to investigate with Blue-Host technical staff and advise further
The possibility of creating an independent BLOG (Document Library) to contain miscellaneous information that did not have obvious ties to other specific BLOGS was discussed. For instance, the SIPS Parent Access Reference Manual was posted in the CC Blog  ( It was a CC initiative) but may this may not be the most logical place people would think to look.
Project Management Tracking - Software Alternatives
Software alternatives were discussed. Since they simply offered the ability to share the viewing but not the editing of data, it was decided to use MS Project and its built in templates for generating HTML pages and posting them on our BLOG. David mentioned that there are some alternatives also listed on his web site that can be explored..
 

Please click this link to open and download:auction solicitation letter.doc

Please click on this  link: WHS Sponsor and Reps.pdf

RSS_TechPlan.doc

WHSIT0607ImprovementPLan.html

WHSIT0607ImprovementPLanFull.html

WHS Technology Plan.html

Proposed Agenda Items Items 10/10/06

Current administrative resources dedicated to the area of information technology include ten percent of one full-time equivalent faculty position and an undetermined partial percentage of Scott’s time and effort. In and of itself, this is not enough of an allocation to generate the critical mass needed to realize required IT improvements. To help create the necessary momentum, it was proposed that the infrastructure group within the Communications Committee undertake the collaborative execution of an improvement plan under its current committee workplan. The following topics were discussed:

Establish a reliable and sustainable IT infrastructure and applications server platform.
Three measures should be considered immediately to minimize our exposure to and risk of critical systems loss.
 

1. Establish a threshold of acceptable system down-time and put in place a “Service Level Agreement” to confirm commitment and measure performance.  (In mission critical business applications acceptable down-time is usually less than 1/10 of one percent).
 

2. Establish a documented and detailed back-up and recovery plan with clear escalation procedures to ensure thresholds are met.
 

3. Assess the alternatives of securing expertise and supporting IT infrastructure in-house, with on-call resources, off-site hosting, or a combination thereof, and establish the relationships and measures necessary to implement an appropriate proactive back-up and recovery plan.. This should include an assessment of our current server and network configurations.
 

Implement a well-suited Student Information (& Performance Management) System (SIS/SIPS)
Our current application (Pearson Centerpoint) will no longer be supported after July of 2008. We have a deadline of December 2006 to commit with Pearson to implement their replacement product (PowerSchool) by July 2007. This also creates a need and an opportunity to review other, perhaps better suited alternatives within these timeframes. A plan and calendar for evaluating WHS requirements and alternative product specifications needs to be developed immediately. Once a decision is made among the alternatives, and implementation plan needs to be developed. A well suited, well implemented application offers many opportunities for improvement over the current situation.
 

Develop New On-Line Community Resources
Many aspects and initiatives of administrative and overall school improvement are interrelated. Moving our web site to an external, hosted environment has enabled us to consider a broad range of new tools capable of improving productivity throughout administrative, committee, and community initiatives.. The consideration of new tools has an impact on the requirements and specifations we seek in our SIS/SIPS application. These tools are intended to enhance (not replace) the person-to-person interaction central to a Waldorf methods environment. Possibilities for consideration include:
- BLOGS for posting and organizing information ( Snippets, Community Council, Committees, Silent Auction, etc.)
- Discussion Forums for extended “conversation” of a variety of community topics (spin-off discussions from meetings)
- Structure Mailling Lists/Listerves)
- WIKIs (for collaborative community creation of resources like the Parent Handbook)
- On-line Portfolios, WHS Gallery, Web Store for generating funds
 

Tie Things Together in a Well-formed Overall Technology Plan
A comprehensive IT plan not only creates a road-map for progress, it also ties related and interdependent areas into the same picture and provides the key to generating opportunities and funds for further growth .The next state planning/funding  cycle needs to be identified and targeted for completion of our comprehensive plan. The initial outline should be completed now. As the plan develops it needs to fill the state mandated requirements for a well-formed plan This includes a number or considerations not currently targeted as critical priorities