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Re: [802SEC] FW: Software and Treasury concerns



Harry-

Your understanding is not correct.

Your statement:
"To my understanding, every group except for IEEE 802.16 and 20 has used 
the stated commercial software. (i.e. IEEE IT software)

is not correct.

I can not speak for other groups but I will speak for Bob Grow and 802.3 as 
Bob is on holiday. I know that 802.3 has used database rooted systems for 
contact information and attendance since the 1980s. Pat Thaler had a system 
based on (as I understood it at the time) an proprietary database system 
available internally at H-P. When I became Chair of 802.3 I developed a 
system in a commercially available database "Filemaker" (now FileMaker 
Pro). That system evolved and has continued in use to this day. It could be 
converted to a attendee/user interface without a great degree of difficulty 
but we have not been driven to do so. Our system prints out attendance book 
sheets and supports easy data entry from the books. The database has 
attendance and contact information records for over 3800 different people 
over a period of greater than 12 years

I suspect that Bob would be willing to go to a new more automated system 
(you can ask him when he is available again) but to the best of my 
knowledge, it is not a high priority for 802.3.

I don't know whether Bob would support or urge the membership of 802.3 to 
support any significant expenditure of 802 funds for a replacement system. 
You'll have to ask him.

Geoff Thompson

At 06:59 PM 11/5/2006 , Stuart J. Kerry wrote:
+++ FORWARDED ON BEHALF OF HARRY WORSTELL PER HIS REQUEST +++

   _____

From: Worstell,Harry R (Harry)
Sent: Saturday, November 04, 2006 3:01 PM
To: STDS-802-SEC@listserv.ieee.org
Cc: paul.nikolich@ATT.NET; k.kenney@ieee.org; wpiencia@thunderdome.ieee.org;
Bob Labelle
Subject: Software and Treasury concerns


Dear IEEE 802 Executive Committee,

I am writing to you as an IEEE 802.11 voting member to object to the 
misrepresentation and half truths in the emails sent by Dr Heile and Rick 
Alfvin, copied below, in regards to the attendance collection at the 
November 2006 Plenary session. Mr. Alfvin has stated in his email "The IEEE 
system originally tested for .11 and tested by other wireless groups in 
Melbourne. Although this system is currently available at no charge, it 
lacks security, authentication and an administrative interface to modify 
the database during the session to make corrections. The system also lacks 
a feedback mechanism allowing an attendee to monitor his accrued percentage 
of attendance. The IEEE openly acknowledges the shortcomings of the 
interface, and has stated that this is a throwaway stop gap solution."

The IEEE IT software was and is intended to be a stop-gap solution for the 
IEEE 802.11 Working Group as they were, due to the size of the group, 
unable to meet the requirements of the IEEE 802 Policies and Procedures 
without an automated attendance solution. This system was NOT tested and 
never intended to be tested as a solution to the problems with attendance 
collection for other 802 groups. The software needs were never offered for 
bid to any other venders per IEEE policies by the IEEE EC and yet in his 
email he states "*Note: Unless this solution is adopted by 802, it may not 
be available in the future......so, if you haven't used it before, this may 
be your last chance to try it and form your own opinion of its value to 
802.*. No other vendors have had a chance to offer any other options and no 
competitive bidding has been done. To my understanding, every group except 
for IEEE 802.16 and 20 has used the stated commercial software.

I will reemphesize that the IEEE IT software was and is intended to be a 
stop-gap solution for the IEEE 802.11 Working Group as they were, due to 
the size of the group, unable to meet the requirements of the IEEE 802 
Policies and Procedures without an automated attendance solution.

The IEEE-SA  Electronic Services Group provided this software solution 
until the IEEE 802 EC could come to agreement and provide a COMPLETE 
solution for the problem, which they have not done yet. The IEEE IT group 
has also been working on a complete solution that they will offer the IEEE 
802 group for free or at a minimum expenditure as they have stated. They 
have also provided stop-gap back-end processing that I believe was not used 
by any other group other than IEEE 802.11. It also is tied to the 
registration using the Member ID numbers of the IEEE 802 group. It was 
never meant to be secure or final a solution and has been a real asset to 
the IEEE 802.11 Working Group in our situation and I thank them for their 
great work. It is certainly as secure than the paper method we have used 
for the last 10 years and it is free!

We have found that the IEEE 802.11 member ID numbers are changing on a 
regular basis and the organizers registration software is not catching 
these changes which are causing problems with post processing of attendance 
and letter ballots. We have had 3 to 10 members with different numbers at 
every session. These numbers should never change for any individual.

Dr. Hiele has stated in an email copied below "My expectation that there 
will be no 802 groups outside of 11,15,18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 who will 
express any interest in using any of the two electronic systems and that we 
will have to handle this our of the wireless treasury if we want to take 
advantage of the more user friendly Azgaard system." First of all the 
treasury is NOT the wireless treasury. It is the Joint Treasury of IEEE 
802.11 and IEEE 802.15.

Dr. Heile has also stated in the email below that "Please also signify 
whether you will support the expenditure of funds from the wireless 
treasury for the Azgaard system ( my guess is it would cost between 
$600-800 if it were used by 15, 20, 21 and 22). " Mr. Alfvin states that 
"The Azgard system, which is a commercial application, is being offered for 
use by IEEE 802 during the Dallas session for a minimum fee of $500 or 
$2/user, whichever is greater." If the wireless groups all us this 
software, the expenditures could far exceed the estimates from Dr. Hiele.

As this is an 802.11/15 joint treasury per IEEE 802 Policies and 
Procedures, the members of each group must vote on any expenditure of this 
kind. The Chair of the IEEE 802.11 Working Group has already stated in an 
email copied below that " Well being forced to be the bad guy here, I am 
informing you all the 802.11 WG is fully committed to the IEEE attendance 
approach as previously stated, and to that end will be using it in its 
interim form for the Dallas session. This decision is until either mandated 
by the 802 EC or IEEE and therefore that is the choice that my WG is using 
for attendance collection." He also stated that "Finally, under the joint 
treasury of 802.11 and 802.15 I vote no for the provision of funds for this 
802 EC sponsored November Plenary session in Dallas. Later events are not 
covered under my negative vote for this session. ", which means that the 
IEEE 802.11 group does not support any expenditure of monies out of the 
Joint IEEE 802.11/15 treasury. Also, this being a Plenary session, it is up 
to the IEEE 802 EC to fund such expenditures, not the working groups or TAGs.

Finally, I, as an IEEE 802.11 voting member in good standing, object to any 
further back-door politics and misinformation to be dispersed by any member 
of the Executive Committee and that the 802 Executive Committee follow 
their IEEE 802 Polices and Procedures and the IEEE policies now and in the 
future.

Regards,

Harry Worstell

Attachment:

   _____

From: Bob Heile [mailto:bheile@ieee.org]
Sent: Sun 10/29/2006 9:04 PM
To: stuart.kerry@nxp.com; bheile@ieee.org; mjlynch@nortel.com;
shellhammer@ieee.org; a.greenspan@ieee.org; greenspana@bellsouth.net;
vivek.g.gupta@INTEL.COM; wk3c@wk3c.com
Cc: Worstell,Harry R (Harry); john.barr@motorola.com; apetrick@widefi.com;
alfvin@ieee.org
Subject: Fwd: [802SEC] Attendance Collection in Dallas



Gentlemen

Those of you on the EC reflector have already seen Rick's email.  My
expectation that there will be no 802 groups outside of 11,15,18, 19, 20, 21
and 22 who will express any interest in using any of the two electronic
systems and that we will have to handle this our of the wireless treasury if
we want to take advantage of the more user friendly Azgaard system.

Per Rick' request please let this group know ASAP if you want to use one or
the other or none.  Please also signify whether you will support the
expenditure of funds from the wireless treasury for the Azgaard system ( my
guess is it would cost between $600-800 if it were used by 15, 20, 21 and
22).  A majority of us is needed to support this if we are to do it.  That
does not mean you have to use it.  15 would very much like to use the
Azgaard system since it is a much more robust system, automatically deals
with deadbeats and requires substanstially less post processing.

Bob




Date:         Thu, 26 Oct 2006 13:37:17 -0400
Reply-To: Rick Alfvin <alfvin@IEEE.ORG>
From: Rick Alfvin <alfvin@IEEE.ORG>
Subject: [802SEC] Attendance Collection in Dallas


The Dallas IEEE 802 plenary meeting is quickly approaching and we need to
determine what our attendance collection options are for this session. As
vice-chair of 802.15, I am responsible for 802.15 attendance collection. As
far as I am aware, there are three options available to all working groups.

1. Manual methods. Labor intensive and viable for some of the smaller
groups. Generally not a desired or preferred approach.

2. The IEEE system originally tested for .11 and tested by other wireless
groups in Melbourne. Although this system is currently available at no
charge, it lacks security, authentication and an administrative interface to
modify the database during the session to make corrections. The system also
lacks a feedback mechanism allowing an attendee to monitor his accrued
percentage of attendance. The IEEE openly acknowledges the shortcomings of
the interface, and has stated that this is a throwaway stop gap solution.

3. The Azgaard system originally tested by .15 and tested by other wireless
groups in San Diego. This system provides authentication tied to the
registration database (so only paid attendees can log attendance credit),
security in the form of unique user/password restricted access, immediate
user feedback showing the percentage of accrued session attendance credit
and an administrative interface which allows an admin to modify records
during the event (e.g. if an attendee forgot to sign in to a meeting and
needed to have his attendance record corrected.) *Note: Unless this solution
is adopted by 802, it may not be available in the future......so, if you
haven't used it before, this may be your last chance to try it and form your
own opinion of its value to 802.*

If you wish to use the IEEE system, I recommend you contact Walter Pienciak
*wpiencia@thunderdome.ieee.org* <wpiencia@thunderdome.ieee.org>.

If you wish to use the Azgaard system (my preference), please reply to this
email. The Azgard system, which is a commercial application, is being
offered for use by IEEE 802 during the Dallas session for a minimum fee of
$500 or $2/user, whichever is greater. This fee will have to be approved by
either the 802 Wireless Groups Executive Committee or the IEEE SEC. I will
pass along your choice to use this approach to both the 802SEC and
802Wireless SEC.

--
Rick Alfvin
Vice Chair IEEE 802.15
+1 585.781.0952

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This email is sent from the 802 Executive Committee email reflector.  This
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Bob Heile, Ph.D
Chairman, ZigBee Alliance
Chair, IEEE 802.15 Working Group on Wireless Personal Area Networks
11 Louis Road
Attleboro, MA  02703   USA
Mobile: +1-781-929-4832
email:   bheile@ieee.org



   _____

From: Stuart Kerry [mailto:stuart.kerry@nxp.com]
Sent: Sun 10/29/2006 11:08 PM
To: alfvin@ieee.org
Cc: apetrick@widefi.com; a.greenspan@ieee.org; bheile@ieee.org;
greenspana@bellsouth.net; Worstell,Harry R (Harry); john.barr@motorola.com;
mjlynch@nortel.com; shellhammer@ieee.org; stuart.kerry@nxp.com;
vivek.g.gupta@INTEL.COM; wk3c@wk3c.com; b.labelle@ieee.org;
p.nikolich@ieee.org
Subject: Re: Fwd: [802SEC] Attendance Collection in Dallas



Rick,

Well being forced to be the bad guy here, I am informing you all the 802.11
WG is fully committed to the IEEE attendance approach as previously stated,
and to that end will be using it in its interim form for the Dallas session.
This decision is until either mandated by the 802 EC or IEEE and therefore
that is the choice that my WG is using for attendance collection.

Finally, under the joint treasury of 802.11 and 802.15 I vote no for the
provision of funds for this 802 EC sponsored November Plenary session in
Dallas. Later events are not covered under my negative vote for this
session.

/ Stuart

_______________________________

Stuart J. Kerry
Chair, IEEE 802.11 WLANs WG

NXP Semiconductors,
1109 McKay Drive, M/S 48A SJ,
San Jose, CA 95131-1706,
United States of America.

+1 (408) 474-7356 - Phone
+1 (408) 474-5343 - Fax
+1 (408) 348-3171 - Cell
eMail: stuart.kerry@nxp.com
_______________________________


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This email is sent from the 802 Executive Committee email reflector.  This 
list is maintained by Listserv.

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This email is sent from the 802 Executive Committee email reflector.  This list is maintained by Listserv.