The Technology Newsletter for the University of Hawaii Community

In This Issue:

As with any new project, policies and procedures may be modified over time. The general process to request ids described here may be different as various situations arise. For now, the procedure to request UNIX IDs is as follows:

• UH Faculty and Staff: Requests may be placed in-person or by calling the Workstation Lab. *. You must provide your full name and department.
• UH Manoa students (graduate and undergraduate): You must be registered for classes on the Manoa campus. You must request your ID in person at the Workstation Lab*. Please bring proof of registration for the current semester (pink slip or white slip) and a valid picture ID**.
• Non-Manoa UH students (graduate and undergraduate): Requests for IDs should be directed to your campus computing representative. [Each campus has their own method of providing IDs for their students.]
• College of Continuing Education and Community Services (CCECS) credit students: You must be registered for CCECS credit courses. Requests for ids must be done in person at the Workstation Lab*. Please bring proof of registration for the current semester and a valid picture ID**.
• Others: If you have access to electronic mail, send your questions to:
  afa_info@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu

Changes in ITS - Access for All

Of most impact to students is the initiation of our Access for All project. Planning for this started in the Computing Center last year, and ready or not here we come! The goal of this project is to provide uniform access to computing and networking resources for every member of the University community (potentially over 50,000 people). We believe that these information resources, like the library, are becoming a necessary and vital part of how the University teaches and learns. Over the next months we expect to smooth out the rough edges of this ambitious project.

Fiscal officers and department secretaries will be most delighted at the discontinuation of our B1 (or "funny money," as it was affectionately known) funding scheme. This, coupled with a simplified billing scheme for our diminishing amount of external use, will save significant time, energy and paper both in your offices and for us.

Finally, in this issue you will see the announcement of the award of a major bid for a new Financial Management Information System for the University. This is the most ambitious new information system project undertaken at the University for a number of years. Under the leadership of the Fiscal Services Office we are planning an initial implementation date of July 1995. This initial implementation will be a portable on-line system built with current software technology. This is the base upon which the University will be able to develop enhancements to improve services as needs and opportunities dictate for years to come.

Welcome to the new semester, and we hope you enjoy the changing landscape!

David Lassner

We have now extended our open access policy to all faculty, staff, and students, and with this change, eliminated our internal accounting system and the B1 funding system. This includes the use of the UHCC Accounting Number and UH Form 30 that were required to obtain computing services from the UH Computing Center. The generation, printing, and distribution of computer usage reports and billing statements for internal users has been discontinued as of June 30, 1994. We hope that this change will make our computing facilities and services more accessible to the faculty, staff, and students of the University.

Software AG proposed NATURAL/FRS Version 1.1.1 for the University's FMIS. NATURAL/FRS is the result of a 1989 Software AG, Information Associates (IA), and Texas A&M University joint venture. IA's COBOL based Financial Records System (FRS) was redesigned and re-engineered using NATURAL, Software AG's fourth generation language (4GL) and the ADABAS data base management system (dbms). NATURAL/FRS has subsequently been completely redesigned in 1991. NATURAL/FRS is currently installed at nine (9) higher education institutions, including Texas A&M University, Cornell University Medical College, University of Houston, Brown University, and Charles County Community College.

ADABAS and NATURAL are the current ITS dbms and applications programming development language of choice for "core" administrative applications, i.e., financial, student, human resources, and budget. ITS currently has many of the ADABAS (data base technology family of products), NATURAL (applications engineering family of products), and ENTIRE (distributed computing family of products) suite of products licensed for the IBM ES/9000 mainframe, DEC VAX Station 4000, and IBM PCs and Macintoshes. ITS has reengineered and implemented the UH Student, Casual, and Overload Payroll Information System (SCOPIS) and the UHM Student (Financial) Aids Information System (SAIS) on the IBM mainframe and implemented UH West Oahu's Student Information System on a DEC VAX Station 4000 using NATURAL and ADABAS products. ITS is also licensing a number of these products for the RS/6000.M

The FMIS Project Team is developing the implementation plan details and will be focusing on eight (8) major initiatives over the next four months.

1. Develop the FMIS project documentation standards and procedures, including programming specifications, i.e., Standards and Quality Assurance
2. Inventory and coordinate the distribution and version management of documentation, review acceptance test plan, and oversee the formal NATURAL /FRS testing, i.e., NATURAL/FRS Acceptance Testing
3. Complete the base technical overview training and approximately 500 hours of additional technical training and consulting, i.e., NATURAL/FRS Technical Training
4. Complete the base functional overview training and approximately 800 hours of additional functional training and consulting, i.e., NATURAL/FRS Functional Training
5. Finalize the review of all unmet functional requirements, i.e., Software Modifications Reviews.
6. Create object codes and account controls, chart of accounts for all FMIS project participants, global subcode edit rules and tables, required optional chart of account attributes, and specifications for new/additional attributes for FMIS, i.e., Chart of Accounts Development.
7. Establish multi-campus processing environments, i.e., Establish NATURAL/ FRS Tests Areas.
8. Design specification reports, data conversions, subsystem interfaces, and VAX fiscal system interface, i.e., Conversion and Interfaces.

The FMIS Project recognizes the importance of the timely dissemination of pertinent information during the implementation phase. We are looking at various information delivery methods, including this and other newsletters, electronic discussion lists and information servers, meetings, information hotlines, etc. Please send your suggestions and comments to:

FMIS Project
% Fiscal Services Office
1406 Lower Campus Road
FAX: 956-9497
Email: fmis@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu

A traditional software product is a box or environmentally safe package with colorful designs on the store shelves or in a magazine ad. This package contains a manual set (documentation), media set of either diskettes or a CD-ROM, and a license-to-use (usually a sheet of paper). The software product is usually designed for a single user or computer unless otherwise stated in the licensing agreement. Software is expensive because of the high overhead costs such as the colorful wrapper, the duplication of the media and the manual sets, and the marketing expenses. Some store bought packages offer free technical support through a toll-free number and you can request updates (small fixes) from the technical support line for the shipping fee. If the software product has an upgrade or new version, there will be an upgrade (major improvements or additional features) price that usually ranges from $40 to $200.

A price list is a roster of software products and their prices from a reseller. The software products offered on price lists are the same as the store bought packages. Examples of price lists are magazine ads for software warehouses and the Microsoft Select Program described in our last newsletter. Price lists are not formal UH contracts; therefore, the university's procurement rules for quotations need to be followed. Most price lists offer volume discounts for products if you purchase more than two of the same product.

What is a site license program? This is a question that is rapidly spreading across the University of Hawai`i system. A site license program is a formal UH contract with a software company which allows the university to purchase the company's software at discounted prices. The discount is different from a price list discount because the company separates their software products into its component parts and sells each component a la carte. For the first year or defined period of time, updates and upgrades to the software are covered in the initial license fee. A single contact person (administrator) is designated and is responsible for the distribution of the software and tracking the software licenses. In some site license programs, the administrator is required to provide some technical support for the software. The money the company saves by shifting the responsibilities to the university is passed on to you.

The figure below shows the differences between a store bought packages and a site license program package.

Finally, a maintenance agreement involves a contract between the software company and the university. The contract covers only the software products legally purchased by the university for a nominal fee. The nominal fee allows the university to obtain all updates or upgrades for the software during the term of the contract which is usually one year. Like the site license programs, a central contact person is responsible for distributing the updates and upgrades and for tracking the legal licenses.

For more information,

For a copy of the WordPerfect CAP price list or any questions, please contact Sandi McGinnes or check UHINFO.

For a copy of the SPSS agreement form and price list or any questions, please contact Sandi McGinnes.

The following new services were made available:

1. Enhanced Billing Methods for Callers - Users are now able to bill 9 + 00 operator services calls to their credit cards (i.e., JCB, VISA, Mastercard, calling cards).
   
2. Better Fraud Control - 9 + 00 operator services calls will be identified as UHM calls, and will be monitored with greater accuracy.
   
3. Enhanced Foreign Language Capabilities - U.S. Sprint operators have the ability to communicate in seven foreign languages: Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Italian, and Korean. Several other languages are available at special transfer positions.
   
4. Customized Operator Screen - Because each 9 + 00 call will be identified as a UHM call, U.S. Sprint operators are able to supply UHM users specific information such as user dialing patterns, mainland and international long distance rates, police and fire transfers, and complete billing instructions.

PART II : DIALUP IP.

ANSWER: You can.

Using the dialup IP protocols, either "PPP" or "SLIP", you can make your home computer into a bonafide Internet host. PPP and SLIP are two slightly different ways of extending the Internet across a serial link, such as the one that is created when you dial into the UH modem pool.

"Why would I want to do dialup IP?", you might ask.

Consider the example of the two-step file transfer described above. Suppose you find a useful program which is made to run on your home computer. With the old way of doing business, you have to ftp the file from the remote machine where you found it, and then download it to your home computer, using some modem-oriented transfer protocol such as kermit, xmodem, or zmodem. With dialup IP, it works like this -- you run ftp on your home computer, and then FTP the file to your home computer, cutting out the middle man, so to speak. Dialup IP passes the savings on to you.

But wait, there's more!

If you have used the networking capabilities of either the PCs and Macintoshes in the labs in either Keller Hall or Sinclair Library (CLIC), then consider what it would be like to use those types of network applications at your home. There are clients available for Archie, Gopher, World-Wide-Web, telnet, FTP, NTP (a time protocol which will set the clock in your home computer from an accurate standard), USENET news readers, etc. For graphical user interfaces such as Windows and Macintosh, the applications take all of the drudgery out of tasks such as FTP -- you can retrieve a file from half way around the world by clicking on it!

"OK, so how do I try it out?" you may ask.

Login to a UH host, such as UHUNIX and type "uhinfo" to start Gopher. Select "Computing and Technology" (Number 4), and then "UH Network Services". You will be presented with a menu that will offer info on who is eligible (UH and Community College students, faculty, and staff), how to get started on various types of computers and operating systems (i.e. MSDOS, Windows, Macintosh), and general information on networking. The reason that two such similar protocols (PPP and SLIP) are supported is that the software available for different types of computers usually uses one or the other, but not both. PPP is prevalent with Macintoshes, for instance, and SLIP is well implemented on PC's. Although there are completely free-of-charge implementations of SLIP for MSDOS, the viable options for Windows and Macintosh may involve some minimal expenditure.

IP stands for "Internet Protocols", which are comprised mostly of TCP and UDP, which are the underlying protocols for all of your favorite network programs, such as telnet, FTP, Gopher, Archie, etc.

PPP stands for "point-to-point protocol" and is and adaptation of a method used to link Digital Equipment Corporation PDP style computers years ago. It has been revitalized somewhat now that a standardized scheme has been invented to use it to communicate via the Internet Protocols across a serial link.

SLIP stands for "Serial Line Internet Protocol" and is just that, a scheme for communicating IP across a serial link. The type of SLIP that is supported by the Annex III server at UH is CSLIP, or compressed SLIP, which is an option in all popular SLIP software.

Contact Nancy Roth for VAX WordPerfect training and information, a handout on uploading/downloading files between PC and VAX, or other related information.

Nancy Roth, 956-7433
nroth@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu

Forms can be created with WP InForms Designer and filled out with WP InForms Filler - all via electronic communication with electronically encrypted signatures. WP Informs' features include: complete security; sophisticated database connectivity, interaction and query; electronic routing of forms (with WordPerfect Office); many electronic form design features; and hardcopy support.

Reservation Policies Per Lab:

The labs will now be used on a first come first serve basis. However, faculty and staff may reserve the lab to conduct classes. Request for reservations must be at least one week in advance knowing: No reservations will be allowed in the Mac Lab while there is a reservation in the alcove of CLIC Lab and vice versa. No reservations will be allowed in the IBM Lab while there is reservation on the IBMs in CLIC Lab and vice versa. Legal copies of any software (if we don't have it) used in the class must be dropped off 2-3 days before the scheduled date for installation and testing. Each individual class will be restricted to one reservation per week. There will be no more than one reservation or three hours of total reservation time per day. There will be no more than three reservations per week.

Lab Hours:

Mac Lab (Keller 202) and IBM Lab (Keller 213/214) Fall and Spring Semesters 8:30 am - 9:30 pm, Monday - Thursday 8:30 am - 4:30 pm, Friday Interim, Spring Break, and Summer Sessions 8:30 am - 4:30 pm, Monday - Friday Closed holidays. Extended hours as posted CLIC Lab (Sinclair 128) hours: opens 15 minutes after Sinclair Library opens and closes 15 minutes before Sinclair Library closes. Extended hours as posted.

All class software will be removed after each semester or summer session. If you would like to continue to have the software available to your students, please call the respective lab or the supervisors listed below, to request to have the software available for the next term.

If you have any questions, please call Kevin Urasaki.