INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE MEETING
NOTES
May 29, 2001
I. Welcome and Introductions
A) Members Present: Scotty Brookie, Mark Cianca, Pat LeCuyer, Charlie McDowell, Larry Merkley, Jaye Padgett, Bob White.
B) Staff Present: Max Ritchie, Fana O’Halloran
C) Guests Present: Janine Roeth
II. Directory Services Presentation – Janine Roeth - CATS
A) Janine presented an overview of the proposal for an Enterprise Directory initiative and provided two examples of what organizations experience with and without an online Directory Service
https://webfoot.isc.ucsb.edu/ldap/lifewo.html
https://webfoot.isc.ucsb.edu/ldap/lifew.html
B) The goals of an Enterprise Directory are as follows:
1. Create an accurate, authoritative data repository of UCSC citizen information. The data will be fed from sources currently used on campus including: SIS for student information; and PPS for staff, faculty, and student employees.
2. Reflect the data access policies of the authoritative sources from which the Directory is populated. CATS will work with the data owners to define and implement these policies as well as others that may arise relative to the LDAP access to the data.
3. Enable new online applications as well as transition some existing applications to a more authoritative data source.
C) Discussion
· Who is included in the Enterprise Directory beyond the people in PPS/SIS is a campus policy issue; currently, system owners inform policy.
· Applications that the Enterprise Directory intends to support in early phases include
o Email services including email forwarding for @ucsc.edu addresses. @ucsc.edu addresses may be forwarded to @cats, @adm or elsewhere.
o University white pages directory of names and email addresses
· Account management systems are seen as part of future waves in Enterprise Directory applications.
· Authentication is a component of application usage of the Enterprise Directory. Eventually, as the UC wide PKI initiative matures, the Enterprise Directory will support certificate aware applications.
· The pilot of the Enterprise Directory is presently up to current industry standards of LDAP. While it is difficult to predict technology, this standards-based approach to directories is currently widespread and we are likely to track directory trends over the next 5 years.
· Self-service is a component of the Enterprise Directory, although it should be directed towards the authoritative source, where conflicts may be highlighted or rectified.
· The directory is comprised of four components:
o Applications of Record (AoR): These are the authoritative sources of people information. Daily extracts of information from SIS and PPS supply this information including updates.
o Midware: This Oracle database consolidates the information from multiple AoRs into a common individual record. The Midware implements policy on merging and exceptions and prepares the data to feed into the directory itself
o Enterprise Directory: The LDAP repository for the information from the Midware subsystem.
o LDAP Applications: The applications that query the directory for information.
· CATS is currently in pilot with the Enterprise Directory and, with funding, can bring to production with the first phase of applications in a year.
· The Enterprise Directory, as configured right now, will not support everyone’s application needs, especially with regard to those affiliated with the University but not in PPS/SIS data sources.
· Queries/searches can be limited according to policy, e.g. to prevent easy harvesting of email for SPAM.
· The option of outsourcing was brought up. To be considered is that there is very sensitive data in the Enterprise Directory – also, we know of no models where other UC campuses have outsourced their Enterprise Directories.
· Portal technologies typically rely on directories. An enterprise portal with customization for our University population will rely on an Enterprise Directory to track that population and their customizations
· There is no funding for the Enterprise Directory past June 30, 2001.
D) Next Move:
· Can we prepare a directory prototype to present? Inquire about funding.
· Unresolved issues from today's discussions - Actions needed?
· New Business?
VI. Next Meeting: Tuesday, June 5, 2001, 12:45-2:45, McHenry Library, Room 481