The HECN Administrative Systems (HAS) Steering Committee discussed the status of the WEB Initiative at its July meeting. In order to provide a secure environment for the project and at the same time ensure Y2K compliance for our existing mainframe environment we must delay the implementation of the first phase of the WEB Initiative, ALFI on the Web. We were targeting August as the time frame to begin production piloting of this phase with general statewide implementation to coincide with pre-registration for the spring 1999 - 2000 semester in early November. Continuance on this schedule will result in an unacceptable risk of compromising both Y2K compliance of our existing production systems and the security of our production environment as well as its associated information. The HECN has the responsibility of providing an environment that ensures the integrity of both the HECN database and the programs that manipulate and distribute the information from that database. The environment possible within the August/October time frame will not satisfactorily provide this level of security.
We are currently exploring the possibility of providing the first phase of the WEB Initiative for production piloting in the mid-February to early-March timeframe with statewide implementation for pre-registration for the Fall 2000-2001 semester which occurs beginning in late-March. Our initial exploration indicates that with the help of consultants providing both expertise and a portion of the implementation of the needed tools to ensure the appropriate level of security this time line is possible. There are possibilities that may further delay this time line. Some possibilities for delay are late changes from software vendors for Y2K compliance, changes in priorities that affect the deployment of HECN staff, and the availability of consultants as well as the resources to employ them to assist us with the implementation of a properly secured environment. We will provide additional information regarding the status of this timeline as we gain the knowledge needed to better understand the possibilities. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
If you have questions or comments regarding the WEB Initiative or its timeline please direct them to members of the HAS Steering Committee. The members of the committee are Grant Crawford, Mick Pytlik, Scott Mahar, Dorette Kerian, Rosi Kloberdanz, Marv Hanson, Greg Chalmers, and Gary Klein. Again, thank you for you patience and understanding.