MEMO ON CURRENT PROCESS

MEMO ON CURRENT PROCESS - EXCERPTS FROM MARK SALMON E MAIL - 7/26/05

Hi Kevin -- glad you would like to help with this project! There are a few things that need to be "fixed" first, to make it a satisfying experience, though. It takes us forever between rosters, and until I tried it, I didn't understand why. I think everyone who works on it is putting a lot of time and effort, and doing the best they can, but the process we use really has some issues that need to be fixed or changed first.

I think best is if we can sit down and first discuss the process we are using currently, identify the key problems, and see if we can do it a better way. But here is some of what I went through:

2. Debbie inputted data from forms into Peachtree. We use our accounting software as our "database" - which is perhaps the biggest problem. It is filled with MANY typos (perhaps from not being able to read members handwriting), and doesn't have enough database fields - so phone numbers are entered in a kludgy way with a haphazard way of identifying what is a work, home or cell phone number, and member names are also not in separate fields (e.g. last, first, spouse).

3. Debbie transferred this info into an Excel spreadsheet, and sent it to me. I, and Connie, and other members, went through this info and manually corrected it, based on what we knew, or members told us. This was extremely laborious - I think I must have gone through it at least 10 times over the course of a year, and it probably still isn't correct. It is also a moving target - the data constantly changes, so any significant delay means having to rework it all over again. The intention was, once it was all corrected, to get the corrections reflected in Debbie's database - however, due to staff movements, this never happened, so all the bad typos, etc are still there.

4. In the meantime, we got photos of members. The "standard" we currently have is to have a uniform look to the photos, so all photos were taken using John Altberg's professional-type setup, on the east side of the club, with the marina as backdrop, during daylight. This means that we had to schedule photoshoots (I did about 5 days during April last year) - which means advertising the times, calling every member in the club who does not have a photo, setting up a schedule, learning how to take portrait photos properly (not as easy as it sounds), etc, etc. It also meant the photos cannot be taken during winter - which delayed things.

5. Wrote articles for the intro for the roster. I'm not sure we really need these articles, but that was how the 2001 roster was done, as it was viewed as also a marketing tool, so I did the same. I tried to get some volunteers for these, but landed up doing it myself (except the history section by Rebecca Wright & Beth Harris).

6. Got advertisers. This is something I don't do well - I'm not good calling up people and asking for their money! Louis helped enormously, but it is a job that I found hard to get effective volunteers for. The roster costs about $3000 to print, so we really need some advertisers to defray some of the cost (advertiser revenue was about $1000). Also involved is getting the advertising material (more delay), and billing.

7. Assembled the roster proofs, so it could be sent to the printers. Here is where Louis was invaluable (as he does this professionally), and donated all his services to the club. This process does, however, take some time, and Louis has to fit it it when he can, the the proofs have to be checked, corrected, re-proofed, etc.

I think we really need to rethink what we want to achieve out of the roster, and the process we use to get there. I did it because it was way overdue, and because it was listed as the commodore's responsibility. However, the way it is now, I don't want to do it again, nor can I really recommend to anyone else to do it, unless we change how we go about it, and what we think it should be. It just shouldn't be so difficult and time-consuming!

Let me know what you think. For example, your idea of just getting photos from members should be given serious consideration - although we would lose some "uniformity," some simple photo-editing can often help with this a lot, and I think we would get a lot more photos in the roster, a lot more easily.