Information Technology AdHoc Committee Report 
July 2007

It is the purpose of this report to make recommendations to the Executive Committee on behalf of the Information Technology committee, and to solicit comments and input from the General Council on the Fellowship’s website goal statement and IT strategic plan.

 

During the April 2007 meeting of the Executive Committee, the adhoc IT committee was reconstituted as follows:

 

Motion was made (Dreier) and seconded (Lange) that the ad-hoc IT Committee be reactivated for the purpose of conducting a thorough examination of current and anticipated demands on website/IT resources, leading to specific recommendations to the Executive Committee designed to remedy the various critical problems, current and anticipated, identified by IT/Website manager David Kantor in his IT/website reports both recently and over the last few years.

 

This committee will begin its work immediately, and will make recommendations to the Executive Committee at its next quarterly meeting in July 2007 or earlier.

 

Discussion ensued.  Motion passed unanimously. Michelle Klimesh will chair this committee.

 

Since April, the committee has worked continuously toward the task assigned.  We have crafted a statement of purpose and goals for the website to guide the work on that front.  We also created a working strategic plan and prioritized the IT tasks in order to focus the allocation of resources and the work of our consultant, staff, and volunteers. 

 

Our most pressing issues surround office systems and support of our office systems, specifically, backup procedures, database protocols, accounting and bookkeeping, and the online point of sale software. The support of Fellowship office systems has been complicated by the transition of the office itself.  Together these items are far and away the highest priority work we face this coming year.  Alan Goodman, a database consultant, is coming on board this month to begin support and design for these crucial functions.

 

Other priorities include maintaining a searchable text, committee support, book sales, online translations, access to newsletters and publications, email lists, study group contact information, and an events calendar.  Some of these items are functioning well now, others are in process, and some only exist on our wish list.

 

The lowest priority items include studies, broadcasts, society support, sales of secondary works,            and public relations.  This is not a recommendation that the Fellowship should NOT do these things, rather, it is a recommendation that we not focus our resources in these areas until the higher priority tasks have been addressed satisfactorily.

 

At times this chair has felt overwhelmed by the amount of work we face. There is clearly more work than can be done by a single full-time person. The dedication of  David Kantor and his team to this gargantuan task should be a source of amazement and gratitude to the officers, committees, and members of the Fellowship.

 

Some of the work at hand will be time consuming and costly in the short term.  Some costs will lower when we move into a maintenance mode.  Some IT work will never be complete, as the nature of technology constantly changes. We need to be somewhat nimble to keep up with the possibilities arising before us.

 

Our general recommendation is that significant financial and human resources should be applied to the issues we face.  Specific recommendations and budget requests will be forthcoming prior to the October budget meeting.

 

It is somewhat intimidating to be working with the brainiacs on the IT committee. It is also a joy and an honor.

 

For the committee,

 

Michelle Klimesh, Chair

Robert Burns

Michael Challis

Susan Cook

Steve Dreier

David Kantor

Paula Thompson

Larry Watkins