| CNIC Work Group Summary, Dec 05 - Jan 06 |
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| Overview |
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This summary of CNIC work group activities for the period of December 2005 - January 2006 is provided by the CNIC Peer Communications Group. It is intended as a brief synopsis of the activities of various CNIC work groups.
With the exception of some delays in the area of State Data Center (SDC) procurements, the CNIC project is on schedule and under budget. The current risk assessment provided by the project's Quality Assurance contractor remains "low risk of failure."
The CNIC Project Office is managed by Julie Bozzi, PMP.
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| Network |
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The Network Implementation Team is jointly managed by Randy Whitehouse of ODOT, Al Grapoli of DHS, and Brian Sipe of DAS.
Consolidation of the State Data Center network is now complete and the SDC maintains functionality for its central management. Additionally, the Network groups have been working to develop and implement a WAN link consolidation plan, and a naming standard for the internal domain at the SDC has been decided.
The following are the accomplishments achieved by Network subgroups for December-January:
Network Management Subgroup
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Open Source Network Management server build completed and moved to the SDC.
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Seed files configured and loaded onto the open source server.
Engineering Subgroup
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Configured frame relay routers; baseline configurations pushed to all switches.
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Testing of QnQ trunking completed successfully and ready for migration.
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ACS server installed on the SDC floor; SolarWinds installed for network management.
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Upgraded DAS core network to 10Gig.
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Configured and tested FICON extension equipment.
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Installed fiber trays on the SDC floor.
Infrastructure Planning Subgroup
- DS3’s have been re-homed to the SDC; this completes DS3 moves.
- Development of the SDC wireless LAN design continues with completion expected in early February.
Network Operations Subgroup
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Updated drafts of network hotline procedures, process flow, and staffing schedule.
Note: The Network Security Subgroup is now a part of the full Security Work Group. Activities for the subgroup are now reported in the Security section of this summary.
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| Server |
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The Server Implementation Team is led by agency manager Derek Settlemoir of DAS.
Server team members are busy participating in the detail planning efforts at their respective agencies. Additional activities and accomplishments during this reporting period include:
- Development of specifications/requirements for Data Center Grade Servers along with a request for proposal. The project plan calls for this procurement in the June-July timeframe.
- Following a successful procurement process, two IBM p590 AIX servers and two IBM p550 AIX servers have been received at the data center. This completes procurement for IBM AIX servers.
- Work has begun on the detailed AIX server provisioning plan.
- Keyboard-Video-Mouse procurement is moving forward.
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| Mainframe |
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The Mainframe Implementation Team is led by agency manager Jim Long of DHS.
December-January work group activities and accomplishments:
- The process of gathering copies of agency zSeries and iSeries mainframe software licenses has been completed. This enables the SDC to begin license consolidation efforts.
- Gathering mainframe command center operational requirements.
- Development of zSeries mainframe integration, security, operational and transition plans.
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| Storage |
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The Storage Implementation Team is led by agency manager Deanna Dyer of DAS.
The procurement for ATL closed in late December. Storage team members have been participating in evaluating proposals. The intent to award has been released for the vendor MSI, who is providing an IBM solution for the tape library and virtual tape systems. The signed ATL contract is expected in early February. The disk procurement was launched in December; the team completed evaluations by the end of January. A signed contract for disk is expected in early February.
Other recent Storage team activities include:
- Review of agency Host Bus Adapters (HBA) and readiness to utilize the new storage devices being procured.
- Development of a plan for the SDC and agencies to optimize storage transition into the SDC. This is being done in conjunction with the Logistics team.
- Preliminary work on the Storage Area Network (SAN) fabric design.
- Development of a draft fiber cable management plan.
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| Security |
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The Security Implementation Team is led by agency manager Marshall Wells of ODOT.
The Security team's accomplishments during the months of December and January include:
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Network Security Management request for information released.
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Presented regulatory requirements process flow to Steering Committee.
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Development of acceptable Use Policy.
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Development of SDC Security Policies.
Network Security Subgroup activities:
- Firewall servers are built and being integrated into the infrastructure of the SDC.
- An interim IDS solution is up and running at the SDC. This is an open source solution managed by state staff.
- A product for log aggregation and correlation from security and network devices on the state network has been selected.
- First draft of remote access requirements has been completed.
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| Operations |
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The Operations Implementation Team is led by SDC Service Delivery Manager Dave Howard (formerly of ODOT). The Operations team is chartered to address the details of bringing the SDC to a fully operational state.
The main deliverable of this team during December-January was collection of agency requirements for SDC server racks. Other activities/deliverables in progress:
- SDC Command Center processes and operations plan (including scope).
- Floor plan for mainframe, storage and large servers.
- Server rack layout for ODOT, DHS and DAS.
- Finalizing power/connectivity requirements for south side of floor.
- Working with Storage team to finalize floor layout for Storage Area Network (SAN).
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| Logistics |
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The Logistics Implementation Team is led by DHS Project Manager Bryan Nealy. The charter of this team is to lead and support each CNIC participating agency with the migration planning process.
Activities and accomplishments in this reporting period:
- A relocation vendor representative is now on site at the SDC. Utilizing the expertise of a relocation vendor is a critical component of "move day" planning.
- A joint agency migration planning kickoff meeting was held in December. Attendees included the first four agencies to move to the SDC: ODOT, DHS, Employment and DAS.
- Individual agency migration planning meetings were held.
- The equipment for N layer discovery has been installed.
- N layer discovery servers have been identified by agency and location and a report finalized for SDC and agency management.
- Development of an asset tagging strategy.
- Preparation of the Configuration Management Data Base (CMDB) data model.
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| Accounting |
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The Accounting Work Group is led by agency manager Tami Dohrman of the Dept. of Corrections.
Activities of the Accounting work group during December-January include:
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Assisting with SDC operational issues.
- Development of options for agency asset transfer.
- Rate development for the 07-09 biennium. This includes establishing a list of SDC service areas, cost pools and related billing units.
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| Change Management |
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Organizational and Individual Change Management
The Change Management Work Group is facilitated by ODOT Project Manager Claudia Light. The charter of the Change Management group is to support agency staff and managers in managing the changes brought by the CNIC project.
Activities and accomplishments in this reporting period:
- Analysis of the second "change readiness" survey and presentation to CNIC Steering Committee.
- Finalizing a needs assessment and gap analysis following the change readiness training for agency managers; presenting the information to the CNIC Steering Committee.
- Development of a tool to assess the cultural environment of each of the CNIC participating agencies. This information will be used by agency chief information officers and the management team of the SDC as the cultural environment of the SDC is established.
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| Peer Communications |
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The Peer Communications Group is facilitated by Dennis Green of the Employment Department.
December-January activities:
- Discussion of the pros and cons of the current list of in scope staff and/or whether the list should be updated.
- Sharing union information related to the hiring process for the SDC. This included the disposition that members of AFSCME who are hired for SDC jobs will undergo a trial service period. AFSCME leaders would need to negotiate a similar agreement to have a benefit alignment with SEIU regarding trial service.
- Discussion of agency staff concerns following the posting of SDC position descriptions.
- Recruitment announcements will contain more detail than the PDs.
- DAS Personnel and SDC management will provide updated information about the hiring process to the staff eligible to apply (i.e. staff on the in scope list).
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