ITANA Conference Call Minutes - May 12, 2011

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Attending
Jim Phelps, University of Wisconsin-Madison (chair)
Marina Arsiniev, University of California-Irvine
Leo Fernig, University of British Columbia
Paul Hobson, University of British Columbia
Matt Kolb, Michigan State University
Jim Leous, Penn State University
Piet Niederhausen, Georgetown University
Steve Olshansky, Internet2
Matt Smith, University of Connecticut
Rich Stevenson, University of Maryland
Karen Wetzel, Educause

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Action Items

(AI) - Jim - will follow-up with Educause conference organizers regarding registration questions.

(AI) - Jim - will organize a second conference call with the planning committee to discuss today's comments, and will follow-up with the group following their call.

(AI) - Leo - will follow-up with Renee Shuey to post Penn State's lifecyle documents.

(AI) - Matt - will ping Iowa for an SIS call to see if/when they are available.

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Face2Face Planning Update

See: https://spaces.at.internet2.edu/display/itana/Face2Face+Meetings

Four on Planning Committee
Matt Kolb (Michigan State)
Paul Hobson (UBC)
Chris Eagle (U of MI)
Jim Phelps, (UW-Madison)

F2F Outcomes:

  • Feedback in each of the areas for further work on the ITANA calls
  • Participants leave with their own goals/tasks to address at their own institutions, as a result of working sessions
  • 1-2 "hot topics" and/or projects for ITANA to address over the next year
  • Professional development goals for participants as a take-away

Morning session:

  • Introductions
  • Starting-up an EA Practice
  • Growing an EA Practice

Afternoon Session:

  • Practice of EA - Professional Development
  • Next Steps - Going Forward

Comments:

  • Consider student value chain, researcher value chain in regards to lifecycle management.
  • How do we connect high-level, conceptual work to "on-the-ground" activities in a meaningful way? (e.g. Business Architecture vs. Enterprise Architecture: who owns the process? what are the issues surrounding buy-in? how do EAs have an impact on their campus, leadership?)
  • Travel funding continues to be an issue affecting attendance.
  • Educause registration opens on May 17, 2011. If you are staying at the conference hotel, register early!

(AI) - Jim - will follow-up with Educause conference organizers regarding registration questions.

(AI) - Jim - will organize a second conference call with the planning committee to discuss today's comments, and will follow-up with the group following this call.

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Lifecycle Update
(Leo)

See: https://spaces.at.internet2.edu/display/itana/Lifecycle+Management+and+Analysis

(AI) - Leo - will follow-up with Renee Shuey to post Penn State's lifecyle documents.

Discussion:

  • The group will address lifecycle ontology over the next few calls.
  • Using a "core diagram" is useful in structuring lifecycle documents.
  • A call on SIS would be useful, if there is interest.

(AI) - Matt - will ping Iowa for an SIS call to see if/when they are available for.

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Analysis of EA Tools

  • Based on surveys, majority of EA tools are MS Office tools (Visio, Word, PowerPoint, Excel).
  • Is this problematic? Are these the best tools to use? What are the advantages/drawbacks of using these tools to create EA artifacts?
  • Using "heavier-weight" tools (e.g. UML models) can limit access to and usability of the artifacts.
  • Wikis as a viable solution?

Discussion:

  • Education and communication "trump" so many other responsibilities of the EA; effective and accessible communication tools are important.
  • Communication of an idea may be different from modeling, which is different from developing. Tools can provide a framework for the EA to move through his/her thought-process.
  • Why are we using particular tools? What are the goals for their use? Which tool best fits the goal?

See: https://spaces.at.internet2.edu/display/itana/Tools+-+reviews+and+comments

See also the ITANA Book Club: https://spaces.at.internet2.edu/display/itana/ITANA+Book+Club

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Next Call: Thursday, May 26, 2011
2:00 p.m. (ET) / 1:00 p.m. (CT) / noon (MT) / 11:00 a.m. (PT)

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