A few weeks ago I stumbled over a tweet that linked to the following website:
In there I read the description of an interesting project:
The main use of the WebApp will be to improve the administrative functions of CISV - with a focus on national and local improvements - in order to allow volunteers (and paid administrators) to spend less time doing simple administrative tasks. Ease of use for those not technically minded is of the utmost importance. Some social features will also exist.
It seems as if CISV is trying to set up a new intranet that goes beyond what we currently habe, including CISV friends and resources. Some kind of internal administrative tool, to help chapter or national volunteers organize themselves. From the top of my head, I imagine an intranet, where CISVers can manage their member lists, sign kids up for specific camps, keep track of invoices and payments, send out newsletter to specific groups of people, keep track of the camp material and to-do-lists, etc...
While I do welcome this, I'm a little surprised I haven't heard of this project before? Shouldn't people inside CISV come up with a first brainstorm for such an idea to be circulated and discussed before asking for bids? And if we want to make this investment (which could be very expensive), shouldn't we be looking for IT professionals among our own crowd first before outsourcing it 100% to a company? Why do I find this project on Twitter and not in the IO update? Administrative functions weren't really included in the website overhaul that was approved during AIM, as far as I know.
I hold no official role in CISV international, so I'm not part of any mailing lists, except IO update - so I might have missed some major development since AIM. Nevertheless, something does smell fishy here. (Oh, and apparently the project was cancelled last week...curious.)
Today with the hat on - the ad was put out by CISV USA, and is to build an administrative web application for them.
CISV International's web project is still in progress, and scope is the same as being discussed at AIM this year. Future expansions in the direction of electronic administration is being considered.