Executive Director's Report

Winter Policy Council Meeting February 2001

Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts

by Roberta L. Spencer

New Initiatives

(Please see Attachment I)

Conference Management

Management of our conferences has become a large activity at the Society office. The Society office is working with Nathan Forrester, Jim Hines and many more program volunteers for the 2001 conference. There is a great level of interest in the Atlanta conference, and the interest seems to be earlier than other years. Conference management responsibilities by the Society continue to increase.

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.

The Society office is currently in the process of updating a Guide to Organizing an International System Dynamics Conference written by Jac A.M. Vennix and Loes H. Builtjes in July 1992. Conference planning and scheduling information is continuously being updated.

Web Presence

The Society office website is being maintained at the University at Albany. Jack Pugh, Webmaster, is managing the site. Vedat Diker is assisting with the conference webpages. Additional information under consideration to be contained on the website include the membership directory, the bibliography and more links.

Routine Operations

(Please see Attachment II)

Membership

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

Currently we have over 2676 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 fees being paid along with a conference registration, or membership fees paid along with purchase of a product.

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 each year, letters of invitation to members who did not renew are sent out.

As of February 2001, we have 48 new or renewal members that 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.

Since 1999 the membership directory has been produced and distributed by the Society office. Updates will be done to the membership directory each year. Currently, we are planning to continue to produce a hard copy, but also to place the membership directory on the Society webpage.

Sales

There is great interest in the Beer Distribution Game; sales (dollar volume) are up by 47% over 1999. Sales volume by item for the Beer Game is up 33% for 2000 as compared to last year.

There is less demand for the proceedings and back issues of the System Dynamics Review; sales (dollar volume) are down 32% from the same time last year.

As a convenience to our customers, over the past few years, new products have been added to be sold with the Beer Game. These products are the deck of customer order cards, plastic playing chips, color coordinated order slips and pencils. Including them makes the game more user-friendly and they have been well received. The customer pays postage on all Beer Game sales, modestly increasing Society profits. The profit from the sales "cost center" helps support the core operations offered by the Society office.

Regarding back issues of the System Dynamics Review: A set of 36 back issues from 1985 to 1998 (Volume 1 - Volume 14) is offered for sale for $750.00, a savings of $410.00 over the individual purchase price. The full time student member price for the Volume 1 - Volume 14 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

Regarding the bibliography: Disks continue to be available. The bibliography has been updated including the Bergen Conference Proceedings and the System Dynamics Review Volume 16, Number 3 - 2000. New entries are continuously being made, as the bibliography is a continuous work in progress. The bibliography will soon be too large to fit on a 3.5" disk. (Entries: 2/01 - 6200, 3/00 - 5500, 7/99 -5367)

Society Sponsorship

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

To date, twenty sponsors have either made a pledge or sent in a gift for 2001. In addition, we have five new sponsors this year. 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.

Society Finances

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

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 Roberta Spencer, working at 90%, Jennifer Rowe working at 60% totaled 1.5 staff persons for 2000:

*New Zealand, Italy, 2003.

January 2001 Roberta Spencer moved to 100% - full time.

Administrative Calendar

Please see the attached draft of the Administrative Processes (Attachment V) to be scheduled into a calendar. The Administrative Calendar is a work in progress. As always, input is appreciated.

Home Office

Operations are intact and continuous. All financial and organizational information is computerized. Since June 2000 we have purchased three computers.

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.

Attachment I

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 (Before Wiley)

Respond to general member inquiries / member services

Membership maintenance and recruitment

Reconcile membership issues/discrepancies with John Wiley & Sons

Help VP Meetings with Chapters and Special Interest Groups

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

Attachment III

System Dynamics Society Membership Over Time:

Actual 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):

Attachment IV

Calendar Year 2000 and 2001 Society Sponsors

Attachment V

Administrative Processes

(To be added to, rationalized, and scheduled into an annual calendar.)

Business Processes Tightly Linked to Administrative Calendar:

Tax Filings

Manage agenda and follow-up for Winter Meeting of Policy Council (Jan, Feb)

Manage agenda and follow-up for Summer Meeting of Policy Council at Research Conference

Manage agenda and follow-up for Fall (?) Meeting of Policy Council

President's Newsletter (two times per year)

Manage Nominations and Elections Procedures (October/November)

Awards:

Jay W. Forrester Award Selection Procedure

Best Student Paper Award at Research Conference

Other New Awards??

Manage Society Sponsors

Annual Membership Billing

Annual Membership Directory

Manage Conference Site Selection (3-4 years in advance)

Update Bibliography

Executive Director's report

VP Publications report including Editor's Report, Website Report, President's Newsletter, Publisher's Report, etc.

VP Finance Report

Notices in journals - for what and when

Update SDR - SDS publications for sale page

May 15 Federal (no fee) and State ($100 fee) review to be filed

By November 15 - File a list of officers and policy council members with the MA Secretary of State - a one-page form that gives officers and date of annual meeting for the past year. Clerk has to be resident of MA

Work with Administration Committee to refine processes.

Who does what/when?

How often are tasks/issues updated?

Last edited by JP 2/10/01