Monthly Association Meeting Agenda
Date: May 7, 1987
Location: Arnold's
Time: 12:00 Noon
Topic: "Applied Artificial Intelligence Technologies"
Speaker: Peter Russo
Arthur Andersen & Co.
Newsletter Table of Contents
Chairman's Message
May 7 Agenda
April 2nd Minutes
April 8th Board Minutes
Upcoming Events
Election of Officers
Chairman's Message
Bob Edwards, Chairman, IPMA
Our association Continues to expand in interest and ability to function. We are fortunate to have the financial resources to offer service to the information processing community and to the community at large. That ability is due to the growing insight of individuals as they volunteer their time and direct their energies to help the association be even more effective. It is also due to the very effective work of the professional development committee which continues to be very effective in both raising funds and helping others to see the opportunity to raise funds.
My sense of what we at the Board are trying to do is to offer interesting and challenging programs at or below the normal market prices. At the same time, we are raising enough money that we can offer special seminars at no additional cost to the agencies. It is like running a no-overhead corporation where all the proceeds are turned over to the stockholders in terms of service.
Looking at the list of nominees for the 1987-88 year is an encouragement to me. I read it to say that there really are interested and qualified people in our community who are going to continue to give solid leadership to the association. It is an exciting list. Unfortunately, not everyone will get a chance to serve on the Board this coming year. It never hurts to know, however, that there are others who would and could move in and continue the solid tradition of service and growth ifa Board member is not able to serve.
One topic we discussed and held over for our next session (May 13), is the Programmer Entry Program (PEP). There is a decision by the Department of Personnel to end the program unless there is some pretty strong support. If you have a need for the continuation of the program, or have suggested alternatives, be sure to let one of the association Board members know your feelings before our next session.
We also spent a fair amount of time trying to develop a reasonable reservation system for our monthly general association meetings. We ended up wanting to try an "exception" reporting system. That looks like the least painful approach. Give it a try. Details are elsewhere in this newsletter.
AGENDA May 7, 1987
April 2nd Meeting Minutes
Submitted by Jim Michal, IPMA Secretary
Chairman Bob Edwards opened the meeting at 12:29 p.m. before 38 IPMA members and guests.
Luncheon Speaker
Program Chairman John Gerrits introduced Dr. Blair Burner, WISE Corporation, whose topic was "One-to-one Interviews Can Be Hazardous To Your Systems Health." Dr. Burner focused on "facilitated team techniques" used to improve the quality of system documentation while reducing the time to compile the information. He explained that facilitated team techniques works best at the beginning of the systems development life cycle - especially when there are different perceptions of a particular problem. He described an example where, using these techniques, the development of a requirements document was reduce from six months to ten days and it was more complete with full concurrence by the users. Dr. Burner distributed copies of the slide program he presented.
Business Meeting
John Long reported that the Chick Sandifer seminars on "Communicating Supportively" are filling up slowly and urged members to sign up for this dynamic presenter. John also mentioned that Richard Dooley, the noted founder of the Society for Information Management (SIM) has been retained to present a "free" seminar on Strategic Planning on June 16-17, 1987. This seminar will be conducted in the OB2 Auditorium. (Keep your eye on the Newsletter for further announcements on this seminar.)
John Gerrits, reporting for Louie Orlando, mentioned that the IPMA Speakers Bureau is still very active with Normaglen Kipp and Dennis Jones scheduled to make presentations on behalf of the IPMA in the near future.
Dennis Jones reported that the "DIT" legislation was out of the House State Government Committee, but now included several amendments. One changed the name to the Department of Information Services (DIS) while another eliminated the Strategic Planning Committee moving those functions to the Information Technology Board. A 1991 sunset review clause was added. Dennis volunteered that the changes were tolerable and expected the bill to continue to make progress.
Bill Fischer reported the DPA passed new service center financial planning guidelines and the compendium of agency plans report. They should be distributed to the community soon. DOT received approval for some telecommunications network upgrades.
Finally, the Nominating Committee has begun the search for candidates for next year. (Ed. Please fill out and return the ballot included with this issue.) John Gerrits announced that the speaker for next month is Peter Russo, Arthur Anderson, speaking on artificial intelligence/ expert systems.
The meeting adjourned at 1:20 PM.
April 8th Board Minutes
Submitted by Jim Michal, IPMA Secretary
Chairman Bob Edwards opened the meeting at 1:10 p.m. with a quorum present. Board members Dennis Jones and Rich Morgan were absent.
Treasurer Jim Michal reported that the WSECU share balance was $13,714.58 with the recent deposit of over $5,000 for the Chick Sandifer seminar. The checking account balance was $837.97. The Board discussed the philosophy of "break-even" versus accumulating monies from the various sponsored seminars. The Board concluded that it was desirable to generate some excess for the benefit of IPMA (such as more free "superstar" type seminars for members).
Phil Coates reported that the Forum '87 committee has not yet selected a theme for the next Forum. Progress is slower than last year.
Warren Netherland advised the Board that the Data Processing Managers Matrix Committee is still working on the development of a revised matrix. Warren anticipated the revised matrix would probably be distributed to senior data processing managers for comments during mid to late April. Warren also mentioned that a recently introduced amendment to the "DIS" legislation to "appropriate'" the data processing resolving fund is not beneficial and efforts are being made to remove this amendment.
Jim Michal distributed the results of the Newsletter Survey regarding a potential reservation system. Jim indicated that 75% of the responders indicated they would commit to a reservation system, but most preferred to use a phone-in system (or some type of electronic mail -- like PROFS). A large majority stated the current meeting location is convenient (except for limited parking), but almost all would be willing to travel to another location if necessary. An overwhelming majority favor the same time and format (noon, with lunch) for the monthly meetings with a featured speaker. After discussion, the Board decided to continue at Arnold's with a guaranteed reservation of 40, but institute a notification procedure (via PROFS or phone) for members who do not normally attend, but are attracted by a featured speaker.
The Scholarship Committee has sent the applications for scholarships to the nine regional high schools and has distributed press releases to all the applicable local newspapers.
Louie Orlando reported to the Board that DOP has dropped the financial support of the PEP program. He wondered about the continued use of the PEP requirements in the CAP-1 specification and suggested DOP would continue the PEP procedures if IPMA "sponsored" their use. The Board decided to obtain more information from the agencies using the program before making a decision.
The meeting adjourned at 2:50 p.m.
Upcoming Events for the Information Processing Community
Submitted by Dr. Ruben L. Marti, ED & TD
FORUM:
FORUM is the annual computer fair and conference of the Information Processing (IP) Managers of the State of Washington. It is also open to all IP personnel and the users of information services, as well as to participants from other branches of government. The FORUM is jointly operated by the Employee Development & Training Division (ED & TD) of the State Department of Personnel (DOP) and the Washington information Processing Managers Association (IPMA). This will be the second year in which IPMA will support the FORUM financially in its entirety. The FORM will again take place at the Westwater Inn Motel in Olympia, on October 20 & 21, 1987, Twenty vendors will be invited to participate, in addition to the Service Centers, WLN, and the Word Processors Professional Organization.
The FORUM coordinating committee is integrated this year as follows:
Phil Coates, IPMA/Fisheries
Gary Foote, DSHS/OIS
Normaglen Kipp, DPA
Sharon Fasnacht, OAC
Steve Reyda, WDPSC
Carolyn Lawson, ED & TD
Pat Hill, DPSC/3
Dr. Ruben Marti, ED & TD, Chair
Artificial Intelligence / Expert Systems
June 2, 1987 and June 9, 1987
Intended as a one-day briefing for information processing managers. Artificial Intelligence / Expert Systems was the topic favored for a State-Of-The-Art Seminar by a survey of interest conducted at the 1986 FORUM. There will be a session on June 2, 1987, and a repeat of the same on June 9, 1987, for no more than 50 participants each session. A team of instructors from Boeing Computer Services will conduct the presentation.
Presentation contents include: Introduction and Basic Vocabulary and Concepts, Knowledge-Based Expert Systems, The At Languages, Production Systems, Developing a Knowledge-Based System (KBS), The Future of AI. IPMA will sponsor this event which will take place at the Westwater Inn Motel in Olympia. Senior information processing managers will receive invitations to nominate participants for each session.