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If there are specific topics that you would like to see discussed in a future newsletter, please send your questions or comments to the HUG Secretary, Steve Jones at sjones@blacksburg.gov.
 Printable version of this issue (.pdf) >>
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE - 2004/2005 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Dominick Fiorentino, HUG President
Howdy, I would like to introduce your Board of Directors for the 2004-2005 HUG year.
Returning to the Board as Past President is Larry Nicolette. As any of you who attended the conference can attest, Larry who is the Finance Director for the Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water Authority in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania did an outstanding job as President this past year in guiding HUG to a very successful year culminating in what many have described as the “best conference yet” in terms of quality education offerings.
At the HUG 2004 “Sweet 16, License to Drive” Conference May 23 – 28, 2004 Candy Retamoza was elected to the President Elect position. Candy who is the Materials Supervisor for the City of Stockton, California has served on the Board as Member-At-Large and as Secretary before being elected to the President Elect position.
Shelley Charmichael was reelected as Treasurer. Shelley who is the Assistant Director of Finance for Stafford County, Virginia did an outstanding job in her first term as Treasurer in keeping us financially stable.
Steve Jones was elected to the Secretary position. Steve who is the Director of Technology for the Town of Blacksburg, Virginia will be one of the new faces on the Board this year. He has been with the Town of Blacksburg for over four years and brings over twenty-one years of Information Technology experience to the Board.
In view of the fact that Candy Retamoza was elect to the President Elect position we will have two Members-At-Large for this year.
Robert Girndt returns for a second year as Member-At-Large. Robert is the Radio Systems Administrator for the Missouri City/Sugar Land Radio System in Missouri City, Texas. He has been active in HUG for a number of years.
Tino Anthony is the second Member-At-Large. Tino who is a Senior Systems Analyst with the City of Leesburg, Florida is a former long time SunGard HTE employee who brings over fourteen years experience in the Development, Support, and Implementation areas of SunGard HTE products to the Board.
That leaves me your President. I am the Management Information Services Director for the City of Fort Walton Beach, Florida and have had the privilege of serving you as Member-At-Large, Secretary, and President Elect these past several years. I have over thirty-six years experience in Information Technology to offer to HUG.
We are a diverse group that is committed to working for the advancement of the HUG principles of:
• Promoting free and open communication among users.
• Acting as the forum for suggestions relating to revisions and enhancements of SunGard HTE application software packages and development of new products.
• Promoting coordination and cost sharing among HUG members.
We need the commitment of all of the membership to build on the strong foundation established by our predecessors. Let’s saddle-up for the exciting ride to accomplish the goals we have before us in advancing HUG to new heights. Cowboy Up!
MOVIN’ON
Steve Meyers, 2004 HUG Past President
The 2004 conference was busy and productive for me. I hope it was for all of you too. If you couldn’t go, remember that your membership in HUG provides you with access to all of the conference presentations on our web site.
I would like to thank each of the people that I served with on the HUG Board. They are all so hard working and I learned from them all. I also want to thank all of the Sungard HTE people that we worked with for the past five years. They truly worked with us in a spirit of partnership, and that’s what gets things done. And I want to thank all of you, our members, for the privilege of serving on the board. It was a great experience. Last, I want to encourage every one of you to get just a little more involved, because you make the difference. If you’re not participating in one of the discussion groups, do at least that much. It will put you more in touch with other members like yourself. Go to the regional conference in your area and think about running for a board position. When you join us in Las Vegas next year, volunteer a few hours of your time to help out, or consider giving a user led presentation. My experience has certainly been that whatever I have contributed to the process has come back to me ten fold.
HOW SWEET IT WAS…
Larry Nicolette, Past President
By all accounts the 16th annual HUG Conference, “Sweet 16, License to Drive” was one of the most successful HUG conferences to date. While the conference survey has not been analyzed, from my review it is apparent, with a few minor exceptions, that everyone that attended received a great value for their training dollar.
We had 1,200 users in attendance. While the number of attendees was lower than many recent HUG conferences, it was higher than the prior HUG conference. Hopefully the increase over the prior year’s attendance is a signal that the fiscal health of our members is improving.
“Sweet 16” had more Labs and User-led session than we offered in the past. We continue to have positive feedback concerning these classes. Going forward, the HUG Board of Directors and SunGard HTE Inc. have set a preliminary target of 15%-20% of all classes offered at future conferences being user-led sessions including a new type of user-led session, called a user-experience session. In these sessions, users share their experience on a variety of SunGard HTE related topics.
The networking opportunities were also well attended. We started off with a low-key karaoke evening, the highlight, or lowlight, depending on your prerogative, of the evening was an acoustic performance by your HUG Board of Directors. Over 250 people attended this event and all seemed to have a good time.
The Pleasure Island evening was also well attended. I saw many members enjoying the various entertainment venues, some until the wee hours. On Wednesday, SunGard HTE Inc. sponsored their annual reception, which as usual was fabulous.
We will have all of the conference presentations on the web site shortly; just check the member-only section.
SUNGARD HTE
Ron Goodrow, Executive Vice President, SunGard HTE Inc.
With the 2004 Annual HTE Users’ Group Conference now complete, we here at SunGard HTE have declared the conference a phenomenal success. Preliminary reports from our customers are even more enthusiastic than our own.
The conference presented over 374 training classes on 248 different topics. This includes 78 labs on 29 different topics. In attendance at the conference were over 1,200 SunGard HTE customers, including many 15 and 20-year customers that were honored at the conference.
As most of you know, the conference is planned by your elected HUG Board of Directors. This year’s Board, led by Larry Nicolette of Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water Authority, did an exemplary job. They are to be commended for the talents they displayed in their organization and planning of the entire event.
As you might imagine, quite a bit of planning from the SunGard HTE perspective goes into arranging the conference as well. At various points in the conference there were over 300 SunGard HTE staff members attending. Some presenting training classes for more than 8 hours each and every day, and some to meet the customers that they have talked on the phone with for these past years.
With all these staff members visiting the conference, you might imagine that the scheduling of these individuals can become a daunting task. After all, the wheels here at SunGard HTE headquarters still need to turn for our customers that were unable to attend. In some cases, employees stood in for those that did attend.
All of us here at SunGard HTE look forward with great anticipation to the HTE Users’ Group conferences. It gives us a chance to show our customers all the new products and services we have been working on, allows us to listen to our customers about their needs, and in many cases allows us to renew old friendships.
We are already working on the next conference in Las Vegas….Hope to see you there!!
HUG FINANCIAL POSITION
Shelley Carmichael, HUG Treasurer
One year ago many of us were struggling with the downturn in economic conditions. HUG was no exception. Due to contract obligations, we were projecting a year-end cash balance that would have made operations difficult and jeopardized the 2004 conference.
However, due to some substantial incentives to return our 2007 conference to Dallas, we did not end the year as projected. Your HUG Board worked diligently all year, from conservative budget estimates to monthly monitoring of cash position, to protect and maintain its assets.
I am happy to report that we are projecting a year-end cash balance close to what it was at the beginning of our 2002-2003 year. This will give us some flexibility to deal with future contracts and unanticipated economic factors.
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2003-2004
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2002-2003
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| Cash Balance, August 1 |
$ 104,268
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$ 170,926
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| Revenues to conference |
515,270
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441,547
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| Expenses to conference |
(224,151)
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(123,926)
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| Cash Balance at conference |
395,387
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488,547
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| Projected revenues to July 31 |
57,142
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310,160
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| Projected expenses to July 31 |
(281,993)
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(779,229)
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| Projected cash balance, July 31 |
$ 170,536
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$ 19,478
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APPLICATION COORDINATORS WE SALUTE YOU!
Richard Bass, 2004 HUG Member at Large
As our Orlando conference came to a close, the success of it was quite apparent.
It was well attended, had excellent educational sessions, and ran like a “smooth running machine”.
I attribute much of the “smooth running machine” part to our Application Coordinators. Without your dedication - processing of the Enhancement Requests at your office, attending and assisting each application session and your strong work ethics at the conference - I know our organization would not have been as successful. I enjoyed every minute working with you and I know we together were able to contribute positively.
I reflect with enthusiasm both how far we have come and the heights to which I know we can achieve, as the process will always be improved upon with your input and healthy dialogue looking beyond today towards the future.
Again, many thanks. It was a pleasure working with you all. Best of luck to you.
USER LED SESSIONS AND USER EXPERIENCE SESSIONS
Dominick Fiorentino, HUG President
The HUG Board of Directors would like to thank the presenters who volunteered to present at the 2004 conference. You did a great job!
This year at the 16th Annual HUG International Education Conference held at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida we had a total of twenty-five different topics providing the membership with 50 User-Led sessions.
This compares very favorably with the seventeen topics and 34 User-Led sessions we had at last year’s conference and the seven topics and 14 User-Led sessions we had in 2002. All were well attended and the presenters did a great job of showing us how the software works in the “real world” for their specific agency.
In addition this year we tried out a new concept for six of the sessions in what we called “User Experience” sessions. “User Experience” sessions were led by SunGard HTE with HUG member users showcasing their experience with some of the latest software modules that SunGard HTE has unveiled. This collaborative effort on the part of the HUG Membership and SunGard HTE offered conference attendees with another avenue of education. We hope to continue with this innovative way of presenting along with our highly successful User-Led sessions.
With an added incentive provided by SunGard HTE the HUG Board is challenging the membership to expand the User-Led and User Experience sessions next year to greater heights. You can earn a maintenance credit of $500 for your agency if you present. Ask any of this year's presenters how easy it was and I think you will agree that $500 for two one-hour presentations is some pretty easy money. It can really offset a big chunk of your conference expenses and may afford you the opportunity to go to the conference in these tight budget times.
We already have commitments for six sessions next year and the HUG Board would like to expand the user led sessions even more so we are soliciting your help. Please consider presenting a user led session for HUG 2005 at Bally’s in Las Vegas the week of June 6-10, 2005. For more information on how you can be a presenter at a user led session contact Candy Retamoza, HUG President Elect at candy.retamoza@ci.stockton.ca.us or Dominick Fiorentino, HUG President, at dfiorentino@fwb.org. Let’s build on the success of the 2004 “License to Drive” conference to make the user led sessions in 2005 at Bally’s even better. It’s time to Cowboy Up!
THANKS TO THE VOLUNTEERS
Robert M. Girndt, HUG Member at Large
The HUG Board of Directors would once again like to thank all of the volunteers who contributed their time and efforts to make the "Sweet 16" 2004 HUG Conference in Orlando a great success. Volunteers are the heart and soul of our conference and without them it would be very difficult to accomplish everything there is to do.
It's not too early to think about volunteering at the 2005 HUG Conference in Las Vegas. The HUG Board of Directors is seeking volunteers who are willing to devote a small portion of their time during the conference to ensure the conference is well-organized and meaningful for everyone. Volunteers are needed in all areas such as registration, application coordinators, lab monitors, and Board elections.
If you are interested in serving as a volunteer, please go to the HUG web site at www.huginc.org, click on "Annual Conference". Click on the Volunteer Request Form under the 2005 Conference information. After you have completed the form, click on the Submit Volunteer Form. If you have any questions, please contact Robert Girndt at rgirndt@ci.mocity.tx.us. Or, you may call him at (281) 261-4326.
HUG MEMBER DATABASE
Larry Nicolette, HUG Past President
As some of you have learned already, during the last year, HUG has created a database of our membership. This database in turn is used to govern access into the “Members Only” section of our website. There were two main reasons for this undertaking. The first deals with one of our stated purposes “…to provide free and open communication among our members…” We feel that by creating a database of all our members and their affiliated users and identifying their interest as well as skill level, we could create a mechanism to aid our members in finding others with whom to correspond on topics of relevant interest. The second reason was to make it easier for us and our members when renewing memberships and signing-up for conferences. With the database, we have the capability of pulling necessary information directly from the database into the application document. As this information comes across directly, the input effort will be greatly diminished.
Listed below are some of the great benefits of this database:
• Member organizations can now manage their HUG membership. All changes in agency information can be performed by the HUG contact. Also, membership can be renewed on-line.
• Being listed in the database entitles users to access conference presentations after the annual conference. This can be a benefit for those members that want a resource after attending the conference or for the members than could not attend the annual conference.
• Access to the File Share and User Document Library. The User Library provides HUG members with a means of sharing files through a secure area of the HUG site.
• Members in the database can search for contacts by interest area and/or geographic location. This can be particularly helpful if you are looking to find others with whom to correspond and would like to contact someone in close proximity.
All of the current HUG contacts have been added to the database. The HUG contact for your organization can add you to the database.
Here is a link to a PowerPoint that has some general information on how the database works, http://www.huginc.org/newsletters/HUGDatabaseUserInformation.ppt. I recommend that you review the PowerPoint and then explore the Members Only section of our website.
2005 HUG CONFERENCE
The next HUG Conference will be June 5-10, 2005 at Bally's Las Vegas, Nevada. Ballly's is one of the "grand dames" of Las Vegas, located in the middle of the strip. With a small casino, and large meeting space, it is the perfect venue for the 2005 HUG Conference. The emphasis at Bally's is on business, while still offering plenty of entertainment for all. We look forward to seeing you there!
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