December 2024 Agenda

Meeting Date: December 6, 2024

Time: 3:00 pm

Location: Teams

Remote Attendance: Tommy Smith, Wen-Chieh Fan, Parampreet Singh, Craig Woolley, Angie Mann, Jacqueline Bach, Mo Carney, Kilbert Spland, Stephanie Rhodes, Chris Barrett 

Absent: Calvin Feldt, Emmett Brown, Loree Ramezan, Lori Martin, Michele Montero 

Presenters: Byron Honore, Katie Bouey

Others: Lesa Jeansonne, Robin Ethridge, Stephen Heyward, Susan Crochet, Sumit Jain, Jason Normand 

 

Opening 

1. Administrative Announcements  

2. Executive ITGC Updates [Craig Woolley] 

 
Action

3. Approval of the Minutes from the Meeting held on September 30, 2024 

 
Information/Discussion 

4. LSU ITS Customer Satisfaction Survey [Craig Woolley] 

5. Discussion and Vote on LSU A&M IT Security Policies (Revision Plan and Current Status) [Craig Woolley] 
Resolution: IT Governance Council acknowledges the need to update policies for IT and Information Security to ensure that requirements of PM-36 and security best practices are codified in LSUAM University policies. Therefore, IT Governance Council approves the draft changes to policies and standards presented to the Council by LSU ITS. The Council shall provide this recommendation to the LSU Office of Academic Affairs for the updated policies to enter the university's overall review and approval process. 

 
6. Mainframe Decommissioning [Byron Honore] 

7. Proposal of Software Standardization Process (Continuation of Previous Discussion) [Katie Bouey] 

8. ITS ITGC Project List [Katie Bouey] 

 
Updates: Sub-Committees & Working Groups 

9. Moodle/Technology Survey [Craig Woolley, Jacqueline Bach, Parampreet Singh] 

 
Wrap-Up 

10. Information sharing/Announcements [All] 

11. Suggested agenda items for future meetings, including ITS topics of interest [All] 

12. Next steps/Follow-up items [Chair] 

 

December 2024 Minutes

1. Administrative Announcements 

Craig Woolley shared with the Council that a relaunch of Grammarly will take place in January to alert faculty and staff. He added that the AI portion of Grammarly would be made available to faculty and staff. He shared that making Grammarly available for students is still being debated.

 
2. Executive ITGC Updates 

Craig shared that the Executive ITGC subcommittees are active and continue to meet. He also shared that the Executive IT Governance Council will be reconstituted with a new Chair appointed. 

 
3. Meeting Minutes Approval 

September Meeting Minutes were approved with no revisions. Motion to approve by Chris Barrett. Seconded by Jacqueline Bach. 

 
5. Discussion on the LSU A&M IT Security Policies 

Craig stated that the committee working on the security policies has spent over 100 hours finalizing the wording of the policy statements. Those revised policies were then presented to the Department IT Subcommittee for feedback before presenting them to the Council for review. 

Sumit Jain, ITS, presented changes made to the policy statement on System Acceptable Use. He briefly discussed Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) as well as usage activity and hosted content review. Sumit next discussed the policy statement on IT Risk Management. He briefly discussed the frequency of internal vulnerability scans. He also discussed the definition for risk assessment, risk analysis, and what needs to be included in the risk register. Sumit also briefly discussed the policy statement on Security Responsibilities in Job Descriptions, as well as the policy statement on Employee Lifecycle. As part of the discussion on the IT Asset Management policy statement, he discussed standards for IT Asset Classification, IT Asset Inventory Management, and Configuration Management. Sumit next discussed changes made to the standards on Contract Management, Compliance Programs, and Login Banners Disclaimers and Consents, which are a part of the policy statement on Compliance. For the policy statement on Physical Security, he shared that the definition of security parameters was updated to be clearer about data classification and risk assessments impact. In discussing the policy statement on Application Security, he discussed secure application development. Sumit also briefly discussed updates to the policy statements on Network Architecture and IT and Security Operations, as well as changes to the standards for the policy statement on System Security.  
Craig stated that changes to the baseline and the review by the Department IT Subcommittee and Faculty Senate IT Committee would be included in the resolution for voting by the Council at the next meeting. 

 
4. LSU ITS Customer Satisfaction Survey 

Craig shared the results of the latest ITS Customer Satisfaction Survey. He stated that 59 staff and 31 faculty participated in the survey resulting in 85% overall satisfaction, which is one point lower than it was last year. He stated that the survey received negative comments on the software acquisition process but added that improvements to that process are ongoing. Craig discussed the positive feedback that was received on customer service, resolving issues, and the ticketing system and also discussed the negative feedback received on restrictive policies, software accessibility, and training. He shared that ITS continues to strive for 90% or higher in overall customer satisfaction. 

 
6. Mainframe Decommissioning 

Byron Honore, ITS, gave an update on the Mainframe Decommissioning Project. He shared that five years of active and historical student data is being brought over from mainframe to Workday Student for data conversion and reporting before legacy systems are turned off. Byron shared the project timeline and reminded the Council that Cohort 1 (LSU A&M and LSU Eunice) will go live in February 2025 and cohort 2 (LSU Shreveport and LSU Alexandria) will go live in 2026. He also shared proposed cut-off dates for discontinuing batch jobs, final copying of data to the data warehouse, removing TSO access for non-IT users, and decommissioning preparation. Byron also discussed the purpose of the data warehouse, with the focus on customer service, business, and technology, as well as a brief overview of the data warehouse architecture. 

 
7. Proposal for Software Standardization Process 

Katie Bouey, PMO, gave a recap of the need for a process standardization of software for project management and email campaigns. She shared that the PMO is gathering information from stakeholders leveraging tools in both areas to determine the best alternative options. She added that the PMO is working on developing and proposing a process to the Council that considers bylaws and is easily accessible and repeated by stakeholders across campus when new areas are found to meet similar criteria. 

 
8. ITS ITGC Project List 

Katie gave an update on Tier 4 ITS projects. She shared that the Identity Access Management (IAM) project is finishing up design and configuration for life cycle processes as well as the integration efforts between Workday HCM and Student Information. She shared that a consultant was hired to assist with assessing and counting exterior physical doors on campus for the Tiger Card Mobile Credential Physical Access Control Systems Project. 

 
9. Moodle/Technology Survey 

Jackie Bach, Parampreet Singh, and Craig Woolley presented the results of the ED Tech Survey, which was a collaboration between the Office of Academic Affairs, the Faculty Senate, and Information Technology Services. Jackie shared that the survey was developed to gauge faculty thoughts concerning educational technology on campus. The survey was conducted between February 5th and February 23rd with a total of 658 responses. She added that incentives were included to increase participation. After the survey closed, participants were asked if they wished to be part of a focus group. This resulted in 153 volunteers, with 36 participants in four focus groups in the Summer. She stated that the survey focused on the following four areas: Learning Management System (LMS), Classroom Technology and Software, Faculty Technology Support, and Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI). 

Param shared that 72% of survey respondents identify as frequent Moodle users and 51% of respondents are satisfied or very satisfied. He added that 49% of respondents would like an alternative to Moodle due to issues with gradebook, video streaming, remote proctoring, and support. He stated the focus groups helped reveal faculty concerns about moving to a Moodle alternative. 
Craig shared that the survey revealed several areas of interest in classroom enhancements including upgraded presentation devices, student screen sharing with class, additional power outlets in classrooms, and presentation/capture equipment. He stated that ITS continues efforts to refresh Registrar-controlled rooms. Craig shared that 79% of respondents believe faculty should be issued a standard computer on a regular basis to be compliant with IT policies.  

Jackie shared that only 27% of respondents feel the need to incorporate AI into their courses. She added that faculty are concerned with how AI can lead to a decline in critical thinking and writing, make teaching more impersonal, and create ethical implications with its use. She shared that there is ongoing work with faculty and with Student Government to address those issues and concerns. 
Param shared ongoing and next steps, including discussions with Moodle leadership on gap analysis, presenting final recommendations to the Council, Faculty Senate, and Academic Affairs next semester, and continuing to explore solutions.