Meeting Logistics   
Attendees
Town Meeting
Agenda and Meeting Minutes
Tuesday Notes    Wednesday Notes    Thursday Notes
Pending Action Items
Action Items

Attendee Information

Following is a list of ITAC meeting attendees/invitees who plan on attending the meeting:

Scott McEwen

CR Regional Computer Specialist -- Denver, CO

Welcome and Introductions/Agenda Review
Presented by: Jim Nicholas (Chair)

Florida Integrated Science Center Overview
Presented by: Brown

• Dave Brown and Barry Rosen participated via conference call from a meeting in Orlando.

• Dave Brown gave an overview of the Science Center.

Ft. Lauderdale IT Overview
Presented by: Edgard Hernandez
Expected Outcome: Information Exchange

• Edgard Hernandez gave an overview of the Fort Lauderdale office’s IT operations

Florida Integrated Science Center IT Overview
Presented by: Gail Kalen and others
Expected Outcome: Information Exchange

• Gail Kalen and Rob Wertz (GD) gave an overview of IT operational issues for the Florida Integrated Science Center

Town Hall Meeting -
Presented by: ITAC/Center Staff

• Meeting began with very brief overview of Bureau IT issues (Exter), OWI update (Lins) and NWIS update (Ohe)
• Open discussion with FTL staff included Q&A regarding NWIS and implications of recent DOI web-site screening

LUNCH

Florida Integrated Science Center presentations and Discussion with ITAC
Presented by: Science Center Staff

• Geohydrologic data collection in Miami-Dade County (Michael Wacker)
• Numerical modeling of heat and salinity transport for Manatee habitats (Jeremy Decker)
• Two examples of ground-water modeling using SEAWAT (Michael Zygnerski)
• Getting the data out - South FLA ground water on the Web (Ronald Irvin)
• Red Dye Project in Florida (Michael Zygnerski)
• Consolidating four FLA NWIS databases into one ( Gail Kalen)

Communication from Bureau to WSC SA—Are Center Directors included?
Presented by: Paul Exter
Expected Outcome: Information updates

Discussed tasking of WSC IT staff by Bureau, rather than by Center Director; how to effectively communicate work that needs to be done; and how to recognize chain-of-command.

Exter and Nicholas will follow-up and recommend communication template to GIO. Nicholas will talk with NR REX regarding similar approach for Admin issues.

Discussion of Town Hall/Identification of Action Items
Presented by: ITAC

Discussed querying WSC staff regarding questions/concerns prior to ITAC meeting to promote town-hall discussion. ITAC decided to do this just prior to FTL meeting and it was not effective, most probably due to the timing of ITAC’s request (short notice) and FISC’s unique organizational structure.

Decision: Agreed to do this prior to next face-to-face meeting and see if better communication from ITAC engenders better response.

There were no specific action items identified as a follow-up to FTL staff questions or concerns.

NWIS server consolidation; IIS; UNIX training
Presented by: Brian Reece/Jess Griffin/Dane Ohe
Expected Outcome: Information exchange

This was an overview and discussion of WSC director feedback on the topic of NWIS server consolidation prompted by Bob Holmes email questionnaire in June. Recognizing that some level of consolidation will take place in the future, and that there is resistance to it in WSCs, ITAC discussed how to assist NWIS in addressing that resistance.

Nicholas will discuss with Holmes, who is on the NWIS Exec Steering Committee.

Also discussed standardizing server naming conventions.
Terri to propose based on Western Regions. Consensus on a naming convention to decide on an Alias. (TERRI)

Also discussed needs for UNIX training, as IT staff with UNIX experience reach retirement age.
Paul to coordinate a curriculum. For training SA’s on hands on tasks associated with NWIS and UNIX operations

Communication from Bureau to WSC SA - Are Center Directors included?
Presented by: Paul Exter, Jim Nicholas
Expected Outcome: Information exchange

BREAK

Result of ITAC prioritization of "projects"
Presented by: Katherine Lins
Expected Outcome: Information exchange

Bob appreciated recommendations he received from ITAC and xxxx(need to add list from Katherine.

ITAC prioritization of "projects" and Webinars
Presented by: Jim Nicholas
Expected Outcome: Information exchange

Agreed last summer’s effort to prioritize projects useful, but that it needed to be done earlier. The decision process worked well (multi-voting). We are still unsure as to the best approach to identify “projects” to consider. It would help if ITAC knew more about Bob’s interest, as that could affect ITAC meeting topics, venue, and discussions.

Decision: Discussion topic for next ITAC meeting

Discussed last meeting’s decision for ITAC to host Webinars highlighting “brightest and best” of the projects or IT applications we become aware of through our meetings. Agreed that selecting a single ITAC member to “own” this topic and ensure Webinars are announced and schedule would be a good idea.

Update from VPN - Enterprise Remote Access Services (RAS)
Presented by: Stoll
Expected Outcome: Information exchange

Enterprise Messaging System (Email) update
Presented by: Patty Damon and Daphne Wahl
Expected Outcome: Information update

NWIS site-based image database
Presented by: Sandy Williamson
Expected Outcome: Information exchange

Sandy gave a live demo of the photo database he had developed for organizing NAWQA field photos. ITAC agreed that WRD needs to address organizing and archiving field photos as they are becoming a critical part of our field records.

NAWQA - National Map Demo
Presented by: Sandy Williamson
Expected Outcome: Information exchange

www.Nationalmap.gov

WRD Web sites and Google
Presented by: David Boldt
Expected Outcome: Information exchange

Discussed whether or not to modify Water web sites to increase probability of Google hit.

Decision: I do not recall if an action or decision came out of this.

Network Performance Issues
Presented by: Tim McElhone and Jess Griffin
Expected Outcome: Information exchange

Discussed poor network performance for field offices and what, if anything, could be done to improve performance cost effectively.

ITAC put a document together and send it to Kevin in reference to the performance issues in the field offices. To raise awareness on the field structure – Tim will take the Action Item.

Web-page Framework visual comparisons
Presented by: Chris Leeth
Expected Outcome: Information exchange

DEMO

Tool for archiving geophysical logs
Presented by: Chris Leeth
Expected Outcome: Information exchange

DEMO

Review Potential New Action Items and Assign
Presented by: ITAC Members
Expected Outcome: Decide on actions, ownership, and communication path.

[Reference Action Items.]

[Outstanding Action Items.]

Changes in Chair and Membership
Presented by: ITAC Members
Expected Outcome: Discuss new chair and vice chair, as well as any member changes.

Decision: Sandy will continue to represent discipline offices.

Decision by unanimous vote: Donna Schiffer will become ITAC chair in January; Athena Clark will become Vice Chair.

Decision: This will be Jim’s last face to face unless the next meeting is in San Diego or Honolulu.

Donna and Terri will discuss with Bill Sexton location in WR for next ITAC meeting.

BREAK

Next Meeting Dates and Possible Locations
Presented by: ITAC Members

Donna and Terri will discuss with Bill Sexton a WR Center Director to replace Nicholas.

Nicholas offered to host a summer ITAC meeting in Michigan

Next Phone Call Dates:

1. November: 9th – 11am eastern
2. December: 8th – 11am eastern