Texas Connection Consortium
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Texas Connection Consortium OVERVIEW
The Bylaws dictate the governance and operation of the Texas Connection Consortium (TCC). The document defines the rules and outlines the roles for those directly involved with the Texas Connection Consortium during its life cycle. It defines the organization of the executive board, several working committees and their responsibilities.
MISSION STATEMENT
The TCC will develop and maintain software that adds value and provides for standard state and federal reporting requirements, necessary interface programs, implementation of state policies, essential state systems, and modifications that will support uniform software requirements of Texas institutions.
The TCC, through a contract with Sungard through the Contract Administrator, protects members’ investment, discounts software license fees, discounts maintenance costs, reduces the escalation fee and provides a Technical Center (TC) to support development of value added software to satisfy the needs of the consortium members.
DESCRIPTION/BACKGROUND
Late in the fall of 1994, users of SCT software began meeting with the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) to discuss mutual opportunities which might exist in regard to common software and systems. The discussions were initiated to investigate how common solutions might be achieved for the similar issues of each institution resulting in decreased costs. From these initial meetings, the group expanded the agenda to address how the State of Texas requirements and enhancements might be incorporated into baseline vendor systems (with vendor support), without each institution being required to independently implement the required modifications.
With increased emphasis upon institutions to investigate privatization efforts, it was believed that a consortium representing member institutions in the State of Texas could result in a significant advantage for the state by obtaining services, systems and system modifications, from a private vendor, as opposed to each institution developing its own software and implementing independent modifications to the systems.
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Systems & Computer Technology Corporation (SCT) was asked to join the discussions because they were major provider of software in Texas. SCT services a major share of the State of Texas higher education software market with over 35 public institutions using their products. With such broad diversity and coverage, it was determined by the initial participants to expand the negotiations to include all public higher education institutions in Texas.
With these objectives in mind, the DIR continued negotiations with SCT during the winter and spring, resulting in signed letters of intent by all member institutions and then a final agreement which was signed June 30, 1995. Interagency agreements were also signed between institutions and DIR for commitments to software license purchases. The agreement resulted in a contract with SCT to provide:
- License Fee Discounts
- Reduced Escalation Fee
- Discounted Software Pricing
- Discounted Maintenance Cost
- Program Discount
- Maintenance Program Discounts
- A Central Technical Support Center (Technical Center)
- Implementation Support Services Discounts
- Protection of Senior and Community College Investment
This agreement was unique to the State of Texas. The other statewide agreements that have been entered into all have a single administrative agency to which all the participants report. This agreement is with multiple institutions. This agreement recognized the autonomy of the individual institutions and their decision making process while at the same time achieving the wholesale market pricing for the State of Texas.
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The result of this contract is that the DIR and subsequently TAMU-CC represented all State of Texas institutions in the purchase of SCT software licenses and maintenance for both Plus and Banner products. All invoicing for these products was to be made directly to the DIR who in turn invoiced the individual institution. Implementation, consulting and other services was to be contracted, invoiced, and paid directly by each institution.
OBJECTIVES
The Texas Connection objectives include:
Developing and maintaining the SCT software for the purposes of:
- producing mandated state and federal reports
- providing interface programs for state institutions and state agency systems
- implementing mandated state policies such as state refund policies
- implementing other uniformly needed modifications for the institutions
BENEFITS
Some of the benefits to participating member institutions include:
Lower software licensing fees
Improvements of communication and cooperation between member institutions
Centralized development of documented system modifications
♦ Reduction in the cost of base system modifications related to state requirement
♦ A statewide-negotiated contract that guarantees minimum software and annual maintenance escalation
Protection of Senior and Community college investments
SCOPE
Based on the contract signed in June 1995, a Central Support Services Operation (to be
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referred to as the Technical Center) was to be established by SCT at the SCT office in Dallas. The Operation was to be staffed by SCT with the equivalent of four (4) full time equivalents (FTE) for an initial period of 7 years and will be managed by SCT and the TCC. The primary responsibility of the support personnel will be to design and develop modifications and enhancements for the IA-Plus and BANNER. The Texas Connection Consortium will provide services exclusively for the State of Texas participating members.
Only the most current release of SCT IA-Plus and Banner products will be supported.
In 2003, a new contract was negotiated by DIR and assigned to Texas A&M – Corpus Christi to administer and to be the Contract Administrator for the Statewide SCT software contract between the TCC member institutions and SCT. SCT was acquired by Sungard and the bylaws and other documents will now reflect Sungard instead of SCT.
The result of this contract is that the Contract Administrator and the TCC will represent all member institutions in the purchase of Sungard software licenses and maintenance. All invoicing for these products will be made directly to the Contract Administrator, who in turn will invoice the individual institution. Implementation, consulting and other services will be contracted, invoiced, and paid directly by each institution to Sungard. The Contract Administrator, working with the Executive Governing Board, may execute contract amendments, work orders, and other contractual agreements to improve benefits and services for the member institutions. These have included such actions as increasing the staffing by Sungard for the Technical Center to a current 9 full time equivalents (FTE) through August 31, 2009.
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BYLAWS
These Bylaws outline the relationships and responsibilities of groups, committees, and individuals that are involved with the Texas Connection Consortium.
TEXAS CONNECTION CONSORTIUM EXECUTIVE GOVERNING BOARD (EGB)
The Executive Governing Board (EGB) will consist of nine (9) Board members which will be elected by the primary members representing each institution. Each institution may only have one representative on the EGB.
Senior College primary members will elect Senior College Board Members and
Community College primary members will elect Community College Board Members.
Elected Board Members will serve for a three year term and maybe re-elected for one additional, consecutive three year term. A Board member serving two consecutive terms must sit out one three year term to be eligible for re-election to the Board. Elections will be held in the spring of each year and the three elected Board Members will take office
September 1 in accordance with the State fiscal year.
Persons eligible to be elected to the EGB are Chief Financial/Administrative Officers
(CFO, CAO) and Chief Information Resource Officers (CIRO). There will be a minimum of 4 CFO/CAO’s and 4 CIRO’s serving on the Board.
The Board members will reflect the TCC membership and will be so prorated between
Senior and Community Colleges. The proration of the Board seats will be calculated by the Contract Administrator and provided to the Board Secretary before each election.
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Each seat on the Board will be designated as a Senior College or a Community College seat and be identified as a CFO/CAO or CIRO based on the make up of the Board as of
September 1, 2007. The designated seats and the election cycle for Board elections are as follows:
To Be Elected Spring 2008
Seat 1 Senior College CFO/CAO Seat 2 Community College CIRO Seat 3 Community College CFO/CAO
To Be Elected Spring 2009
Seat 4 Senior College CIRO Seat 5 Senior College CFO/CAO Seat 6 Senior College CFO/CAO
To Be Elected Spring 2010 (see Appendix C for additional details) Seat 7 Senior College CIRO Seat 8 Community College CIRO Seat 9 Senior College CFO/CAO, CIRO
If the proration changes between Senior and Community Colleges, then the seats will be adjusted to reflect the new proration with the following restrictions:
A. There must be a minimum of 4 CFO’s/CAO’s and a minimum of 4 CIRO’s
B. There must be at least 3 Senior College Board representatives and 3
Community College Board representatives.
If there is a vacancy on the TCC Board due to a Board Member leaving a member institution, changing to an ineligible position, retirement, or choosing to resign the Board seat; the following process shall be followed. The Board by majority vote will elect a
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person to serve the remainder of that term (seat) as designated above. The selected Board
Member will be eligible to be elected to the Board for one additional three year term.
The TCC Board will elect a Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. Elections of officers will be determined by the Board but must be held at least every two years. The
Chair maybe elected to a third consecutive term. The Chair will appoint a Senior and
Community College liaison to the TCC Tech Center. The Board shall appoint Ex-officio members as needed to accomplish the work of the TCC and its members. If a Board member misses more than two (2) consecutive regularly scheduled meetings of the EGB, then the Board shall determine whether to remove the Board Member by a majority vote of the remaining Board Members. If a Board Member is voted off the Board, then the
Board will select a replacement Board Member in the same manner as if there were a vacancy on the Board and subject to the same restrictions. The Secretary of the Board will conduct the elections of Board members. The Secretary will maintain the list of primary member representatives, CFO/CAO and CIRO for each member of the TCC.
The Secretary will certify that each Board candidate is eligible to serve on the Board.
The Secretary will prepare the election ballot which shall be approved by the Board prior to the election.
The Executive Governing Board will:
Work with the member Community and Senior Colleges, Contract Administrator and Sungard to achieve the objectives of the TCC
Establish and maintain Administrative Procedures
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Establish and maintain bylaws and recommend changes to the TCC membership for approval
Maintain and provide guidance to the Technical Center for participating member institutions to ensure that changes to Sungard software and State of Texas interfaces and reports are identified, controlled, and audited throughout the life of the contract between Sungard, Contract Administrator and TCC
Coordinate on behalf of the consortium with the State of Texas departments which impact the interfaces with member institution systems
Provide Technical Center Liaisons to coordinate software management for the users
Review Technical Center projects, assign priorities and make funding decisions when necessary
Negotiate the statewide contract, work orders, and other issues with Sungard
Board will meet a minimum of twice per year, any of which may be electronic meetings
Have a quorum of Board members voting in order to conduct official actions of the Board
Perform other duties as necessary
ROLE OF INDIVIDUALS
Executive Governing Board, Chair
The Chair will:
Facilitate Executive Governing Board meetings
Ensure that Board meeting minutes are distributed to all Board members
Serve as the primary communication link between Sungard and the Executive
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Governing Board
Appoint a senior and community college board member as liaisons to the Technical
Center
Communicate annually to Sungard the evaluation of the Project Director of the
Technical Center based, in part, upon information from the Board liaisons as well as
other input
The Vice Chair will:
Be responsible for contract relations between TCC, Contract Administrator and Sungard
Serve as the primary communication link between Contract Administrator and the Executive Governing Board
Provide logistical support for annual meetings
The Treasurer will:
Oversee, plan, manage and account for the funds of the TCC under the direction of the Executive Governing Board in coordination with the Contract Administrator
Provide periodic reports of the financial status of the TCC in coordination with the Contract Administrator
The Secretary will:
Be the primary facilitator of communications of the Consortium
Arrange and facilitate meetings of the TCC
Conduct election of Board Members annually
Send notice to primary members for dates and times of upcoming EGB meetings
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The Contract Administrator will:
Prepare and enter into agreements with the TCC member Community and Senior Colleges (member)
♦ Provide financial statements as requested by the TCC board
♦ Invoice TCC members for all purchases
♦ Pay Sungard appropriate amounts for products purchased by the TCC members
♦ Invoice TCC members for annual maintenance
♦ Pay for Technical Center support and any applicable travel expenses
♦ Pay other expenses for Board approved projects
♦ Coordinate with Sungard and TCC members when products or services are cancelled
♦ Maintain TCC records and files related to purchases and maintenance
♦ Perform any other duties as necessary to administer the Sungard contract
♦ Serve as the fiscal agent for the TCC
The Community and Senior College Board Liaisons, appointed by Chair, will:
♦ Develop tasks and assign responsibilities to the Technical Center Director
♦ Ensure the completion of TCC tasks
♦ Serve as the primary communication between TC Director, TCC Governing Board, and the participating member institutions
♦ Provide oversight and assist in the administration of modifications and enhancements
♦ Seek prioritization, authorization and/or additional funding from the TCC Board for projects or requests which fall outside the scope of previously approved or assigned work
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♦ Provide an evaluation of the Project Director of the Technical Center to the TCC Chair
ROLE OF MEMBER INSTITUTIONS - FUNCTIONAL AND TECHNICAL USERS
The functional and technical users should be prepared to
Prepare and submit requests for modifications and enhancements as needed or required to the TC
Review requests for prioritization, specifications and provide input and support during the development process
Participate on product/service advisory teams as appropriate
Attend the TCC Annual and Open Board meetings
Provide beta test sites to test software and system modules
ROLE OF PRODUCT / SERVICE ADVISORY TEAMS
Products/Services Advisory Teams can be appointed by the Executive Governing Board to provide additional expertise and assistance to the Technical Center staff. The TCC Board’s Technical Liaison will oversee advisory teams. They will consist of front line functional people from member institutions who are primary users of specific systems.
ROLE OF TECHNICAL CENTER
At least seven (7) FTE or equivalent staff will provide services for the Texas Connection Consortium. One of the FTEs will be appointed Project Director of the Technical Center.
The Technical Center staff will:
Develop and maintain modifications and enhancements to the base Sungard Plus and Banner products as appropriate to meet the State of Texas requirements
Provide distribution and Action Line support for Texas modifications or enhancements
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Prepare impact analysis reports and write specifications for submitted requests
Provide a technical representative for TCC meetings to present and clarify technical requirements for requests (i.e. resources required, available man-hours, etc.)
Coordinate and oversee beta testing
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TCC REQUIREMENTS MANAGEMENT PROCESS
Roles and Responsibilities:
Institution Member: Requests Texas required change to existing modifications, new Texas required modification or non-state required enhancement.
Institution Platform Representative: (i.e. Banner Student Representative) Named by TCC voting member of their institution. Votes for Product Coordinator. Works with their institution member(s) requesting changes to determine exactly what is needed and then contacts the Product Coordinator for their institution (2- or 4-year).
Product Coordinator: Elected by vote of Institution Platform Representatives. Two year commitment. Represents peer (2- or 4-year) institutions for requirements definitions and prioritization.
Banner User Group: Made up of one representative from each institution for each platform (i.e. Banner Student). This group is chaired by the Product Coordinator to prioritize and unify all outstanding change requests or requirements.
Product Coordinator Sub-Committee: Made up of 2 year and 4 year Product Coordinators, a TCC Support Center Representative and any other members the Product Coordinator deems to be useful to address the requirements definition or prioritization of requirements.
TCC Executive Board: Elected officials from the member institutions to oversee Support Center operations, approve staffing levels, as well as resolve any prioritization issues if they arise.
RECOMMENDATION FOR TEXAS ENHANCEMENT (RTE) PROCEDURES
1. Change request should be submitted to the Banner Representative for the institution. 2. Banner Representative for the institution should then submit the request to the Product Coordinator (2 year or 4 year). 3. The Product Coordinator works with the Banner User Group to define, unify, and prioritize. 4. TCC Support Center Director presents the project list to liaisons and to the TCC Board quarterly for approval. 5. Product Coordinator then works with the TCC Support Center Representative to develop functional specification. 6. The Support Center submits functional specification to Product Coordinator and sub- committee for sign off and approval. 7. Priorities are submitted to the TCC Executive Board by the Director of the TCC
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Support Center for approval. Request for Texas Enhancement (RTE) Definitions
Requests for Texas Enhancement (RTE): A downloadable form used by Texas Connection Consortium member schools to initiate the development of modifications, changes or procedures for meeting Texas state mandates. For this purpose, enhancement is defined as any modification to baseline banner and does not imply the changes are not state mandate related.
Product Coordinator (PC): The PC position is an elected functional person from a member institution designated to represent the member institutions in prioritizing, finalizing and approving functional requirements of requested modifications. This person will conduct regular meetings of the PC Sub-Committee. This person will also conduct, at a minimum, quarterly meetings of the banner user group institution product representatives to solicit priorities and functional requirements for modifications. There should be a two year institution product coordinator and a four-year institution product coordinator for the TCC HR and Student products. Currently, there aren’t any modifications to the banner finance product for TCC two- year institutions, therefore, there should only be one four-year product coordinator for the finance product.
Product Coordinator Sub-Committee: This group exists at the request of the Product Coordinator for a particular platform and should generally be made up of the modification early adopters and/or selected representatives that have subject matter knowledge required to work out requirements prior to submitting the specifications for approval to the broader banner user group committee.
Institution Product Representative: This person is chosen by member institution executives to be the lead representative for the member institution in respect to the product platform and associated TCC requirements. A lead for Banner Student, Finance, HR and Financial Aid should be designated to sit on the user groups. We ask this only be one person so the meetings are manageable and consensus can be more easily gained between so many institutions.
Banner User Group: There should be a user group for each product which has TCC modifications. This group is made up of all member institutions product representatives (as defined above) for the respective product. (i.e., Banner User Group Student (BUGS), Banner User Group Finance, Banner User Group HR and Banner User Group Financial Aid).
RTE Purpose
Requests for Texas Enhancements (RTE’s) are used by Texas Connection Consortium
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member schools to initiate the development of modifications or procedures for meeting Texas state mandates. For this purpose, enhancement is defined as any modification to baseline banner. The word enhancement does not imply the requested changes are not state mandate related.
RTE Initiation
RTE forms can be downloaded by anyone from the Texas Connection Consortium website at http://texasconnection.angelo.edu . These forms are to be submitted to the representative from the originator’s institution that sits on the subcommittees for the particular product involved in the change. (i.e. the banner student representative at your institution.) See Appendix A for the RTE submission template.
RTE Submission
Completed RTE forms should be forwarded by the Institution Product Representative (IPR) for the originating institution (i.e., the banner student rep) to the current TCC Product Coordinator for either the four- or two- year institutions depending on the originator’s institution type.
RTE Review and Approval Process
The Product Coordinator (PC) and PC subcommittee meets monthly and will review all open RTE's submitted since the last PC subcommittee meeting. This group will prioritize and make a recommendation for approval of RTE’s to be developed to the TCC Support Center. The enhancements will be prioritized 1-5 with the number 1 being most critical, 2 being less critical, 3, 4 and so forth. Multiple modifications can have the same priority. The minutes from this meeting will be sent out to the respective banner user groups for review and input. No response back will be considered approval. See Appendix B for the RTE process flow.
The TCC Support Center Director will be responsible for submitting the RTE's and impact analysis to the TCC Board via the TCC Liaison or at the quarterly TCC Board meetings.
APPROVED The Board will recommend approval for urgent RTE's, with recommended implementation as soon as possible. Other RTE's will be ranked numerically as part of the approval process to indicate priority of each with respect to the other.
DEFERRED Used to defer a requirement needing further research or clarification
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to establish a true priority.
DISAPPROVED If an RTE is deemed to be inappropriate for inclusion as a Texas modification, it will be disapproved and will drop off of all status reports. A reason for disapproval by the Board will be forwarded to the submitting entity.
RTE Tracking and Status
The RTE’s currently scheduled to be delivered will be posted on the TCC website in the modifications calendar on the support web page. The numbering of the RTE’s will be as follows:
1001 for the Plus Student Information System (SIS)
2001 for the Banner Finance System
3001 for the Plus Human Resource System (HRS)
4001 for the Banner HR System
5001 for the Banner Student System
6001 for the Banner Financial Aid System
7001 for the Plus Financial Resource System (FRS)
The Support Center staff will be responsible for the maintenance of the modifications calendar and assisting the Product Coordinators with tracking requested RTE’s that are not yet on the calendar. Updates on the status will be given to users via the TCC websites. In addition, the TCC board liaisons will receive bi-weekly status reports from the Director of the TCC Support Center.
6/27/2018 16 Appendix A: TCC Request for Texas Enhancement Template
TCC Report/ Mod Affected: Request for Texas Requestor Name: Enhancement #: Institution Name:
Request for Texas Enhancement Short Description: Requested Date Target Release Date Approved Date
Request for Texas Enhancement Detailed Description:
Impact of Problem to be Solved:
Potential Change Risks: Schedule Impacts:
Project Roles Names Email Approved (yes or no) TCC Board Member:
TCC Board Member:
Beta Site Representative:
TCC Project Director:
Request for Texas Enhancement Sponsor:
Enter Comments:
** Please submit completed requests via email to the TCC Representative at your institution as well as the Product Coordinator for your Institution Type.
Doug Fox - Four Year Institution Product Coordinator: Pam Youngblood - Two Year Institution Product Coordinator:
18 Appendix B:
Texas Connection RTE Process
. Request for Texas Enhancement (RTE) Banner User TCC Process Group Governing (Fin/Stud/HR) Board
Institution Representative Staff of the Product TCC Support Member Institution Coordinator Center
Product Coordinator Sub-Committee
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18 Appendix C
This appendix becomes effective with the December 2007 bylaw revisions. The information below is provided to facilitate the future Board elections, based upon Executive Governing Board membership as of December 2007.
To Be Elected Spring 2008 Present Occupant
Seat 1 Senior College CFO/CAO Jim Langabeer Seat 2 Community College CIRO Charles Burmeister Seat 3 Community College CFO/CAO Ralph Hall
To Be Elected Spring 2009
Seat 4 Senior College CIRO Michael Dye Seat 5 Senior College CFO/CAO Robert Lovitt Seat 6 Senior College CFO/CAO Joe Garcia
To Be Elected Spring 2010
Seat 7 Senior College CIRO Doug Fox Seat 8 Community College CIRO Pam Youngblood Seat 9 Senior College CFO/CAO, CIRO Bobbie Latham* *Current Board Member Bobbie Latham is eligible to stand for re-election in 2010.
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