Gliding Australia: IT Refurbishment Program
Members have expressed unhappiness with their Gliding Australia IT interface. Criticisms include that the shop is not easy to use, credential recording is clunky, and information is hard to find. Within our administration we have disjointed systems and workarounds are constantly needed.
The Board resolved to do something about this and commissioned a review by Strategic Directions, a Brisbane-based IT consultant. Their report is now in, their recommendations adopted and a Steering Committee appointed to implement changes. Work has commenced.
Firstly we are changing our foundational systems to the Microsoft 365 suite of programs. A key element of this will be an improvement in our document management system. It will include a redesign of our library structure to make it more user friendly to Members. For our administration benefits will be improved efficiency. These changes are being implemented and results should start to become obvious in the next couple of months.
Next step concerns Cybersecurity which has become critical to protecting Member information. Multifactor authentication has been implemented for all applications where not already in place. Staff and volunteer computers are being checked for appropriate antivirus software. A cybersecurity breach policy and action plan is being prepared and web security controls enhanced. Annual web security checks, including penetration checks, are to be conducted.
Thirdly Governance improvements have begun with the creation of the IT Steering Committee which includes Jenny Thompson, Anthony Smith, Drew McKinnie, Sarah Thompson and myself. The implementation team for the project includes Sharon Brunton and Ian Munro, who have done much over the last few months to improve our reporting. They are being joined by Craig Collings who has expertise in cyber security.
Finally, the last part of the refurbishment is the major one, changes to our application programs, SalesForce and JustGo. This will take time as we must be careful to ensure continuous uninterrupted services. It is the changes to these programs that you as a Member will notice most, hopefully for the better!
The first step includes immediate improvements to services delivered by JustGo. For example, changes the Shop are being implemented over the next month.
Next will be a major, but invisible to users, change to SalesForce, updating the user interface to a modern configuration.
After that we plan to slowly migrate all Ops, Sales and MyGFA services into SalesForce or to SalesForce integrated programs so we can provide a fully integrated service built on a single data base that is more user friendly. This will occur gradually over the next 18 months.
The final step, and one that will occur over the next 6 months, is the refurbishment of our website to present our document library in a form that is more logically available.
We hope that members will be patient while these changes are implemented.
Kindest regards,
Chris Bowman
On behalf of the IT Steering Committee
