About the Communications Committee (Comm2)

• Promoting INCOSE, its products, and services to current and potential corporate and individual members as well as the larger community and general public
• Developing high quality materials to support INCOSE’s communication needs
• Supporting targeted INCOSE initiatives
• Creating and facilitating of a "culture of communication" throughout INCOSE

Key Comm2 Resources

• Maintaining INCOSE's website and hosting chapter websites
• INCOSE Connect workspace for Chapters Committee and chapter leadership teams
• Email reflectors and spam protection
• Discussion forum and chat room (beta)
• INCOSE INSIGHT magazine
• Marketing and promotional materials

Key Contacts

• Director for Communications - Christian Tulodieski (christian.tulodieski@incose.org)
• Associate Director for Marketing - Duncan Stewart (duncan.stewart@incose.org)
• Associate Director for Public Relations - Cecilia Haskins (cecilia.haskins@incose.org)
• Associate Director for IT - Open was Justin McMurray (justin.mcmurray@incose.org)
• INSIGHT Editor - Robert Kenley (robert.kenley@incose.org)

April 2006 Communications Committee Projects & Status Report

Following is a brief summary of our accomplishments in 2006 to date, efforts currently underway, and some items in the queue for the rest of the year. At times, we are so consumed by our work that we fail to step back, assess, and celebrate the progress we have made.

Compiling this summary has also provided an opportunity to produce a more thorough catalog of pending items large and small for Comm2 to address. There is no way we can address all of these in the near term, but my hope is that each of us can find something that captures our interest.

Thank you all for the many contributions you have made. The progress we have made is tremendous and is a testament to your commitment.



INCOSE Connect

Prior to the 2006 Internataional Workshop, Jim Chism and Ron Auble updated the introductory Connect primer and developed a new training brief for site administrators. The two training sessions held at the IW drew good audiences, and I believe we have seen an increase in Connect usage as a result. We continue to add new users for several technical working groups, chapter leadership teams, and event host committees.

Two training sessions have been scheduled for the 2006 International Symposium in Orlando - an introductory session Sunday July 9 from 1600 to 1700 and an administrator session Monday July 10 from 1700 to 1800.

The Connect/Collaboration Support Team has also begun work on user guides for INCOSE Connect. As with the training sessions, we expect to develop two separate guides. The first will be targeted towards most Connect users who will be accessing site materials and contributing new content. The second will be for site administrators and will cover topics such as managing site users, creating new libraries and sites, etc.

MetroStar released the capability to add members to INCOSE Connect sites based on group membership. This has allowed us to create new spaces such as the Event Archive (presentations and artifacts from INCOSE events) and the Product Area (all the latest INCOSE products and technical data).

We have leveraged this new Product Area to provide CAB organizations a new product portal to make it even easier for employees access the latest INCOSE materials. To date, eight CAB organizations have requested logins. You can see the Product Area at https://connect.incose.org/products/.

Opportunities to Contribute
• 1. The Connect/Collaboration Support Team is looking to expand. As we provide INCOSE Connect accounts to all 6,000 INCOSE members, we expect a significant increase in user support. We also are looking to expand the support we offer new teams as they adopt Connect. Our objective is to move beyond technology support and help teams as they face the challenges of distributed collaboration. Please share this opportunity with others might be interested in distributed collaboration. Contact ronald.auble@incose.org.
• 2. We need a proctor or two to assist Jim Chism with the the training sessions scheduled for the IS in Orlando. If we can identify proctors, we will invite attendees to bring their computers so that they can get a live look at Connect. This will greatly increase the value of the session. Contact james.chism@incose.org.



IT Infrastructure

Behind the leadership of Justin McMurray and Steve Recker, our IT infrastructure continues to improve. We have several projects that have been wrapped up and many more underway.

Email Reflector Maintenance. While the vision is to integrate the INCOSE mail server with the online member database, that’s a task that we can’t undertake until the member database goes online. With that in mind, Justin deployed a new web interface in February that allows chapters and working groups to maintain their own reflectors. This new system has proven quite effective and has significantly increased use of the INCOSE server to host chapter and working group reflectors. Though usage of this system will decrease when we integrate INCOSE Connect, the member database, and the email server, chapters will continue to leverage this web interface to manage non-member mailing lists. You can modify email list membership to any list for which you have been identified as an administrator at https://www.incose.org/maintenance/email/.

Online Book Review Database. In response to requests to create an online archive of book reviews, Steve developed a web database to manage reviews. The original vision was to seed the system with reviews from previous issues of INSIGHT. At this point, the database system is ready but stands mostly empty as we are looking for a volunteer who is interested in culling reviews from existing sources. You can view the beta version of this application at https://www.incose.org/InsightReviews/.

Mentoring Database. About eighteen months ago, Dorothy McKinney and the TLT came forward with a proposal to pilot a mentoring system that would help match interested members with senior mentors. When we asked our contractor for a proposal, the cost was significantly more than our resources. Last fall, Justin contracted with an independent to get the project started and then put the finishing touches on the primary functionality himself. As a result of his efforts, INCOSE has a system ready to pilot at a cost of only 1/15 of the allotted funds. Dorothy is preparing to test and we expect to go live with the pilot after the 2006 International Symposium.

Online Member Database. The largest and most critical IT project on our plate, the online member database still lags behind where we would like it to be. Justin and I spent a significant amount of time testing the system on the development server during Q1. The Central Office has now completed a round of testing and has identified approximately ten issues – some easy to address, some potentially more difficult – that must be addressed before we can deploy the system. We must also extend the existing work to incorporate the new additions to support the certification program. Given the pace at which MetroStar has been able to resolve issues, we could be anywhere from one to two months (or longer) away from deployment.

Deployment of the online member database will remain a high priority until it is released. Once this system is available, all members will have access to the resources on Connect, greatly increasing the utility of this system. Members will also be able to help manage their own member records which should increase the accuracy of information in the member database. Lastly, there are a number of other projects (member skills and interests, discussion forum, etc) that leverage the Connect logins. Until the database is deployed and all members receive logins, these other projects are partially delayed.

JobTarget. In late January 2006, INCOSE received an unsolicited proposal to replace INCOSE's existing job reflector with a full career section powered by JobTarget.com. JobTarget works with over 300 associations to build services that allow association members to find new job opportunities. They market their service as delivering a key membership benefit which helps to recruit new members and creates a revenue stream for the association.
INCOSE's job target site has been designed and is ready to go as soon as the SQL Server member database is online.

i-Pub. The INCOSE publications database (i-Pub) developed by Erik Herzog and Asmus Pandikow is nearing release on the INCOSE server. Justin and Steve have worked with them to ensure it is properly integrated into our framework. The BOD approved the governing policy in early 2006. Dick Wray has reviewed Intellectual Property considerations and we are now able to use this tool for all publications -- as well as provide electronic copies of INCOSE material from 2001 and on. We will be able to make this resource available to members and the general public.
The publication database can be viewed at https://www.incose.org/ipub/.

Member Skills and Interests Survey. Justin has been working with Mike Eagan (Member Board Chair) and David Wright (Associate Director for Leadership Development) to deploy a member survey to capture the skills and interests of our members. Currently, we have limited insight into our 6000 members. As a result, as new projects emerge, we rely upon ad-hoc expressions of interest and often ask the same subset of volunteers to lead efforts.
While this system will eventually become an extension of the online member database to facilitate networking and grass-roots communities of interest, Justin has developed an interim version that will allow INCOSE to gain this insight today. We expect to deploy this survey around the 2006 International Symposium date. Most importantly, we need to develop a process detailing how and when the various leadership organizations will follow-up on completed surveys.
Add your skills and interests at https://www.incose.org/maintenance/memberinfo/addEditMemberInfo.cfm.
Search the skills and interests of others at https://www.incose.org/maintenance/memberinfo/searchMemberInfo.cfm.

Lapsed Member Email Contact. Jack Ring, marketing chair for the 2007 symposium, has asked for our assistance in marketing the 2007 symposium to previous INCOSE members. Mike Eagan is also hoping to contact lapsed members so that we can conduct an exit survey. Therefore, Steve has begun developing a system that will allow us to (i) purge outdated email addresses from our database and (ii) provide some mechanism for lapsed members to opt-out of further communications from INCOSE. With this framework in place, we can then reach out to these individuals, hopefully bringing some of them back to INCOSE by demonstrating increased value.
We expect to wrap the IT component of this effort up in Q2 so that we are ready to support Jack’s marketing campaign kickoff in mid-July.

Discussion Forum. Leveraging open source software, Justin has developed a beta discussion forum that allows people to post ideas, opinions, and information in an organized way. Designed to replace the current email discussion reflector, the new forum organizes posts in a way that makes it easy for people to find the information they are interested in, but without having to wade through unrelated information. The new discussion forum will facilitate broader dialog, capturing valuable exchanges for future use and fostering communities of interest. The overall objective is to ensure more members find technical fulfillment in INCOSE.
Members who already have personalized logins for INCOSE CONNECT are invited to try out the beta system at https://www.incose.org/forum/ and share their feedback with Justin. We have opened the system up to beta test by members of the leadership team as well as some of the more active participants on the discuss email reflector. We expect to deploy this system as soon as the online member database is online as it leverages the Connect logins to manage access.

Web Maintenance and Support. There is a continuing level of support required to keep the website content current, assist chapters who wish to host their sites on the INCOSE server, etc. Justin, Steve, and I share these duties. Specific accomplishments during 2006 include helping establish several new chapter websites on the INCOSE server, and instituting a new menuing system with better support in alternative browsers such as FireFox, Opera, and Safari.

Beyond the standard level of maintenance, there are several items which will need to be addressed in the coming quarter. The most pressing is to restructure the Advancing the Practice section of the website to reflect the new technical infrastructure. We can do some rearranging of content today but must be prepared as Christian Tulodieski is able to provide information from the new sectors and enablers. We also have work to do in developing content for the Executive Summit and Academic Council. Finally, as the online member database is deployed, we will be able to convert several pages which must be manually managed today (CAB listing, chapter presidents, CSEPs) into pages which are driven by the content in the member database.

New INCOSE Web Servers. As we continue to increase the functionality deployed on the INCOSE web server, were concerned that we may overload the server and degrade performance. In particular, the deployment of the online member database and the creation of 5000 additional Connect accounts will represent a significant load. Because of this, we upgraded our servers in June. We are now running the following servers:
Web Server: Two Dual Core Xeon 3Ghz Processors
2x250GB HDs in a RAID 1 Configuration
Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition
Windows Sharepoint Services sp2
IIS 6.0 with ASP.NET 1.1 and 2.0
ColdFusion MX7
PHP 5
Merak Mail 8.5
Urchin 5.3

Database Server: Two Dual Core Xeon 3Ghz Processors
3x250GB HDs in a RAID 5 Configuration
Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition
MS SQL Server 2005

Opportunities to Contribute
• 3. As you can tell from the list of projects underway, there is a lot effort going into the expansion of the IT services supporting INCOSE. We would like to expand the Web Improvement Team to keep pace. Projects range from programming database driven pages to basic maintenance of HTML pages to helping set the vision for the continued evolution of our web and IT infrastructure. Please share this opportunity with others might be interested. Contact justin.mcmurray@incose.org and steven.recker@incose.org.
• 4. With the book review system ready and waiting, we would like to identify a new volunteer to help populate the system with existing book reviews. The task requires searching through the electronic archive of INCOSE INSIGHT, copying book reviews and pasting them into web forms, and filling out a few additional fields such as book title, author, etc. Contact steven.recker@incose.org.




Communications

As noted in the April eNote, we are deeply indebted to Valerie for her many contributions to INCOSE INSIGHT over the years. Her efforts have made INSIGHT one of the highest rated member benefits.

Over the past two years, it became clear that INSIGHT had outgrown its volunteer roots. It simply requires too much work to ask a volunteer or team of volunteers to shoulder this burden. When INCOSE put out an RFP for a paid chief editor, we received seven applications. While all of the applicants demonstrated the required technical communication skills, Bob Kenley separated himself from the field with his demonstrated command of INCOSE and the systems engineering domain.

Bob will be subcontracting some of the technical editing tasks to help distribute the work while maintaining final editorial oversight to maintain the quality we are accustomed to. He has already begun work on the next issue of INSIGHT (targeted for June 2006). Bob is coordinating with the theme editor Bill Mackey to try and get the issue out prior to IS 2006. The TLT is also trying to use this issue to highlight the new technical infrastructure. Christian is leading this effort and is trying to develop and collect the necessary information before the submission deadline.

INCOSE eNote is being published about every four to six weeks. Content has expanded with eNote spanning approximately three pages every month. A reasonable objective for the remainder of 2006 is to ensure eNote is published on a monthly basis.

Opportunities to Contribute
• 5. In addition to INSIGHT and eNote, we publish a great deal of information via the News and Events sections on the front page of the INCOSE website. This area is driven by basic back-end forms on the INCOSE Connect site. We are looking for someone to take over responsibility for publishing these items. Typically, announcements come from a wide variety of sources and require some degree of editing. Writing skills and the desire to help share news within INCOSE and the SE community are the primary requirements. Contact david.long@incose.org.
• 6. INCOSE eNote is looking for an editor to take it to the next level. As with the news announcements, we typically receive inputs from a broad range of sources. These have to be rewritten for eNote so that they are more engaging and of appropriate length for eNote. Writing skills and the desire to help share news within INCOSE and the SE community are the primary requirements. HTML skills are not required. Contact david.long@incose.org.



Public Relations

Those who have seen the continued evolution of the INCOSE Media Relations area of the INCOSE website are aware of the fine work that Cecilia Haskins has been doing. In Q1, she developed two new press releases to highlight the INCOSE Foundation and the significant effort INCOSE contributes to supporting international standards. Cecilia has also developed a brief compilation of “SE in the News” items dating back to November 2001. With the assistance of Steve, she has turned the media relations area into a credible site and developed a foundation for her future efforts.

Cecilia has also been responding to media inquiries about systems engineering and has begun contacting select online columnists to generate interest in SE pieces.

In Q2, our greatest public relations needs are channels and introductions. Writing press releases without distribution channels gives us content for the website but has little real impact. If we can develop channels – either through chapter contacts with local media or CAB contacts with their media points – we can begin to actively raise INCOSE’s public profile. This will require assistance from the Member Board (to facilitate chapter contacts) and the CAB.



Marketing

After a long period with no marketing pieces, we are beginning to see many new pieces emerge.

Marketing Collateral. In 2005, Cecilia worked with Mary Klein (Central Office) and the Member Board to develop some promotional items that the chapters could use as giveaways. We’ve now gone through our first full batch of bookmarks, luggage tags, and pens. We can’t measure the effectiveness yet but having basic promotional items available certainly helps the outreach effort.

In March, the new INCOSE folder was released. The folder represents the contributions of many from Comm2 as well as the BOD. Chuck Eng, INCOSE’s graphic artist, turned these contributions into a striking folder. Titled “Turning Complexity into Competitive Advantage through Systems Engineering”, this is a general purpose informational / marketing folder. It includes a pocket for more targeted pieces with “what’s in it for me” perspectives. Initial reaction to the folder has been quite positive with copies available to support a broad range of marketing efforts including seminars, corporate visits, etc.

In April, the new INCOSE trifold brochure was released. Drawing heavily from existing pieces such as the folder, bookmark, and website, David Paul, Cecilia, and I quickly assembled this with the assistance of Chuck to help meet the needs of the chapters. Titled “Gaining Competitive Advantage through Systems Engineering”, the brochure is an inexpensive informational piece. It’s designed to be widely distributed, often in conjunction with the promotional items.

To complement these pieces and provide support for targeted marketing campaigns, we have been working with content owners to develop six inserts. Each insert will be a two-sided 8.5x11 piece. The current list of inserts (with content owner shown in parentheses) is:
• Academic and Research Communities (Donna Rhodes)
• CAB (Ayman El-Fatatry / Dave Walden)
• Certification (Dorothy McKinney)
• Commercial Outreach (John Quitter)
• Membership (Bruce Shelton / Mike Eagan)
• Technical (Samantha Brown / Christian Tulodieski)
At this point, we have the fundamental content for all but the Academic and Research Communities piece. Now we need to massage and focus the pieces to reflect the appropriate marketing approach. It’s critical that these pieces resonate with the target audiences, clearly communicating “what’s in it for me”. As the pieces mature, we will work with Chuck Eng on the layout. Completion of the inserts is a priority for Q2.

Opportunities to Contribute
• 7. David Paul is currently overloaded and is not able to take the lead on the marketing contribution to the inserts. We need individuals who are willing to lead the conversion of the existing content into strong marketing pieces. The hope is that each insert will have a different lead to help distribute the load. Broken out this way, an insert should require no more than 10-20 hours of effort to help shape the content, work with Chuck, and review the results with the content owner. I will support the leads but cannot commit to leading each insert myself. Contact david.long@incose.org.



Additional Opportunities



There are other items currently on our agenda which fall outside any specific area. Perhaps one of these opportunities will strike a chord such that someone chooses to take it on as a project:

Opportunities to Contribute
• 8. Currently, INCOSE has an advertising policy for INSIGHT. However, INSIGHT is not appropriate for all ads since it runs on a fixed quarterly schedule. With the new website and the addition of INCOSE eNote, we have two new venues which may or may not be appropriate for advertising. There is an opportunity for someone to take a proactive look and recommend a policy for advertisements on the INCOSE website and inside INCOSE eNote. Contact david.long@incose.org.
• 9. Each year, INCOSE has a booth at the International Symposium. We often overlook this as an opportunity to advertise INCOSE to our base – existing members and new members who have joined as part of their registration at the symposium. In particular, we have many new products and services which we should market to reflect the value of INCOSE membership. This is an opportunity to develop a plan for the main INCOSE booth in the exhibit hall. This includes leading message development, determining what products to highlight, and working with myself, the Central Office, and other leadership bodies to develop an effective display. Contact david.long@incose.org.
• 10. In part to raise the profile of Comm2 and all that we do and in part to say thank you to the many members of Comm2, I would like to develop a new Comm2 shirt leveraging INCOSE’s new logo. Let creativity be your guide and help brand the Comm2 team. If someone will lead the design of the shirts and coordination with a vendor, I will sponsor them. Just one way of saying thanks for your many contributions. Contact david.long@incose.org.