The current actual tasks we've got on our to-do (and in-progress) lists are (in no particular order):

Tighten and audit security on production server
Begin a "database clean-up" effort and auditing activity
Implement a new website with many new features, better layouts and ASM integration, etc
Transfer @mickaboo.org "real" accounts to gmail/yahoo accounts with From: addressing aliases
with the above, encourage coordinators and admins to use @mickaboo addresses when dealing with the public
bring online a new development server, dev.mickaboo.org (provisioned by Gaylen)
Transfer all test/development/practice tools from rufus.mickaboo.org to dev.mickaboo.org
implement proper encryption on the ASM database layer and with the webasm application
consolidate username/passwords from 4-6 different tools into one LDAP database (as much as possible)
offer folks a way to change their ASM password (or password on all tools as above)
continue with ASM, Wiki and OTRS education program to increase use of existing tools
provide more plugins and usability features for existing wiki
automate the building and patching process for the webasm source code base
synchronize knowledge between Mal, Myself and Gaylen for backing each other up
reinforce OTRS usage by having tech team fully utilize OTRS for helping people with tech issues

With the exception of Confluence (which was granted to us by the company as a free nonprofit license) our general guiding principle on software is to use open-source and free tools to keep the cost of IT to a minimum - as well as to retain our absolute ability to access our data if we need to change tools later on.

Pamela Lee wrote:

First, I want to applaud the common-sense approach which you, Matt, bring to our technology needs - to solve business needs, rather than to exercise the latest / greatest / flashiest technology (which we couldn't afford anyway!)

Second, I'd be the first to admit I don't know all that is being proposed or done by the tech team. The priority list sounds reasonable, but would it be easy for us laypersons to see that de-prioritized list?

Lastly.. there is a technical matter that's been hanging around since last year, which is in the critical path for some amount of grant application activity. I'll email you about that offline.

- Pam

--- On Wed, 2/11/09, Matt Linton <matt@mickaboo.org> wrote:
From: Matt Linton <matt@mickaboo.org>
Subject: [Leadershipgroup] Mickaboo's IT strategy
To: leadershipgroup@mickaboo.org
Date: Wednesday, February 11, 2009, 10:33 AM

Hi all! First of all, surprise! There's a leadershipgroup email list. Yeah yeah, "another mail list!?" but I wanted to email you all and I kept forgetting exactly who was in this group, so I had the wiki dump the members of the 'executive commitee' group into a list.

I'm about to get into a discussion with the members of the tech team about how to continue implementing the new website and, before I get too far into it, I wanted to make sure everyone on this team knows what exactly my vision on our IT infrastructure is -- and make sure they agree with it!

Although we're very IT-dependent as an organization, our core mission is not IT or even IT-related - and it's the job of technology to support the real mission of bird rescue. As such my highest priorities for our technical infrastructure are:

Data Integrity: My #1 concern is that the data we gather and use be correct and useful

Stability: The tool should remain available as much as possible to those who need it

Security: Our tools and data should not be subject to interference from disgruntled former volunteers, people rejected for adoption, bored teenagers, etc.

Consistency: Our tools sometimes have a high learning curve. They should not change rapidly/unexpectedly/frivolously. A working tool that everyone uses is FAR preferable to a new and flashy tool that may be "better" but no one knows how to use. New tools should come into place gradually and only to fulfill a need.

For the near and medium-term future I am going to place the highest priority technically into the following areas:

Integrating our current tools as much as possible so they become easier to manage and work with

Cleaning up and auditing our existing data sources

Splitting all "development" and "testing" activity out onto a different physical server from our "production" (ie, every-day use) server to promote stability.

Auditing and tightening any lax security I find on our production server

There are a lot of potential tasks within the tech team being proposed and worked on (new website, consolidation work, new dev server, etc) so I want to make sure that I have concurrence on these priorities from the leadership group so that if one project gets a lower priority than another, I am not playing it by ear or seeming to play favorites.

So, given that, any thoughts I should consider?
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