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HomeMy WebLinkAboutInformation Services Committee 05-20-1999 i ST. CROIX COUNTY - INFORMATION SERVICES COMMITTEE 401 20, 1999 9:00 A.M. ROOM 1281- GOVERNMENT CENTER CALL TO ORDER ADOPTION OF AGENDA APPROVAL OF MINUTES DATE OF NEXT MEETING PUBLIC SAFETY PROGRAM UPDATE i 1999 BUDGET GUIDELINES OVERVIEW REPAIR & REPLACE POLICY VIRUS ATTACKS / ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE ACCESS PROGRAMMING POLICY OTHER BUSINESS ADJOURN ST. CROIX COUNTY - INFORMATION SERVICES COMMITTEE UNOFFICIAL MINUTES May 20, 1999 PRESENT: Tim Ramberg for Dan Fedderly, John Krizek, John Borup, Rich Loney, Dave Fodroczi, Eugene Hanson, Tom Belongia, Tom O'Connell ALSO PRESENT: Dennis Hillstead, Ralph Robole, David Best, Kathryn Beutel, Dave Schatz EXCUSED: Einar Horne CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at 9:05 a.m. by ChairmanTom O'Connell. ADOPTION OF AGENDA: Rich Loney moved to adopt the agenda. Second by John Borup. All in favor. PREVIOUS MINUTES: Tom Belongia moved to approve the minutes of the April 7, 1999 meeting. Second by John Borup. Minutes approved as presented. BUDGET OVERVIEW: Ralph Robole and David Best took part in considerable discussion regarding power interruptions due to electrical overloads. There are not enough circuits to handle the amount of equipment. Voltage levels drop due to excess levels of usage and in turn, the UPS (uninterruptible power supply) is activated. The equipment itself is not faulty. There needs to be cooperative efforts between purchasing departments, Computer Services, and Maintenance in the purchase and placement of equipment to determine what the loads can handle. It was questioned whether for budgeting purposes if there can be criteria for equipment being purchased based on the draw of electrical use. Kathryn Beutel indicated that Computer Services helps departments assess their needs for equipment - i.e. a network laser printer for use by several different users versus desktop based laser printers for individual use. Trade-offs need to be considered in the duty cycle of the lesser rated equipment - if we will need to purchase or replace a desktop printer every two to three years versus a network printer every eight to ten years, are we really gaining anything? Ralph Robole and Dave Best indicated this is an issue of management of equipment - it is necessary to reduce the load use and distribute the load use. There are also some indirect issues with departments that have electrical overloads unrelated to computer equipment. John Krizek will address this at the next department head meeting and ask for a voluntary "clean sweep" of offices of the following types of auxiliary appliances: - - coffee pots, electric pencil sharpeners, heaters, microwaves. Regarding the budget process, this information was brought to the committee to determine if an electrical assessment needs to be part of the budget process when planning new equipment and equipment needs to be assessed before purchase (this pertains not only to computer equipment but to general office equipment such as copiers and fax machines as well). LAW ENFORCEMENT PROJECT - Vision Software has indicated installation of the product in July, training in August and September and going online in October. We are still having concerns with Tiburon not being timely in their responses to problems that arise - basically, St. Croix County is not a priority to them any longer. REPAIR & REPLACE: There has never been an official Repair and Replace policy in place; the inherent policy has been assumed through the budget process. The initial purpose of the fund was to act as an insurance policy that if a piece of equipment broke, then it would be repaired and if it couldn't be repaired, then it would replaced with a comparable piece of equipment - either used or new, but that replacement would then be kept permanently by the department. It was questioned whether Computer Services should have "floater" pieces of equipment on hand that can be loaned out until the broken equipment can be repaired or replaced. The question arose if the department would then have to budget for the replacement in the next budget cycle - so the replacement would technically be a temporary replacement. Concerns lie with an obsolescence curve versus a purchasing curve - if departments are offsetting new purchases with replacing through the Repair and Replace program, there is not going to be enough money in the fund to cover the replacements. Departments will be required to justify new equipment through their parent committees and the Finance Department in the budget process. Computer Services will provide a list of non-repairable equipment that manufacturers no longer support and don't stock parts for. This item will be on the agenda for the next meeting as well as clarification needs to be made for budgeting instructions to the departments. ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE: - E-Mail policy needs to be updated and distributed - users should not be opening e-mail from unknown users. Computer Services will work on a handout with tips to prevent viruses and cautions to take on how to protect their PC's. There were recently 700 occurrences of viruses attaching to e- mail attachments and personal files. The virus prevention at the server lever caught these viruses and distributed warnings. We need to update our anti-virus software on a regular basis. At the desktop level, there is a personal edition of free software upgrades and virus definitions. These will be available on an indefinite basis, however, each client needs to apply and have their own customer number so it will be necessary to install this product one computer at a time. It was requested to purchase 5 copies of anti-virus protection for the server based products at - - $409.00 each - this money is currently in the Internet budget as more users signed up than what was originally anticipated. Since the viruses can attach through e- mail attachments, files from the State and outside users, and Internet downloads, it was determined an appropriate usage of the monies. In this manner, a virus can be filtered before the corrupted e-mail message or file routes through the system - the virus is caught before it gets to the desktop. The software cleans the message and the attachment if possible. If the file can't be cleaned, the software will not allow the file to open. Eugene Hanson moved to approve $2045.00 to cover the purchase of the anti-virus software at the server levels. Second by John Borup. In favor: Eugene Hanson, John Borup, Tom Belongia, Dave Fodroczi, Rich Loney, Tom O'Connell, Tim Ramberg. Opposed: John Krizek. Motion carried. Discussion followed. John Krizek was concerned about subsidizing the Nursing Home server. The Nursing Home currently has 4 users on the system, so they pay in to the fund as well. Based on additional information of number of users, Krizek chose to support. ACCESS PROGRAMMING: Policy was presented concerning Access programming by departments other than Computer Services. This policy basically states that if departments do their own programming in Access, it will be treated the same as an "off the shelf" product and Computer Services staff will not be responsible for the support of the database. Also, the database will not be placed on the network due to possibilities of bottlenecks being created on the network due to programming issues. There could possibly be a union issue as well. Committee members will review the policy and it will be addressed again at the next meeting. OTHER BUSINESS: Update on Payroll - Rich Loney reported there was a demo of the IDI Windows based payroll in April. The payroll staff that work with the program on a day to day basis are comfortable with using the Windows version as an upgrade solution. POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: Access Programming Policy, Repair & Replace Policy, Security Issues , Budget Policy for Acquisition of Equipment DATE OF NEXT MEETING: June 24, 1999 9:00 a.m. ADJOURNMENT: Motion to Adjourn by John Borup. Second by Tom Belongia. Meeting adjourned at 11:25 a.m. All in favor! Respectfully Submitted By: &h/ n Beutel