Executive Director's Report to Council 04/07/03

Peter Macaulay

Since the last council meeting InternetNZ has been working solidly on tangible projects, with completion of those due or on target action for most, including:

• The Sale of Domainz
• The Festival of Technology/Summit/AGM
• Annual Report (print version)
• The relaunch of the Code of Practice.
• Redesign of the Web Site.
• Business as Usual.
  Business as Usual has been parked except for items which are time critical such as accounting matters including pay.

The remainder of my report is the reduced list of the current set of actions, without priorities or timing, except where events or controlling factors drive us!

Planning

• Budget
  We are working towards better reporting against budget, so that the Treasurer and council are able to see almost immediate data, and therefore able to tailor our response to the inevitable high priority surprise projects.
• Budgeting tools
  Towards the end of this calendar year we have set aside time to review tools for budget setting and reporting for next year. This effort will coincide with the review of other office systems.
• Strategic Plan
  As mentioned in my last report we parked the Strategic plan until after the AGM. We are now in action, and a separate summary of Strategic planning material will be presented at this meeting.  A professionally facilitated strategic planning workshop will be held on Saturday July 19. All heads of committees or their delegates are requested to attend.
• Business Plan
  The business plan will not be built until the strategic plan is delivered. Until then we plan around required action and council decisions.
• Resourcing plan
  We are stable at 2.5 people, and are making good use of specifically skilled contractors to undertake defined action. Three examples are:
  - The installation of and training on the current version of Quickbooks by Nicola Draper
  - The Management of the Festival by Martin Foster
  - The ISP contact project by Nicki Duckworth
• Staff training
  - Zofia has been trained on the new version of Quickbooks, and will be attending other training for the tools related to her role managing the revamped web site.
  - I am attending an APNIC training course
• New Premises - Co- location with DNC and registry
  - The DNC and NZRS management have a broad agreement on the need to co-locate, and recognise the benefits. We are also aware of the needs to maintain some areas of operational separation.
  - Target December 2003
  - Planning to start in early August.
• Committee management
  To make committees more effective we need to provide a higher level of support and a better set of tools. The tools are on the way, and Zofia will literally manage committee schedules and reporting with a high degree of direct and regular contact with committee chairs. The new committee chairs will be asked to present their views and subject themselves to some pressure from the office team!
• Chase actions
• Reporting
• Member profiles
• Funding
  Traditionally the funding of InternetNZ has been from the first two sources. We aim to make it possible to reduce the dividend requirement on the registry to allow the reduction of the domain registry fee. We also would like to see more activities self funded from sponsorship, while leaving membership and event registration affordable, while creating a sense of value.
• Clipping the registration ticket
• Membership fees
• Event registration
• Sponsorship
  Concern has been expressed about the use of commercial sponsorship. The concern is that it may weaken InternetNZ's ability to operate independently. This concern is recognised , and any commercial sponsorship will be restricted to specific events, or projects that do not create a risk of pressure from the sponsor. For example, we would be happy to work with sponsors to install an access grid location on our premises.
• Grants
• Governance
• Role of Admin Committee
• Outreach
• Cyberlaw Initiative
• Proactive presence
• Research
• China Internet Society Visit
• ENUM focus
• IPv6 Leadership
• Spam
  - Prepare a recognised definition
  - Eliminate NZ based spammers
  - Build strong international resources
  - Prevent silly legislation
  - Promote better filters and education
  - Set up an authoritative opt out site.

How we are seen

• Internet Presence (Web Site etc)
  Dyad have been reviewing our site and working with stakeholders to understand our current and future needs. Their work is sound, but is being made more difficult by low response on requests to provide information. This is surprising in light of the volume of complaints about the site. We will have a report to the next council meeting, and should have started work on the new architecture.
  - Evaluate Web Site
  - Report and Review
  - Develop Architecture and choose tools
  - Select designer
  - Create parallel Site
  - Reload content
  - Launch
  - Collaboration tools
• Webevent
  - Webevent has been upgraded and we have a 30 user licence. We have completed testing, and although there are a few issues,  it is much better than the current version. The new version is in production, and Councillors will be emailed their account details in the next week.
  - Councillors' individual calendars
  - Members' open event calendar
  - PDA synch
• Web Meeting tools
  The technical committee is evaluating Meetingworks, and we look forward to comparing their findings with the other products on offer.
• Webex
•  Meetingworks
• Mail Lists
  - Mailman is delivering good results, and it is over to us to learn to use it better. We are reintroducing some old groups rather proliferating new ones. It is unlikely that we will change this system in the foreseeable future. We do expect to see good collaboration tools reducing the use of lists for projects.

Review

• Internet Code of Practice
  - The Code of Practice, or whatever title it will have is under way after a break. Using the database created by Nick Duckworth, I am meeting the major ISPs, and setting up the foundation for the Advisory Group. The initial group will be appointed, and once the major work is complete, an elected group will take over. All ISPs contacted are supportive, provided the advisory group is seen to be representative. Within 6 weeks, we will appoint a project manager for the Code.
  - Assemble other examples
  - Currently rewording the British Banking Code to use as a contrast to both our draft code and the Australian Code. Other examples will be needed
  - Redraft
  - Discuss with stakeholders : ISPs, MOC, Consumer Institute, Sample users, Members
• Code Advisory Group
  As an outcome of the interview process strong support for an advisory group was discovered. The key to this was in two areas. Firstly to reduce the likelihood of InternetNZ elections changing the rules, and secondly, to give the code effective processes and sanctions.
  - Draft formation Document
  - Ask for contributions
  - Appoint task force
  - Develop structure
  - Draft constitution
  - Election
  - Disseminate for comment
  - Sell to Service Providers
  - Sell to government
  - Adopt as basis for self regulation
• Internet Best Practice
  - The Code will be a the foundation for Internet practices. We also want to see service providers offered a higher standard to aim for. To this end we will establish a group to identify, adopt and disseminate best practice. This group may also evolve into an ISP an ISP association.
  - Locate BP sources
  - Work with other countries
  - Identify review group
  - Stakeholder relationships
  - ISP
  - ISP association
  - Business
  - Sponsorship
  - Our Industry
  - Education
  - Academia
  - Geek
  - Government
  - Citizens
  - Sibling Organisation Relationships
  - ITANZ - As a source of sponsoring organisations, and partners for projects ITANZ is a target. I have a strong relationship with the team at ITANZ.
  - TUANZ - Historically there has been some friction with TUANZ, as our territories overlap slightly. Since setting up regular meetings their Executive Director, Ernie Newman, we have cleared the way to a more postive working relationship. TUANZ agreed to InternetNZ and NGI taking the lead in the broadband component of the Festival, yet continues to promote its own roadshow. Industry New Zealand is providing some sponsorship, and expects cooperation between the interested parties. I am meeting Judy Speight this week, and will update the council.
  - NZCS
  - Websafe
  - Uniforum
  - Consumer Institute - The Consumer Institute must be part of the Internet Code, and we will work closely with them to ensure that the Code is seen to be good for the consumer. We also will seek guidance from them for the processes around complaints
  - NOG
  - NGI
  - Maori IS         

Membership Growth

• Who do we want?
• Council must decide on the nature of the target for membership promotion. We must keep a sound balance to membership while expanding to new constituencies. I am not aggressively promoting new membership until we are clear on the mix.
• How Many?
• Classes of member?

WIIFM

• Features
• Benefits
• Advantages
• Fellows

Domainz Divestment

• The Domainz Sale Process is going superbly, and will be reported on separately.
• Domainz Staff communication
• Conflict of Interest letter
• Sale advisor
• Communication plan
• Increase Value
• Track Interest and form a register
• Monitor Sale Process                                               

DNC relationship

• We continue to work well with the DNC office, and we are getting better at making good use of the shared resources. The DNC team has been most supportive and I look forward to working with them to incorporate the NZRS team. We expect this will lead to a significant reduction in administrative overhead, while improving the ability to maitain appropriate separation where needed
  - Shared Resources
  - Accountability
  - SRS
  - Internal Processes

Document and map processes

• Document "rules"
• Staff profiles
• Aim for Open where sensible

Fastnet Banking

• We have implemented Fastnet Office and the society's accounts are browser visible to those who need them. The next step is to allow electronic transactions, while maintaining the dual signatory.

Accounting System

• Nicola Draper has completed our conversion to the current version of Quickbooks. We will see new reporting and other tools as we become more familiar with the capabilities of the new version.

Office tools

• Web Publishing
• Messaging
• Telephony
• Tech refresh

Legislation

• Copyright Act
• Other legislation
• Watch possibly shared with siblings
• We are trialing a legislative watch feed from Select Committee News. Over the next month they will tailor the feed to avoid choking us. Several Councillors will receive the feed, and I will (and already have) publish relevant pieces.
• Government watch
• Lobbying           
• E-government
• Authentication Project
• National and Global Watch
• Clipping service  

International relations

• International Review
• Keep watch
• ICANN is a major issue for InternetNZ. Our international team are doing a great job inside the organisations involved in trying to rule the internet. My role is to keep a watch and to provide support to them

Executive Director Reporting

• Regular summary to president
• Monthly report
• Position papers

The InternetNZ Festival of Technology

• The Festivalorum was well organised and a successful event. Attendance was lighter than desired, but of excellent quality. There is a separate report on the Festival. 

ICANN issues

Netsafe

Broadband

Code of Practice

2LD discussion

International

Spam

Name Dispute resolution

AGM Preparation                                                                        

• The AGM is a highly structured event with many milestones leading up to the meeting. Despite our inexperience the Admin team kept well to the map, and the resulting meeting ran smoothly. 
• Annual report presentation
• The annual report has been distributed and is available to present to any party as collateral in InternetNZ promotion.  It is a sound and professional view of the societyas a brand to Members of Parliament. Brooke Ashton-Taylor of Vertu has done an excellent job preparing this report

Conclusion:

• Now the Festival and AGM are over, we are moving into our project work, while continuing to provide administrative support for all InternetNZ activities. We expect to see the focus on committee support to start bearing fruit by the time the first new committees have met for the second time. The Internet Code will be underway, a new web site launched and a strategic plan published. We also expect to handle responses to new or revised legislation, and to develop our press relations so that InternetNZ is the first call when IT&T and Internet issues arise. I am looking forward to developing strong working relationships with council and to provide the support need to allow councillors to be effective without any wasted effort.