Executive Director's Report August 2001 =========================== September 14, 2001 By Ian MacEachern (execdir@freenet.carleton.ca) Contents: 1. Status Report 2. Administration & Funding 3. Member Services and Future Initiatives 4. System Administration Appendices A Chart showing Registration Donations B Chart showing Renewal Donations C Chart showing Membership Activity 1. Status Report ================ a) Key Indicators: July. Aug. % | Aug. % 2001 2001 Inc/Dec | 2000 Inc/Dec ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ | ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ 1. Number of members: 7,078 6,939 - 2.0% | 8,344 -16.8% 2. Donation Revenue: $7,836 $ 8,465 + 8.0% | $ 7,289 +16.4% 3. Percentage donating: 78.5% 62.9% -19.9% | 76.4% -17.6% 4. Average Donation: $27.11 $ 31.35 +15.6% | $ 27.09 +15.6% b) Top Priorities ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (1) Projects - HRDC WebMail - Development phase (business plan) - HRDC - Thin Client - implementation phase - IC Smart Capital - modify and sign partner agreement (2) Renewal numbers (3) System reliability - Resolve modem problems (3com RAS 1500's) c) Top Priorities - Sysadmin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (1) HRDC WebMail - migrate web server and evaluate iPlanet Messaging Server (2) SPAM - research possible solutions to this on-going problem (3) Work with 3com getting RAS 1500 problems solved 2. Administration & Funding =========================== a) Donation Data - New Registrations ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The number of new members was significantly over budget in August with 131 new members joining. Revenue was slightly under budget at $1,756. Percentage of donors was 88.8%. The situation on a year-to-date basis remains relatively the same as last month, with some 1091 new members exceeding the forecasted 784 (+39%), donating a total of $11,963 or 4.7% less than the $14,400 budgeted. (See Appendix "A") b) Donation Data - Renewals ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The number of renewals in August was 298; well above (+163%) the predicted 113. Of these, only 61.4% donated a total $6,709, well above our forecast of $4,924 (+36.3%). Year-to-date renewals continue to be strong in numbers but not in revenue. 3,574 members have renewed so far this year, compared to our forecast of 2,768 (+29.1%) Renewal donations year-to-date total $104,922 vs. a budget figure of $121,038 (-13.3%). (See Appendix "B") c) Membership Activity: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Membership declined this month: now standing at 6,939, a decrease of 2.0%. The year-to-date decline is some 487 members or about 9.3% since January 1, 2001. (See Appendix "C") d) Sponsorship, Homepage Data and Information Providers: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2 IP web pages were added in the month 3. Member Services and Future Initiatives ========================================== a) Projects ~~~~~~~~ (i) Industry Canada - SmartCapital: Still working on modifying the Contribution Agreement and finalizing partnership agreements. Extended Access II - City of Ottawa: City of Ottawa IT staff rep has requested a presentation be made to to senior managers on October 5. We have confirmed the equipment list from the Alcatel donation required to implement the project. Thin Client Expansion I am continuing to follow up with partners to obtain required donations of software for the service expansion. Again this is a little more difficult because of the delays in the initial implementation of the service (HRDC Thin Client). WebMail Discussions are continuing with iPlanet (a Sun Microsystems / Netscape alliance) to obtain a donation of the required software for this service. Clarification of the conditions of the donation has been received. The Ottawa iPlanet rep has moved to another position but his replacements in Toronto have moved the proposal forward within the organization. We await their reply. (ii) HRDC (Office of Learning Technology): Thin Client An Agreement has been reached with IKON Offfice Solutions to begin work as soon as the new server arrives. This is expected to be in 2 weeks time. It is hoped we can have the service up and running by November 1. (iii) HRDC (Office of Learning Technology): WebMail We have been able to download the iPlanet Messaging Server 5 and are in the process of evaluating it. The project calls for a full pilot proposal to be submitted by September 30. b) 3com RAS 1500 Access Servers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3com has replicated our problem in their labs but has not yet found a solution. Andre is continuing to work with them on this issue. c) Renewals ~~~~~~~~ Work on projects has resulted in the analysis of the membership database and determining the effect of the disruption in the automated renewal letter e-mail process earlier this year to be delayed. 4. System Administration ======================== a) HRDC WebMail ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ See the note in 3(a)(iii) above. The files System architecture needs to be modified and cleaned up before we proceed with the planned changes for an updated webserver. Once all files and importantly, the webroot, the search engine as well as the configuration of software redirects and virtual servers currently being served by the production webserver have been moved to freenet9, the Apache server currently running there in test mode will be implemented as the main web server. b) SPAM ~~~~ More and more members are being inundated with SPAM. Andre is researching methods we can use to combat it. Unfortunately the user identification system in use at the NCF makes us particularly easy targets. Blanket SPAM removal solutions run the risk of stopping legitimate e-mail from being delivered to the intended recipient. c) 3com RAS 1500 Problems ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ See the note in 3(b) above. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix A Registration Donations ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No. No. % Of Avg. Avg. New Budget Regist Memb $ Budget Regist Donat'n Memb. (No.) Var Donate Donate Amount ($) Var Donat'n All New ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ Oct. 201 400 -50% 103 51.2% $ 2,047 $ 4,000 -49% $38.83 $19.09 Nov. 260 400 -35% 100 38.5% $ 2,305 $ 4,000 -42% $40.00 $15.38 Dec. 114 400 -72% 65 57.0% $ 1,794 $ 4,000 -55% $61.54 $35.09 ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ YTD'99 2,521 4,200 -40% 1,198 47.5% $28,153 $42,000 -33% $23.50 $11.17 Avg'99 210 350 -40% 100 47.5% $ 2,346 $ 3,500 -33% $23.50 $11.17 2000 Jan. 162 98 65% 73 45.1% $ 1,743 $ 2,500 -30% $23.88 $10.76 Feb. 191 98 - 64 - 2,021 $ 2,500 - - - Mar. 153 98 - 92 - 2,871 $ 2,500 - - - Apr. 115 98 - 66 - 1,620 $ 2,500 - - - May. 112 98 - 59 - 1,707 $ 2,500 - - - Jun. 122 98 - 51 - 1,368 $ 2,500 - - - Jul. 114 98 - 59 - 1,508 $ 2,500 - - - Aug. 137 98 - 55 - 1,691 $ 2,500 - - - Sep. 128 98 - 60 - 1,751 $ 2,500 - - - Oct. 115 98 - 66 - 1,773 $ 2,500 - - - Nov. 107 98 - 61 - 1,667 $ 2,500 - - - Dec. 111 98 - 69 - 1,842 $ 2,500 - - - Jan01 186 98 - 83 - 2,252 $ 1,800 - - - Feb01 141 98 - 88 - 1,996 $ 1,800 - - - Mar01 159 98 - 82 - 2,172 $ 1,800 - - - Apr01 120 98 - (19m) 45 - 784 $ 1,800 - - - May01 154 98 - (19m) 66 - 1,568 $ 1,800 - - - Jun01 106 98 - (16m) 83 - 1,829 $ 1,800 - - - Jul01 94 98 - (16m) 74 - 1,362 $ 1,800 - - - Aug01 131 98 - (24m) 87 - 1,756 $ 1,800 - - - Sep01 98 - - $ 1,800 - - - Oct01 98 - - $ 1,800 - - - Nov01 98 - - $ 1,800 - - - Dec01 98 - - $ 1,800 - - - Appendix B Renewal Donations ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No. % Of Avg. Renwl No. Budget Renwl Renwl $ Budget Renwl Donate Renwl (No.) Var Donate Donate Amount ($) Var Donatn All Ren ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ Oct. 320 309 4% 207 64.7% $ 4,843 $ 6,300 -23% $23.40 $15.13 Nov. 268 314 -15% 292 109% $ 7,886 $ 6,400 23% $27.01 $29.43 Dec. 405 387 5% 339 83.7% $ 11,200 $ 7,900 42% $33.04 $27.65 ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ YTD'99 6,587 8,892 -26% 5,554 84% $149,521 $181,400 -18% $26.92 $22.70 AVG'99 549 741 -26% 463 84% $ 12,460 $ 15,117 -18% $26.92 $22.70 Jan. 741 580 28% 441 60% $ 13,453 $ 14,800 -9% $30.51 $18.16 Feb. 899 549 - 520 - 19,069 $ 14,000 - - - Mar. 738 647 - 667 - 22,097 $ 16,500 - - - Apr. 598 588 - 430 - 17,358 $ 15,000 - - - May. 501 412 - 344 - 11,745 $ 10,500 - - - Jun. 374 208 - 334 - 11,335 $ 5,300 - - - Jul. 277 157 - 251 - 8,912 $ 4,000 - - - Aug. 214 129 - 215 - 5,948 $ 3,300 - - - Sep. 223 78 - 244 - 4,633 $ 2,000 - - - Oct. 182 106 - 178 - 5,031 $ 2,700 - - - Nov. 298 208 - 296 - 7,467 $ 5,300 - - - Dec. 339 482 - 291 - 10,579 $ 12,300 - - - Jan01 674 395 - 460 - 18,874 $ 17,266 - - - Feb01 451 468 - 364 - 13,597 $ 20,465 - - - Mar01 405 443 - 441 - 17,015 $ 19,399 - - - Apr01 521 473 -(83m) 338 - 13,533 $ 20,674 - - - May01 558 426 -(89m) 395 - 14,525 $ 18,620 - - - Jun01 393 295 -(94m) 349 - 14,195 $ 12,911 - - - Jul01 274 155 -(91m) 215 - 6,474 $ 6,779 - - - Aug01 298 113 -(80m) 183 - 6,709 $ 4,924 - - - Sep01 122 - - $ 5,323 - - - Oct01 133 - - $ 5,813 - - - Nov01 117 - - $ 5,119 - - - Dec01 210 - - $ 11,001 - - - Appendix C Membership Activity ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |Member | Current |To line| Actual |Ratio |Number Forecast Number Forecast Number Number # of % inc. | |Of New No. of Members No. of Members Members Members -dec. |Lns :1 |Members New Memb Renewed Renewed Un-arch Archvd ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ |~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ 1999 Oct. 10,669 -4.0% |213 50| 201 400 320 309 8 652 Nov. 10,600 -0.6% |213 50| 260 400 268 314 268 597 Dec. 10,325 -2.6% |213 48| 114 400 405 387 22 411 2000 Jan. 10,005 -3.1% |213 47| 162 98 741 580 13 323 Feb. 9,992 - - - 191 98 899 549 1 217 Mar. 9,924 - - - 153 98 738 647 24 195 Apr. 9,739 - - - 115 98 598 588 19 329 May. 9,345 - - - 112 98 501 412 10 506 Jun. 9,079 - - - 122 98 374 208 12 454 Jul. 8,678 - - - 114 98 277 157 20 515 Aug. 8,344 - - - 137 98 214 129 26 506 Sep. 8,091 - - - 128 98 223 78 28 415 Oct. 7,972 - - - 115 98 182 106 8 252 Nov. 7,755 - - - 107 98 298 208 17 325 Dec. 7,590 - - - 111 98 339 482 3 303 Jan01 7,565 - - - 186 98 674 395 0 211 Feb01 7,495 - - - 141 98 451 468 14 223 Mar01 7,393 - - - 159 98 405 443 5 82 Apr01 7,259 - - - 120 98 521 473 3 255 May01 7,184 - - - 154 98 558 426 31 250 Jun01 7,235 - - - 106 98 393 295 25 88 Jul01 7,078 - - - 94 98 274 155 14 268 Aug01 6,939 - - - 131 98 298 113 45 333 -- *** Ian MacEachern, Executive Director *** National Capital Freenet / Libertel de la Capitale nationale tel. (613) 520-2600 ext. 8024 -or- fax (613) 520-3524