Administrative System Committee-December  17th, 2001

Members present:

Tony Cabasco, Walter Froese, Mary Luckstead, Michael Quiner, Ron Urban,  Varga Fox, Jed Schwendiman, Deborah Hopkinson, and Sherrie Kamara.

Agenda items covered:

Jed set the next meeting for Monday, January 14 at noon, in Reid Center room 110

Walter briefly explained the purchasing card, how it will work, and some of the differences regarding use and College payment. Documentation requirement for purchases are the same for the purchasing card as we use now. Walter is hoping to have the program up and running within 6 weeks. He also said there are good reporting capabilities, and flexibility for setting limits.

Outlook transitions were discussed. Michael told the group now is a good time to put in requests for transition as wcts is almost caught up. Outlook problems or questions included: it is not as simple as GroupWise, while there are many options it is more difficult to make groups, and to assure messages have been sent. Several people on the committee felt like more training 1 on 1 when the switch occurs would be helpful and a few days after the switch for questions and more training.  Jed also mentioned Element K training is available for online training. Michael illustrated the POP and IMAP email options.

Michael addressed the Staff web pages at http://www.whitman.edu/staff/

Several people said they had no idea we could access our vacation and sick leave information off the web using WEBADVISOR. Michael included a copy of the Whitman staff web page front page and asked for input on content. He also explained that groups creating web pages for the College are continuing to meet and discuss procedures, consistency, format, and implementation. All web pages will soon need to meet specific guidelines established by the College. Several people voiced the concern that they were not aware this group was meeting and it needed to be communicated more clearly. The group also felt communicating progress on wcts projects, completed projects and changes or how to utilize new web information would be very helpful. Michael said Rich was planning classes for using the web for on line banking, purchasing and travel arrangements. Keiko will be invited to present at our next meeting to discuss ?portals or web design strategy.

Michael discussed project development, and the need to know about projects such as surveys well in advance for planning, programming and implementation.

Ron Urban voiced his concern regarding Whitman hosting NWDUG and staff splitting time between NWDUGG preparation and wcts work loads.