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Proposed Agenda:
1.
As you may have heard at convention, the Sale of some properties will allow Episcopal House to be brought up to the 21st Century as far a technology is concerned. That is, basically, PCs.
Michael would like some guideance on going about obtaining computers.
The real issue is that there is very little, onsite support for the installation and maintenance of the equipment. The two or three folks who know how to do this don't have the time to really do what is required. I am not talking about the network, but the PCs and Printers that we need. Right now each of us has different Operating Systems on the PCs and Printers. There is nothing standard on any of the PCs.
2.
The other discussion has to do with re-addressing the Diocesan Database. With this money, we may be able to re-look at what is available. We have a vendor in mind, but the discussion would be to generate a list of specific issues for the vendor and to set up a future meeting to review their product(s).
3
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Steve: re equipment at Episcopal House. I wanted Michael to take an inventory and also look at where not only the Diocese but CPG is going over the next 3 to 5 years. Reason being, what type of equipment will fit the strategy. Meaning, screen, size, memory, connectivity and function.
Notes:
1. Russ thanked everyone involved with convention for their hard work. There didn't seem to be any problems.
2. Property sale - purchase of equipment - some $$ will be allocated for technology, told Michael he wasn't asking for enough, but accepted the request. Michael's focus is to get a consistent platform at 31 Mulberry St.
There are't 2 pcs below the 5th floor that are running the same system. They are starting up with error messages. Dennis says never shut your pc off, just log off. There is no standard operating procedure. The money is supposed to get 7 pcs, 2 laptops and supporting things to have them all work together.
John suggests that the first step is an inventory. Russ says the need is a common platform - the inventory is chaos.
Dennis would send out and get 5 competative bids for hardware and support, run xp professional, and get office 2003.
John recommends to avoid Gateway, Dell and to go with something reputable - HP, Compaq
Scott says Lenovo is IBM. He says 512, minimum ram.
There was a discussion on planned life-span. Russ thinks 5 years, Dennis says the standard is 3 years, but setting up a rolling 4 year plan would work. Russ says this will take a person, and that is to be put into the 2007 budget.
Consensus: Get HP desktops, XP, and Office 2003 Professional - get educational discount
John recommended buying from J&R; Scott recommentded Newegg
3. There are some things that need to be done this year.
Remote access and security for the network. There is very little security - antivirus, probably a firewall. There is a dsl connector. QTS recommends built in security and remote access. They recommend Citrix - Dennis uses it. It has a good recommendation but it is pricy and generally used for larger system. Someone else recommends VPN - Dennis uses that at home and so does Russ. For a firewall QTS recommends Cisco Pix. XP has a built in firewall on every machine.
4. Steve's question is long term - where are we going?
Trustees said Michael didn't ask for enough money, but the question is really what to ask for. What seems to really be necessary is a person with experience and expertise to lay out a long-range plan.
Discussion with CPG will need to happen to see where they're going. Michael wants to talk with Mark Cyr in NY and a person in Chicago and see what other folks are doing and what this position might look like. Michael would like some of us to work on this with him. Anyone who would be interested in meeting with Michael to lay this out should call Russ. Scott, John, Dennis and John all volunteered to help.
Dennis says we probably need a generalist. The IT guy is probably a team of 10 or 12 people with different skill sets and someone with access to them.
Russ says we may be able to re-open the data base door. Russ says they've re-opened the discussion with Parishsoft. This discussion needs to be in conjunction with discussions with other dioceses and ....about what they are doing. Meanwhile Parishsoft's products have changed. They have 3 products that may be of use. Russ would like them to come in and present these 3 to this committee. Russ has demo disks.
Peter Katzenbach offered to do a software inventory. That might be a good plan.
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