Constitution of the MTU System Administration Council Name----------------------------------------------------------------- The name of this organization is MTU System Administration Council and can be referred to as mtusysadm for discussion purposes. Constituents--------------------------------------------------------- The principal mission of the University is education, research, and public service, as outlined in MTU's Strategic Plan. To assist in accomplishing this mission, MTU uses technology and, more specifically, computers and computingrelated technology. Every University department/division which uses or supports computer systems and MTU's network is a constituent of this Council. Responsibility and Authority----------------------------------------- The Council's four primary duties are assigned in the Computer System Administration Guidelines adopted by the CEX September 27, 1994. These duties are: 1. Assistance with hiring and analysis of support needs. 2. Education among the members of the Council. 3. Communication and coordination of technical standards and issues across campus. 4. Council Management. The Guidelines further grant that the Council has the responsibility and authority to discuss, establish and disseminate reasonable, campus-wide, technical standards for issues proposed by the University community. In addition the Council is a subcommittee of the CAC and the Chair of the Council is a voting member of the CAC. Organizational Structure---------------------------------------------- Members Each voting member of the Council is responsible for representing their department/division(s) views and for informing them of on-going discussions and ramifications of proposed standards. Technical decisions of the Council may have ramifications on the budgets, procedures, services, of those represented which are not always obvious. Therefore, it is imperative that the department/division(s) understand the impact of discussions and make their views known to the Council through their representative. Members are subsequently responsible for communicating final Council decisions to their department/division(s). Full Council The CEx Computer System Administration Guidelines outline that Departments[Divisions] are accountable through their system administrator to the University for the participation in the technical development, deployment, and maintenance of campus network applications and adherence to campus technical standards. September 27, 1994 The Council is a subcommittee of the CAC and the Chair of the Council is a voting member of the CAC. This ensures that technical ramifications of decisions can be heard and the main issues of the Council are taken formally to the CEx. The Council has the responsibility and authority to discuss, establish, and disseminate reasonable, campus-wide, technical standards for issues proposed by the University community. These standards are recorded as "MTU RFCs" (or MTU Request For Comment), similar to those used to run the Internet. The RFCs are approved/rejected by consensus vote of the Council to ensure that all department/division(s) can comply. After approval, RFCs are considered recommendations to the. Alternative technical methods, techniques, protocols, and procedures may be used by a department/division unless they interfere with the established MTU RFCs or compromise the integrity of other departmental/divisional efforts, MTU's network, or MTU's presence on the Internet. The Council also has the responsibility to assure all technical issues of interest to the campus can be discussed and addressed in an open and collegial environment. Decisions that affect University policy, other than those relating to technical issues, must be referred by the Council to the appropriate person/University committee for consideration, input, and combined judgment. Although the Council is not responsible for non-technical matters of computing policy, it may issue opinion statements or proposals regarding current campuswide computing policy issues. These would be forwarded to the CAC. Leadership of the Council There will be three officers of the Council: Chair, Vice-Chair, and Information Officer. * The Chair - Conducts Council meetings - Represent Council at CAC and CEx meetings - Liaison to IT - Encouragement of meeting attendance * The Vice-Chair - Assist the Chair - Handles rumor control - Ensures that subcommittees are populated and functioning - Handles absentee ballots for upcoming votes - Presides over RFAs * The Information Officer - Takes and records meeting minutes - Takes attendance - Maintains mtusysadm website - Collects agenda info, posts, and distributes at least 3 days prior to the meeting - Maintains membership list - Maintains council email lists (except for mtusysadm-secure-l which will maintained by the campus IT Security Officer). Leadership positions will have a term of one year and must be held by voting members. Nominations for officers will be made at the last meeting in June. Officer elections will be held during the first meeting in July. Subcommittees There are two types of subcommittees; ad-hoc and standing. Ad-hoc subcommittees are temporary and generally focused on a specific issue or group of issues. Standing subcommittees are permanent and are defined in the constitution. E-Mail Lists The Council will have three standing e-mail lists: - mtusysadm-info-l This list will be restricted to list members only for posting and membership with be restricted to “@mtu.edu” addresses. It will be used for dissemenation of General information. - mtusysadm-tech-l This list will be restricted to list members only for posting and membership with be restricted to “@mtu.edu” addresses. It will be used for technical discussions. - mtusysadm-secure-l This list will be a closed list, restricted to voting members of the Council and their designees. This list will be used for dissemination of any information that is confidential or security related. Ad-hoc mailing lists (in the “mtusysadm-*-l space) may be created as necessary at the discretion of the Chair. Functions----------------------------------------------------------------- The primary functions of the Council are derived from the Computer System Administration Guidelines passed by the Computer Executive Committee (CEx)in September 1994. These include, o Assistance with hiring and analysis of support needs o Education among the members of the Council o Communication and coordination of technical standards and issues across campus o Council management In general, the Council will function as a forum for technical issues regarding the interoperability of networked computer devices. It will also function as a communication link among technical staff across campus. o Assistance with hiring and analysis of support needs: The Council, upon request, can assist department/division(s) with planning and evaluation of system support needs as well as hiring of computer systems personnel. 1. Assistance with hiring at request of department/division -- A voting member(s) of the Council can assist with job descriptions, questions, and interviewing. 2. Analysis of support needs -- The Council can assist in the evaluation of performance / configuration of computing system infrastructure, and evaluation of support personnel needs. This function is the purview of the Support Needs Subcommittee. o Education among the members of the Council: * Currently, the University spends close to $700,000 annually in salaries for staff that do system administration (not necessarily full-time). Given the rate of technological change system administrators must handle, MTU should focus attention on the continual education of the University's system administration personnel. An annual budget should be established. Some benefits of a budget would be the ability to pay for video conferences or reference books of special interest to system administrators, as well as being able to send people to conferences. * Cited from CEx system administration guidelines from 1994 The Council will function as an information/methods sharing forum for members and other network and system administrators. The Education Subcommittee will be responsible for the development of the Council's education plan. o Communication and coordination of technical standards and issues across campus: MTU is a distributed computing environment and as such relies heavily on strong communication ties among system administrators. Communication and coordination entails: 1. Discussing, deciding, disseminating technical standards to effected constituents. 2. Coordinating to cover absences, sharing resources and information, and implementing new methods or procedures. o Council management: * The Council would elect its own leadership, set its own membership rules, and be responsible for insuring that its members are continually educated. * Cited from CEx system administration guidelines from 1994 The Constitution Subcommittee will be responsible for ongoing development of the constitution as well as resolution of interpretation issues. If a subcommittee's report affects policy at a higher level, the Chair of the Council and the Chair of the subcommittee have a responsibility to take the report to the appropriate person(s)/University committee(s) for a decision. Operational procedures---------------------------------------------------- Meetings Open meetings of the Council will be biweekly. Special open meetings may be called as necessary. They must be called by the Chair and must be announced (with an agenda) at least four business days prior to the proposed meeting date. Special closed meetings may be called as necessary to discuss impending campus network security issues. They must be called by the Chair. They will be open to all voting members and additional outside individuals as invited by the Council officers. After the issue is resolved, the meeting will be recorded. Funding The Council is funded through the annual budgetary process. Use of funds is determined by the Education Subcommittee. Membership * Voting Members Each department MUST have a representative, and each division MAY have representation other than their departmental representative. A voting member can represent more than one department and/or division. The voting member's name will be put forth by each head of the department and the person is expected to meet the requirements outlined below. 1. Members are knowledgeable about departmental/divisional technology needs. Members of the Council must be knowledgeable about current and future department/division plans and budgets; as well as how technology can be integrated into these plans. 2. Members represent the views of the sponsoring department/division(s). How Council members gather this information is the responsibility of the division. 3. Members are MTU employees who actively support the system and network inside the department/division they represent. Council members must be involved in both the department/division plans and the implementations of the technical standards. This is so they understand the technical ramifications and possible related budgetary and procedural implications for the department/division. A voting member who has missed 4 consecutive meetings (including the vote meeting) will not be counted as part of the voting membership when determining quorum. A member may designate a proxy for a meeting. The person acting as a proxy must identify that during roll call. In this case, the member will not be counted as absent for the given meeting. Once a member misses 4 consecutive meetings, the information officer will notify the Council Chair who will issue an advisory notice to the members department. * Participatory Members In addition to voting members, many divisions on campus have several employees that support the system and network in that division. It is seen that those individuals would be a valuable resource and should also be recognized by the mtusysadm Council. Therefore, the current voting member from that division can appoint additional person(s) from their division as a participating member(s). A participating member SHOULD meet most of the above requirements for a voting member. This member will be encouraged to attend meetings and be solicited for input and his/her expertise. However, this member will NOT have the ability to vote. * General Membership Departments and/or divisions can change their representative(s) if they feel their best interest is not being served. Any member, whether voting or participatory, should still meet the requirements listed above. In the event that a department/division is removed from the University, that member will also be removed from voting status. There are no term length restrictions. Officers * Chain of Command - In the event that the Chair is unavailable to conduct a meeting or temporarily perform the duties of Chair, succession of command is as follows: 1) Vice-Chair 2) Information Officer 3) Constitution Subcommittee Chair 4) Education Subcommittee Chair 5) Support Needs Subcommittee Chair 6) Meeting cancelled. - In the event that the Vice-Chair is temporarily unavailable to perform assigned duties, they will be performed by the Information Officer. - In the event that the Information Officer is temporarily unavailable to perform the duties assigned, succession of command is as follows: 1) Vice-Chair 2) Member at large selected by Chair * Vacancies - Chair Vacated The Vice-Chair is made the interim Chair. Nominations for Chair and Vice-Chair are solicited at the next meeting, with elections to be held at the following meeting. If Vice-Chair is elected to the office of Chair, proceed with elections for the office of Vice-Chair. If the Vice-Chair is not elected to the office of Chair, then the Vice-Chair retains that office. The election process is then terminated. - Vice-Chair Vacated There will be no interim Vice-Chair. Nominations for Vice-Chair are solicited at the next meeting, with elections to be held at the following meeting. Responsibilities of the Vice-Chair are assumed by the Information Officer. - Information Officer Vacated The Vice-Chair is made the interim Information Officer. Nominations for Information Officer are solicited at the next meeting, with elections to be held at the following meeting. * Officer Removal Any voting member who would like to propose the removal of an elected officer must submit, in writing, a petition stating their reasons along with three other voting member signatures to the Chair of the Constitution Subcommittee. The Chair of the Constitution Subcommittee will announce the petition and the need for a confidence vote during the next meeting. Secret ballot voting will then be conducted during the next 2 weeks, with results given at the following meeting. The result of the vote is effective immediately upon tabulation. There are no provisions for an appeal. Proposals for MTU RFCs A topic or issue becomes a proposal when a written recommendation is submitted to the Council by a representative of the campus community. A Council voting member must be named as the sponsor of the proposal to ensure that requested information is provided concerning the issue, a decision is made, and the solution is implemented, if needed. To change an RFC, a proposal is submitted to create a new RFC, superceding the existing one. If passed, the old RFC will be altered to refer to the new one. Proposals for Opinion Statements Any voting member of the Council may propose that the council issue an Opinion Statement. The member shall propose the Opinion by presenting a draft for discussion at a regular Council meeting. The Opinion Statement must be authored by a voting member and supported by 3 additional voting members to be considered for Council support. Subcommittees Ad-hoc Subcommittees are formed and given their charge by the Chair of the Council. The Chair of each Subcommittee will make recommendations to the Council after their findings are complete. If the recommendation is rejected by the Council, the subcommittee must reconvene and re-evaluate its recommendations, unless the Council decides otherwise. The Ad-hoc Subcommittees serve at the request of the Council and only the Council can vote as to whether the Ad-hoc Subcommittee can disband and/or the topic be dropped. Standing Subcommittees will consist of 3-5 Council members. Openings will be filled at a regular Council meeting by volunteers. In the event that there are more volunteers than open positions, the Council will fill the position through a name drawn lottery. If membership falls below the minimum number of members and there is an insufficient number of volunteers, the Council Chair will appoint sufficient members. Subcommittee Chairs, both standing and ad-hoc, are appointed by and serve at the discretion of the Council Chair. Subcommittee Chairs must be voting members. Changes to this constitution Changes to this constitution may be made at any time. A voting member can put forth a proposal/amendment, and the Council then discusses and votes on the changes. Voting Proposals (for MTU RFCs or Opinion Statements) must be on the agenda and discussed for at least one meeting. After discussion is over, a voting member may call for a vote to be made at the next meeting. At the subsequent vote meeting a voting member may delay the vote to the next meeting. Only one delay period is allowed per proposal. Voting for MTU RFCs and Council Opinion Statements is done by a non-secret ballot. Voting for MTU RFCs is done by consensus (a proposal passes if there are no objecting votes). If the Council does not approve a proposal for an MTU RFC, an RFA may be raised. A voting member that represents more than one department, may cast a single vote on behalf of all departments represented, or may cast individual votes for each department. Opinion Statements must be approved by a majority of quorum before they may be submitted to the CAC. Any Opinion Statement that is approved by a majority of quorum will be forwarded by the Council Chair to the Chair of the CAC before the next regular Council meeting. Voting members who voted against an Opinion Statement that passes may issue a dissenting opinion(s). The desire to issue such an opinion(s) must be called for immediately following the approval of the Opinion. The Chair will be responsible for coordinating the development of the dissenting opinion(s). This must be written before the next regular Council meeting. At that time one copy must be provided to the council for its records and one copy must be provided to the Council Chair to be forwarded to the CAC Chair. The dissenting opinion(s) does not have to be voted on by the Council. Officers are elected by a majority of quorum. Voting for officers will be conducted by secret ballot during the vote meeting. A committee of two nonvoting members picked from at large during the vote meeting will be responsible for distributing and collecting ballots, tallying votes and conveying results to the Council during the election process. In the event that no one receives a majority during the initial vote, there will be a runoff vote between the top two vote getters. In the event that the vote ends in a tie, the winner will be determined by the flip of a coin. Removal of an officer requires approval by 2/3 of the voting members of the Council. Secret ballot voting for removal of officers is handled by the Constitution Subcommittee, with final ballots due 24hrs prior to the next meeting. The officers will be notified of the results prior to the meeting, with the full Council being notified during the meeting. Changes/amendments to this Constitution require approval by 2/3 of the voting members of the Council. Proposals must be on the agenda and discussed for at least one meeting. After discussion is over, a voting member may call for a vote to be made at the next meeting. At the subsequent vote meeting a voting member may delay the vote to the next meeting. Only one delay period is allowed per proposal. Voting is done by a non-secret ballot. Request For Action An RFA is raised in response to an impasse in voting on a proposal. An RFA may be raised by any voting member to the Council Chair. The Vice-Chair and involved parties must follow the escalation procedure below when an RFA is called: 1. The parties talk to each other and try to resolve the issue themselves. If this is not possible then the RFA proceeds to step 2. 2. The Council officers will meet with the parties to negotiate an agreement. If no agreement is made then the RFA proceeds to step 3. 3. The Council officers will meet with the parties and the following people to negotiate an agreement: Department head/chair/manager (or designee), Director of Information Technology (or designee), and other people as requested. If in any of the steps, an agreement can be made without any modification, the proposal is passed. If the proposal was modified in any way, it must be reproposed to the Full Council. If the RFA process can not be completed within 6 wks, the proposal will be defeated. Definitions Consensus 100% agreement of cast votes from voting members. For consensus voting a proposal passes if there are no objecting votes. Department Department is defined as all University recognized departments as listed and approved by the Provost and Board of Control. Division Division is defined as distinct section of a department that has distinct needs that may be different from the governing department. These needs may include but are not limited to their own servers, budget, and computing system personnel. Member Member, unless otherwise designated, is meant to include both the voting members and participatory members. Quorum A voting quorum includes both the voting members present at the voting meeting and absentee ballots sent by voting members to the Vice-Chair prior to the meeting, and is to be at least 2/3 of the Council voting membership. Technical standard Decisions of the Council appear as "MTU RFCs" (or MTU Request For Comment), similar to those used to run the Internet. These RFCs are recommended campussupported technical methods, techniques, protocols, and procedures which will work with the network topology and application configurations. Alternative technical methods, techniques, protocols, and procedures may be used by a department/division unless they interfere with the established MTU RFCs or compromise the integrity of other departmental/divisional efforts or the MTU or external network.