March 21, 2008

 

Dear Friends;

 

This evening I will be asking you to approve an additional $15,000 for the 2008 IT budget.  I committed $6,960 over my budget for the database project and we need an additional $8,000 to complete the first phase of what will be a multi-phase project currently projected to be in full operation by mid-2009.

 

Because of the unfortunate ease with which the initial phase of this project ran over budget, we will be changing the contract for this work to have not-to-exceed amounts specified with an agreement from the contractor to provide clearly defined features for these amounts.

 

Status of Work at Present:

 

At present we have a very well designed database. The reader database has been fully integrated with contribution records from the three different bookkeeping/accounting software programs used over the past ten years.  This one feature alone provides the ability to do a much more targeted and effective job of fund raising.

 

Our present reader database is somewhat geeky and difficult for non-technical people to use.  The new one has been designed to make it easy for volunteers to help with data-related tasks.  Data entry forms have been designed to minimize errors and standardize formatting for items such as phone numbers and email addresses.

 

The backend of the database is linked to a world postal formatting database which automatically formats address labels according to the postal rules for the country to which the mailing is being sent. 

 

The database also contains a history of organizational service for folks who have served on the Council, the Executive Committee, or any one of the Council's committees.  It has the ability to track service records down to the Society officer level as well.  This gives us the ability to more easily find people to help with specific volunteer-intensive projects or to make personal contact with folks who have served the organization in the past but for some reason have become inactive. 

 

The database also tracks the terms of General Councilors and Committee members so that we instantly can see who's terms are ending and how long any serving individual still has in his or her term. 

 

All of this has been tested and is operational today on a test system.  Billings for this work have put us $6,960 over the 2008 budget for this project.

 

Completion of Present Phase:

 

But there is important work to be completed before it can be fully implemented for day-to-day work.  Below is a list of what remains to be done in the current phase of the project.  These are the items for which an additional $8,000 is being requested.

 

            1. Creation of an easy-to-use report generator

            2. Deployment -- the program needs to be moved from its present incarnation in a test system and installed on a server on our online network.  In addition, a small piece of software needs to be created which will reside on the computer of anyone authorized to access the database.

            3. This project began in November and is based on the data in our database as of the first of November.  We will need to create and run a small program which will update the new database with any edits or new records created since that date.

            4. Implementation

                        a. Complete documentation and a user's manual will be created.

                        b. Training will be provided for Fellowship staff.  Those members trained will then be able to do further training of other staff or volunteers as needed.

                        c. Design and implementation of a comprehensive data protection and backup scheme.

                        d. Switchover to the use of the new system and change of the existing database to read-only.

 

All of this work is projected to be complete by the end of IC08 with the exception of training and switchover.  Given the focus of work between now and July on IC08 matters, I would like to wait until after the conference to do the training and actually switch over to the new system.

 

 

Why are we doing this?

 

Finishing this database project (in conjunction with the parallel work being done to automate much of our website content management and publication) greatly increases administrative efficiency.  This means we can grow substantially in the amount of services and dissemination work we're providing while minimizing the need for additional staff. 

 

            1. Improved administrative efficiency reducing the need for paid staff

            2. The ability to provide valuable services to Societies and other secondary groups such as auto-debit processing, member database services, etc.

            3. The ability easily to incorporate the help of untrained volunteers in Fellowship administrative tasks.

            4. Improved accuracy of Fellowship records by having only one location for each piece of information.

            5. The ability to work efficiently and productively even if there should be a substantial reduction in contributions.

            6. The ability for almost anyone in any part of the world to participate in Fellowship administration. 

 

In my opinion there is a much greater threat to the integrity of our organization and our ability to pursue our mission due to our lack of efficient, well-designed administrative systems, than there is as a result of the allocation of funds to complete this project. 

 

Our generation was bequeathed an organization mired in legal difficulties and characterized by a discouraged and disenchanted readership. We successfully have navigated the difficult legal waters, have won the ability to publish our own superior edition of The Urantia Book, have fostered the process of organizational healing to the best of our ability, have established a sound financial basis for our work, and have seen an increase of both donations and enthusiasm for our efforts.  The last remaining task for our generation is the creation and implementation of a sound, efficient administrative system in which organizational records, financial transactions, policies and procedures, contracts, fund raising tools, and volunteer coordination mechanisms are in place and operating smoothly. 

 

If we can bequeath such a system to the next generation of revelation workers I could leave this world feeling as if we had accomplished something of value for the ongoing work of the revelation.  Wouldn't you?

 

Thank you for your consideration and support.

 

David