Executive Director's Report

Policy Council Meeting

July 1998

Québec City, Canada

by

Roberta L. Spencer

Home Office

Operations are intact and continuous. All financial information is computerized using the accounting program "Quick Books."

I see the position of Executive Director as having two distinct parts: the first part is maintaining current and routine operations, and the second part is development and new initiatives. Items listed below have been completed, are in the works or are planned for the future. With the guidance of the Administrative Committee I am forging ahead. I look forward to advice from the Policy Council on any item.

Routine Operations (Attachment I)

Membership services and recruitment. Continuous phone, E-mail and mail coverage are being provided. The replies are fast, focused and very responsive as shown by the positive feedback we have received. A sales and contact database has been growing since January 1, 1997. Currently we have over 1200 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.

In 1998 to date, 33 new members have joined the Society as a result of their contact with this office in order to purchase a product or register for the conference. Other new members have contacted Wiley directly.

A Society office website is being maintained. It contains brochure information, including how to order past publications and how to become a member. The website contains conference information, including the call for papers, the registration brochure, the conference schedule and all conference details. There were 899 "hits" in June 1998 at the website. The site address is http://www.albany.edu/cpr/sds/

Coordination of the Society office site with the Policy Council site is being discussed. The possibility is currently being explored to have a domain name. The domain name would be systemdynamics.org and has been reserved.

Beer Distribution Game, Proceedings, Journal , and Bibliography Sales. There is great interest in the Beer Distribution Game, and less demand for the Proceedings and back issues of the System Dynamics Review. Orders filled (including bibliographies) as of June 30, 1998 totaled 273, and were shipped all over the world. (1997 total orders filled: 271)

Regarding the Beer Game: Sale of the Beer Game continues to be strong. In June 1997 a session of the Beer Game facilitated by John Sterman was videotaped. This raw material is in need of editing in order to produce an instructional video to "train the trainer." According to input from a range of clients from large corporations to small consulting firms, there seems to be a strong need for this new product.

New products available for the Beer Game include the deck of customer order cards and plastic playing chips. Postage is paid by the consumer on all Beer Game sales, increasing Society profits. I remain very enthusiastic about the continued interest and sales of the Beer Game.

Regarding back issues of the System Dynamics Review: The new product - a set of 21 back issues (Volume 1 - Volume 10) is offered for sale for $495.00, a savings of $195.00 over the individual purchase price. 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. If this decision is made, clearance will be sought from the Administrative Committee.

Other. Bibliography disks continue to be available, although the bibliography needs to be updated. The current version is dated 1995. There has been interest on the part of the Information Sciences Department at the University at Albany to take on this updating task.

Membership

John Wiley & Sons continues to be very helpful and responsive. The 1998 membership directory will be dated September 1, 1998. The membership directory will be produced and distributed by John Wiley & Sons. The membership directory dated September 1, 1997 listed 680 members. (The membership count based on the directory is always a little higher than actual membership.) Membership as of June 30, 1998 is 605. (June 1997 = 495, membership is up 22%) Please see Attachment II for more detailed membership information.

In June 1998 a system was set up to send welcome letters to new members of the Society. When the Society office receives new member information from John Wiley & Sons, we mail out the welcome letters.

Sponsorship

In an effort to increase membership, the arrangement for sponsorship has been slightly changed. In lieu of receiving a free subscription with a sponsorship, the corporate sponsors now will receive up to three free annual memberships. We have had success with this new arrangement. For 1998 sponsorship income is $11,000. (1997 was $4,000)

A more expansive procedure for managing sponsors needs to be developed and put into action. I will be expending more personal attention to this situation. Society Finances

Although the proposed 1998 budget projected a loss, we are showing a profit. The Society is managed around three cost centers and all three show a net profit. The cost centers are Conference, Core operations and Sales. Expenses for the Quebec conference will be reimbursed to the Society. Core operations are "holding their own" due to an increase in sponsor dues. Sales are up and profits are subsidizing the office as a whole. Please refer to the full statement shown in David's VP Finance Report.

Per vote of the Policy Council, the Society has undertaken a shared responsibility in the planning and management of the Quebec conference. Full details are given in the attached Memorandum of Understanding.

Administrative Calendar

A Presidential Initiative in 1997 was to create the Administrative Calendar. The rationale for this tool is for continuity of organizational memory. The Calendar will help the administration of the Society to be continuous, but also responsive to change. Please see the attached draft of the Administrative Calendar (Attachment III). Key people will need to comment on the Administrative Calendar and related processes to make it complete. The role of the Executive Director would be to help keep all the Society processes timely. Unfortunately there has been little progress on the Administrative Calendar to date. As always, I appreciate input.

Planned Initiatives

A proposal has been submitted by a student group in Mexico.

Current Allocation of Effort for Executive Director

Daily time sheets are recorded as time is separated into three cost centers at the System Dynamics Society. Most of my time on Society work continues to be spent on current operations. With the addition of Jennifer Rowe as Assistant to the Director, I am starting to find time for the new initiatives.

Attachment I

Routine Operations - Other Processes

(Not Tied to Administrative Calendar or Research Conference)

Attachment II

System Dynamics Society Membership

(According to Membership Directories)

Membership over time:

Attachment III

Administrative Calendar

(To be Added to, Rationalized, and Scheduled to an Annual Calendar.)

Business Processes Tightly Linked to Administrative Calendar:

Attachment IV

Possible New Initiatives

(Not Routine Processes)