Michael Adelson-OD
Akinyele Akinyelu (Junior)-CIT
Tom Bodine-CIT
Bob Borah-CIT
Bonnie Cramer-NINR
Keith Gorlen-CIT
Andrea Hobbs-NIAAA
Rob Malick-CIT
Diane O'Neill-ORS
Doug Price-NHLBI

The meeting consisted of a third demonstration of the Fast Track Directory user web interface. As usual, in addition to comments regarding the interface itself, there were numerous off-shoot discussions regarding current NIH business practices, how to accommodate them within the context of the Fast Track, as well as the feasibility of changing certain practices. It was announced that there were plans for a June Fast Track pilot among users in CIT. There was a division of opinion for and against conducting an early/premature pilot deployment. Some felt that an early deployment would provide valuable feedback; others felt that premature deployment carried the significant risk of loss of credibility. According to one person, recent CIT initiatives (e.g., the Scientific Directory and ITAS) had not lived up to expectations and another failure would further tarnish its reputation. Others expressed the opinion that the pilot, with the appropriate caveats, provides an excellent opportunity to test the system in a limited production environment in order to work out the kinks. Using CIT as the pilot group also mitigates to some extent the risk associated with unmet expectations because the system is still somewhat "in-house." This is not to say that CIT wouldn't offer as much, or even more, constructive criticism than other ICs, which is probably a good thing.

It was suggested that entries in the Fast Track show a "last modified date." This can be easily done and will be incorporated into the interface.

Someone suggested that the ability to enter updates that would become effective at a future date would be desirable. For example, let's say a number of people were moving to a new facility in a couple of weeks and the AO wanted to enter the new building and telephone information in advance of the move, but have the directory maintain the current information until the time of the move. One method for handling this would be to have an AT enter the changes, submit them for review, and let them sit in the queue until approved by an AO on the effective date of the changes. Perhaps a better solution would be to store approved changes in a "temporary" repository and have updates automatically written to the directory based on a user-defined "effective date." Preliminary investigation of this alternative indicates that it might be feasible without an incredible amount of work.

Along similar lines, it was agreed that all status changes (activation, deactivation, transfer, and suspend) will carry an "effective date" to be entered by an AO/AT at the time of submission (previously this applied to only deactivation). As per the above, status changes can be assigned a future date upon which they will go into effect. The question was posed as to whether it would be possible for an email reminder to be sent out a day or two prior to a status change goes into effect. This will be investigated.

It was recommended that NIH status be removed from the "view details" screen and subsequently pointed out that only individuals with an "active" status should be displayed anyway. Since there is a limited amount of display space available for each name returned on a search, choices must be made to determine what information is displayed. AOs indicated that in addition to first and last name, they would like to see IC, organizational status (e.g., FTE, contractor) phone, email, and building/room. Additional public information pertaining to an individual will be available by clicking on a name, which will follow a hyperlink to a new page.

Again, there was concern expressed over the lack of information currently being captured for certain classes of NIH workers including contractors, volunteers and guests. As a result, it was suggested that the Fast Track be limited to include only NIH FTEs. There was some disagreement on this point as others felt that the Fast Track would be more heartily embraced and utilized if it included the universe of NIH workers. The feasibility of changing current registration practices for non-FTEs to capture more information was batted around and a question posed as to whether the steering committee should develop a formal recommendation to this effect. This was tabled for the time being, but will be considered in future meetings. When all was said and done, there was general agreement that the benefits of including all NIH workers outweighed the potential risks. However, it was agreed that at a minimum, contractors, volunteers and guests should have a "sponsor" within the IC with which they are affiliated. This attribute will be added to the Fast Track.

In discussing the challenges of Fast Track data population, a number of AOs expressed a willingness to review directory printouts and make corrections. This will be helpful in validating our data cleaning and Fast Track population efforts.

It was suggested that AOs/ATs be taken directly to the "Work Information" when updating a directory entry since this is the information most likely to be changed. Clicking on buttons from here would take them to "Personal" and "Home" information screens should this information need to be updated.

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Next Meeting:
Tuesday, May 25,1999
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Natcher Building, Conference Room B

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