Board of Governors, June 28, 2001 - Appendix VIII, Annex 2
FOR INFORMATION
SCITS met six times during the period July 1, 2000, and June 30, 2001. The principal items of business during the year are summarized below.
1. The Subcommittee on Information Security (SUIS) [Chair: Sharon Farnell]
The UWO Campus-wide Security Assessment report issued in November 2000 was the focus of the work completed by SUIS during the year. As a result of information gathered from many units across campus, the following issues were raised:
Recognizing the growing set of information security threats and the university's decentralized yet highly connected and relatively open environment, SUIS proposed and SCITS approved recommendations surrounding the following areas:
Since the report approval, SUIS has been working to put these recommendations into action.
Currently priorities for SUIS are being drafted for 2001-2002 including:
Computer virus protection is a critical component of information security as computer viruses present a high risk to university workstations. A Virus Management task team is currently reviewing virus protection software from various companies because our existing license will expire in the fall 2001. Due to escalating costs of the virus protection software, ITS was unable to fund the software purchase for the university from their funds. SUIS is pleased central funds were made available for the software purchase. If individual departments were responsible to purchase their own virus protection software, there would have been an extremely high risk to the university if even one department failed to purchase and install the software.
2. The Subcommittee on Electronic Commerce (SUEX) [Chair: Sharon Farnell]
This Subcommittee was created in the Fall 2000 to examine UWO policies pertaining to electronic financial transactions. In April 2001, SUEX presented to SCITS a draft UWO Electronic Commerce Policy. The purpose of the policy is provide requirements for departments hosting electronic commerce sites to ensure the electronic transmission and storage of information is secure. The policy is expected to be presented for approval to the Audit Committee in May 2001 and the Board of Governors in June 2001.
In addition to the policy, four other recommendations were made and approved:
No further action has been taken on these recommendations since approval.
3. The Subcommittee on the World Wide Web (SUWWW) [Chair: Greg Gloor]
SUWWW has worked on identifying official UWO web sites, a redesign of the main UWO site- including the UWO home page, and has submitted policy recommendations concerning barrier-free access of persons to official UWO sites.
1) to use the current and future standards of the Canadian Federal government for barrier-free web page design.
2) to provide appropriate resources to the official UWO web sites that will enable them to bring their web pages up to this standard.
3) to act as a clearing house for future complaints regarding barrier free access to UWO official WWW sites.
4. The Ad Hoc Subcommittee on the UWO Telephone Directory [Chair: Mona Brennan-Coles]
The 澳门六合彩开奖预测 Directory went on-line October 1, 2001. The committee, comprised of 17 representatives of UWO faculty and staff, met several times to discuss the needs and wants for both the on-line and printed directories. Two sub-layers of organization (i.e., groups and subgroups) will be included in 澳门六合彩开奖预测 Directory before Fall 2001 when the 澳门六合彩开奖预测 Directory is printed. Information Technology Services (ITS) is developing a WEB application that will allow Directory Coordinators to update their 澳门六合彩开奖预测 Directory entries on-line by July 2001.
ITS and Communications & Public Affairs have worked together to automate the transfer of data for the printed directory. The content of the on-line and printed versions will be identical, at the time of data transfer. However, since the Directory Coordinators continually update 澳门六合彩开奖预测 Directory, the most current directory information will always be found in the on-line version. The information pages located at the front and back of the printed directory will remain.
5. Research Advisory Committee (RAC)
This SCITS subcommittee plays a continuing role in advising the Associate Vice-President (Information Technology) on operation of the Cray and research related support by ITS. The membership of RAC is elected annually by SCITS and comprises 8 faculty members actively engaged in research, at least 2 of whom are members of SCITS at the time elected.
6. The Subcommittee on Computing and Networking Services (SUCNS) [Former Chair: Tim Craven]
At the request of the Subcommittee on Computing and Networking Services, the mandate of SUCNS was reviewed by SCITS. SUCNS had met infrequently in the last few years and SCITS determined that the work originally handled by SUCNS has been absorbed by other subcommittees of SCITS, e.g., the Subcommittee on Information Security is responsible for security issues, the Subcommittee on the World Wide Web for internet issues and the Research Advisory Committee of SCITS for research computing concerns. At SCITS request, Senate approved that SUCNS be disbanded in March 2001.
7. Other Business
As in past years, the Chairs of SCITS, SUCNS and one elected SCITS member served on the Subcommittee to Review Computer-Related ADF Applications for SCUP's Subcommittee on Priorities in Academic Development (SUPAD).
SCITS was also consulted by SCUP's Subcommittee on Instructional Technology prior to its November 17th report to Senate. Its mandate was to produce a statement of strategic direction for distance studies that identifies and makes recommendations concerning those issues which must be addressed in the development of a multi-year plan for distance education at 澳门六合彩开奖预测.
Roy Eagleson
Chair, SCITS