Executive Director's Report February, 1998 =========================== March 14, 1998 By Christopher L. Cope (execdir@freenet.carleton.ca) Contents: 1. Funding and Public Relations Update 2. NCF Administration 3. Member Services and Future Initiatives 1. Funding Update ================= a) Donation Data - New Registrations ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The following table is in a different format this month, with columns added for budget, variance and budget for future months. The last column "Avg. Regist Donat'n All New" represents is a calculation of all registration donations in the month divided by all registrants, not just the donors. As was the case last month, we are considerably under our target for new registrations although a larger percentage of new members donated. Although we fell off the mark by 55% this month from a numbers point of view, the financial impact is not as large, at -10%. Avg. No. No. % Of Avg. Regist New Budget Regist Memb $ Budget Regist Donat'n Memb. (No.) Var Donate Donate Amount ($) Var Donat'n All New ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ All'97 6,923 2,295 33.2% $47,395 $72,000 -34% $20.65 $6.85 Avg'97 577 191 33.2% $ 3,950 $ 6,000 -34% $20.65 $6.85 Jan. 305 666 -54% 145 47.5% $ 3,308 $ 4,262 -22% $22.81 $10.85 Feb 254 562 -55% 132 52.0% $ 3,246 $ 3,594 -10% $24.59 $12.78 Mar. 538 $ 3,441 Apr. 526 $ 3,364 May 442 $ 2,826 Jun. 512 $ 3,279 Jul. 823 $ 5,268 Aug. 750 $ 4,800 Sep. 767 $ 4,908 Oct. 696 $ 4,454 Nov. 529 $ 3,387 Dec. 413 $ 2,642 ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ All'98 559 7,224 277 49.6% $ 6,554 $46,225 $23.66 $11.72 Avg'98 280 602 -54% 139 49.6% $ 3,277 $ 3,852 $23.66 $11.72 c) Donation Data - Renewals ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our prediction for the number of renewing members is more accurate, but even in this case, some 10% fewer members renewed, than what was anticipated. The budget also assumes that 70% of renewing members will donate. This is was not our experience in February with some 65% donating. Finally, we expected the average donation to be $25.50, but our February average was $24.64. Certainly an improvement on the $21.68 experience in 1997, but the cumulative effect of these three variances is an overall shortfall from renewals this month of some $16,000 or 43%. Avg. No. % Of Avg. Renwl No. Budget Renwl Renwl $ Budget Renwl Donate Renwl (No.) Var Donate Donate Amount ($) Var Donatn All Ren ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ All'97 13,235 18,000 8,611 65.1% $186,716 $202,500 -8% $21.68 $14.11 Avg'97 1,103 1,500 718 65.1% $ 15,560 $ 16,875 -8% $21.68 $14.11 Jan. 1,544 1,734 -11% 965 62.5% $23,167 $27,123 -15% $24.01 $13.36 Feb 1,320 1,470 -10% 869 65.8% $21,415 $37,467 -43% $24.64 $14.57 Mar. 1,601 $34,426 Apr. 1,616 $36,535 May 1,336 $34,662 Jun. 478 $23,953 Jul. 206 $ 8,832 Aug. 188 $ 4,551 Sep. 192 $ 4,307 Oct. 174 $ 4,233 Nov. 132 $ 3,643 Dec. 886 $ 8,656 ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ All'98 2,864 10,012 1,834 64.0% $44,582 $228,388 $24.31 $15.57 Avg'98 1,432 1,602 -11% 917 64.0% $22,291 $ 19,032 $24.31 $15.57 c) Membership Activity in February: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The number of FreeNet members remains reasonably static at 20,970, having in fact declined by 26 members (0.1%) in the month. The member to line ratio changes quite dramatically however, with the addition of the 32 new Extended Access lines and now stands at 104:1. |Member | Current |To line| Actual |Ratio |Number Forecast Number Number Number # of % inc.| |Of New No. of Members Members Members Members -dec. |Lns :1 |Members Members Renewed Un-arch Archvd. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~|~~~~~~~| ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ May. 62,877 n/a|169 372| 372 1,831 0 0 Jun. 43,170 -31.3%|169 255| 654 654 18 20,361 Jul. 28,280 -34.5%|169 167| 651 605 103 7,919 Aug. 27,980 - 1.1%|169 166| 484 448 68 7,739 Sep. 22,996 -17.8%|169 136| 467 320 100 6,145 Oct. 21,527 - 6.4%|169 127| 314 248 76 1,870 Nov. 21,361 -0.8%|169 126| 234 529 266 61 501 Dec. 21,125 -1.1%|169 125| 193 413 728 42 421 Jan. 20,996 -0.6%|169 124| 305 666 1,544 16 495 Feb. 20,970 -0.1%|201*104| 254 562 1,320 74 343 * The number of lines is taken at 201, being our original 169 lines plus the new 32 Extended Access lines, which became operational in February. e) Member Usage Data ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PPP usage, is essentially unchanged this month on our main modem lines, and we do not yet have the ability to track the usage of the Extended Access Lines. The number of weekly sessions, which had been declining gradually from a high of approximately 80,000 in October, fell off sharply this month to just 71,271, as did the number of unique user logins. It is thought that some of this decline may relate to migration to the Extended Access lines. No. Of No. Of | Max # Avg # Max % Avg.% | Avg. Weekly Unique | PPP PPP PPP PPP | No. Sessions Users | Users Users Usage Usage | Busy ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ | ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ | ~~~~ Sep. | 9.3% 0.7% | Oct. 80,169 | 3.3% 2.0% | Nov. 74,359 10,150 | 39 12 13.3% 6.4% | Dec. 74,816 9,655 | 39 14 20.7% 7.4% | Jan. 74,270 9,683 | 52 19 27.7% 10.1% | Feb. 71,271 9,299 | 52 19 27.7% 10.1% | f) Sponsorship, Homepage Data and Information Providers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There is very little change to report in this area and although we added 2 new organizational accounts bringing our total to 17, we lost ground in the number of Information Providers. There is a small increase in the number of IPs with homepages, but this may relate to a change in the way the number is harvested. The number of members with homepages increased by 6.3% to 1316 despite the slight decline in membership. * The number of IPs is based on an auto-generated list available at: http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/auto-gen/ip-index/ALL.html The number if IPs using homepages is calculated by counting the relevant directories on the system after eliminating NCF top level and staff directories. Finally, the number of Member homepages is harvested from an auto-generated list (sectioned) at: http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/ncf/homepages/byuser.html New Total | New Total | IP Incr. | Member % Org. Org. | Line Line | New Total Free -Dec. | Home of Accts Accts | Spons Spons | IPs IPs Pages % | Page Memb ~~~~~ ~~~~~ | ~~~~~ ~~~~~ | ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ | ~~~~~ ~~~~ Apr. | 1 1 | 2 | May. 4 4| 1 2 | 4 | Jun. 0 4| 1 3 | 2 | Jul. 1 5| 1 4 | 2 | Aug. 1 6| 0 4 | 2 | Sep. 2 8| 0 4 | 1 | Oct. 3 11| 0 4 | 1 | Nov. 3 14| 0 4 | +/-300 55 |1,224 5.7%* Dec. 0 14| 1 5 | 1 301 57 3.6% |1,205 5.7%* Jan. 1 15| 1 6 | 28 329 56 -1.8% |1,310 6.2% Feb. 2 17| 0 6 | -7 322 67 19.6% |1,316 6.3% g) Government Grants ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (i) Regional Municipality OF Ottawa-Carleton We received written notice from RMOC, informing us that their 1998 budget process has been delayed due to the following factors: uncertainties resulting from the Provincial funding changes; the Megaweek announcements and the ice storm. The Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee is scheduled to conduct its budget review on April 21, 1998 and Regional Council is expected to review the 1998 operating budgets on May 13, 1998. We will be advised of the status of our grant proposal shortly after this process is complete. (ii)Industry Canada Preliminary discussions are underway regarding a project funding proposal to be presented to Industry Canada early this year. The project envisioned takes advantage of a new addition to Industry Canada's Community Access program which allocates dollars to urban CAP sites in addition to rural projects. h) Public Relations Update ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FreeNews - monthly is available in text format, at "go freenews" and on the web at: http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/freenews/. This issue featured Q & A section with each of the candidates in this year's AGM. Three newsletters were prepared this month; FreeNews (monthly); FreeNews - The Key Partners' Edition (Quarterly); the "INFO" (Quarterly) for Information Providers and Information Managers. All letters were sent, either via e-mail or fax to the PRT's mailing lists. Ads were run in both Monitor Magazine and Ottawa Computes. These ads promoted the Extended Access Lines and reminded NCFers to vote in the AGM. The Events Coordination Team has been created. The setup sheet for this new team has been distributed separately, and is available at "go ect". The team's mandate is to put together NCF's Social Gatherings and events such as the Picnic, Birthday Party, other social functions, and booking venues, equipment etc. for Board meetings and other functions. i) Funding Administrivia ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The on-line list of donor files was updated to reflect all February donations. Thank You letters were sent to all donors. 2. NCF Administration ====================== a) Top Five Priorities ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (1) Membership Development: Develop team, plan and execute membership drive. (2) Revenue Development: Develop team, plan and execute funding project(s) (3) System stability & FreeNet Next Generation Project Hardware/software changes to be made to improve system stability. (4) Board: Orientation of new Board members, revise Board manual (5) Projects: Pursue Industry Canada funding proposal b) Network Upgrades ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On February 4th. 1998, the Extended Access Project became a reality, with 32 additional dial-up (PPP) telephone lines added at Mitel's facility. A lot was done in the few days prior to the launch: getting the new phone number and setup from Bell; finalizing the terminal server and modem configuration. and getting the authentication mechanism working. In the coming weeks, minor configuration changes will be made to respond to actual problem reports and to align the configuration with our original plan. On February 23rd, the 1998 on-line AGM opened, the voting software needed nothing more than content updates (changing dates here and there, updating candidates list and motions). Ending on March 10th. On February 24th, Jennifer Witham joined the ranks of the NCF SysAdmin Team. Jennifer will continue in her role of NCF Postmaster as well as her new duties on the SysAdmin team On February 25th, Carleton University got their second T1 channel to ONet, improving dramatically the quality of connections to and from the Internet. A review of the monitoring tool at: http://gw.ncf.carleton.ca:8000/mrtg/misc/ag.carleton.15.html shows this new capacity graphically, particularly when you look at the monthly and yearly graphs. c) FreeNet Next Generation Project ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our System Administrator, Yannick Gravel began Oracle training this month. He attended the first two, of four planned sessions (donated by Oracle Corporation) from Feb. 9th - 13th and from Feb. 23rd - 27th. The first session was an introduction to Oracle's programming tools and interface, the second session was the Oracle Database Administration (DBA) course. FreeNet Next Generation will be centered around the new database configuration, using Oracle's software at its core. Plans call for installing, and testing the software in March and April. 3. Member Services and Future Initiatives ========================================== a) Extended Access ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The extended Access program was launched February 4th, 1998, adding 32 more lines or 20% to our dial-up capacity. We have commenced discussions with another possible corporate partner who may be able to host Extended Access II. A partner for this venture must, in addition to a desire to help the community with an in-kind gift of this nature, must have plenty of available telephone lines, with traffic slacking off during the evening, plus a high volume connection to the Internet. Donors will also be required for the hardware to make this type of project possible, which will include an access server, a PC-based gateway, PBX cards, hubs, cables etc. and possibly a router. b) NCF Website Team ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A new "Web-site team" has been formed, to create the NCF home page, incorporating ideas and comments that arose throughout the NCF Home Page Contest process. Our new home page or "front door" will communicate who we are, what we do, and provide navigation to our communities and services. This team will also be responsible for creating the NCF Web site linked to and from the NCF home page. In addition, the team will develop and document a generic style for NCF Web page developers to use in creating all top level pages in the site. (Not including Member pages and IP pages) Pat Drummond (ad995) is coordinator of this team. Additional details are provided in as set up sheet for this team, which has been distributed separately. c) Progress with Auto-install Diskettes for PPP Connectivity ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It has been determined we are unable, given the constraints of the access servers involved, to have the dial-up prompts at the both the Extended Access site and our main modem pool match. Final adjustments will be made to the "welcome" screen at the Extended Access site and once complete, work will be required to the auto- install dial up scripts. It is hoped that a script can be developed which will detect which site has been accessed and proceed to supply information to the prompts in the sequence which relates to that site. Once this final adjustment and some other minor fine-tuning is complete, both diskette and CD-ROM versions will be available for distribution. d) Web Chat ~~~~~~~~ Natalie Munroe (xx966)and her team, including Richard Bethell (cj434), Peter Boddy (bx955), Brad Hudson (cd502) and Katherine Allen (dk255) continue their work on this new service. The Web Chat area will run on server software to be donated by Magna Communications.