Executive Director’s Report on

Home Office Operations

Policy Council Meeting

July 2001   Atlanta, Georgia USA

by Roberta L. Spencer

Introduction

Our office operations continue to be refined and to grow. Jennifer Rowe and Vedat Diker are the backbone of the daily office operations supplemented by Robin Langer and Joan Yanni during peak periods. Our office is a center for system dynamics activity. Together, this team performs the many tasks described below.

As in the past, this report is organized with two sections – new initiatives and routine operations. The facts and figures are in the back.

Conference Management

Management of our conferences has become a major activity at the Society office. At any given moment the Society office is working on at least three conferences. For example, this year we

·       have closed out the books on the Norway conference,

·       are working on the current Atlanta conference,

·       produced the call for papers, other advertisements, and conference pre–planning for the Italy conference

·       assisted with the New York City proposal

·       commented on the England budget

·       helped solicit short proposals for 2005 during regular course of business

Responsibilities for conference activities have included:

·       Design/produce/mail the call for papers brochures, conference information and registration brochures

·       advertising in related journals

·       contact conference sponsors

·       maintain finances on QuickBooks

·       manage registrations

·       assist in organizing meetings

Conference management responsibilities by the Society are increasing. For the past two conference, the Society home office has

·       received electronically, stored and formatted the abstracts and papers

·       developed and managed the review process for abstracts and papers on the web

·       produced the printed abstract proceedings and CD–ROM of full proceedings

§       tracked abstracts and papers

§       designed layout of conference sponsor information

§       organized outsourcing for specialty work

·       managed the tentative and final program and session chairs scheduling including room and AV equipment scheduling

·       maintained the conference website

·       worked directly with the conference venue

·       organized all on–site volunteer labor

Allocation of effort for conference management consumes a major portion of Society personnel time, especially in the first 6 months of the year. Time spent on conference management seems to be leveling out at 30% – 40% of time allocation. Outsourcing has also increased as a result of increased conference management and is a successful way to keep abreast of all the duties. Discussions continue to be underway to look at ways to improve conference operations utilizing more of the web technology.

Sustainable Solutions, a management consulting firm based in Massachusetts, has assumed the task of measuring member satisfaction and service quality for the Society on an on–going basis. The firm is offering this service for free and began by measuring attendee satisfaction at the Bergen conference. A summary report of the information received in Norway will be given at the Policy Council Meeting in Atlanta. The survey represents the Society's commitment to quality service to our membership and conference population.

The Norway survey was a pilot study. The number of questions on the survey instrument to be used in Atlanta has been greatly reduced in response to feedback received in Norway. The survey instrument is now better and more stable. Highly correlated questions have been combined and some questions were aggregated. The new survey preserves the dimensions of customer satisfaction at our conference.

In Atlanta and in future years, measurement of pre–conference expectations will be sampled from a small number of randomly selected attendees. The post–conference perceptions survey will occur every year.

Michael Radzicki, who is overseeing this project, would like to know what information the Policy Council would like to gather from the conference survey. Also, if anyone on the Policy Council would like to volunteer to help refine the analysis of the data, or provide feedback about the survey instrument and comparing the data over time, or has ideas on how to structure the breakdown of information, please contact Michael Radzicki.

Planning is ongoing for the Italy 2002 Conference. The dates are July 28 – August 1, 2002. Please see the Call for Papers.

Work continues at the Society office to update the Guide to Organizing an International System Dynamics Conference written by Jac A.M. Vennix and Loes H. Builtjes in July 1992. Conference planning, scheduling techniques and organizational tools continue to be refined.

Web Presence

The Society office website is being maintained at the University at Albany. Jack Pugh, Webmaster, is managing the site with student volunteer help. The website continues being upgraded. For example the bibliography, lists of Society committee members, and all editions of the President’s Newsletter are now on our website. In conjunction with the conference, Society volunteers contacted organizations to update the SD Career Link site and also our webpage “Where Can I Study System Dynamics?” Additional information under consideration to be contained on the website include the membership directory and more links. Access to some areas, such as the directory, will be limited to current members with passwords. The current site contains brochure information, including how to order past publications and the beer game, and how to become a member. The website contains past, present and future conference information. Development of a Frequently Asked Questions page will be initiated in the fall.

To keep abreast of technological advancements, development funding must continue to be placed in the budget for web presence.

The site address is systemdynamics.org.

(Please see Attachment II)

Membership

Membership continues to grow. Please see Attachment III for full details over time.

Services and Recruitment  We currently have over 3140 records of members, non–members and conference registrants who have contacted this office for products or information. An E–mail distribution list, made up of all E–mail contacts, is also being maintained and updated with every contact.

Membership applications processed through this office are increasing as a result of the sponsorship incentive program, membership fee being paid along with purchase of a product or membership fee being paid with conference registration. This year we included a membership option on the conference registration form and it has been quite successful.

After our annual conferences, a personal invitation to become a member of the Society is sent to conference attendees who are not members. In addition, in the fall of 2001, letters to members who did not renew are sent out.

Total memberships processed through this office:

Sponsorship Incentive  As of June 30, 2001, a total of 57 new or renewal members have joined the Society for the calendar year 2001 as a result of the Society Sponsorship incentive (2000 – 45, 1999 – 34). A sponsor receives up to three personal memberships with a sponsorship.

Membership Directory  The 2000 membership directory was produced and distributed by the Society office. An update will be done to the membership directory again for 2001. There have been suggestions to put the membership directory on disk rather than producing a hard copy. The membership directory will also be placed on the Society webpage.         

Sales: Beer Distribution Game, Proceedings, Journal, and Bibliography

There is still great interest in the Beer Distribution Game; sales (dollar volume) are up by 53% from last year at this time. Sales volume by item for the Beer Game is up 57% for the first six months of 2001 as compared to the same time period last year. Beer Game boards sold in (full year) 1998 – 839, 1999 – 619 and in 2000 – 824.

There is less demand for the proceedings and back issues of the System Dynamics Review; sales (dollar volume) are down 11% from the same time last year. Sales of past System Dynamics Review issues have dramatically decreased. This may be because of access to past journals through Wiley using the Interscience website.

Regarding back issues of the System Dynamics Review:  A set of 36 back issues from 1985 to 2000 (Volume 1 – Volume 16) is offered for sale for $750.00, a savings of $600.00 over the individual purchase price. The full time student member price for the Volume 1 – Volume 16 set is $325.00. A minimum number of out–of–print issues has been photocopied and bound for sale, so now all past issues are available for sale. A suggestion has been made for a gradual reduction in price on old issues. Once a decision is made, clearance will be sought from the Administration Committee.

Regarding the bibliography: Disks continue to be available. The bibliography has been updated including the Norway Proceedings and the System Dynamics Review Volume 17, Number 2 – 2001. Jennifer Ferriss, bibliographer, is performing this project. New entries are continuously being made, as the bibliography is always a work in progress. The bibliography will soon be too large to fit on disk.

The profit from the sales “cost center” helps support the core operations offered by the Society office.

Society Sponsorship

Corporate sponsors receive up to three free annual (personal) memberships. Please see Attachment IV for a list of calendar year 2000 and 2001 sponsors.

2001 Sponsor income:  $23,000 (anticipated)

2000 Sponsor income:  $17,909 

1999 Sponsor income:  $12,738 

1998 Sponsor income:   $11,000

1997 Sponsor income:     $4,000

We have six new sponsors in 2001.

The Society office performs a systematic Society sponsorship program contacting all past Society sponsors and conference sponsors, inviting them to continue their support. In addition, we identify and mail out letters to repeat customers, to organizations with numerous members and to other consulting firms owned by members. This mail–out is not only to solicit, but to also cultivate a relationship, to involve our members and others in the field. We will continue this program for Society sponsors in October 2001.

Society Finances

The Society is managed around five cost centers: conference, core operations, sales, publications and web presence. Please refer to the full report by David Andersen, VP Finance Report.

For statistics on credit card sales (including conference registrations), please see Attachment IV–a.

Allocation of Effort

Daily time sheets are recorded and time is separated into five cost centers at the System

Dynamics Society. Breakdown of time for the year 2000 for Roberta Spencer, working at 90%, Jennifer Rowe working at 60% totaling 1.5 staff persons:

*New Zealand, Italy, 2003.

In January 2001 Roberta Spencer moved to full time. We have hired a part time graduate assistant. We have added one option for the staffing plan to have Jennifer Rowe move to fulltime in 2002.

Home Office

Operations are intact and continuous. All financial and organizational information is computerized. We have purchased a third computer and all desktop computers are now networked.

The position of Executive Director has two distinct parts: the first part is maintaining current and routine operations (see Attachment II), and the second part is development and new initiatives (see Attachment I). With the guidance of the Administration Committee, office operations are forging ahead. Advice from the Policy Council on any item is welcome.

Executive Director’s Report

Policy Council Meeting

July 2001   Atlanta, Georgia USA

by Roberta L. Spencer

Attachment I - Possible New Initiatives

Executive Director’s Report

Policy Council Meeting

July 2001

Atlanta, Georgia USA

by Roberta L. Spencer

Attachment II - Routine Operations – Other Processes

(not tied to Administrative Calendar or Research Conference)

Help manage and update Society information vehicles, including brochure and website

Order and market Beer Game

Inventory and fill orders for back issues of Proceedings

Inventory and fill orders for back issues of System Dynamics Review

Respond to general member inquiries/ member services

Membership maintenance and recruitment

Reconcile membership issues/discrepancies with John Wiley & Sons

Assist PC officers as needed

Archive Systems: records retention and preservation

Maintain checking account and accounting for funds with University

Society sponsorship solicitation

Produce membership directory on a yearly basis

Produce and distribute President’s Newsletter two times a year

Manage Administrative Calendar and Processes

Executive Director’s Report

Policy Council Meeting

July 2001   Atlanta, Georgia USA

by Roberta L. Spencer

Attachment III - System Dynamics Society Membership

(according to membership directories) 

Membership over time:

At the half year mark:

June 30, 2001 – 737

June 30, 2000 – 720

June 30, 1999 – 655

June 30, 1998 – 600

System Dynamics Society Membership Over Time – full calendar year:

Actual 2000 membership is up 7%from 1999. Directory entries are down since the directory was published later and there were fewer carry–over members.

Geographic distribution for 1996 through 2000 – 55 countries including:

Membership distribution by sector (based on the membership directory):