1996 Annual Report for the NCF Planning Committee ================================================= Submitted by Julie Chahal (ab161), NCF Board Member and Vice-President Terms of Reference ----------------------- The role of the Board as a whole is to manage the property and business of FreeNet (Bylaw 7). Planning is a big part of management and should not be delegated. The function of a planning committee is to facilitate the Board's planning process by making recommendations and by clearly defining and presenting alternatives. Specifically, to: a. Produce long-term strategies and plans to fulfill the Mission Statement: - recommend scope and priorities in whom we serve and in products/services, - define values, and - communicate mission and values to the membership. b. Provide guidance to other committees in the form of recommendations to the Board on: - overall directions and priorities, - reviewing committee plans for appropriateness, consistency, and fit. c. Propose means to monitor and report progress against plans and values. d. Identify and research issues that go beyond the scope of single committees: - define the issues (high level), - collect and present points of view, alternatives, consequences, - gather data, - present strategic alternatives for Board decision. Currently active members and contact information --------------------------------------- Julie Chahal (ab161), Chair Jim Elder (aa456) , Board Member & Secretary Richard Taylor (aa333), Board Member & past-Secretary Lisa Donnelly (xx412), Executive Director Processes used for carrying out duties -------------------------------------------- Meetings were held as required. On-line discussion takes place in the ncf.board-moderated and ncf.board-unmoderated newsgroups. Further details are posted in the "go planning" area. Proposals to revise the terms of reference and membership during the year were were prepared and discussed by the Board, but no decisions were reached. Progress in relation to 1996 goals and objectives ----------------------------- 1. Monitor adjustments to and implementation of 1996 Strategy Done. The 1996 Strategy was intentionally general in nature. NCF has made good progress in each of the areas specified, with the possible exception of public access stations and closer ties with local internet access providers. The specific sections were: ----------------------------------------------- - strengthen partnerships with organizations who do, or could, house public access stations to expand the quantity and quality of public access stations; - expand the number of free public access terminals by encouraging sponsorships by organizations where these terminals are located; - develop partnerships with local internet access providers so that network access remains cheap and easy, while NCF remains the place that links the people and organizations of this region. ------------------------------------------------- 2. Prepare an Environmental Scan as background and input to ongoing planning. Done and available through the Planning menu. 3. Prepare and conduct a one-day Board planning session (April). Not done. Our request to more directly involve the whole Board through a full day planning session was rejected by the Board. See Minutes for the Board meetings in February and March 1996 for further details. 4. Refine the strategy by identifying and resolving key issues as they emerge. Some of the questions addressed were: - Which information and services should be limited to ncf members? - Who can be an Information Provider? How does this change under WWW? - What special tools and services (such as corporate accounts) will we make available to Information Providers? - How is NCF different from commercial ISPs? How do we fit into the on-line community? - What should be the acceptable business uses of NCF? 5. Lead the Board through the development of NCFÊs Vision Statement that encompasses and provides the context for our Mission. Not done. A Vision Statement proved difficult to draft, even within the small group of the Planning Committee, and might have been an unproductive distraction in view of the urgency of implementing FreePlan and stabilizing revenue. 6. Prepare the 1997 Strategy. Done and available under "go policy", menu item 4-NCF Organization. 7. Respond to questions from other committees and staff regarding the interpretaion of strategy and other planning vehicles. Done. We were particularly active in discussions of WWW implementation. Recommendations for 1997 ----------------------------------- We recommend that the role of the Planning Committee be incorporated into that of the Executive Committee. A planning infrastructure is now in place: mission statement, values, policies, format and timetable for annual plans, and an organization with defined decision-making powers. Planning goals for the next year: 1. Prepare the 1998 Strategy. (Draft presented to the Board by September to provide guidance for budget preparation.) 2. Strengthen the regular review of accomplishments compared to plans, values and our mission need to be strengthened. 3. Reconsider the need to produce a Vision Statement near the end of the year. We have been unable to reach consensus regarding if the Planning Committee should continue to exist as a separate entity. We request that the Board review each of the elements of our current terms of reference to determine if they should be done by: a planning committee of the Board; the Executive committee; or the Executive Director.