December 1995 Operations Report =============================== By Lisa Donnelly (am412), Executive Director 1) Update on 1995 Forth Quarter strategy recommendations ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At the October Board meeting a Strategy Brief and recommendations document was submitted to, and approved by, the Board. It outline short-term activity for the remainder of 1995. Here is an update on the progress thereof. a) Hire a new System Administrator: Completed (see item 2). b) Hire a new Projects Coordinator: Job description ready. Posting will go up after the Board meeting and interviewing and hiring will take place in the first half of January. c) Purchase 16 new lines and modems and one terminal server: We are waiting until January due to potential donation of the terminal server. If this does not materialize by the first week of January lines will be ordered and equipment purchased then. d) Install new equipment and begin software research and development: in limited progress (see item 4) e) Begin looking into replacing 2400 BAUD modem pool: received a commitment from USRobotics to donate sixty-four 14.4 bps modems. These will be installed into our 14.4 pool upon receipt and the corresponding lines moved over from the 2400 pool. f) Addition of an ethernet switch to be donated in December from Plaintree Systems: We are currently waiting for donation to arrive. We are also looking into the donation of four 100 Mbps modem cards. We will purchase the cards in January if necessary. g) Continue working on budget modeling in conjunction with Planning and Development committees to solidify the direction which best supports the NCF mission while promoting a self-sustaining business model: In progress 2) Update on Hiring a New System Administrator ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ian! Allen, Chris Hawley and myself conducted interviews with four possible candidates on Wednesday, 6 December. One candidate was chosen and informed of our decision on Friday, 8 December. I will be meeting with this person on Monday, 18 December to sign the Employee probation contract and he will start full-time work with NCF on Tuesday, 2 January. Once the agreement is signed, I will announce, and introduce, the new System Administrator at the Board meeting. 3) Ian will be Working Full-time for January as NCF Technical Director ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Due to our System Administrator candidate being unable to start work until January 2, 1996, we have contracted Ian for full-time work for the month of January. This will allow for appropriate training and stability for NCF. For February we will be proceeding with half-time contract work as outlined in October 1995. Ian's title will be changing to Technical Director and his job description will be altered to reflect less day to day system administration duties and more project management and design. 4) Delay in Software Installation and Research and Development ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ John Stewart, the Hardware/software volunteer from Carleton University, has been too swamped to complete many of the necessary installations on the new equipment purchase in late September. Due to being dependent on Carleton resources for news and software installations support we are now behind somewhat in R&D. Software on the Solaris machine is coming along and we should be able to start software development. Ian hopes to have begun R&D on the Chebucto Suite in January although his first priority is training the new System Administrator. 5) Relocation to Dunton Tower 402 Completed ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The NCF administrative office completed a successful move to Dunton Tower, room 402. There was minimal delay in operations as Sheila was well prepared. We now have four work areas: one for Sheila, one for the Co-op student who acts as registrar and two for volunteers to assist with drop-in's and with staffing the Help Line. We have our first ever fax line and copy machine as well. In addition we still have room 1409 for meetings and other staff needs. We invite everyone to come and see the new space. 6) NCF is Now Installing Pointers Directly to Requested Web Sites ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Due to the increase in web pointer requests, we are now installing web pointers directly into the menus without an "About" file. 7) ONIP Sponsored Meeting of all Ontario FreeNets ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Ontario Network Infrastructure Program (ONIP) is the agency which provides start-up funding to freenets in Ontario. This group assisted NCF by providing $160,000 released in 6 increments throughout 1993-1996. Our last installment will be for the amount of $15,000 in May of 1996. On Wednesday, 13 December, ONIP organized and sponsored a meeting of all active Ontario freenets. Ian! Allen, Julie Chahal and myself attended this 21 person, all day meeting in Toronto. Our presentation went very well and we found the meeting as a whole very informative and successful. ONIP will sponsor a second meeting in February and provide outside specialists in areas of need for that day. Some of the next issues we will discuss are sustainability (post-ONIP) and technical and administrative standardization. 8) New URL for NCF Statistics and Graphs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As part of our ONIP presentation we brought graphs created by Ian. These images can be viewed at any time with a graphical browser. Ian will update these graphs on a quarterly basis. URL for NCF graphs: http://www..ncf.carleton.ca/~xx610/HomePage.stats.html 9) Annual Reports will be Posted in January ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Annual report requests, along with suggested format, were sent to all staff and active committees and task force leaders on Monday, 4 December. These reports will be posted for on-line in January. 10) Preparing a Web Task Force Mandate and Make-up ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A call for volunteers will be posted soon. We will be looking for qualified individuals to begin thinking and researching Web related issues for NCF. The four areas we will need specialists in are design, technical solutions, operations and policy. 11) New Volunteer Coordinator has Joined the Team ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Andrew Allan (ct246) has joined Natalie Munro (aa966) and Andre Ouelette (bf766) as the NCF volunteer Volunteer-Coordinators. 12) New IP Administrator is being Trained ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Don McCallum (aa515) has volunteered to assist Pat Drummond (aa995) as NCF IP Administrator. She replaced Mike Jankulak (am821) in November and will be training Don though out December. 13) New SIG Administrator ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Miranda Gray (ak717) has replaced Stephen Toy (aa102) as the NCF Special Interest Group Administrator. Stephen replaced Al Seaman in April 1995 but has had to resigned due to his work schedule. NOTE: IP and SIG Administrators are part of the Information Management Task Force. This group is headed by Matthew Darwin and the mandate and job descriptions can be viewed by typing "go info" and choosing item 2. the discussion group ncf.sub.info-management - then read post number 310. 14) Appointment of a New Translation Task Force Leader ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dominique Denommee (bp666) has taken over as the leader of the Translation task force. She stepped in after Michel Charlebois resigned in October. 15) Call for a New Help Desk Leader ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The volunteer coordinators are looking for a new Help Desk leader. We currently have a new volunteer, Noreen Dertinger, committed to answering ncf.admin. In addition, volunteers, Matthew, Miranda and Pat frequently look after this area. Ginette Leduc resigned from this post in October. 16) Complaints Resolution Committee Update ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Complaints committee is up and active. Type "go complaints" to review the on-line area. The handling of complaints has been going smoothly over the last six weeks since the procedures were implemented. Brian Monkman is the Chair of this committee. In early November, he interviewed several candidates to assist in this group and picked two. Brian will be writing to the Board for official approval for these two participants. I have met with this three person group to review activity and find them to be a wonderful addition to NCF. 17) Committee Mandate Review for January ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New committee and task force set-up sheets have been obtained and will be filled-out and posted for all groups in the new year. This process should assist with clarity on the mandate and deliverables of any volunteer activity. 18) NCF Office Closed the Week Between Christmas and New Year ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Due to Carleton University closing down during the Holidays, the NCF office will also be closed. Sheila plans to work from home a bit during the 27-29 to ensure that office mail and any other urgent matters get handled. 19) Executive Director Away from 20 - 27 December ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I will be away for a week and returning to my computer on Thursday, 28 December. ** Happy Holidays to Everyone! ** -- Lisa K. Donnelly, Executive Director * National Capital FreeNet/Libertel de la Capitale nationale * Telecommunities Canada, Board of Directors (613) 241-9554 voice & fax (613) 241-2477