At the JAM 10 3 2012

The Joint Applicant  Management committee (JAM) is an advisory committee that makes recommendations about projects proposed by departments and services in the college and informs representatives about educational technology initiatives.  I will do my best to post updates so that you can stay informed and get involved.  I will post the results on any votes on technology projects.

At the JAM 10 3 2012
At the last meeting, the JAM committee put forth a final draft of its terms of reference.  I will attach a copy in the my next post. The JAM will recommend that the Technology Steering Committee (TSC) headed up by executives and management either approve or reject a given project.  Equally, the committee will recommend a  priority level for the project.  The TSC can decide to go ahead with or reject any project regardless of the advice and reserves the right to assign priorities.

Current projects are listed on the college's Sharepoint site.  A report on the project outlines the current status, ownership, and quality of the project. I will provide a link when available. Be sure to share your comments about these projects and I will bring them forward at future JAM meetings.

I will post the votes on any projects on this blog. Be sure to read and share your comments with Russ Willde, the co-chair of the JAM committee, as your comments will be included in JAM's recommendations to the TSC, as long they are submitted within one week of the JAM review of the project.

Some current projects include the creation of student network accounts.  Each student would have an account on the network providing an Exchange email account and file storage.  I believe that this project should not go forward as the tech support, infrastructure costs, and training requirements will be large and unnecessary.  The college currently has a mybvc portal and a FREE Google Apps for Edu subscription.  This package offers students over several GB of mail and file space.  They have access to gmail and Google Drive already.  Students in the Anytime Online program use these apps extensively as required, as do students across the college.  Be sure to leave your comments on this blog.

Another current project that should be further reviewed is the move of externally hosted solutions to internal hosting over concerns with data being hosted outside the immediate control of the college.  Websites and domains would be moved.  This project has not touched the department to date but may soon.  This may impact the JupiterGrades application or the use of mybvc.ca by instructors and students.  I will provide more information as this project becomes clearer.  Comment here.

As well, the college will be upgrading Agresso.  Previews and training will be provided.  Stay tuned.  

Criteria for the approval of projects was not discussed at the last meeting, but I did discuss the need for such with the Russ Wilde after the meeting.  I will be submitting criteria by email hopefully to be discussed by the next meeting.  Initial criteria should include:  the cost, the amount of human resources required, the impact on college services, departments and students, the training required, the technical support needed, integration with other or existing applications, match with current workflows, automation, extensibility through API, database architecture and exchange, and required use decisions. Please share any criteria you think should be considered.

To submit a project, a department or service representative, acting with permission, must email a request to the ITS Help Desk who will inform the ITS Project Management Office.  From there, the rep will be required to fill out a project proposal form.  I will attach a copy in my next post for your perusal.  The rep will then likely be asked to present your proposal at a determined JAM meeting. 

Another route would be to submit requests to your coordinator or the Dean so that it can be included in the department's annual business case submission to the ITS department.

In addition to projects, requests for new software or hardware purchases have been titled Change Requests to Standards.  These requests would involve a pilot and review by a panel of experts after the pilot to determine continuance.  I currently submitted a request for OMR software to mark exams using the photocopier scanning features.  Should you have any requests in mind, feel free to ask me any questions.  You can also make requests through the ITS Help Desk which will then turn the request over to the ITS PMO to respond.

Keep Jammin'