Group Meeting

Our group met for the first time today after break. We discussed what we had learned over break, we each spent time learning joomla and Microsoft access. We feel that we have all gathered enough information on these two pieces of software to jump in and begin working immediately. We have split up our group into teams Ansari and myself will be working on the database using Microsoft Access. Dave and Katie will be working with joomla for the website. These groups of course are not permanent we will all be working on both projects and help out each other as much as possible.
We come up with a tentative schedule for now until the end of the semester with a week by week breakdown of what our two mini groups will be doing. For this first week we will filter through the current information we gathered from last semester and start planning how our information will be used in the database and the website. With our current schedule if everything goes according to plan we should have about two weeks at the end to troubleshoot. Also we have planned for a buffer week at the end for anything that may occur during the semester that may push our schedule back.

Meeting with Betty

Today our group went down to Enlace and presented her our project proposal. It was a very productive meeting and she was very excited about what we had presented her. We also were able to gather the necessary paper work that we will need going forward. We were also able to obtain a copy of the form that is necessary to prove that they are a non profit organization so we can submit it to dreamhost. Our next step is waiting for feedback on the project proposal to make sure that we have meet her needs and that she is satisfied with what we have presented her. Our group is meeting Tuesday night to put the finishing touches for our presentation on Wednesday.

Project Proposal Presentationg

Our group met tonight at the library to piece together our final project proposal. We took the corrections we received from Carol and implemented them into the proposal. We have edited it so that it is in a letter format. We are going to Holyoke tomorrow at 3:30 to meet with Betty at Enlace to present her our proposal. Also we worked on our presentation for Wednesday. We have planned to meet Tuesday night to practice our parts for our presentation on Wednesday. I will be blogging tomorrow after our meeting with Betty and provide a summary of what took place.

Project Proposal

This is combining the last two weeks of what our group has been up to. Before thanksgiving break our group finished a rough draft of our project proposal. We split up the paper evenly and then brought it together to edit it. After we finished that we presented our project proposal to the class. We took the feedback that we received and again split up the paper into the parts we had worked on and edited them over break. Also after our semi-formal presentation we e-mailed betty and giving her potential times that our group could meet. To set this up we used doodle which worked quite while in finding times that worked for all of us. Unfortunately Betty did not receive our e-mail after talking to her today I told her that our group would get back together and figure out new times and call her. Our group met yesterday and put together our corrected portions of the paper as well as started working on our powerpoint presentation. Currently I have set up a new event in doodle and we are trying to figure out new times to present to Betty.

TechSoup - study up on this & Prep for next week!

As you are planning what you can offer your CBO in your Project Proposals...please study up on
TechSoup.

I don't know if your organizations even KNOW about this but they can get software very cheaply and lots of help with tech related things from TechSoup.

So.....
Go to the web site. Read it over. Know what it has to offer. Think about how it could fit into your project and how you could also use it to educate your CBO people and to help with sustainability (for example with tech support, products etc).

ALSO... are there TechSoup items you could include in your ComCol grant application???

Assuming the CBO's are not already members and registered users of TechSoup, you should plan to get them hooked up with TechSoup asap so you and they can access it when you need it.

NOTE:
Please have a "semi-formal" presentation ready for the second half of our class next week.
I want to hear your ideas about this as well as joomla and whatever else you are investigating to assess factors related to your proposals.... when we meet next week.

Needs Assessment

Our group has finished the first part of our needs assessment. In our needs assessment we started with a quick history of the organization. Also we mentioned exactly what Enlace does as an organization. From there we started to describe the Enlace's current technical status. We explained how their current technical status will not be something that will hinder our progress. Also we mentioned the two basic needs that the organization wants. The first being the website, the website is very important because it will give a face to the organization. Also it will help the organization in funding because people will have a place to go to get more information. The second thing they need is some sort of database. This will allow the organization to keep track of the people they service, not just how many but how many people of this age and race did they help. This will show people how much of an impact they have in the community and this will again help with funding. The database will most importantly save the organization time. Instead of taking time and going through piles of paper, they can be using that time to help others. Also we talked about another issue that is one that are not going to mention but hopefully will be able to deliver. This is the issue of creating email lists and groups so they can just one click and be able to save time and send out e-mails. Our next step is to figure out what exactly programs we will be using and present it to betty.

Communication Reminders & Info

Just a reminder to be sure to include me on all emails with your CBO! Also when e-mailing them always put UMass IT Capstone (or something you all agree on) in the subject line so it doesn't go undetected. Set up and use ONE email consistently so it doesn't get filtered on their end, and make sure their emails to you are not getting filtered on your end. Please also be sure that when they reply to you, I am receiving that as well. The paper trail can become very important for me, especially if we run into any obstacles.

If your email asks for a reply from them and you do not hear within 24 hours please send a polite email checking to be sure they rec'd the first, with a copy of the first email included. If you do not hear in another 24 hours, call them and politely get the info you need or ask them to reply to the email. If you get needed info from them over the phone, send them a brief follow up email confirming what you heard on the phone. Basically, create a paper trial that you can all review. It can be helpful for you and for them, to be able to look back and refresh your memories. If an email contains important info but does not require a reply, ask for a quick "got it" reply anyway so you know it was rec'd. They are incredibly busy people but do NOT assume your email always gets thru either! Email is great but it is far from perfect.

Stay in touch with your CBO! You don't want to be a pest but neither do you want to be too far off their radar. Send short updates fairly regularly (maybe once per week or at least every other week), even if you do not need input or info at that time. You want to keep them posted, establish rapport and keep your project fresh in their mind. This is an important foundation building time with them.

I know it probably goes without saying but:
Always use friendly, professional protocol in your emails. Always thank them for their participation, help, or support, etc. Being reliable, building trust, being professional and appreciative will go long a long, long way towards making your partnership run smoothly when you get into the thick of things next semester.