Operations Report Monday, 14 August 1995 By: Lisa K. Donnelly, Executive Director * indicates a request to the Board 1. Hiring a New Administrative Coordinator ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Michael Anderson, the NCF Administrative Coordinator has been planning to move Toronto this fall. Last week he was hired as the Office Manager for the Toronto Free-Net, so he will be leaving us a bit sooner than initially expected. He will be in Toronto for training on Tuesday and Wednesday the 23rd and 24th of August. A message counting office hours and information for the remainder of the month will be posted as soon as dates are confirmed. A job description and a call for resumes has been posted. In addition, the Finance Committee is using a human resources firm to assist us in procuring select candidates for interviewing. Resumes will be received until Friday, 25 August. The Executive Director and Treasurer will hold interviews during the week of the 28th of August. A candidate will be chosen by Friday, 1 September and formal training begins on September 5th. 2.* Purchasing a New Laptop Computer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Demonstrations, conferences and other forms of outreach have been placed as a priority by the Board and so Mimi Richard, the staff and the volunteers have put a lot of energy into the Speakers Coordination task force. Carrying out our scheduled events without proper equipment is becoming increasingly difficult and presenting major obstacles to our volunteers. NCF requires its own laptop for these types of outreach events. In addition, a laptop can be used in the office by staff now and in the future. At this time, NCF does not own the equipment it uses at Carleton University. Having a reasonably modern computer that we own would be an asset for the office as well - especially if we orchestrate an administrative re-location over the next six months. We plan to purchase a 486 66 MHz with 8 MB ram, an internal 14.4 modem, monochrome screen and the appropriate connector for the Carleton LCD panel. Money for additional office equipment intended for a relocation was included in the 1995 budget. These funds were not utilized. The Director of Development has asked several computer stores for a donation of this type with no success. *Request: I would like to ask the Board's permission to spend $2,000 on a NCF laptop computer. The funds would come out of the "Office staff and supplies" line item which is currently $5,055 below budget for the year to date. The laptop, with accompanying cables and speakers materials, would be kept locked in the NCF office for staff use and loaned to volunteers and Board members for speaking engagements. 3. General and Commercial Liability Insurance ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have secured General and Commercial Liability Insurance for NCF. Through the diligent work of the NCF Treasurer, Jeff Bossert, we found a policy for $677.00 This policy will cover NCF in the event of equipment damage, interruption of business, and personal injury at the NCF office and special events. 4.* Formation of the Finance Committee ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Request: That the Board recognize the finance group as a committee chaired by NCF Treasurer, Jeff Bossert. The term of the appointment as Chair will match the appointment as Treasurer: 1995 April to 1997 April. 5. Formation of a Minute Takers Task Force ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Regular meetings and prompt posting of minutes are an important communication tool for an on-line community. In an effort to increase communication between the 20+ activities on NCF, we are creating a group of people who will be available to take minutes at various meetings. The Minute Takers Task Force is currently being created by the Volunteer Coordinators. The goals will be to have a minimum of three people available to attend meetings, take notes, type up the minutes within three days of the meeting and then send them to our Translation Task Force. Translations have a 48 hour turn-around time. This system will provide full and detailed meeting minutes within five days after a meeting. 6. Procedure for Bi-lingual Posting in NCF Announcements ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Translation Task Force has combined forces with the NCF Announcements moderator to bring us a bi-lingual message of the day. We now have a system in place for ensuring that the this listing of NCF related subject lines appear in both official languages. For your information, the procedure is as follows: - Posts are contributed to ncf.announce - First they go to moderator Rosaleen Dickson - The moderator checks the content, and if appropriate, forwards the message to the Translation task force who translates and posts both the English and French announcements within 24 hours - If the announcement does not exceed a screen of text, then the English and French version are posted within the same message - If the announcement is more than one screen in length then the French and English version are posted one after the other 7. NCF Representation at the Telecommunities '95 Conference ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The NCF representative for the annual general meeting of Telecommunities Canada will be NCF Board member, Stephen Toy. The AGM will be held on Wednesday, 23 August - the last day of the Telecommunities '95 Conference which is being held at Victoria University in British Columbia. 8. NCF System Administrator away from Saturday, 19 August until Tuesday, 5 September ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ian! Allen will be away at the Telecommunities '95 Conference from August 19 - 23. After that he will be with family until September 5, Tuesday. During his absence, Volunteer Second System Administrator, Chris Hawley will be looking after the system. In addition, Board vice-president, Andrew Patrick, and NCF volunteer, John Stewart, will also be available to help out should there be any system difficulties. 9. NCF Executive Director to be Away the Week of August 21-25 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Due to the Telecommunities '95 Conference and a pressing family engagement, I will be away from my office for the week of August 21st. I will be checking my voice and e-mail messages daily so any urgent matters will be dealt with promptly. 10. Meeting of Key Volunteers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On 3 August, the Executive Director held a meeting of all NCF volunteers in leadership and contract roles. The goal of this first meeting was team building and information sharing. The meeting went very well and a second meeting is set for September 6, Wednesday. Minutes are posted in ncf.status.committees. At this meeting an organizational flowchart was distributed as an information item. This document is being refined and will be distributed to the Board in September along with many other Board manual inserts. List of current volunteer activities and contacts Committees: 1. AGM Committee: Garth Graham aa127 /*Andrew Patrick aa118 2. Finance Committee: Jeff Bossert au025 3. Francophone Committee: Charles Trahan aj279/ *Yvonne Dionne ao594 & Rosaleen Dickson ac174 4. Hardware/software Committee: Miranda Gray xx717 / needs Board liaison 5. Planning Committee: Julie Chahal ab161 Individual Assignments: 6. Complaints Administrator: Robert Pless xx247 7. News Administrator: Paul Tomblin ab401 8. Postmaster: G.J. Hagenaars xx247 9. Boutique Administrator: Jessica Cohen xx724 Task Forces 10. Help Desk & Documentation: Ginette Leduc az253 11. Information Management: Matthew Darwin xx673 Also includes: a. IP Administrator: Mike Jankulak xx821 b. SIG Administrator: Stephen Toy xx102 c. Menu Administrators:Matthew Darwin xx673 & Pat Drummond xx995 12. Office: Michael Anderson bc574 13. Public Access: Dormant 14. Speakers Coordination: Mimi Richard br184 15. System Design: Undeclared Also includes:Menu Design:Andre Vellino an386 16. Time Limits: Phyllis Smith aq619 & Simon Coakeley br422 17. Translations: Michel Charlebois az331 18. Volunteer Coordination: Natalie Munro xx088 Projects 19. Administrative Database: Chris Hawley xx654 11. July Operational Indicators ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Operational Indicators June July August Registered Users 43,515 44,735 46,140 Unique Users (Week) 13,517 13,080 13,030 Registration Turnaround (Av.Days) 3 4 3 Incoming Registrations (Per Day) On-line registrations 77 70 82 Accounts Validated 38 40 43 Information Providers 300 325 330 Set up requests 11 Completed 5 Volunteers very active 25 29 26 moderate involvement 30 35 35 occasional participation 60 125 125 total listed in database 200 330* 350 *(increase due in part to the National Capital Air Show) -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lisa K. Donnelly, xx412@freenet.carleton.ca Executive Director, National Capital FreeNet/Libertel de la Capitale nationale -----------------------------------------------------------------------------