IPMA Home | Annual Reports Annual Report to the Membership for the year ending December 31, 2005

Message from the Chair: Thomas Bynum

The year 2005 was a very successful year for the IPMA. The IPMA programs and events were well attended and ratings were very good for all events.  Some examples include:

• The 2005 Executive Seminar was the largest event ever with over 100 attendees and 28 participating agencies. 
• The Executive Luncheon with speaker Mr. Rob McKenna, the Washington State Attorney General, was attended by 135 IT managers and business leaders.
• Forum 2005 was highly successful and received praise from participating vendors and attendees. There were approximately 975 attendees.
• The Professional Development Committee provided six seminars during the year. The August event with Neal Whitten, PM had 250 attendees.
• In 2005 the design of the Leadership Development Program was completed and the program began in October 2005, with the first class of 24 participants.

The year 2005 was a very exciting year in that it set the stage for a complete review of the IPMA’s programs. I have enjoyed serving as the IPMA Chair for the past year, and I look forward to serving in other capacities in the years to come. I believe that it is my privilege to participate in an organization that concentrates on bring excellence in IT for the state of Washington.

IPMA Mission Statement

Improve the State information technology (IT) environment through:

• Professional networking with other state government IT managers
• Positive influencing of the State's IT agenda.
• Professional development and cultivation of new IT initiatives.
• Financing of activities through moneymaking activities.
• Leveraging IPMA's corporate structure and resources to provide services to the state IT community.

Organization and Membership Description

Organization

The IPMA is organized as a Washington State Corporation. There are no stockholders. There are 12 members on the IPMA Board of Directors and their term of office is three years. Directors are elected by the IPMA membership. There are four corporate officers who serve on the Board of Directors: the Board Chair, the Vice-Chair, and two Co-Secretary/Treasurers. No compensation is paid to any member of the Board of Directors for services as a member of the Board.

Statement of Membership

Membership in the IPMA is open to all current or retired state employees who are interested in information technology and who support the mission of the organization. Members support the mission of the IPMA by serving on any one of the five standing committees and participating in activities sponsored by the Association.

Although IPMA membership is reserved for current and retired state employees, participation in IPMA events is not restricted.  During 2005, IT professionals from local governments were welcomed participants in the year's events.

IPMA Committees

IPMA Board of Directors

Schedule of 2005 Events

IPMA conducted the following events during calendar year 2005:

• The Board of Directors meetings were held the second Thursday of each month.
• The Board of Directors' Annual Planning Retreat was held January 27-28, 2005.
• IPMA hosted six professional development events throughout the year.
• Executive Lunch was held on May 17 at Saint Martin's University, Lacey, WA.
• Forum was held May 23-24 at Saint Martin's University, Lacey, WA.
• Executive Seminar was held September 21-22 at The Shiloh Inn at Ocean Shores, WA.

See details of the above events on the IPMA website at: http://www.ipma-wa/com/.

Committee Reports

Budget and Finance

Committee Chair:  Andy Marcelia

Purpose:

The purpose of the Budget and Finance Committee is to oversee and monitor the fiscal operations of the IPMA, develop an annual budget for recommendation to the Board in February of each year, and develop and assist in the implementation of a funding strategy for the IPMA.

Accomplishments for 2005:

The budget for 2005 was developed and presented to the board of Directors for approval.

The investment strategy of 2004 did not change.

The Board adopted an investment approach to end each year with a cash balance of $10,000.  In November of each year, the end of the year projection will be reviewed.   If there is a significant balance over $10,000, that amount will be put into the current philanthropic initiative.  If the balance is less, the semi-liquid security will be tapped to bring the balance back to $10,000 to cover expenses.

Objectives for 2006:

The Budget and Finance Committee will:

• Continue to evaluate the board's portfolio and adjust investments as appropriate.

• Ensure funding is available to meet the budget requirements of each IPMA committee.

• Support board recommendation to have a paid "featured speaker" for the August Professional Development session.

• Consider philanthropic initiatives at the end of the year, along with other alternatives, if funding is available.

• Explore some type of management training series to help train mid-level managers to become senior level IT executives.

Executive Seminar

Committee Co-Chairs: Phil Grigg and Darrel Riffe

Purpose:

The purpose of the Executive Seminar Committee is to provide an annual seminar that facilitates communication, networking and the promotion of information technology ideas for all senior state government information systems managers attending.

Accomplishments for 2005:

The 2005 event was held at the Shilo Inn in Ocean Shores. The theme for the seminar was Reinventing the Enterprise during Transition. 

The 2005 Executive Seminar was the largest event ever with over 100 attendees.  It was also the largest event for agency participation totaling 28 agencies.  We had the legislature involved with attendance by CIO’s of LEAP and the Legislative Service Center.  Twenty-four corporate sponsors attended the event.

Objectives for Year 2006:

This year’s Executive Seminar will be held at Campbell’s Resort in Chelan on September 11-13.

It will be important to maintain participation of key agencies who attended in 2005.  Given the number of new CIO’s in the community, we will be challenged to keep our 2005 numbers.

We will target higher education this year.  Central Washington University has been the only institution which has consistently attended over the past five years.  Community Colleges (CIS) have attended recently, but did not attend last year.  We will target UW, WSU, WWU, CWU, TESC and CIS.

We have also talked about targeting local government.  We have recently had attendance from the ACCIS Chair at three events held in 2002, 2003 and 2004.  We did not push hard on this in 2005 due to rooming constraints and missed this opportunity.  The level of targeting the local CIO’s will depend on trade-offs that the Board may/may not want to make with other state and corporate sponsor attendance.

Measures of success:

• Conference evaluations for 2005 have been incorporated into the 2006 program planning.
• Executive Conference format and quality is equivalent or better than 2005.
• Maintain attendance level at 100 people (or should we try for higher?).
• Increase participation of state CIO’s.

Marketing/advertising plans for 2006:

Reach out and encourage new CIO’s to have their organizations attend.  Visit new CIO’s. This could possibly be an IPMA-wide issue.  Possibly do a new CIO breakfast.

Forum

Committee Co-Chairs: Dennis Laine and Jim Albert

Program description:

Forum is an annual information technology seminar and trade show that has been held in Olympia since 1979. Forum continues to be an effective opportunity for vendors to demonstrate their products, for speakers to share their expertise and knowledge, and for state employees and others to attend free seminars and product demonstrations and to network. It is important to note that Forum is one of the premier technology shows in the Pacific Northwest and the largest to focus solely on the Public Sector.

Accomplishments for Year 2005:

The Executive Luncheon was held on May 17, the week before Forum. The luncheon speaker was Mr. Rob McKenna, the Washington State Attorney General. AG McKenna discuss some of his top priorities for 2005 including consumer protection, strengthening the state's Public Disclosure Act and improving the state's economic competitiveness. Approximately 160 guests attended the luncheon.

Forum was held on May 24-25 at the St. Martin’s Pavilion. Forum 2005 was successful and received praise from participating vendors and attendees. The Forum 2005 theme of "Delivering the Integrated Enterprise – Practice not Promise" was very timely and popular. There were 27 corporate sponsor booths and 47 vendor booths and approximately 975 attendees. There 40 breakout sessions, 20 provided by the IPMA and 20 corporate sponsor provided sessions. Attendees had 4 seminar opportunities to choose from for the two days. The show floor was rearranged to provide better booth visibility. Sponsors and vendors were very happy with the new floor layout.

Objectives for Year 2006:

1. As indicated above, there is an emphasis to have Forum viewed more as an education opportunity than a “trade show.”  Possible elements of an educational opportunity may include:
   • Curriculum format with special tracks (e.g. security track, software development track, infrastructure track, management track, etc.)
   • Still enable high-visibility to a vendor-sponsored session, but perhaps emphasizing a limit on “sales pitch.”  Ensuring that presenters are subject matter experts and not sales staff.
   • Encourage sponsors to promote upcoming events that will occur after Forum, thereby allowing them greater exposure to the participants and also follow-up educational opportunities.  This could be a win-win situation where it would be enticing for the vendors to want to participate, and exposure to solutions that will not take up valuable Forum time.
2. Come up with a theme that is pertinent to the times.  See #4 below.  For instance:
   • Enterprise initiatives
   • GMAP or accountability focus
3. The Forum Planning Committee has recommended a permanent theme for Forum – “Where government meets technology”.

4. Cover in detail key Enterprise efforts.  For instance: EA, VOIP, Portal

5. Move corporate sponsor presentations to the Worthington Center.  This moved is based upon feedback for sponsors and Forum attendees about the poor quality of the Cheney Room.

6. The Forum Planning committee has recommended that the Cheney Room be used as an overflow room for sponsors who failed to be assigned a breakout session in the Worthington Center.

7. The Forum committee has recommended that the “free” time in the Cheney Room be offered to “birds of the feature” groups or other organizations. PMI wants one of the surplus session times.

8. Improve feedback from attendees by collecting session evaluations at the end of each session.

Measures of success:

• Attendance at the forum includes a broader cross section of agencies.
• Attendance at the Forum is up by a significant percentage.
• Forum continues to make enough money to meet IPMA needs.
• Forum evaluations are better than 2005.
• Vendors and sponsors are more energetic and provide a better experience.

Marketing/advertising plans for 2006:

Forum is an established event and there is little need to deviate from the marketing/advertising plans from previous years.  This could include:

• Email notification to past participants who have indicated that they do not mind receiving information from IPMA on reminders/upcoming events
• Announcing the event at key state meetings like the DIS CAB
• Advertise on the IPMA website
• Limited use of flyers for distribution (perhaps a handout at the DIS CAB)

Related topics and considerations for future discussion:

• Identify target audiences for general marketing purposes
• Consider targeting specific job classes 
• Reach out beyond state agencies (cities, counties, higher education, State of Oregon, others)

• Ensure senior IT managers understand the educational value and, thereby, encourage staff to attend forum
• Invite senior IT managers to board meetings to observe and gain an appreciation of the IPMA’s goals 
• Plan for broad distribution of flyers (FTE Magazine, web site, professional publications, agencies, others) 
• Market birds of a feather to groups such as PMI
• Emphasize the educational value and other principles established during the IPMA business planning meeting

Communications

Committee Co-Chairs: Shelagh Taylor and Mary Ellen Bradley

Program description:

Marketing/advertising plans for 2006:

In 2006, the IPMA plans to prepare a comprehensive marketing plan based on the results from the 2006 business planning session.

Leaderpath

Committee Co-Chairs: Dennis Jones and Jim Albert

Program description:

This is a leadership development program intended to help prepare senior IT leaders to assume CIO level positions. 

Accomplishments for Year 2005:

In 2005 the design of the Leadership Development Program was completed.  With the assistance of the Department of Personnel, the program objectives and expected learning outcomes were reviewed with the University of Washington’s Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs.  Jointly the IPMA, UW and DOP crafted a nine month program consisting of three major modules.  Each module was planned to be offered at about 3 month intervals and consisted of a three day residential program of instruction.  The instruction was primarily built around case studies.  UW provided the facilities, instructors and course materials.  A “Capstone” project was also designed that required participants to work in teams between sessions to exercise some of the learning objectives. 

DOP handled the registration and collection of registration fees.

The program began in October 2005 with the first class of 24 participants.

Objectives for Year 2006:

• Complete the first LeaderPath session with the 24 participants.
• Evaluate the success of the program, make appropriate adjustments and plan the second offering of the program.

Measures of success:

• Positive feedback from participants
• Positive feedback from the participants agency.
• Sufficient demand for a second session.

Marketing/advertising plans for 2006

• The Executive Seminar and CIO survey will be used to promote the program and help determine interest in a second session.

Professional Development

Committee Chairs:  Sheryl Hall /Allen Schmidt

Program description:

The Professional Development Committee provides educational and networking programs for its membership and the IT community. The Committee works with IT vendors and state agencies to provide programs at no cost or minimal cost to the IT community. The Committee also may sponsor selected formal training events to be provided on a fee basis.

Accomplishments for Year 2005:

The Professional Development Committee provided six seminars during the year. Programs were as follows:

Objectives for Year 2006:

1. Partner with DOP and the Olympia chapter of the PMI for two of the six events.
2. Turn over project management, operation and logistics to Wildflower Services. Concentrate on the quality of program topics and events.
3. Continue to improve the processes for management and operations of the Professional Development program.
4. Contact Saint Martin's and book ahead through 2007 and 2008.
5. Continue to work more closely with the Forum planning committee to tie programs, sessions, topics and themes together.
6. Plan and provide the following seminars for calendar year 2006:

Measures of success:

Marketing/advertising plans for 2006:

• Advertise annual calendar of events on the IPMA Website
• At each event, distribute and mention the upcoming events
• Flyers at the IPMA annual Forum
• Include announcement in the annual Forum brochure
• Include the upcoming session title and description in the monthly electronic newsletter
• Broaden distribution of the announcements to additional listservs, key contacts, city, county and state lists
• Provide the Department of Personnel, Department of Information Services, and the Project Management Institute (PMI) local chapter flyers/electronic links to the IPMA to include in their advertisements

Budget and Finance

Chair: Andy Marcelia

Program Description:

The Budget and Finance committee is responsible for the annual business planning and budget development for the IPMA as well as the on-going financial reporting.

Annual Business Planning

The annual planning session was held on January 26 and 27, 2006 to review the results of 2005 and develop plans for 2006.

The session resulted in a re-statement of the Mission, a definition of Goals for the IPMA, and identification of key success factor.  These documents are attached. 

The session also identified three major projects for the IPMA. 

1. Creation of a Marketing Plan
2. Implementation of a survey tool
3. Improvements to the Web-site and Events Registration capability.

Financial Reports