Committee of Deans Meeting 14-1996

Meeting No. 14/96 of the Committee of Deans will be held at 2.15 pm on Tuesday, 5 November 1996 in the Sir George Lush Room, Ground Floor, University Offices 3a, Clayton Campus.

jahn Janice H Newham

96/1050 Secretary

AGENDA

1. Minutes

The Minutes of Meeting No. 13/96 have been circulated.

2. Matters arising from the Minutes not dealt with elsewhere in the Agenda

3. Vice-Chancellor's Report

3.1 Report of the Academic Board Working Party on Council Structure and Function

A sub-committee comprised of Professors P LeP Darvall, M L Brisk, C R Williams and M Quartly met on 24 October 1996 to consider the report of the Academic Board Working Party chaired by Professor Pilbrow. A suggested revised version of the report dated 24 October 1996, is attached. A copy has been sent to Professor Pilbrow for consideration by the Working Party.

Members Only

D131/96

Professor Darvall will speak to this item.

p5-22

For consideration, endorsement and submission to Academic Board for approval as input to the Council retreat.

4. Urgent Matters

5. Research Matters

6. International Matters

7. Special Items

8. Matters Raised by Deans

9. Reports of Administrative Divisions / Departments

A report was scheduled for this meeting from Research Services. This report will be presented at Committee of Deans Meeting 15/96 on 26 November 1996. At that Meeting a report and presentation will also be made by the Director, University Development, Ms J Chandler.

For noting.

10. General Business

10.1 Charging for Use of the Internet

A document dated 30 October 1996 prepared by Mr P R Annal, Director, Computer Centre on the subject of Internet charging, is attached. A charging policy was foreshadowed by Mr Annal in his report to Meeting 4/96 of the Committee of Deans.

D132/96

p23-32

For consideration and approval of the ten recommendations under section 2 of the report.

10.2 Decanal Presentations to Council 1997

A schedule detailing the decanal presentations to Council for 1995, 1996 and proposed presentations for 1997 is attached. The proposed 1997 schedule is as follows:

D133/96

p33-34

For consideration and approval.

11. Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Committee of Deans will be held at 2.15 pm on Tuesday, 26 November 1996 in The Sir George Lush Room, Ground Floor, University Offices 3a, Clayton Campus.

Distribution

Vice-Chancellor
Deputy Vice-Chancellors
Pro Vice-Chancellors
Deans
General Manager
Executive Director, Marketing & Communications
Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor
Academic Registrar
Campus Director, Gippsland
Campus Director, Berwick
Campus Director, Caulfield
Campus Director, Peninsula

Agenda for the current meeting is available on the web at:
http://www.monash.edu.au/unisec/notice.htm

Agenda for previous meetings available on the web at:
http://www.monash.edu.au/unisec/ctees/ag-min.htm

a:(Deans96)Agenda/14agda96.doc

Committee of Deans 14/96
5 November 1996
Item 3.1
D131/96
MEMBERS ONLY

THIS DOCUMENT IS FOR MEMBERS ONLY AND IS NOT AVAILABLE ON THE WEB

Committee of Deans 14/96
5 November 1996
Item 10.1
D132/96

Charging for use of the Internet

Dated 31 October, 1996

P. R. Annal

1 Summary

To date all charges for use of the Internet have been paid centrally. In recent years predicted large increases in Internet charges, notably in 1995, were delayed by beneficial changes introduced by AARNet, by formation of the VRN and through use of Web Caching. Increasing charges will become serious again in 1997. Prudent changes are necessary to put in place a viable means of funding legitimate use of the Internet, and its growing use and cost. Internet usage in 1996 will cost Monash approximately $200,000. For 1997 however, under current conditions, the cost should fall between an optimistic prediction of $600,000 and a pessimistic prediction of $1,422,000. The difference between the two estimates depends upon the guesses one makes for the rate charged by the Internet provider and the rate of growth experienced in use of the Internet.

The persistent and misguided notion of the Internet service being "free" dulls reasons for restraint of use. Until recently monitoring use and reporting it by Budget Group, or division, was not readily available. The only real limit on use, hence the costs, of the Internet resulted from overloaded communications links or other bottlenecks in the overall system. The bottlenecks are being removed progressively.

The Internet is a strategic tool in the University's future. Its appropriate use is to be encouraged. Central, or common, means of restricting use are liable to interfere with income generation through the value-added exploitation of the medium, with its innovative use, and offer loopholes for those "in the know" to exploit. Imposing central constraints in the network infrastructure, for the purpose of regulating its use, is inappropriate because it fails to address these fundamental issues.

• Rather than centrally restrict access, the infrastructure should offer attractive services permitting faculties, acting responsibly, to choose the level of service and capability they believe appropriate for their needs; ie access should be enhanced rather than be restricted.
• It is not the role of central infrastructure to regulate what certain classes of users (eg. staff, students) can or cannot do on the Internet. Instead, Departments and Faculties are in the best position to decide whether a particular use of the network has merit to them (educational, research or whatever).
• Departments cannot make an informed decision about such merits without being aware of the full cost implications of their decisions. Being aware of only part of the costs necessarily leads to Departments making decisions which have non-optimal outcomes for the University as a whole.

The University has not found it necessary to implement exotic controls to limit telephone charges, beyond billing. It forms a good model of the way forward even when allowance is made of the fact that students generally are not granted use of the telephone system

2 Recommendations

The recommendations presuppose the progressive introduction of charging out to Budget Groups the cost of their use of the Internet. Internet usage by Budget Groups will be reported monthly to assist Budget Groups decide on appropriate use according to their own priorities. Without charging, central restrictions of increasing severity will be required to limit use of the Internet regardless of the genuine value in such use. Central funding will be required on an ongoing basis. However the proportion of Internet costs funded centrally will diminish progressively. The recommendations allow the possibility of an ongoing (small) residual component that should be funded centrally.

The recommendations incorporate several principles.

• The volume (usage) based component is of greatest concern at this time because of the unrestrained growth in use and rising charges. Only this component of cost will be passed on to Budget Groups. Central funding will apply to infrastructure bringing the Internet service(s) to the University, for facilities such as Web Caching, or the Victoria Regional Network that reduce the overall cost of using the Internet, and to support of the University community in exploiting the Internet
• Wherever feasible, volume based charges for use of the Internet should be converted progressively from central payment to user-payment.
• Charges will be computed from actual measured use.
• At a later stage, if necessary, other associated costs may be recovered, especially other recurrent costs such as the VRN levy, or ISP connection fees if applicable in the future. These will be small compared with the current volume based charges.
• The resolution of usage reports will be improved over time to permit usage and charging information to be provided by divisions within a Budget Group, ie by Budget Group or department, with the longer-term objective of possibly reporting use by individual computer.

Implementation of the following recommendations will impact the pattern of Internet traffic. Some of the consequences might not be readily predicted because of the many cross dependencies between the services and user expectations that have built up over time.

1. Beginning in fourth quarter 1996, charging for use of the Internet should be introduced for that portion of cost identifiable to a Budget Group. The reports should be published on the World Wide Web.

   The Computer Centre report to the Committee of Deans in March this year repeated previous advice that recovery of Internet charges should be implemented and that the maximum charge in 1996 should not exceed $20,000 for any Budget Group.

2. Reports of Internet usage should be published monthly beginning with the summary for October. Indicative costs should be posted subject to adjustment at the end of the quarter when the AVCC announces the final cost for the quarter. Beginning in January 1977 usage should be published on a weekly basis, until the end of a month, then the month's information should be summarised and published.

   Under current conditions the applicable charging rates, and the traffic chargeable to the University are advised by the AVCC soon after the end of each quarter. Consequently final charges cannot be computed until this advice is received. For technical reasons the traffic recorded as received by the University will be somewhat less than the traffic Telstra records as sent to Monash. The University pays for the traffic reported by Telstra.

3. The ability to identify the source of Internet use should be refined so as to increase the proportion of overall Internet usage cost charged to Budget Groups .
   
   For October only about 30% of Internet traffic can be easily assigned to a Budget Group. This arises because of historical reasons and because considerable labour is required to collect the appropriate information from Budget Groups for both identification of use and for the ability to offer usage reports resolved to divisions within a Budget Group.
4. Mechanisms should be introduced to reduce or remove access to the Internet from shared central servers so that users accessing the Internet do so from computers residing in offices or joint teaching laboratories.
   
   Shared servers are computers, generally operated by the Computer Centre on behalf of many people. Their Internet usage cannot readily be apportioned to individual users or Budget Groups. It is proposed that access from these computers to the Internet be progressively removed as obstacles to doing so are removed. People presently using these computers to access the Internet will have to do so from a client computer residing in a Budget Group or a joint teaching laboratory.
   
   It is not essential that these systems have access to the Internet because students and staff, logged onto these systems do so from a client computer in their office, in teaching laboratories, or from home. The need to access the Internet can be satisfied by accessing it directly from the client computer itself when on campus. Remote users could experience some inconvenience however.
   
   Access to the Internet from central servers will be reduced or removed. When access is removed usage will be recorded against the client computers in budget units or the computer teaching laboratories. In this sense the traffic presently identified as associated with "shared server" systems may reduce, but in any event the residual traffic will become chargeable traffic.
5. Beginning in 1997 access to the Internet from Joint teaching laboratories should be charged to the faculties associated with the laboratories.
   
   Joint teaching laboratories are computer teaching laboratories operated by or for a Budget Group where funding of 50% or more was contributed by the Computer Centre. These laboratories almost exclusively serve students from the faculty or department housing the equipment.
   
   The faculties may choose to bar access to the Internet from some laboratories. This might be achieved locally or with the cooperation of the Computer Centre.
6. By the end of 1997 access to the Internet from Public teaching laboratories should be disabled.
   
   Public teaching laboratories are incompatible with the desire to apportion Internet usage to Budget Groups. It is proposed that access from these laboratories to the Internet be progressively removed. People wishing to access the Internet will have to do so from a joint teaching laboratory. Usage from public teaching laboratories is not as high as presumed because they do not operate 24 hours per day and because they generally are used for educational purposes while open. Directions for the Future - Volume 2 requires negotiation with faculties for the progressive transfer of public teaching laboratories to faculties. The October 1995 report of the Computer Centre to the Committee of Deans anticipated this change which has been delayed by twelve months.
7. Mechanisms should be provided before 1997 to effect priorities determined by the University for access to the Internet from modems.
   
   The largest identifiable individual component of Internet use arises from people off campus. Overnight and over weekends accessing the Internet appears to be the dominant activity conducted through modems. The physical number of available modems is the only restriction to even further use. In effect the University is offering "free" Internet access to people who otherwise might choose to pay for the service from an Internet Service Provider (ISP). The University does not offer students and staff unrestricted "free" access to its telephone system for use by students and staff. Present University policy prevents charging for use of the Internet from home, in any case it is cumbersome to implement being outside the University's core business. Emphasis should be given to negotiating with ISPs favourable ways of encouraging University members to use ISPs for their access into Monash and their use of the Internet through the ISPs. Suitable infrastructure interconnecting ISPs and the University can increase the attractiveness of this option.
   
   Concurrently mechanisms are being developed that will allow modems to be used in ways fitting the University's priorities. In the near future the University will increase the number of modems to aproximately 300, the increase will tranlate into greatly incresed Internet charges if no decision is taken. In principle the mechanisms will have users of the modem service assigned a class of service determined by their user account. The different classes of service will be defined according to policy and they will specify the nature of the capabilities granted to the users, including whether Internet access will be permitted, quotas and other attributes.
8. Access to the Internet from Yoyo should be monitored and reviewed annually when a decision should be made whether its use of the Internet should be continued with central funding as a student service.
   
   Yoyo is a computer provided for students to learn computer system management by managing it themselves in providing a special service for student-run by students. It is very popular serving approximately 7000 registered users well, and it is expertly run, It has been recognised by universities here and overseas as a beneficial and innovative tool for students. The system costs the University nothing to manage yet provides benefit to students. Its use of the Internet is relatively modest.
9. The cost of operating the News service should be reviewed annually for a decision to be made whether to fund its Internet costs centrally. Concurrently steps should be taken to reduce Internet charges associated with providing the service.
   
   News is akin to the Web as a vast source of information. It offers a vehicle for people sharing common interests to be notified of, and remain abreast of, the latest news whether it be corrections of errors in software, groups sharing common research interests. Unfortunately it also has a seedier side and some material is of dubious value. There is value in keeping it but reducing the effective cost of Internet usage while also exploring ways of importing Newsgroups of sufficient benefit. Through the VRN Monash expects to recover part of the cost of its News service by charging other institutions for News feeds.
10. Steps should be taken before the end of 1997 to charge Budget Groups for Internet charges accruing from use of electronic mail. This should be done so that email is not exploited as a means of avoiding Internet charging for other services.
    
    Electronic mail is a relatively small component of Internet cost. Unfortunately if it remains "free" it can be abused by people seeking to reduce their chargeable traffic and passing it as email.

3. The basis of Internet charging

This section provides background information for people wishing to understand the factors affecting Internet charges, to be able to estimate charges for 1997, or to explore options for reducing costs.

The determinants of future Internet cost are the type of traffic which is chargeable, the applicable charging rate, and the changing volume of use which has grown approximately 2.5 times per annum for at least five years. Predicting overall Internet charges has been about as successful as picking the winner of the Melbourne Cup especially over the last two years as the telecommunications industry prepares for deregulation.

3.1 The AVCC charging policy

Under the present agreement between the AVCC and Telstra the volume based charges apply only to traffic arriving at Monash sent via Telstra. In Victoria Telstra delivers Internet traffic once into the Victoria Regional Network (VRN) rather than to each University. Internet information received from any of the member institutions of the VRN, including several other organisations working closely with them (CSIRO, VTAC, Bureau of Meteorology, eMERGE) incur no Telstra charges.

No charge is applied to traffic leaving an institution as an incentive to publish information. Monash can use this to its advantage in advertising or promoting itself and in the provision of fee-for-use information services.

The University's Web Caching Proxy server, with its latest software, reduces by over 40% the chargeable traffic from the Internet by holding locally pages which may be requested again without incurring an additional Internet access.

3.2 Charging rates

The Universities individually have negligible control over the charging rates negotiated by the AARNet Board of Management on behalf of the AVCC. In fact decisions generally are made in a binding fashion before the Universities are advised of them. Around July 1, 1996 Telstra sought to increase its charge per Gbyte from $52 to $195. This was contested by the AVCC and negotiations finally resulted in rates of $60 in third quarter (despite advice it would be $65, down from $195) and predicted charges around $115 for fourth quarter. There is no definite indication what rates will apply for 1997 although the AARNet Board of Management is reviewing tender proposals for a new Internet service contract. A decision may not be known before the new year. The worst case scenario applies if Telstra's published charging rate of $195 eventuates. Various rates have been rumoured. The best may be around $115 to $125/Gbyte.

3.3 Projection of traffic growth

Projecting Internet traffic growth is very unreliable. The table shows the possible growth factors for traffic from Jan 1997 through December 1997, relative to third quarter 1996. It assumes traffic continues to grow in the current unrestrained way averaging somewhere between 6.5% and 11% per month (ie 21% to 37%) per quarter. The 6.5% figure was observed over the period Oct 1995 through September 1996. The 11% growth rate was measured over the months May through August 1996. Changing patterns of use during the year and the possible removal of some network bottlenecks may affect the actual growth pattern. The average annual 1997 traffic multiplier, compared with third quarter, 1996, then would be 1.98, or 3.18 corresponding to a growth rate of 6.5% or 11% per month.

3.4 The impact of traffic redistribution

The progressive implementation of the recommendations will increase the proportion of overall traffic chargeable to Budget Groups. The relative ratios of charges distributed to Budget Groups could change significantly through:

• changing patterns of use as awareness of the costs involved, and
• the migration of accountability for Internet use from central services and servers.

3.5 Usage and costs for 1996

The University's chargeable traffic and the total traffic costs for January through September is shown. Volume figures for first quarter were disputed resulting in a negotiated low charge. No information is available to compute the breakdown of total traffic among Budget Groups for the first two quarters of 1996. The traffic figures given by the VRN are lower than the figures Telstra bases its charges upon for technical reasons.

The next table records the breakdown of use in third quarter 1996 by Budget Groups with the further breakdown by divisions of the Budget Group where the Budget Group and divisional information is available. With assistance from postmasters in the Budget Groups it will be possible to report usage to smaller groupings progressively.

The final table records the breakdown of use in third quarter 1996 for services and categories where presently the groups creating the use cannot be identified. Additional work is required for that identification and reporting. Use by staff of the Computer Centre is embedded within these categories and also must be separated for billing. This refinement to reporting will be implemented progressively.

Both tables offer a possible projection of the charges for fourth quarter 1996. They allow for growth of 6.5% per month (21% per quarter) and assume the charging rate in fourth quarter may be as high as $115/Gbyte (twice the rate for third quarter). A late rumour hints that the charging rate could be lower. For fourth quarter Budget Groups will be charged for between 40% to 50% of the total quarterly cost. Following the end of semester the growth in traffic usually slows, but this could be offset by the trend this year for modem use to be high during breaks.

The following observations apply to the two tables.

• More detailed information will be provided in the monthly reports showing the breakdown between cost effective access to the Internet via the Web Caching Proxy and the full cost access directly to the Internet (for Web use).
• For August and September new Proxy caching software reduced the effective cost of fetching Web information from the Internet. As a consequence some Budget Groups recorded a drop in overall cost mostly attributable to the greater effectiveness of the Proxy rather than because of lower use.
• The measured cost benefit, as the cost multiplier for accessing the Web, had the Proxy not been used, was 1.32 for July, 1.70 for August and 2.32 for September.

Committee of Deans 14/96
5 November 1996
Item 10.2
D133/96

MONASH UNIVERSITY

Decanal Presentations to Council 1997

The following schedule of decanal presentations to Council was approved for 1995:

The following schedule of decanal presentations to Council was approved for 1996:

The proposed schedule of decanal presentations to Council in 1997 is detailed below:

For consideration and approval.

31 October 1996
c:word/cofdeans/decan97.doc

Janice Newham
Secretary