York DistrictIncremental Technology

ProposalBy the PTC Technology Team (PTCTT)

YD ADC Tim GuerrettePTC ACC Jacob Moorman

York DistrictYork District is composed of units in York County, Maine which includes the Kennebunks, the Berwicks, Biddeford/Saco, Sanford, and neighboring areas.Broadband internet service is unavailable in some areas, resulting in an “analog gap” which must be kept informed using offline methods while we continue to driveadoption of increasingly capabledigital solutions.

PTC Tech Team:How we operate

The Power of ManyThe Pine Tree Council Technology Team is Volunteer Led, Professionally Guided.•1 Asst. Council Commissioner•1 Staff Advisor•4 Asst. District Commissioners•Broader technology resource pool

Who can help me? YD Tech Contacts

ADC for Technology, York DistrictTim Guerrette, tim@guerrette.net

ACC for Technology, Pine Tree CouncilJacob Moorman, admin@ptcbsa.org

Staff AdvisorMatt Randall, mrandall@bsamail.org

Lean and Agile

Lean• Eliminate waste• Amplify learning• Decide as late as possible• Deliver as fast as possible• Empower the team• Build integrity in• See the whole

Agile• Produce a working product early,

then release regular incremental improvements adapting for new needs and improving the user experience (UX)

• Ensure sustainable and sustained development through communication and time-boxed development “Sprints”

Typical Change Execution• Requests originate from a PTC Volunteer or

Professional (over 200 have participated!)• Tech Team evaluates against established

governance• Work is scheduled in half-month Sprints• Change is prototyped, peer reviewed and

beta-tested, then rolled to production

Where do requests come from?• Email: feedback@ptcbsa.org• Voicemail: 207-200-3456• Direct email to ACC, ADC, or staff advisor• Direct interaction via PTC’s PLC, Commissioner

meetings, Roundtable, event team meetings, or Tech Team’s Muster events

• User panels

Our 2014 Objective: Improved UX• Events: Info delivery, promotion, registration,

confirmations, receipts, reminders, surveys• Leverage data warehousing and analytics, ex: website

menu choices were made based on 6 months of search and click path data

• Empower the volunteer to do less ‘busy work’: document sharing, e-signatures, targetedcommunications, increasedawareness of available resources

Thanks for guidance!• Denis Hamann, Council Commissioner Team• Tony Fleurent, Council Training Team• Owen Maguire, Council Professional Staff (all)• Rick Raynes, Sherry Lord, Leo DeLima

and the PTC University of Scouting Team• Stephen Houser and Dana Ryder• Council Advancement Team, Council Marketing Team• Paul Bock, Council Camping Team• Reps from P308, P311• And many more…

What drives Tech decisionmaking?• Consideration given to all stakeholders• ACC reports to Council Commissioner dotted line to Council

Scout Executive.• ADCs report to ACC, dotted line to District Commissioners.• Tech Team has established operating practices• Key 3 advise on specific governance requirements (e.g.

Marketing, ToS, etc.)• Metrics/Analytics and industry best

practices drive implementation

PTC Tech Team:Proposed district Operation

Change Model (Council Approved)• Content creators should have the ability to post

information for delivery (examples: Activities, Advancement, Commissioners)

• Selected parties coordinate promotions (examples: Key 3, Marketing, Roundtable)

• Council-wide Technology Team maintains platforms and provides support/execution assistance as needed

Initial Access GrantAccess to be granted for content management under PTC’s Online Services Terms of Use Agreement (expected February 2014):•Activities Chair•Training Chair•Roundtable Commissioners•Key 3•PTC Tech Team

Information DeliveryThese steps are required for all events:1.Create event PDF, add to document repo2.Create calendar entry, link to event PDF3.If prereg is needed, create reg flow, add URL to calendar entry4.Update PDF for calendar link, reg URL5.Print PDF for distribution atRoundtable

PromotionThese steps are used selectively as appropriate:1.Create a Post on the website, link to files2.Post to the Facebook Page, link to files3.Post to the mailing list, link to files4.Promote verbally at Roundtable5.Submit for inclusion in PTC’s Pine Spills

Platforms• YD website moves to york.pinetreebsa.org• YD website backed by WordPress• PDF document repo part of our WordPress• YD Facebook Page remains as-is• YD leverages Council-wide Google Calendar• YD mailing list moves to Google Groups• Additional services as per the

PTCTT standard offering

Key Website Notes• Cothemed to PTC’s theme per Marketing

Team guidance• Uses modern minimalist themeing and

achieves responsive, mobile-friendly display• Validated vs BSA’s Brand Identity Guide• Ensures canonical PDF documents exist to

cover our Analog Gap and retain our history

Key Mailing List Notes• Existing list is managed by Jacob Moorman via

SourceForge infrastructure he maintains• Move to Google Group aligns list to a platform the Tech

Team can support as a team• The need for manual subscription/unsubscribe

management will be eliminated• District has option of moving to moderated list• Easy web integration of

subscribes, archives, submissions

Incremental Improvements• New work accepted via feedback paths• Work is selected for twice-monthly sprints• PTCTT manages projects and staffs workload• Improvements are extended to all service

consumers (Council, Districts, groups)• Regular consults with peers in other Councils

Proposed TimelineTime Target Initiative

2/14 Terms of Use finalized by PTC (currently pending Legal signoff)

ASAP Access issued under ToU to those on the needs list

ASAP Workflow documentation provided to those on the needs list

2/14-3/14 york.pinetreebsa.org launches, yorkdistrict.org redirects there

2/14-3-14 Google Group deployed to replace Mailing List, subscriptions migrated, users notified, autoresponder deployed at Mailing List address

3/14 Training session (if needed).

Questions?