Present:Bill Halahan, Ron MacKinnon, Joanne Oud, Gail Sperling, Linda Teather
Additional agenda
Two items were added to the agenda: TOMG briefing and Cube archiving.
Minutes of February 14, 2003
The minutes of February 14, 2003 were accepted, with one correction. They will be added to the TUG Statistics and Reports (TSR) area on the TUG staff web.
Security consultations with TUG Managers
Bill and Gail reported that the security consultations with the functional managers are completed and that they have received some responses to the spreadsheets distributed after the meetings. The goal is to have the access provileges confirmed by the end of March. After this, the security issues will be reviewed with the UW affiliated libraries and Humber College.
To do: Bill will call a meeting to determine Guelph's detailed security requirements. Gail will consult with the UW affiliated libraries during the April fiscal period close meeting.
Version 7.1 upgrade
Gail reported that the newest version of the Cognos software (version 7.1) has been installed on the production server, alongside the older version. Problems were encountered with the directory and ticket servers, which are housed on a UW IST server that has the older version of the software. UW IST will not install the new version until the campus upgrades. The workaround is to put the data in a local file. Testing is underway and this appears to be working acceptably.
UW Systems is preparing a new image which will be installed at all staff workstations during the late spring/summer and requires confirmation of the Cognos version to distribute. Gail and Bill noted that the PowerPlay and Impromptu clients 7.0 and 7.1 are very similar but that the 7.1 web client is very different.
Joanne reported that a new staff image was recently installed at WLU but that the Cognos software is on a small number of workstations. Bill confirmed that there are only a few workstations at Guelph that have the Cognos software.
The TSR group agreed that it is preferable to go live with version 7.1 and that training should be done using this new version. [Note that this is dependent on successful testing of the local directory and ticket server workaround.]
To do: Linda and Gail will report this decision to UW Systems technicians. Joanne will follow up with WLU Systems. Ron and Bill will discuss it with Guelph Systems. Gail and Bill will complete the testing of the production server with the local directory and ticket server.
TUG Cognos staff training team implementation
Due to differing local situations, the plan to issue a single message to all TUG staff inviting applicants for the TUG Cognos training team was revised. Joanne's preliminary information to WLU managers identified the required volunteers. At Guelph, the invitation will be directed to librarians and other professional staff. At UW, it will be sent to all staff.
To do: Ron and Linda will send out the training team memo early next week, with a request for responses by March 28th. TSR will consult in early April.
External Cognos training companies review
There was no further information to report on this topic. Companies identified for contact were Advanced Computing, ThoughtCorp, PowerUsers, and Cognos. Each will be asked for information on training programs, costs and availability. The PowerPlay web segment must include UpFront and running Impromptu reports. The group agreed that the training venue could be either Guelph or UW, depending on room availability. Financial arrangements will be made through Guelph.
To do: Ron will request training details and cost estimates from the companies identified above. Ron will investigate tendering requirements with the TUG Library financial managers.
Budget 2003/04
Ron reported that the 2003/04 budget prepared by TSR was approved by the TUG Steering Committee.
The Steering Committee asked for confirmation that the Cognos business suite was the best way for TUG to meet its reports and statistical needs. The TSR group agreed that, while there are other business intelligence tools available, Cognos provides powerful software and it makes sense to piggyback on our campus licenses rather than purchase a separate product. The reports questions currently appearing on the voyager-l listserv indicate that TUG is far ahead of many other Voyager users. The Steering Committee asked TSR to consider opportunities for promoting TUG's success, for example by conference presentations and publications. Cognos has a “head start†program through which we might work with new Cognos users in the Endeavor community. In the Fall, we will seek information about the extent to which Cognos is used or is available to other Voyager users. We will also ask Charles and Don to seek this information if the opportunity arises at EndUser in April.
The 2003/04 training budget for system administrators' technical training was reviewed in light of the June 8-10 Cognos Technical Forum. The only other technical training identified for 2003/04 was attendance at User Days in Toronto and the only cost for these is transportation. The TSR group agreed that the budget should cover sending one person, that this would be of value to TUG and that, subject to a confirmation of the program's usefulness when it is published and a review of the state of the overall training budget when external training estimates are obtained, TUG will send Gail to the conference.
To do: Gail will monitor the Cognos web site and provide her assessment of the program to TSR. TSR will confirm her attendance before the May 2nd early registration deadline.
A meeting will be arranged with the TRELLIS Operational Management Group (TOMG) to discuss PowerPlay cube builds and other issues related to TRELLIS and Cognos reports. The group agreed that, depending on the location of the meeting, either Bill or Gail and one other TSR member would meet with TOMG.
To do: Ron will contact Brooke and Charles to arrange a meeting. TSR will then determine who will attend and the agenda items to be discussed.
Cube archiving
A PowerPlay cube archiving policy and schedule drafted by Gail was reviewed. The TSR group approved the draft but noted that the archive dates must be confirmed with the functional groups.
To do: Bill or Gail will contact the TUG Circ group. The schedule will be reviewed at TSR's meeting with TOMG. Linda will add this to the agenda of the April 8th UW Library managers meeting. Bill, Gail and Joanne will contact other appropriate staff at each institution.
Timeline review / TUG Statistics and Reports Cognos Project
The group completed the review of the timeline prepared by the TUG Statistics and Reports Cognos Project group. The revised timeline is appended below. Alan Peachey will be included in the Acquisitions cube review.
Agenda planning / next meeting
The next meeting was tentatively scheduled for the afternoon of April 10th, at Guelph. Ron will confirm the date and time.
Agenda items to include:
Training team
Training vendor's estimates
Reports request form & database procedures
| Completion goal |
Task |
| Completed |
|
Nearing completion |
|
| Deferred |
(TSR will set priorities if needed, until impact of implementing request form & database are assessed) |
| Dropped |
|
|
|
| End of March 2003 |
|
| End of April 2003 |
|
| End of May 2003 |
|
| End of June 2003 |
|
End of Aug. 2003 |
|
| Fall 2003 |
|
| End of Dec. 2003 |
|
| Winter 2004 |
|