Technology Technology Technology Technology

Discussion in 'Sun City General Discussions' started by SCR, Oct 11, 2021.

  1. SCR

    SCR Active Member

    So if you noticed the thread topic, this thread is exclusively about TECHNOLOGY.

    If you cannot or do not want to stay on topic, DO NOT POST HERE!!!!!!!!!!!

    So - Technology in Sun City.

    Where is it???????.

    Director Lehrer keeps stressing data to make decisions yet there is no verifiable acceptable data collection processes in Sun City.

    I believe Director Lehrer is on the long range planning committee (LRPC) yet we have heard absolutely nothing about the state of technology in Sun City.

    What should Technology encompass?

    1. Electronic card readers at every SC facility.
    2. Track entrance to and exit from facilities.
    3. A uniform and single vendor solution at all facilities.
    4. Research into 5G and 6G.
    5. Facial recognition software - everywhere.
    6. An infrastructure developed, installed, operated, and maintained by independent company.
    Our IT department is not up to the task.
    7. Security cameras tied to the total IT infrastructure.
    8. Backup of all data - both on and off site.
    9. WiFi at all RCSC rec centers and built to deny any non SC member.
    10. Digitizing of ALL SC documents.
    11. Software to prevent members from being able to loan their cards to others so that a member can only be at one facility at a time. Facial recognition can be used to prevent cheats.
    12. Add your thought, desires, and needs - but STAY ON TOPIC!!!!!!!
     
  2. BPearson

    BPearson Well-Known Member

    That's why today's work session called security was so interesting. Many of your questions will be answered when you watch it.
     
  3. SCR

    SCR Active Member

    There are many more questions and I have little confidence in our current board, GM, acting GM, and the it department to get us into the 21st century.
     
  4. SCR

    SCR Active Member

    What has the acting GM done to bring 21st century technology to SC?
    The acting GM is a carbon copy of the current GM.
     
  5. BPearson

    BPearson Well-Known Member

    Watch the meeting and then you tell me.
     
  6. Michael Wendel

    Michael Wendel Active Member

    This list jumps right into implementation. This is not the correct way to get things done. You will end up with Rube Goldberg's hot technology. Spend Spend Spend, but what does it do?

    Dale is right by starting with Data Collection. This is a key part of trying to manage limited facilities and high demand. Time needs to be spent on what information needs to be collected. Not how it's collected. Implementation will be easier, if you have a good plan for what to collect. Pencils and Paper can be a start for now.

    Security is another item that you can't just run into implementation. You have many aspects for security. Physical Security of facilities. Individual Security. Authentication and Authorization (2 very different things), Risk assessments, and so on. Using keypads, scanner, video, etc are all forms of implementation.
    There are some needs that may be very important and can be handled independently. Risk should determine this.

    If you implement things independently you run the risk of higher costs and lack of integration (things may not work well together).

    RSCS needs an IT Staff with Director (in my opinion). This should get the ball rolling. Right now its just a lot of huffing and puffing.

    This stuff is not as easy as it seems. It will take time. Director Lehrer has been running into board opposition (and probably Management) for a long time. She has been fighting for Data Collection for over a year. It's good to see her succeed with this baby step. It is a foot in the door.
     
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  7. SCR

    SCR Active Member

    The list was asking questions. It was not a statement meant to say “do this”

    it was meant to provoke thought.

    yes, pencil and paper works but is decades out of date.

    our IT department has not and is not up to this major undertaking.

    By the time a staff is put together to bring us into the 21st century, we will be decades more behind the eight ball.

    Any data collection system - paper and pencil or electronic - will have faults.

    By the time an experienced IT staff is put together another rec center will have been built with unknown integration capabilities with Grand and all other RCSC facilities.

    I haven’t watched the planning session after the board meeting so I don’t know what they are planning.

    As for Dale and her quest for data collection, there has been absolutely no progress in the past 2 years.

    Has the GM and board done everything they can to slow down and prevent data collection. You bet, and the incoming GM will be no different.

    During previous meetings it was stated that some buildings cannot be retrofitted with the necessary equipment and/or cabling.
    Totally bogus.

    Any committee/task force put together to work on technology had better get started immediately.

    Another comment lately often heard is that everyone does not have internet access. That may be true, but I’d bet that more than half the SC community has a smartphone which has internet capability.
     
  8. Michael Wendel

    Michael Wendel Active Member

    I must defend Dale. I served on the Communications Committee when she and Diana Grettinger were co-chairs. I was a bit more bright eyed then as it was my first foray into how Sun City works. I am a bit disenchanted, but still optimistic.

    I believe that Dale has been fighting for improvement with Data Collection. We discussed it in committee and she continued to push for it after she was moved on to other committees.

    I had asked board candidate Ege about communication at the candidate forum. He had mentioned many things and said nothing about communication. I don't recall his exact response, but he did acknowledge that communication should be improved. Well Director Ege became co-chair along with Director Akins of the communications committee. It didn't take long until I was disenchanted and resigned from the new Communication Through Technology committee (aka the Video Newsletter Club). I was vocal about my disagreement of the direction. I commented at a board meeting on the change of the committee mission statement.

    I have had some differences with Dale Lehrer. I respect her and know that she is trying hard to do good for the community. I was hoping she would become board president after Jerry Delano retired. Alas, we got Schroder. Now we have Wilson. Disappointing!. Dale has been fighting the board for at least 2 years on Data Collection. I've witnessed this. She is doing a good thing. Even if some view it as not enough. It is a good start and Management (including clubs) have been pushing back hard. claiming it is too inconvenient and requires too much effort. BS! It is needed. Good Data is important and we should start collecting it now, even if we have to use stone tablets to do it.

    At one point this past spring, I became more optimistic because I saw two articulate and intelligent board members (McAdam and Lehrer). I also saw some unexpected intelligence in Collins and Brem. I'm disappointed at the board's actions in June and September. McAdam and Brem are gone. Hopefully McAdam will return. I'm not sure how much more time Lehrer has in her term (I don't know it this is currently her second term). I still think Akins likes to hear herself talk.

    I am hoping that we get some good new board members this year. Hoffer, Schroder; Westmeier will be gone. I don't really know Sheila Rooney. She seems like a good person. I can't fault her from not wanting to run again. Being on the RCSC Board is a tough job. 2022 could be a good year for RCSC members and the community.

    One other note, my dislike for some board members is on a professional level. I dislike how they have functioned on the board. They may be good people and good at heart. However they are ineffective as board members. The appearance of disgust, condescension and ignorance is a disabling flaw when it comes to being an effective board member. It would be nice if we only disliked and disagreed on issues. But that's not the case with this board.
     
  9. Michael Wendel

    Michael Wendel Active Member

    I will agree with this statement. In my career, I've seen lists like this postpone results and lead to fragmented implementations.

    I couldn't stay for the planning session after the 10/11 board meeting. I will watch the video. I have read the minutes of the Technology Committee. Disappointing as 1 hour a month of what I read will get us nowhere fast. I could not attend any of the Technology Committee meetings due to prior conflicts (good thing I'm not running for the board ;-)

    I believe true change needs to come from within the RCSC Management Team. RCSC Management needs to see the importance of true technology and get some budget. The board needs to support this. Two Prongs. Neither can do it without the other. How do we get there? I seem to believe it may be through Chris Herring, Director of Operations (the equivalent of a COO, while the GM is the equivalent of a CEO). Chris seems to be the person who knows the most about how things actually run.

    Using committees and some IT staff will get some fragmented things done. Saving money doing it this way, will keep us from what really needs to happen. Committees can advise, but Staff does the real work (Presenting Budget with Justification to the board). The board needs to approve the budget.

    Member comments will do little other than show the board that members are watching. Member comments tend to get into the weeds too often. People need to know who to contact in management first and comment to the board when management claims lack of funds, policy obstacles, or some other lame excuse. Its best if those comments address a flaw in the system and a specific solution request. Complaint after complaint just starts to get ugly and turn board members and RCSC members off. Back to effective communication.

    I think the RCSC needs to support better circular communication. RCSC to Members and Members to RCSC. Methods that don't push members straight to the board. True communication. Right now, there is no importance placed upon good communication. The Board needs to press RCSC management to fix this. RCSC Management needs to ask for budget to fix this.

    This Topic Thread is Technology. However the implementation of Technology and Communication are very similar. I still assert that somehow we need to get the RCSC Management to see this as important. The Board needs to initially support an initiative for RCSC to address both items. This is not going to come from just member comments at board meetings.
     
    Last edited: Oct 13, 2021
    Cheri Marchio and 3cavkings like this.
  10. BPearson

    BPearson Well-Known Member

    I agree whole heartily with your with your comments Mike. That was why we (the long range planning committee) recommended we find companies to give us an analysis of what we needed to get us into this century regarding technology. Our proposal for the board was to bring in experts to tell us what we needed from top to bottom. Security, card readers, card access, cameras, new hardware and software if the old equipment was outdated, literally every aspect. The chairman of the committee took our proposal and when the gm came back from vacation during her summer break it was suddenly a hell no.

    We simply wanted to know long range what we were looking at and how to budget and plan for it. I suspect the gm knew we would look like a clown car when it acme to technology and the proposal to submit RFP's to companies died. It was at that point i knew our butts in the chairs was all for show. I left, much like you did the communication committee.
     
    Michael Wendel likes this.
  11. Cheri Marchio

    Cheri Marchio Active Member

    See YouTube:
    RCSC Board of Directors Planning Session – Monday, October 11, 2021


    Technology concerns for immediate and long-range planning:
    Security for buildings, property and parking lots must include video collection
    Access for buildings, clubs and meetings by using a card or collection device of some kind that in turn can provide usage data
    Updating technology for RCSC meetings, club meetings, etc.
    Club websites
    Computer labs for classes
    Partnership with Cox or other ISP to provide city-wide broadband for all Sun City homes
     
  12. FYI

    FYI Well-Known Member

    I'd be lying if I didn't admit that some of all this security/data collection stuff concerns me!?!?!

    I see it as a double edged sword. Yes, we need cameras and other methods of keeping our residence and property safe, and we need data to determine the utilization of the facilities, but if you were at the last board meeting you would also have seen how the scanning of our rec cards could be used against us as it was used against Lori Ellingson.

    Just say'n, in the current environment of this board and RCSC management, (example, the GM's comment "I'm making the no sign rule right now" or Maricopa cops at our meetings or having to show our RCSC membership card to attend a board meeting...) It seems to me that the board or management is currently not our friend and if they can playback some video tape or say you were here or there at a specific time so that they can write you up for some reason, it seems to me they could be stacking the deck and we will all be guilty until proven innocent!?!?!?

    I know, I know, I might be overreacting, but it's certainly something that you all need to think about. We're being told about all the positive benefits but there are but equal negative concerns, like personal privacy or what type of personal information can be revealed if the system is hacked? What snowbirds are currently here and which ones are out of town? Who's the woman snuggling with your husband at the pool?

    How much privacy are you willing to give up for security? Benjamin Franklin once said: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

    Just say'n!
     
  13. Michael Wendel

    Michael Wendel Active Member

    The Computer Club already has this. (Fairway Center).
     
  14. Cheri Marchio

    Cheri Marchio Active Member

    Thinking of group online learning opportunities and/or the technology space for clubs to deliver online meetings, education, etc.
     

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