Everyone present was asked to introduce themselves and list issues that they would be interested in discussing. Of the suggestions, seven main topics were brought up and discussed.

1. E-mail

   Several people were looking for solutions for replacing existing e-mail software. Full featured software that will run on a variety of platforms is desired. Our action item was to setup an e-mail list for everyone interested in upgrading e-mail systems and possibly setup a NW-Heat meeting to discuss e-mail options.

2. Pro-active Faculty Support

   We looked at a few ways to try to give faculty members greater support with limited resources. This item was scheduled for the afternoon Administrative session but a few ideas were expressed.

   1. Grants: Funds be made available as a grant to faculty members for training by outside sources. Faculty would apply for the grants.
   2. Train the Trainer: Setup training for a limited group of faculty who agree to train others.
   3. Summer Training Camps: Within a single campus or possibly between a number of universities.
   4. Drop-in Faculty Centers: Similar to Pacific's Educational Technologies department with support for faculty members that drop-in or schedule appointments. Support and train faculty on new technologies.

3. Supporting Residence Hall Networks
   Three ways of supporting residence hall networks were discussed.
   1. Hiring Students to do the support: After two years, Pacific University is dropping this program. We could not provide enough student help to make this work. Students with approved hardware (Macs or PCs purchased from Pacific) will get assistance installing their computers. Students will be responsible for setup on non approved computers.
   2. Student Computer Consultants: WSU-Pullman has a 400 level class for students on computer consulting. Other schools had similar programs that then use these consultants to support other students.
   3. Help Desk: Have all support focus out of a help desk.

   Some sites are using DHCP for IP address assignment. DHCP servers are available for NT and there is a public domain server called ISC.

4. Computer Platforms

   Until more information comes in, most Apple sites will continue to purchase Macintosh computers but will prepare for making a switch. Most people agreed that supporting networked PCs required more time and that students often do not have access to their original OS disks when needed.

5. Supporting Standard Software Suites

   We talked about ways of supporting standard software suites on campus. Most sites use some form of a three tiered support strategy:

   1. We install it / We support it (Approved software)
      An example would be common software across campus (MS Office, etc.)
   2. We install it / Limited support (Approved but not supported)
      An example would be departmental specific software.
   3. You Install it / No support (Not approved or supported)

   Tom Aldridge from UPS will send a software survey out to the NW-Heat board members to see if there are common applications that NW-Heat can provide training and support for. The survey results might also show people willing to answer questions from other campuses about applications in use at their own campus. Tom will also include some questions about help desk software in his survey.

   Some shared resources that are already available:

   WebDoc          http://www.reed.edu/webdoc/
   DocShare        http://web.reed.edu/resources/cis/help/docshare.html
   Internic        http://rs.internic.net/nic-support/
   

   Reed also has a mailing list for small campus support issues. Send e-mail to turner@reed.edu if you would like to be added to the list.

6. Computer Lab Management

   Most people noted a large increase in lab usage and a increase in the number of departmental labs. There was a discussion on the type of support given for departmental labs. Some sites are talking about requiring departments to sign lab support contracts to outline what the department is responsible for supporting and what the IS department will support. Other sites just have a blanket departmental lab support policy.

   People reported success in having informal group meetings with all departmental computer support people. These meetings are held on a monthly basis as training or Q&A sessions. Free food usually is enough incentive to draw people to the meeting. The group members may be given titles like "Superusers" or "Expert Partners".

7. The Help Desk

   The number of campuses starting help desks seem to be growing. The need for documentation and statistics has made help desk software a hot item. Collecting statistics has helped justify new staff members at some sites.

   Most universities are using custom software based on common databases. WSU-Vancouver is using a MS Access database, George Fox uses Filemaker, and Willamette is using a web based front end to a Post Crest SQL database.

   A few people talked about setting a policy to refuse all walk-in help requests and requests made in passing on campus. With the volume of requests getting higher and higher, these people felt it was important to make sure that everyone sent requests through the formal channels so the requests to do not get lost or forgotten.

   Our action item here was to setup a e-mail list for everyone looking into help desk software.