Executive Director's Report September 1998 =========================== October 13, 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New registrations at 256 is substantially under the forecast (-53%) of 767 new members for the month. This is partially offset in donations by a slightly higher than predicted average donation, resulting in a month-end position of $2,863 or 42% under budget. On a year-to-date basis, we have received $28,051 from new members, under Budget by $7,691 or 22%. 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. 242 538 -55% 131 54.1% $ 2,965 $ 3,441 -14% $22.63 $12.25 Apr. 239 526 -55% 117 49.0% $ 3,412 $ 3,364 1% $29.16 $14.28 May 222 442 -50% 123 55.4% $ 3,067 $ 2,826 9% $24.93 $13.82 Jun. 462 512 -10% 153 33.1% $ 3,301 $ 3,279 1% $21.58 $ 7.15 Jul. 591 823 -28% 153 25.8% $ 3,551 $ 5,268 -33% $23.21 $ 6.01 Aug. 356 750 -53% 114 32.0% $ 2,338 $ 4,800 -51% $20.51 $ 6.57 Sep. 256 767 -67% 119 46.5% $ 2,863 $ 4,908 -42% $24.06 $11.18 Oct. 696 $ 4,454 Nov. 529 $ 3,387 Dec. 413 $ 2,642 ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ YTD'98 2,927 5,586 1,187 40.6% $28,051 $35,742 -22% $23.63 $ 9.58 Avg'98 325 621 -48% 132 40.6% $ 3,117 $ 3,971 -22% $23.63 $ 9.58 b) Donation Data - Renewals ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We had a good month for renewals, renewing 246 members compared to our Budget prediction of 192 (+28%). The level of increase did not fully translate into a similar increase in renewal donations at $5,075, although even this is 18% above our budgeted amount for the month. 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 $15.00* Feb 1,320 1,470 -10% 869 65.8% $21,415 $ 37,467 -43% $24.64 $16.22* Mar. 1,620 1,601 -1% 899 55.5% $22,759 $ 34,426 -34% $25.32 $14.05* Apr. 1,337 1,616 -17% 938 70.2% $23,555 $ 36,535 -36% $25.11 $17.62* May 1,028 1,336 -23% 653 63.5% $15,838 $ 34,662 -54% $24.25 $15.41* Jun. 670 478 40% 428 63.9% $ 9,410 $ 23,953 -61% $21.99 $14.05* Jul. 476 206 131% 333 70.0% $ 6,657 $ 8,832 -25% $19.99 $13.99 Aug. 310 188 65% 218 70.3% $ 4,722 $ 4,551 4% $21.66 $15.23 Sep. 246 192 28% 214 87.0% $ 5,075 $ 4,307 18% $23.71 $20.63 Oct. 174 $ 4,233 Nov. 132 $ 3,643 Dec. 886 $ 8,656 ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ YTD'98 8,551 8,821 -3% 5,517 64.5% $132,598 $211.856 -37% $24.03 $15.51 AVG'98 950 980 -3% 613 64.5% $ 14,733 $ 23,540 -37% $24.03 $15.51 * previous month calculations re-stated to correct error in formula. c) Funding Drive ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The funding drive continues to produce excellent results. The following table illustrates our position as at the end of September, No. of Period Donors Donation ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ 30-31 Jul-98 11 $ 300 August 1998 267 $ 9,013 September 1998 374 $11,711 ~~~ ~~~~~~~ 652 $21,024 Since the end of the month, (to the date of this report) we have slowed down a little, but are now at $24,465 (767 donors). An e-mail reminder will be sent out during the week of October 12, to give the drive one last push. d) Membership Activity: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As reported in the previous month, we no longer archive accounts, pending our hiring a new Sysadmin. Accounts that would have been archived are left in "hibernate" stage at 10 minutes access. This way, we can renew these accounts (+/- 50 each month) if requested without need of volunteer Sysadmin time. Accordingly. the figure 19,130 overstates our membership. Based on previous history, this number is likely to be approximately 18,000. Ways of identifying the number of accounts in "permanent hibernate mode" are being explored to allow a more accurate picture. |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 Mar. 21,000 0.1%|201 104| 242 538 1,620 13 316 Apr. 20,317 -3.3%|201 104| 239 526 1,337 55 899 May. 19,332 -4.8%|201 96| 222 442 1,028 43 1,255 June 18,779 -2.9%|201 96| 462 512 670 62 1,095 July 18,517 -1.4%|201 92| 591 823 476 40 911 Aug. 18,867 1.9%|201 94| 356 750 310 - - Sep. 19,130 1.4%|201 95| 256 767 246 - * - * * d) Member Usage Data ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Usage continues to decline on the main modem pool with some 187 fewer unique users logging in a typical week. Most of this can be attributed to a reduction in the number of members although some may be moving to the Mitel lines even though during the early evening, these lines are maxed out. It is interesting to note that the number of unique users dropped by 2.5%, but the number of sessions dropped by 9.7%. Apparently the users that week used the system fewer times. The use of the Extended Access server at Mitel continues to grow. The statistics are somewhat misleading as the count is based on 48 ports on the server, whereas we are only able to utilize 32 lines at any one time. An average use of 16% can be re-stated as 25% and the peak at 77.1% in fact means 100%. The second table below illustrates that it is still easy to get on the main modem pool with the software used to test this able to connect on the first attempt over 94% of the time. 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% | Mar. 72,417 9,333 | 52 19 27.7% 10.1% | 1.2 Mar.EA | 26 5 54.2% 10.4% | Apr. 65,844 8,576 | 49 19 26.1% 10.1% | Apr.EA | 32 9 66.7% 18.8% | May 64,439 8,235 | 58 22 30.9% 11.7% | 1.1 May EA | 34 12 70.8% 25.0% | Jun 60,643 11,109 | 62 26 33.0% 13.8% | 1.1 Jun EA 4,992 910 | 34 12 70.8% 25.0% | Jul. 59,638 7,470 | 67 30 35.6% 16.0% | 1.1 Jul EA | 34 12 70.8% 25.0%| Aug. 57,236 7,203 | 68 32 68.0% 32.0% | 1.1 Aug EA | 35 15 72.9% 31.3% | Sep. 51,664 7,016 | 71 31 37.8% 16.5% | 1.2 ** see below Sep EA* | 37 16 77.1% 22.9% | * EA: traffic on the Extended Access Lines at Our Mitel node ** Results obtained from software to test for busy signals: Connect on 9 attempts: 1 0.1% Average: 1.2 Connect on 8 attempts: 2 0.2% Median: 1.0 Connect on 7 attempts: 2 0.2% Maximum: 9.0 Connect on 6 attempts: 5 0.4% Connect on 5 attempts: 14 1.1% Connect on 4 attempts: 9 0.7% Connect on 3 attempts: 11 0.9% Connect on 2 attempts: 30 2.3% Connect on 1 attempts: 1,203 94.2% ~~~~~ ~~~~~ Total in sample: 1,277 100.0% e) Sponsorship, Homepage Data and Information Providers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two new org accounts were issued this month to VPI and JETAA respectively. PSAC and Alzheimer's Association re-donated $100 each to confirm their continuing interest in maintaining an NCF org account. There were no changes to line sponsorships. We added one new IP for a total of 308 and 5 new member homepages for a total of 1,189. 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% Mar. 1 18| 0 6 | -1 321 66 -1.5% |1,319 6.3% Apr. 4 22| 0 6 | 0 321 65 -1.5% |1,319 6.5% May 4 26| 0 6 | 0 321 71 9.2% |1,231 6.4% June 1 27| 2 8 | 0 321 68 -4.2% |1,194 6.4% July 1 28| 0 8 | -2 319 66 -2.9% |1,175 6.3% Aug. 2 31| 0 8 | -12 307 75 13.6% |1,184 6.3% Sep. 2 33| 0 8 | 1 308 76 1.3% |1,189 6.2%* g) Government Grants ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (i) Industry Canada: National Capital Access Project (NatCAP) Some progress has been made in finding interested organizations for a project which can run as a pilot under Industry Canada's soon-to-be announced Urban CAP program. Details are included in a seperate information item. 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/. Andre Ouellette (bf766) has stepped down as editor of this publication with John Angus (an321) accepting the torch from Andy. Thank you Andy for several years of dedicated work on this publication to make it what it is today and welcome John. You've got a big pair of shoes to fill. Ads were run in both Monitor Magazine and Ottawa Computes. These ads promoted the Funding Drive. i) Funding Administrivia ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The on-line list of donor files was updated to reflect all October donations. Thank You letters were sent to all donors. j) Outreach ~~~~~~~~ Seniors Internet Program: Regular weekly sessions continue at both the Alex Dayton Seniors Activity Centre and The Abbotsford Centre. A first similar program will start at The Good Companions Centre at the beginning of January. Corel Corporation has donated WordPerfect Suite8 for the three donated computers which we have located in these centres. H.U.G.O. I had an opportunity to address about 25 members of the "Helpful Users Group of Ottawa" during their regular monthly meeting. H.U.G.O. began as the "Hyperian: users group and the mix of people included a number of existing NCF members. Many were pleased to have someone there to help them learn about graphical access. 2. NCF Administration ====================== a) Top Five Priorities ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (1) Funding Drive (2) Implement new donation policy (3) Recruit new Sysadmin (4) National Capital Access Project (5) Technical - Install new 28.8 Kbps modems - reconfigure (drop restrictions) phone lines b) Network Upgrades & Performance ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (i) Sysadmin recruitment: We ran a display ad in the Ottawa Citizen twice during the month on a Wednesday and on a Saturday. This ad generated an additional 19 applicants and we have a developed a short list of 6 candidates. Telephone screening is underway this weekend and we expect to interview 2 or 3 of these next week. (ii) Some progress has been made in reconfiguring our telephone lines. Unrestricted PPP is now available on all lines although testing of this continues. We have installed 12 of the recently donated 28.8 Kbps modems on the 520-1135 modem pool. Six of these are Motorola and six are Practical Peripheral. We have a number of each brand available and the plan is to test various Initialization stings on this test group and determine the best configuration for each as well as judge the better overall brand from a reliability perspective, Following this test, we will install about 40 more, skewed to the brand we prefer. The next step will be to arrange for Bell Canada to reconfigure the hunt groups and forwarding so that all of the high speed modems will be available on 520-9013. This pool has been called the "Web Sampler Lines", but will in future be called the "High Speed Lines". 3. Member Services and Future Initiatives ========================================== a) Scotia Bank - Donation collections ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We continue to await a response from Bank Of Nova Scotia (head office) on whether and how, Scotia Bank can assist us by collecting NCF donations at all Ottawa area branches. -- *** Christopher L. Cope, Executive Director *** National Capital Freenet / Libertel de la Capitale nationale tel. (613) 520-2600 ext. 8024 -or- fax (613) 520-3524