Restricted/Unrestricted

My use of the term "restricted/unrestricted" in the previous post actually has to do with the way money within a non-profit is allocated. Often when someone donates money or a grant is provided, the money is restricted to a certain initiative, which means it cannot go to administrative matters. For that non-profits depend on unrestricted funding, which is what often pays for computers, salaries, and other business matters.

This is one key difference between non-profits and for-profits. For-profits establish budgets for departments and projects and expenditures are generally determined internally. Also, deficits from cost overruns are compensated for differently. For-profits can either shift money around easier, push sales, etc. The point is that a for-profit may have more options to fund projects and may not need to make due as often as a non-profit might.

I certainly don't believe that for-profit IT departments have endless pockets. I've worked in for-profit and know how many administrators feel there should be a tangible cost-savings, even profitability, from the efforts of their IT departments. Some of this is unrealistic and forces IT departments to stretch money in ways that don't necessarily make sense. Still the level of control over the money within the organization, as well as the source of that funding, is vastly different between the two sectors. That's not to say that the non-profit is solely at the mercy of the donor or grantor, nor am I saying there aren't options in the face of cost overruns, but these differences are factors that impact non-profit technology decision-making.

Non-Profit Technology vs For-Profit Technology

At a recent interview someone asked me what the difference is between non-profit technology and for-profit technology. Ironically, this is a question I've struggled with for some time, despite having been in the field for several years and having worked on this site for about 6-months. It seems to be an answer I know but can't articulate well.

My answer wasn't eloquent but it satisfied the interviewer. The answer didn't satisfy me, so I took what I came up with as seed for a larger discussion. While I'm well aware that money has a nice place in every IT person's decision matrix, it's how that money impacts the decisions that is relevant. Other factors include psychology (i.e. the for-profit staff mentality is different from that of most non-profit staff). Below is a brief over-arching list of items that I find different between the two sectors.

• Money
• restricted/unrestricted funding
• discount pricing
• used/donated technology
• TechSoup
• technology grants
• Social services-oriented staff and clients
• psychologies
• schedules
• Non-profit specific services and software
• fundraising
• grant management
• Microsoft
• consultants

I'm sure better minds have considered this matter with greater care but I wanted to think about it before I researched the topic. I'll go into some details in future posts and would like to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Holiday Time at Non-Profits

Holiday times must be madness for most, if not all, non-profits. It's also a time that many people are out of the office, exacerbating the madness. For IT, I find it a mixed bag. Usually when I hear that people are out of the office, I start planning for some major overhaul. I even try to take advantage of holiday parties if I can. The longer users are away from their PC, the more time I have to do network-wide projects during the day. In the past I have planned OS patching, hardware swapping, firmware upgrading, and rewiring around these golden moments of opportunity.

This time is also more harried, as fewer people need to suddenly do far more things than they ordinarily would. Different people have been assigned to check others' emails (and no one understands delegates in Outlook so forget it), perform data entry into programs not ordinarily on their workstation, or work remotely (just go on vacation, people!).

I've learned a couple of things in the last few years: 1) make staff tell you ahead of time how they plan to disburse their work when they are out. There is nothing worse then being approached on the day the person is leaving with the request to help solve their lack of availability. Threaten them if you have to but be careful. Brushing a person off as punishment for their procrastination means they'll just give someone their password. 2) Once a project is planned, don't let anything stop you from doing that project on schedule. Opportunities where most staff are away from their workstations don't come often. Yeah, I'd rather be at the holiday party but I'm a one-man IT operation and this is my chance.

Have a great Holiday Season, everyone!

Branch Office Setup Status

Limited for time, I went with the VPN setup I had originally spoken of (post) and mailed out one of the two workstations. Since we were in donated space and using someone else's network, I changed the VPN connection settings to connect with the local DNS server. This way at least it will limit how much traffic has to come over my T1.

The free version of RealVNC (info) was installed so I could have access to the computer from New York. I like to show the users stuff in their own profile and this allows me to watch what they do so I can figure out what the problems are. This type of setup has worked out great so far.

My only snag has been that Outlook can't find my mail server through the tunnel. (Okay, so that's more than just a snag.) The mail settings resolve the Exchange server's internal IP address to beta.[non-profit].org; that is, the server name on the domain. Outlook can't find the server, I'm assuming, because once resolved it is seeking the website beta.[non-profit].org. I assumed that an entry in the hosts file will solve this. Unfortunately I was not able to test this by the end of the day due to hardware difficulty...

While the workstation had been working fine for me in New York, by the time it reached the branch office one of the fans seemed to have broken. As a result the tower makes some horrible noises and apparently shuts itself down from over-heating. I'll probably have to ship out the other workstation to replace this one. It's a good thing the second employee hasn't started yet.

Mobile Device Standardization Winner

Standardizing on mobile devices required a little research. My non-profit sticks with Verizon Wireless (site) because we prefer paying more to be dictated to - it's like a bonus. Admittedly Verizon's network is one of the best. However, this limited me to a handful of devices.

The Samsung SCH-i730 (info) and the Verizon branded Audiovox XV6700 (info) were immediately ruled for simply being too much machine for my average users. My staff does need mobility but don't necessarily require high-end, high-tech immediacy. The Treo 700p (info) (my favorite) was also out because it didn't work with Exchange 2003's ActiveSync. That narrowed the choices down to the Palm Treo 700w (info), the Motorola Q (info), and the Blackberry 8703e (info).

The Motorola Q (shop) would have been my choice if not for some major shortcomings. Motorola has priced the Q perfectly, while offering what many IT staff will think is the perfect device for most non-technical mobile users. It provides a limited interface that allows for ActiveSync synchronization (albeit intermittent, not real-time), a small form, and good sound quality. Unfortunately the Q's negatives were weighty. Its battery life is very poor, the OS is prone to crashes, and the device's keyboard is horrible. My fingers are not big and still I had trouble working those keys. Motorola has a great idea with the Q. It is exactly what many companies want for their users, but it is unwise to roll out a first-generation device of such questionable quality.

The Blackberry 8703e has a great screen and a wonderful keyboard. This device would have been my choice if not for the costly implementation. Key to this decision was my requirement of centralized manageability. The Blackberry Server is a great product that provides considerable remote control. Perfect for what I want to do, however, Blackberry does not offer ANY non-profit discounts on its server products. Additionally, should there have been a non-profit discount, such a purchase would still have been tough to justify when Exchange 2003 with ActiveSync was already in production.

The Palm Treo 700w (shop) was my winner. I'm a big fan of the Treo 650 and 700p (Palm OS) models. Though now dated, the Palm OS is a simple, elegant operating system that considers the mobility aspect of mobile computing in its design. Until recently, the Windows Mobile operating system was laborious and clunky and created knots in my shoulders. But Palms rendition of the Windows Mobile OS makes me feel at home. My users will find it simple to use and the hardware is divine.

The Treo 700w costs much more than I would like to spend and is probably not within reach of non-profits seeking larger rollouts. Yet, for the five to seven units that will eventually be in operation in my organization, the Treo is well worth the savings in frustration. However, when the second-generation Q comes out, you better believe I will be taking a close look at it.