IPMA News -- February 2002

Edited By Mary Ellen Bradley and Bob Monn

Who Says You Can’t Do Anything About the Weather?

-- by Jim Culp, Washington State Department of Transportation

Weather and traffic are two of the most popular conversational topics buzzing around any office water fountain. Now the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is using the Internet to give drivers an information edge over both traffic and the weather.

A revamped WSDOT web site http://wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/ collects real time data from a variety of sensors and sources to provide weather and road-condition reports and forecasts. The traffic and weather information web site was developed as a joint application development project of WSDOT and the University of Washington with pieces written in Java and Cold Fusion.

Many websites offer weather information, but this site can also tell a motorist the temperature of the roadway, information about accident blockages, construction updates, video from freeway surveillance cameras, and an audio link to highway advisory radio messages.

This detailed information was first collected to help WSDOT manage and maintain the roadways with incident response teams, snowplows and other road-clearing equipment. Sharing this with drivers helps them make better driving decisions based on accurate and up-to-date information that should help decrease travel time and reduce the number of weather related accidents.

WSDOT obtains real time weather information from remote weather stations and roadway sensors and adds the meteorological data collected by the Northwest Regional Modeling Consortium, a group of local, state, and federal agencies that operate a network of 450 Washington weather stations. A road condition prediction model uses the observed and forecast atmospheric data as well as current and forecast pavement temperature data to describe roadway conditions and let road crews know when and where to apply anti-icing compounds.

Remote sensors also provide the data used to generate the Puget Sound traffic flow maps that illustrate the movement of traffic in the region.  Loop sensors buried in the freeways and arterials have electronics that can identify vehicle speed and how many cars pass per unit of time.

The traffic and weather site also uses the closed circuit television system WSDOT developed for traffic management purposes.  Snapshot images captured from some of the 200 cameras in this system are among Washington’s most popular Web applications. In response to public requests for traffic video, WSDOT has recently added live video clips from 14 Puget Sound freeway cameras.  Advances in video compression technology have greatly reduced the resources needed to provide video clips, but they’re still about eight times larger than the snapshots. WSDOT is monitoring the popularity of the 14 pilot video sites to plan for possible expansion of the system.

WSDOT and UW software developers found themselves working in a true distributed computing environment with the ability to access and combine multiple types of real-time data to deliver various services to consumers across the Web. The developers were forced to address a range of issues including, sensors that vary greatly in technology and complexity and a branding campaign to produce a common navigation design for all WSDOT Web products.

The site will continue to improve, with changes based on usability testing at the UW’s Laboratory for Usability Testing and Evaluation, and lots of valuable feedback from the public.

Return to Top

Volunteers Sought!

-- by Bob Monn, IPMA Communications Committee Co-Chair

To celebrate and preserve IPMA's rich history, the IPMA Communications Committee is seeking volunteers to help convert past issues of the IPMA newsletter to electronic format for publication on IPMA's web site. See Notice for more information on this project including how to volunteer.

Return to Top

Event Announcement - Building a Security Program - Feb. 20

IPMA Professional Development Event

Registration is required; spaces are available. See Event Outline for more information.

Return to Top

Other News

DOL Earns WSA Honors

The Washington State Department of Licensing earned top digital government honors from the WSA (formerly the Washington Software Alliance) for creating four online applications that allow citizens to conduct business with the agency when and where they want. See full story.

Fred Stephens Named to ISB

Fred Stephens, Director of the Department of Licensing (DOL), has been appointed by the Governor as the newest member of the Information Services Board. He will be assuming the position that was previously held by Marsha Tadano Long. Governor Locke appointed Fred Stephens as the Director of Licensing in December 1998. Previously Fred also served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Governor Locke overseeing the twenty-nine small cabinet agencies, tribal issues and the development and implementation of Governor Locke’s Regulatory Improvement and Quality Improvement programs.

Return to Top

News from the Past

5 Years Ago -- February 1997 IPMA Newsletter (Includes a status report on the recently initiated GILS Project)

10 Years Ago -- February 1992 IPMA Newsletter is not available at this time.

15 Years Ago -- February 1987 IPMA Newsletter

20 Years Ago -- February 1982 Association of Data Processing Managers Newsletter

25 Years Ago -- February 1977 Association of Data Processing Managers Newsletter is not available at this time.

Return to Top

January 17-18, 2002 IPMA Board Annual Planning Meeting

Members Present: Mary Ellen Bradley, Thomas Bynum, Phil Grigg, Dennis Jones, Dennis Laine, Mike McVicker, Bob Monn, Christy Ridout, Darrel Riffe, Doug Tanabe and Shelagh Taylor. Phil Coates was present as Chief Financial Officer and Jim Albert attended as a past board member presenting a special proposal to the board.

Mary Ellen Bradley, IPMA Chair, opened the January meeting of the IPMA Board of Directors at 1:30 p.m.  January 17, 2002.

IPMA Charter and By-Laws

Review Committee Structure/Responsibilities

The structure and responsibilities of the current committees was discussed and determined to be appropriate for planned activities in 2002.

Proposals for revisions

• A suggestion was made that both the Forum and Executive Seminar committees be changed from ad hoc to standing committees as they are both sufficiently mature and integral to the operation of the IPMA.
• A suggestion was made that Article VI, Section 2 of the by-laws which specifies that "No more than two members working for the same state agency or more than two retired persons may be elected to the Board of Directors concurrently," be stricken.

Adopt changes to charter and by-laws, if necessary

The Secretary/Treasurer will distribute drafts of the proposed changes per the current by-laws which specify that proposed changes must be distributed to board members at least ten working days prior to adoption. The board will act on those proposals at the February meeting.

Election of Board Officers for 2002

Chair - Doug Tanabe
Vice-Chair (Business Planning Chair) - Mike McVicker
Secretary/Treasurer - Christy Ridout and Shelagh Taylor
FORUM Chair -   Dennis Laine and Mike McVicker
Communications Chair - Bob Monn and Mary Ellen Bradley
Executive Seminar Chair - Phil Grigg and Darrel Riffe
Professional Development Chair - Sheryl Hall and Dennis Jones

Business / Financial Planning

Annual Report status

Bob Monn reported that the current draft of the Annual Report for 2001 was complete except for the Business Planning Committee report and the financial data. He noted that he has received the needed financial data at this meeting and would update the draft report. As soon as the Business Planning Committee report is received, the annual report will be complete.

2001 Budget/Fiscal Recap

Phil Coates reported that in 2001 the IPMA made about $4,000 less than it did in 2000. For the most part, income and expenses are remaining consistent year over year.

Phil noted that this year 2002, the IPMA will be making its last pledge payments to both St. Martin’s College and South Puget Sound Community College bringing the totals to $25,000 each over five years. As these pledges are retired the board needs to consider what kind of philanthropic ventures it wants to undertake in 2003.

Review/Adjust investments

The board decided that additional funds should be added to the IPMA Merrill Lynch portfolio and directed the Budget and Finance committee to determine an appropriate amount and make suggestions for specific investments at the February board meeting.

Review existing contracted services

The board agreed to increase Phil Coates’ compensation from $550 per month to $650 effective on the January 2002 invoice. The board further approved a $500 performance bonus for his efforts in the process of getting the IRS tax exempt status application approved.

The board determined that no adjustment to Jim Andersen’s contract will be made at this time. The Forum chair persons will explore possible incentive matrices that could be included in next year’s contract. They will be presented to the full board for consideration at a future meeting.

Organizational Assessment

Accomplishments

• Rejuvenation of Professional Development program
• Achievement of Tax Exempt status with IRS
• Change in board election procedure
• Improvements in communication through expanded use of IPMA-WA.COM - including on-line registrations to various events
• Outreach
  • Executive Seminar - Increased numbers and representation from more agencies
  • Professional Development - Increased attendance at events
  • ListServ expansion - from 200 last year to 900 this year
  • Events fill quickly when registration announcements are released through the ListServ
  • Legislative Service Center involvement in IPMA activities
• Forum and the Executive Seminar continue to be highly successful
• Good progress in developing legislative relationship with Representative Ruderman

Opportunities

• Keep the younger people in the IT community participating in IPMA events
• Seek out volunteers to help on various IPMA committees
• Accomplishment of the IPMA Mission
• Build relationships with new IT Managers
• Continue to develop relationship with Representative Ruderman
• Support the new DIS Director when appointed
• Promote best practices within IT
• Support other IT groups
• Celebrate IT successes within government

Challenges

• External
  • Vulnerability in IT due to economy (will people and vendors participate in IPMA events?)
  • Potential loss of Washington Management Service
  • State budget problems
  • Leadership changes
• Internal to IPMA organization
  • Vendor participation and support
  • Website development and maintenance (lack of webmaster backup)

Strengths

• Experienced board members leading and supporting the Forum, Executive Seminar, Professional Development, Communications and Budget and Finance committees

Area for Improvement

• Knowledge transfer to enable succession planning

Risk

• IPMA viewed as stodgy "good old boy’s" organization

Opportunity Proposals

Special Interest Groups

Jim Albert presented the following proposal to the board for consideration:

Background: Awareness of the IPMA mission has led a newly formed Washington State Government Special Interest Group (SIG) on Project Management known as URIT to seek sponsorship and support from the IPMA. They have approached former IPMA Board member Jim Albert with this request and have met separately with Jim and IPMA Board Member Bob Monn. Specifically this group seeks to have its web presence hosted by the IPMA and avail itself of a ListServ service if one can be made available to it.

The Proposal: The URIT request suggests that a new, intriguing opportunity exists for the IPMA to provide service to the Washington State IT Community. Specifically, the IPMA could host the virtual presence of Washington State government technology related SIG’s. SIG’s that form and are aligned with government technology organizations also align extremely well with the IPMA’s mission.

Recommended Alternative: Jim and Bob recommended that the IPMA host a sub-web presence and ListServ support for the URIT SIG.

Board decision:

The URIT SIG proposal: The board approved the recommendation and directed that a written contract be developed and signed by the URIT SIG organization leader.

• The contract is to be annually renewable.
• The contract is to include language that ensures that the mission of the URIT aligns with that of IPMA.
• The contract is to include language that states that the SIG does not publish material that is deemed inappropriate by the IPMA.

IPMA support of other SIG’s: The board put a six month moratorium on the establishment of support arrangements with other SIG’s. At the end of six months there will be a review of the URIT relationship to determine IPMA interest in developing others.

IPMA Committee Objectives 2002

Forum

• 2002 Forum planning is almost complete.
• First vendor payment has been received which is unusually early.
• Still need a second day keynote and luncheon speaker.
• Discussed the appropriateness of having one corporate sponsor providing more than one session speaker.
• No additional full committee meetings expected prior to the event.

Executive Seminar

• A contract has been signed with Campbell’s Resort for 100 rooms for Wednesday through Friday, October 2^nd through 4^th.
• An e-mail will be sent to last year’s attendees to explore interest in using a chartered bus for transport to and from the seminar at Lake Chelan. There was a discussion of whether IPMA should underwrite the cost of the transportation or to provide it at cost.
• There was a discussion of the networking event. The possibility of a dinner cruise on the lake with a dinner speaker was explored. The chair pointed out that golf should remain as one of the options for the networking event.
• The only outstanding issue that the committee had was Skamania Lodge has sent an invoice for $5,000 to hold the reservation for the 2003 Executive Seminar. The board decided that it was premature to make that commitment.

Communications

• IPMA News
  • Over the past year readership has increased and feedback has been good.
  • Issue: The newsletter needs to be continually upgraded and refreshed.
• IPMA Web site
  • Usage has about doubled over the past year; peak usage occurs around major IPMA events and the distribution of the monthly newsletter.
  • Issues:
    • Need to develop succession plan for web site administration.
    • Need to provide appropriate web support to new IPMA sponsored activities, e.g. the URIT SIG discussed earlier.
    • Opportunity to provide enhanced web-based event registration process.
• IPMA ListServ
  • As of January 12, 2002, the IPMA ListServ had 930 subscribers.
  • The primary use of the ListServ has been distribution of the monthly newsletter and announcements of IPMA events.
  • Issue: Need to develop a plan for how to promote continued growth and use of the ListServ.
• IPMA Membership
  • As of January 12, 2002, there were 211 members included in the IPMA database.
  • Excluding the months Forum has been held (May 2000 and May 2001), membership has increased at about 2.5 per month since the annual membership fee was dropped. This pace has remained rather steady in spite of the fact that membership has not been actively promoted since Forum 2000.

Professional Development

• Accomplishments for 2001:
  • Provided four seminars as follows:
    • February 24, 2001, e-Government.
    • June 28, 2001, Disaster Preparedness - Lessons Learned from the Nisqually earthquake.
    • August 30, 2001, "No Browser Required: Rich User Interface in a Web World".
    • October 25, 2001, Project Management Practices ( 2 sessions were held to accommodate demand).
  • Seminar participants have rated the sessions very highly and wish them to be continued. Feedback for improvements focused on the comfort of the facility (hard chairs, tight quarters, too hot, too cold, etc.).
• Objectives for 2002:
  • Seven seminars in the current half day format are being planned:
    • January 23, 2002, Windows 2000 / Active Directory.
    • February 20, 2002, Building a Security Program.
    • March 20, 2002, Mainframe Extensions.
    • April 17, 2002, Project Management - A review of methodologies.
    • June 2002, to be determined.
    • August 2002, to be determined.
    • October 2002, to be determined.
  • Evaluate alternative facilities.
  • Evaluate and implement practices that will result in fewer "no-shows".
  • Evaluate the feasibility and value of a "for-fee" seminar that would utilize a paid presenter and perhaps be of longer duration.

2002 Budget

Development and Adoption

The Budget and Finance committee was directed to take the proposed budget information presented by the various committees and develop the 2002 IPMA budget for review and adoption at the February Board meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at about noon January 18, 2002.

Return to Top

IPMA, P.O. Box 1943, Olympia, WA 98507-1943