MERC

April 7, 2005, Institutional Representatives Meeting Notes

Welcome

Don Doucette welcomed everyone to the meeting and invited Bill Mitchell to come forward and present a plaque to Ralph Caruso, who is retiring as the Vice President for Information Systems at the University of Missouri System. Caruso, in his capacity as VP, has been instrumental in the success of MOREnet and unwavering in his support during his tenure at the University.

MERC ’05 Budget Update

Nancy Piringer presented the MERC Financial Report. Most all MERC members have paid their yearly membership fees. The budget presented reflects the one-time discount in membership fees that the Board approved last summer and also reflects the $30,000 that will be used to cover any financial shortfalls of the HELIX 2005 conference. Any of the $30,000 not needed to support the conference will be returned to the MERC fund balance. Piringer reminded everyone to make sure their contacts are up to date in preparation for FY06 billing and announced that she would be making calls to those who have not yet paid their FY05 bills.

MOREnet Legislative Update/FY06 Budget Outlook

Bill Mitchell reiterated the information he relayed to IRs in his April 5, 2005, update that House Bill 3 (HB3) was filed with a recommendation of $2.9M cut to MOREnet. The House Budget Committee met April 4 and amended the cut to MOREnet back to $2.3M. Through this week the House Budget Committee will continue to work through all of the appropriations bills and changes can still be made to any bills until the budget is finalized. The Budget Committee is committed to having the budget finished by April 7. The appropriations bills go to the Rules Committee on April 8, then to the House Floor by April 11. The House will finish work on the budget next week and send it to the Senate. At that point there will be three weeks left for Senate action and then the conference committee before the budget must be finished and sent to Gov. Blunt by the May 6 state deadline.

We have been notified by the Department of Higher Education that all UM-related programs will have a portion of their FY05 appropriations withheld. For MOREnet this means that we will receive $880,000 less than expected through June 30, 2005.

In the interim, the MOREnet Council has asked MOREnet to identify the services that have significant cost impacts and provide utilization data by customer group. MOREnet is to have this information to the Council by mid-May. This data will be used for FY06 planning. Mitchell advised the group that he would pass budget information along as he receives it.

MOREnet Services Update

Hank Niederhelm provided updates on service activities within MOREnet's Operations unit:

DS3 & Ethernet – bids have been awarded and per unit costs have decreased by 40% vs. traditional DS3 pricing. Quest Internet access has been renegotiated and capacity was increased 73% for the same dollars.

Technology refresh activities – the 7200 series routers at the public institutions are now approaching 6+ years. Those routers will be replaced in the summer of 2005 to improve performance and reliability. The Internet2 router located in Columbia will also be replaced during the summer of 2005 and will provide improved performance, native IPv6 support and will simplify the network infrastructure. The video multi-point control unit will be upgraded in summer 2005 to support H.264 which will improve video quality. Centra will also be upgraded to v7.5 during the summer and will provide an improved user interface, “on the fly” agenda building, and support for four simultaneous video windows.

MyMOREnet – MyMOREnet, the Web-based service provided by MOREnet to allow customers to access organization-specific information, now includes access to MRTG; a help desk ticket management system; and domain name registration. Concord 's NetHealth tool will be replaced in May with InfoVista which will also reside behind MyMOREnet.

Higher Education External Performance Measures Final Report

Bill Elder provided a summary report on the higher education External Performance Measures Project. This project was designed to develop and implement a systematic methodology to assess the influence and impact that MOREnet has on Missouri 's higher education community.

Elder stated that their investigations found that MOREnet is highly regarded by almost all its higher education customers. Customers feel that MOREnet provides a set of services that are absolutely essential to higher education, and does so in a cost efficient and effective way.

For the set of services assessed, the evidence is that MOREnet is a good deal for the State of Missouri. MOREnet saves the state millions of dollars annually from what it would cost to provide the services differently given the current status of technology and the current alternative means for accessing it.

Customers feel that the services are effective—there is evidence of positive changes in the practices and conditions of impacted institutions. Additionally, the way MOREnet delivers services helps achieve an equity of educational opportunity for out-state and smaller institutions—their learners and communities.

Elder described the use of the program logic models that were developed as a methodology to assess the effectiveness of MOREnet with respect to higher education. Those logic models are:

• Connectivity
• Distance Learning and Meetings
• Technical Support, Consulting, Training and Security
• Online Resources and MOBIUS Shared Catalog

The project is very close to completion and the next steps will include refining the models and further quantifying the measures.

Plaque Presentation

Greg Burris presented Don Doucette with a plaque expressing appreciation for his dedication and hard work in FY05 as Chair of the MERC Board of Directors.

MERC Board Elections – Nominations of Candidates for FY06 Slate

Piringer asked the attendees to break into their respective segments (2-year public/technical colleges, 4-year public and independent colleges and universities) for the yearly MERC Board candidates nomination exercise. For FY06, nominations will be needed to fill the Chair-Elect position, the two public 4-year Director-at-Large positions and the one public 2-year/technical college Director-at-Large position that will become vacant as of July 1, 2005.

The 4-year group nominated Theresa Rogers from Lincoln University and Steve Earney from Missouri Southern State as their Director-at-Large nominees and nominated Russell Helm from Central Missouri State University as Chair-Elect. The 2-year group nominated Bob Paulson from State Fair Community College as their Director-at-Large and announced their support for Helm as Chair-Elect. The independent group reported that they did not feel that they had sufficient representation at the meeting to come up with a name for Chair-Elect. A request will be made to that group via e-mail to nominate someone for Chair-Elect.

Per the MERC Governance Procedures, electronic voting on Board positions will be open for 30 days and will commence in early May.