CLIENT/SERVER COMPUTING: SOLVING THE MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES

CAUSE94 Current Issues Session
Thursday, December 1, 1994, 4:30 to 6:00 pm
Walt Disney World Dolphin, Oceanic Room 2

Moderator: Frank Thomas, University of Akron

CURRENT ISSUES SESSION ABSTRACT

Do we really know what "client/server" is? How do we measure 
the advantages against costs? What is the meaning for IS 
departments, i.e., do control and budgeting approaches 
need to change? What is the impact on staff and user 
training? Participants will discuss these issues, as well as 
share their own campus experiences with client/server 
computing to date.

CURRENT ISSUES SESSION SUMMARY

The initial CAUSE current issues session on Client/Server 
was held at the CAUSE National Conference, Thursday, December 
1, 1994.  In attendance were twenty nine individuals 
representing twenty two institutions.  Schools such as 
Cornell, University of Houston, University of Iowa, 
Marquette University, Humbolt State University, Marygrove 
College, Simmons College, etc. attended.

The main client/server issues of security, backup recovery 
tools, software development and a general status report on 
each university was discussed.  There was no school moving 
critical administrative systems to client/server due to the 
issues raised above.  All were eager to hear what problems 
the others were experiencing and to whom could they contact.  
The round table took the full one hour and a half and at 
the end it was suggested that we set up a list-serve for 
all to join.

As soon as the list-serve is ready, the following topics 
will be discussed.

- What are the most popular tools?
- What software exists for backup/recovery?
- What are the most widely used relational databases?

It was concluded that this was a very useful session and 
we should all stay in contact with one another as we move 
to this challenging new technology.

Date Revised: 2/13/95 (rlr)