INFORMS

IT Department Report

Bjarni KristjanssonApril 2011 Board Meeting

Global Trends in IT

• Globalityo 1.8 Billion Internet users in 2009 (+13% Y/Y)o 670M 3G Subscribers (+37% Y/Y, 14% penetration)o Facebook 620M Visitors (+51% Y/Y)o Tenecent [China] 637M Visitors (+31% Y/Y)

• Mobileo Mobile Internet (Apple: 120M users, 330K Apps)o 2010: Nokia 37%, RIM 15%, Apple 17% Android 25%o Mixi Mobile [Japan] 84% page views vs. 16% Internet

(Source: Mary Meeker Web 2.0 conference presentation)

Global Trends in IT

• Social Ecosystemso Facebook: 620M Users, 550K Apps, 500M Downloadso Apple: 120M Users, 330K Apps, 6.5B Downloadso Google: 940M Users, paid clicks +16% Y/Y

• Mediao Web 23%, Netflix 21%, YouTube 10%, BitTorrent 8%o Streaming Video 37% of Internet Traffico Mobile video 41% of Peak Hour Traffico YouTube: 35 hours of content every minute (100% Y/Y)

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yL9yrttESI

IT Focus – Preparing for the Future

• Upgrades in Hardwareo Virtualization

• Integration of current IT Systems• Conference Abstract Submission

o Open Source?• Mobile Computing

o Conferenceso Journals

• Web 2.0 (IOL)o Social Network / Bloggingo Content Sharing

Web 2.0 Goals for INFORMS

• Bring O.R. into 21st Century • Create Active O.R. Communities Online • Enhance Communication Between O.R. People• Leverage the Societies / Working Groups• Promote O.R. to Young People

OR-Connect - Online Collaboration for O.R.

• OR-Connect - Social Network• OR-Blogs - Blogs• OR-Share - Online Material Sharing• OR-Photos - Pictures• OR-Tube – Videos/Online courses

Existing Main IT Systems

• Association Anywhere (AA)o Membership System / ERP for Associations

• INFORMS Online (IOL) o EZ-Publish (EZ)

• Pubs HighWire (HW)o Move from Impelsyso Managed by Publications

• Conference Abstract System (eMeetings)o Managed by Meetings

• Jobs Placement Service (JPS)o Created and Maintained by INFORMS IT

AA - Association Anywhere

• AMS – Association Management Software• Leased from and hosted by ACGI Software• Hosted on Windows Servers• Web-based interface • Membership management database (ERP)• Conferences / Revenues / Accounting / Finance• Standard reports and queries• Custom queries done through MS Access and Business Objects• Yearly costs $175K plus 2 staff• Expensive Customization & Consulting

Using XML Web services and well-defined APIs, the functionality of Association Anywhere can be integrated with back-office and Web applications, corporate and third-party Web sites, portals, content management systems and more.

IOL – Informs Online

• EZ Publish – Open source systemo Content Management System (CMS)

• Developed by Norwegian company eZ Systems• Hosted by PTG – Performance Technology Group

o Linux RedHat Enterprise servero LAMP – Linux / Apache / MySQL / PHP

• Maintained by Marketing and David Wirth (IT developer)o Formerly maintained by Beaconfire (consultant)

• Yearly costs $40-50K, including 22K for hosting with PTG

Relatively well managed system at reasonable operating costs, but needs to be focused more on Web 2.0, user generatedcontent, and personalized pages (MyInforms).

Kevin Geraghty – IOL Editor

• IOL: Who is our Audience• Operations Research as a Brand• Leveraging Energy from Students• Find-ability

o Search Termso Landing Pages

• Engagemento Bloggers / Social Networkso Content

• Reputation• Measurement

Publications Online

• Moving from older system Impelsys to HighWireo Individual subscriptionso Institutional subscriptions

• Web-based system hosted by HighWire• Managed by Pubs Department

o IT Department only marginally involved• Very expensive to integrate with other systems

o Estimated $10K/journalo Mobile computing

One possibility is to track and store meta-data about the journals, papers, authors, references in a database managed by INFORMS staff,so the information can be shared with other IT Systems and used forMobile Applications

Conference Abstract System

• eMeetings – hosted solution• Small company based in Denver• MS Access database running in Windows• Difficult to manage for users• Very Insecure

o Login and Passwords are just email addresses• Cannot easily be integrated with other systems

o IOL / AA o Registrationo Mobile Computing

Relatively cheap to operate, but does not work well with other systems. One solution we will be investigating is to create a new system using open-source, with the upcoming ICS conference in Santa Fe 2013.

Job Placement Service, Other Systems

• Developed by INFORMS Staff (mainly David Wirth)• LAMP – standard platform

o Linuxo Apacheo MySQLo PHP

• Also using JavaScript / Ajax / CS / XML• Full control to do anything we want with the data• Other systems with similar setup

o Continuing Educationo EBB

Very cheap to develop, operate, and easy to integrate with other systems. Limited capacity with only one developer to build more systems.

INFORMS Hardware – Maryland

INFORMS Servers – PTG Hosting

DataCenter Virtualization Plan

New IT Committee

• Bjarni Kristjansson, Chair

• James J. Cochran• Thomas Dong • Owen P. Hall • William E. Hart • Warren Lieberman • Donna Llewellyn • John Lucas • Laura A. McLay • Anna Nagurney

• Paul Rubin • Matt J. Saltzman • Michael Trick • Wayne Winston

Ex-officio members• Kevin Geraghty (IOL)• Terry Cryan• Ann Fishkin• Patricia Shaffer• Gary Bennett• Mary Magrogan

IT Committee – Tasks & Issues

1. AA (Association Anywhere) / Membership ERP / INFORMS adoption2. IOL Collaboration / Kevin Geraghty's vision / MyInforms page /

Personalized experience3. Software - New conference system? / Open source /

Mobile computing4. Integration of existing systems (AA / IOL / Pubs / Conf / JPS) /

Single sign-on / Mirroring Data5. Web 2.0 technologies / Online collaboration / Testing new tools6. Content - Sharing online (docs / videos / podcasts / pictures) /

Hosting vs. linking / Collaboration agreements7. Marketing – SEO / Engaging students and other members /

Chapters / Subdivisions / Societies8. Hardware - IT Infrastructure / Hosting / Bandwidth9. Future IT plan for INFORMS / Analytics / Budget issues / Staff

Informs IT Staff

• Terry Cryan – Interim IT Director

• Ann Fishkin – Database Administrator• Lee Mooring – IT Administrator• Herman Strom – Linux Administrator• David Wirth – Developer / Programmer

• Mary Weldy – Consultant AA (2 days/week)• Ray Weglin – Consultant Access/Servers/Oracle

• Shirley Mohr – IOL Design (Marketing)

Suggestions for New IT Staff

• Database Administrator/Programmero Bring knowledge in-house regarding AAo Reduce the need for expensive consultantso Assist with integration of AA to other IT Systems

• Additional Software Developer o LAMP Platform (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP)o Mobile computing for Meetings & Publicationso Implement Social Networking/Web 2.0o Implement strategy for Content Sharingo Integration between existing systems

Current IT 2011 Budget

DifferenceOriginal 2011New Budget

-73.0833.6760.6TOTAL IT COSTS

45.045Overhead

335.6335.6• IT Staff

-33133100• Director

468.6435.6IT Labor

1010• Travel & Training

+151025• Software

-304010• IT Supplies & Miscellaneous

1010• Hardware

70.055.0IT Expenses

1010• Unallocated

1818• Other IOL Costs

2222• Hosting PTG

50.050.0INFORMS Online

6• Other

59• INFORMS Consulting

45• ACGI Consulting

65• Leasing/Hosting

-25200.0175.0Consulting & ACGI

IT 2012 Budget with Alternative

558

10

25

10

20

18

22

5

20

15

65

2012 Alternative2011 Budget2012 Budget

813761813TOTAL IT COSTS

454545Overhead

336372• IT Staff

100126• Director

510436498IT Labor

1010• Travel & Training

2525• Software

1010• IT Supplies & Miscellaneous

1010• Hardware

655555IT Expenses

10• Unallocated

1818• Other IOL Costs

2222• Hosting PTG

405040INFORMS Online

66• Other

5959• INFORMS Consulting

4545• ACGI Consulting

6565• Leasing/Hosting

105175175Consulting & ACGI

Potential IT Budget Savings

• Reduce Consultingo ACGI special requests ($45K)o INFORMS Consultants ($59K)

• Reduce Hostingo ACGI Leasing & Hosting ($65K)o PTG Hosting ($22K)

• Do we need an IT Director? ($126K)• Other Potential Reductions

o IOL ($10K)o Email Archiving ($12K)

For each item, we need to answer the following question:Are we getting good value for the money spent?

IT Strategy to support INFORMS

• Existing software (AA, Conference, JPS, Pubs)• Integration (Members, Pubs, Conferences, Web)• Mobile Computing (Conferences, Pubs)• Social Networks, Web 2.0, Blogging• Online Content Sharing (Documents, Videos, etc.)• IOL: Design, SEO, MyInforms, Live Platform• Wikipedia, TedXAnalytics, Online marketing

• In-house staff vs. External consultants• Hardware, upgrades, redundancy• Staff Training, utilization, deployment• IT Director? (PM, staff, budget, strategy)