John,
Good questions... I have attempted to answer them below:
On 2 Aug 98, at 13:53, John D. Alleyn-Day wrote:
> Why is Interex throwing away its existing membership system
> that runs on an HP3000 in favor of buying a new system
> running on a UNIX box? The new system apparently does
> not fully fill the needs of Interex and will require a great
> deal of customization. Why is Interex giving no
> consideration to upgrading their existing system using
> their own experienced staff?
The reason we began looking for a new membership & accounting application
over a year ago was because of the following 2 major reasons:
1. The accounting package (it is MCBA, and is running on our HP 3000) is
outdated, highly customized, and we don't have the expertise on staff to
be able to make the major modifications that it needs. Also, one of our
directions is to have an integrated database, with all the different
databases and applications in a single package.
2. We do not have the resources to make the major modifications necessary
to both our membership and accounting packages to bring them up to par.
This is the major reason why we decided to investigate software packages
that were specifically built for associations.
During our search, we investigated over 30 companies that provide
association software, we did not bias our search based on the operating
system in which the software would run. Except that it had to run on an
HP system (3000, 9000, or NetServer). We have probably spent over 6 man-
months sitting in demos and watching presentations. We really wanted to
work with a company who understood the association business and who had a
package that could meet many of our needs with little customization.
There were few packages that ran on the HP 3000. The package that we did
select runs on a HP 9000, using a Unidata database.
As far as customization, we do not have a simple membership situation.
This is largely due to all the organizations we work with, like User
Groups (both national and regional), Special Interest Groups, etc..
However, one of the reasons we selected the package that we did was based
on the fact that modifications are fairly straight forward and can be done
quickly.
> Has Interex considered the customization costs and the
> additional costs of retraining their staff? Why was this
> matter not brought to the attention of the membership
> who are, after all, computer experts? Finally, considering
> the resurgence of the HP3000 and its need for positive
> publicity, as well as the long association of Interex with
> the HP3000, is this not a very inappropriate time to be
> ditching the HP3000?
Yes, we have been considering the costs. Actually, it was the Board of
Interex who really made the major push to get us moving in implementing a
new package. So, they have been involved from the beginning.
We are not ditching the 3000... unfortunatly the application that we were
looking for was not available on MPE. We will be using our 3000 systems
for other purposes. Application availability was the number 1 reason why
HP users are not re-investing in 3000s (according to the '98 Advocacy
Survey), and that is true for us.
These questions aren't really appropriate for the HP Management
Roundtable. There isn't any specific Interex management sitting on the
table. It's all HP, except for the 2 moderators, who are from the MPE and
System Administration forums. However, it would be a good question for
the Interex Annual Meeting on Tuesday.
Hope that helps you understand the situation.
Best Regards, Deloy
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Deloy Cole ([log in to unmask])
Interex, Dir, Technology Services
800.INTEREX 408.747.0227 x607
http://www.interex.org
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