Contract for Services from the Computer Science Department

FY03

For the period July 1 2002 - June 30, 2003 the Department of Computer Science and Engineering will provide for the Institute of Technology, management of the networks and UNIX-based operations of the IT instructional laboratories. This agreement covers the UNIX management of the following laboratories: CS 4-250, ME 308, Lind Hall 24, Lind Hall 26, U of M Rochester Center, and North Hennepin Community College. The Department of Computer Science and Engineering will also share management of the Microsoft Windows servers with ADCS and support access to UNIX home directories for Windows users. The departmental Computing Facilities Group will not manage departmental labs in other departments and will not provide nor manage in-lab consultants.

IT will pay 50% of the salary of one manager, four FTE systems staff members, and 70% of six students (20 hours per week each) as outlined in following spreadsheet. IT will also pay $5000 for staff training / continuing education. The Department of Computer Science will match this amount. The primary role of the student employees is to provide the help-line support for 89 hours per week. The CS department will pay for one half of 54 hours per week or 30% of the total and IT will pay for 70% of the total. This is because the extended hours of help-line operation were requested by IT.

In addition we are proposing to hire another part-time student employee who will work on documentation, web page information, and user support. In the past we have done a good job keeping the latest and greatest software and hardware installed and working, but students have complained about the lack of decent documentation describing what is available and how to us it. We also have a problem with out-of-date information on the web pages. This is an area that systems administrators are notoriously bad at, and this person’s sole responsibility will be to make using the IT Labs easier from a student’s perspective. The student position will be 30 hours per week at $16 per hour.

These figures represent an estimated 3% increase in salary for each full-time employee, but the exact amount of the increase is unknown at this time. It also represents a 2.32% increase in the fringe benefit rate for Civil Service and a 6.9% increase in the fringe benefit rate for P&A.

1. Services Provided

Services shown here are provided for UNIX systems only unless specifically indicated.

PHYSICAL SECURITY

Provide an operating environment with smoke and heat detectors, and sprinkler systems to control any damage to UNIX servers from fire. Keep servers on 12-hour UPS backup systems to protect against power failure. Control access to computer rooms to systems staff only to prevent any physical attack.

DATA AND NETWORK SECURITY

Monitor systems for break-ins. Close accounts and force password change when accounts have been compromised. Ensure that proper procedures are in place, which require the use of passwords that meet acceptable security standards. Monitor and implement CERT advisories that identify security problems in vendor supplied software. Implement appropriate safeguards to prevent unauthorized use of systems.

SOFTWARE

Install, update, and configure course software packages. Manage mail, mailing lists, news, etc. Install, update, and maintain system software. Manage licenses (with ADCS). Make long-term software plans (with ITICC Technical Committee, departments and ADCS). Ensure that only authorized people can make changes to systems and user software. Also ensure that changes to systems software are authorized by policies established within the ITICC. Establish proper procedures that will detect and/or prevent any virus from infecting software.

ACCOUNTING/SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION

Create, maintain, and audit student and faculty accounts and groups. Develop and maintain accounting software (quotas, validation, etc.). Regular monitoring and reporting on systems operation performance.

HARDWARE

Maintain and continue to extend network infrastructure and interfaces. Install and maintain hardware (workstations, printers, etc.). Order needed hardware service, Maintain and support classroom computing (projection / network / etc.) in the EE/CSci building, and integrate new hardware architectures. Manage maintenance contracts on equipment.

OPERATIONS

Ordering and maintaining relevant supplies (e.g., tapes). Maintain printer queues, job queues, etc. Provide access to tape drives and other limited-access peripherals, and on-call services to handle problems. Develop and test backup procedures and policies for system and user software. Maintain off-site storage of backup media.

GENERAL SUPPORT

Respond to questions about UNIX and systems problems. Staff a help line (phone, e-mail, and in-person) from 7:00 to 22:00 Monday through Thursday, 7:00 to 20:00 Friday, and 10:00 to 18:00 Saturday and Sunday. Provide UNIX training for lab attendants. Maintain up-to-date system documentation

ADMINISTRATION/PLANNING

Hire and train student and full-time staff. Work with the ITICC Technical Committee to provide advice to departments on computing requirements of courses, manage IT lab requests, purchasing new hardware & software (including negotiations with vendors).

JOINT RESPONSIBILITIES WITH ADCS

Develop and implement printing solution (charging). Look for useful software (e.g., printer acct., management tools) Manage Windows NT server.