SCOPE OF REPORT
The OIC Year that this AGM is covering the financial period 01/07/2000 - 30/06/2001. The year has seen the OIC move very successfully from holding quarterly lunch lectures in the pre Y2K era though the 2 year hiatus of Y2K into a number projects using XML.SPONSORSHIP XZIG BY SUN MICROSYSTEMS
As XML and XZIG are really the core issues for the OIC at the moment it is worth reflecting how XZIG was formed. Mark BROADBENT Sun Microsystems kindly sponsored the establishment of the XML & E-commerce Special Interest Group [XZIG] in March 2000 and funded the development of the OIC Electronic Event Registration Management [EERM] process as an XML project in July 2000 using the iPlanet suite of programs.
Unfortunately, as is often the case, very talented people like Mark are in much demand and when he moved to Bullant as Technical Director he could no longer afford the time and energy to promote XML within the OIC.
His replacement at Sun Philip YOUNG completed the Sun sponsorship program and Stephen GOULD stepped into Mark's shoes within the OIC to maintain the XZIG objectives of establishing 3 XML projects a year.
OBJECTIVE 3 XML PROJECTS A YEAR
The 3 XML projects that have been established in 2000 were:
1 Electronic Event Information Management EERM
2 Electronic Project Information Management EPIM
3 Electronic Tender Information Management Service TIMS
All 3 projects were submitted for DIST ITOL funding. None of these applications have been successful so far but it is a very competitive arena with several hundred projects battling for limited funds each time.
DEWRSB CONSULTANCY CONTRACT
In Feb 2001 as a result of TIMS analysing Local Government tenders the Department of Employment, Workplace Relations & Small Business [DEWRSB] awarded a consultancy contract to OIC members. This contract was to conduct a series of surveys with 172 Local Government Agencies.
http://www.oic.org/3a4h3.htmA company was formed called OIC LZIG Roadshow Pty Ltd for this contract. All of the conditions of the contract were exceeded particularly the requirement for over 50% of NSW Local Government Councils to respond to survey 2.
Using an ASP Questionnaire process which was developed specifically for the project, the team achieved a response from 56% of the Councils.
Our thanks to Jim LEE, Steve GILLMORE, Rick ANGEL, Michael CURLY, Lars SORHUS, Julian TREGELLIS and Steve GOULD for their contributions to this project.
Unfortunately the accounts and payment for the project participants has been particularly tardy by Phil HUNNISETT of PTMS Australia. New management processes are being put in place to prevent this occurring with future OIC consortia projects
OIC TENDER INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SERVICE [TIMS]
The OIC Tender Information Management Service [TIMS] has been particularly well received by a number of different organisations.
The Victorian Government has placed the TIMS E-commerce process on its own web site as an example of the E-business process
http://www.go.vic.gov.au/Research/EprocEpurchEpay/EPPlinks1.htm
A number of very complementary comments and e-mails have been received about the TIMS prototype.
We have published over 900 tenders on TIMS this year and it is proving to be of great assistance to members and subscribers with 20 tenders being published yesterday..
As it is the Federal Government policy for all Government Agencies to place their tenders on the Internet over the next 12 months we believe there will be a significant increase in the number of tenders and the resulting attachments over the next 12 months.
Our thanks to Lars SORHUS, Guy BLOMBERG, Sue JONES, Peter HENRY and Stephen GOULD for their efforts over the last 12 months to ensure that the bi-weekly e-mails on TIMS go out in time.
I believe special mention and praise of Lars is appropriate because he developed all the gifs, spreadsheets and macros for TIMS. In addition he has prepared a prototype commercial version for TIMS using Flash in anticipation of funding.
In line with OIC policies to encourage members to form consortia to promote EII products and services a company has been formed to commercialise TIMS and promote it to the marketplace.
HARASSMENT OF OIC MEMBERS BY DAY AND MANLY
As a number of members are aware there has been an on-going harassment of OIC members and sponsors by the past directors of the ASC de-registered Australian Information Technology Society [AITS] Julian DAY and Alan MANLY.
This harassment of OIC members stems from a personal conflict between Stephen GOULD and DAY and MANLY going back to 1993 and a joint venture for Electronic Committee Management [ECM]. I have asked Stephen GOULD to document the background and present it to you today.
The OIC Management Committee is reviewing options about steps to ensure that members are protected from this type of harassment in future.
THE PLANS FOR 2002
As recent speakers from the National Office for the Information Economy [NOIE] indicated more Agencies will be published on the Internet as Australia moves down the track of the Information Economy.
Part of the plans for 2002 is to establish a Projects Committee to review the types of tenders that have been published over the last 12 months and liaise with members about establish project teams for 2002
THANKS TO SPONSORS AND VOLUNTEERS
In closing I would like to thank the members who have sponsored OIC programs and seminars. In FY 2000 they were Sun Microsystems, DEWRSB and OIC LZIG Roadshow. Those in FY 2001 Satyam Computer Services, Zveno, Software AG, the Solution 6 Group and the Halisa International Network. My final thanks are to the consultants too numerous to mention who have contributed their services as volunteers.