August Technology Work Group Notes

Notes from the August Technology Work Group meeting are below.

In attendance: Feldman, Mullen, Lambert, Jamieson, Howard, and Ceranek.

  • The group saw a demonstration of the Joomla Content Management System. Through add-on components, this would meet the known needs for the UASI website. Attempts will be made to provide demonstrations of other CMS providers as well (from site owners rather than vendors).
  • Technology Governance Review continued with some overall organization questions. The most recent draft is at https://uasi-jtti.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2019/09/04155438/Southeast-Texas-Technology-Governance-20190829TWG.docx. The final version is still pending questions for the WebEOC Work Group.
  • Questions relating to data privacy were sent to DSHS, who referred us back to HIPAA. Next steps will be determined after input from RCC.
  • Technology Updates
    • Jetty is working on some distributions being blocked as spam. Notify the Regional Administrator if you experience this issue. Fort Bend County Purchasing is still working on the Jetty renewal and enhancement projects.
    • An email went out on Tuesday clarifying the WebEOC support process. For background, in mid-August, a change was proposed. The email states that the process has reverted to what was in place before: support issues should start with a user’s Sentinel and then be elevated to the Acting Regional Administrator as appropriate. The Acting Regional Administrator will triage requests and handle non-essential requests during regular business hours as time allows.
    • Feedback in regards to the meeting schedule for the GIS Work Group is coming in, and a reminder for the survey will be sent out. In addition, the Regional GIS Server project is undergoing renewal. The hosting provider may change but the functionality will remain the same.
    • Digital Sandbox is now The Haystax Platform. The transition is complete but a few areas remain in progress (including some assessment templates and uploaded documents). Issues should be sent to the Regional Administrator.
    • Neither AlertFM nor i-INFO had any updates to provide.
  • No new tasking was received from the Executive Committee in regards to Emergency Public Information Systems.
  • The next meeting will be Thursday, September 26 at 1:00pm. The meeting will be held in Room 2081 of the Houston Emergency Center. A meeting reminder and agenda will be sent out prior to the meeting.

Thanks,

Ian