Culminis Infrastructure Changes
Over the past 6 years Culminis has evolved into an established worldwide organization representing the common interests and needs of IT professionals. We are currently representing over 4 million members in over 1320 user groups and associations in over 100 countries, and have experienced 50% growth in the past 6 months. It has now been determined that the infrastructure, member communications systems and websites which have served Culminis well in the past are no longer suited to supporting such a large international volunteer-based organization with very diverse community and technical needs, now and into the future. Accordingly, the Culminis Global Board made the necessary decision to carry out a major overhaul of the Culminis systems.
The plans outlined below have been under discussion for quite some time with the original intention of putting them into effect during the early part of the next Culminis fiscal year [July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010]. Bringing those plans forward for immediate implementation was brought about by a very recent unexpected opportunity to move to a new and improved hosting environment at a substantially reduced cost. We are all subject to the current economic issues and Culminis is no exception. Hence the timing is now dictated by the termination of the contract with the current provider on June 30, 2009. While not ideal from a planning and implementation perspective, it was an opportunity that will provide long term benefits to the organization and its members. There will inevitably be some short term issues which we will aim to correct as quickly as possible. These might include a short period when the Culminis web site, email addresses and hosted SharePoint sites may be unavailable. Recognizing the implications and challenges, making the decision to act now was not taken lightly.
One of the biggest challenges facing all non-subscription based member organizations is maintaining and managing the membership database. Culminis is no exception and rather than continue to expend an increasing amount of volunteer effort it was decided to rebuild the database to provide a clean starting position for the future. Under the existing hosting arrangements this could have been accomplished whilst still being able to continue communications using the existing member database until a pre-determined cut over date.
However, because of regulations regarding personal information and in respect of your confidentiality, we are not able to transfer your membership information to the new environment. Thus it is essential that you re-register your user group in the near future in order to remain a member of Culminis and to continue to receive current and future Culminis benefits and services.
The re-registration form is located here: http://itpro.community.officelive.com/RegSys.aspx
The new member database will be used for communications from July 1 forward. As with the previous member database, detailed organization and leader information will be held in the strictest confidence and will never be released without written permission. We apologize for the very short notice dictated by the hosting change and any inconvenience that this may cause. We hope that you understand the need and appreciate the urgency.
The other key motivator for change was the Culminis website which has been in need of a major overhaul, both in content and presentation, for some time. Again, as with the member database, it was decided that the future long term needs of the organization and its members, which have changed over time and will continue to change, would be best served by a complete re-design. The current website does not lend itself to a major restructuring. Expending the effort on the overhaul versus applying that effort to a new site was not justified. Therefore, the old website will no longer be available starting July 1, 2009. As of that date, the domain name www.culminis.com will point to a new website which will initially be a place holder with minimal content until a new more complete site can be developed over the next few months. This is a major undertaking and one which must be done thoroughly. Please bear with us as we go through this process and offer your assistance by providing input and guidance when requested.
Maintaining two-way communication throughout this major restructuring is critical. The existing Culminis email addresses for all its officers will remain in effect. In particular if you wish to send comments or have questions, and do not have a specific name to use, you can always reach us at info@culminis.com. This email address is regularly monitored at the Global Board level and every effort will be made to provide a prompt reply. Our ability, and desire, to continue to communicate with you to provide updates on our progress and solicit feedback is entirely dependent upon your re-registering as we have indicated above.
Those of you who have SharePoint sites hosted by Culminis will be receiving separate additional information detailing the necessary steps to transfer your sites to a new hosting environment.
Culminis Global Board