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Contacts: Business Objects Certified Partners David Schmidtnecht Data Management Group 6564 Loisdale Court, Suite 215 Springfield, Virginia 22150 703-822-9835 Adam Getz |
DCABOCUG Charter
July 30, 2002 1. Name The organization will be known as the D.C. Area Business Objects Crystal User Group (DCABOCUG). 2. Purpose The purpose of the organization is to provide a forum for users to share the benefits of their experiences with Business Objects products, and to collectively achieve two-way communication with Business Objects and Crystal Certified Partners. This User Group is organized and operated by and for users of all Business Objects Products. 3. Membership 3.1 Full Membership Full membership in the User Group is open to individuals and employees of companies that utilize Crystal Decision products. Full members of the User Group cannot be engaged in the business of training, consulting, or selling Crystal products, or in any other way benefiting by a business related to the products themselves. Full Members have regular voting privileges and can hold offices in the User Group. Full members must have a valid email address for contact purposes. 3.2 Business Membership Business membership in the User Group is open to individuals or employees of companies that sell, train, consult, or otherwise benefit from business related to Crystal products. This includes vendors and Crystal Certified Partners of all types. Business Members do not have voting privileges and cannot hold offices in the User Group, except in an advisory capability as specified for Crystal Certified Partners in Section 4. Business members must have a valid email address for contact purposes. 3.3 Business Objects Membership Business Objects is, by definition, a member of the User Group. See section 4.6. Business Objects must have a valid email address for contact purposes. 3.4 Membership Dues and Registration Since there are no dues or fees associated with the User Group, membership is conferred by registering through attendance at a meeting, or with the Secretary in a letter or email, or through the DCABOCUG web site. 3.5 Loss of Membership A member will lose membership status in the event that either: The individual member or employee member’s company ceases its use of Business Objects products, or The member no longer has an email address, or has a faulty or expired email address, or The Board learns that the member has failed to abide by the rules of User Group, or has acted in conflict with the spirit of the User Group. 4. Officers and Board 4.1 Officers The officers of the User Group shall be the Chairperson, Secretary (see section 4.6), and four Board Members. A maximum of two Crystal Certified Partners will also serve on the Board in an advisory, non-voting capacity. 4.2 Initial Board The initial officers and Board will be empanelled on a volunteer basis and will serve a term of one year. All subsequent officers will be elected at a User Group meeting. Newly elected officers will assume responsibility at the end of that meeting and maintain office until the next election. Terms of office are to be two years in length. 4.3 Board Responsibility The Board will act for the User Group in all matters in accordance with the provision of its charter. Minutes of all Board meetings will be recorded by the Secretary, filed in the User Group records, and distributed to all members. 4.4 Vacancies The Chairperson will fill by appointment all vacancies in offices occurring between elections, with the majority approval of the Board. 4.5 Quorum A quorum of the Board will consist of three elected, voting members. An absent Board member may give a written proxy to another Board member to be included, or the absent Board member can give a written proxy to an Alternate (see 4.8 below). 4.6 Business Objects Member Business Objects will appoint a non-voting representative to the Board to provide appropriate assistance in running the User Group, and will aim for maximum continuity in the appointment. This person will fill the Secretary position. 4.7 Distribution List The Board will maintain an electronic distribution list to facilitate Board communication. The recipients of this list server will be the individual Board members plus any designated Alternates for each Board member. 4.8 Alternates Each Board member may assign up to two alternates from their organization. The assumption is that an Alternate from the same organization will have roughly similar interests and opinions as the person they are representing. No Board member is required to have an Alternate, but may have up to two if appropriate. Alternates may attend Board meetings even when the primary Board member attends, so that business continuity is maintained, but of course voting rights carry only to the primary members when both the primary and the alternate members are in attendance. 5.0 Meetings 5.1 Meeting Frequency Meetings of the User Group will be held quarterly. 5.2 Board Responsibility The Board is responsible for calling meetings and notifying registered members by email at least six weeks prior to the meeting. 5.3 Expenses There are no dues or per meeting fees, and hence there is no way for the group to pay for anything. Consequently, costs associated with meetings will be kept to a minimum by utilizing customer, Crystal Certified Partner, or Business Objects facilities where possible. 6.0 Committees and Special Interest Groups 6.1 Establishment and Disbanding The Board may establish or disband committees as necessary to conduct functions and take account of special interests within the user group. 6.2 Committee Chairpersons The Chairperson will appoint or replace Committee Chairperson with the majority approval of the Board. 6.3 Reporting Committee Chairpersons will report at each Board meeting, if requested by the Board. 7.0 Nominations and Voting 7.1 Types of Elections The regular type of election is one held during a meeting of the User Group. However, if necessary, the Board can call a mail or email election in lieu of a meeting. However, since the User Group does not have funds for mailings, calling an election will be through email contact with all members. 7.2 Regular Nominations For the election of officers, the Board will seek nominations from the membership and will distribute to members a list of nominees with their brief particulars at least six weeks prior to the meeting at which the election is to occur. No person will appear on the list without written agreement by the person nominated to serve if they are elected. 7.3 Floor Nominations Additional nominations may be made by any member at the actual election, if it is a regular type election, subject to the nominee’s firm agreement to serve if elected. 7.4 Proxies In the event that a voting member cannot attend a constituted meeting, written or directly emailed proxies may be submitted to the Secretary. 7.5 Quorums The quorum of the User Group shall be: · For mail balloting, a fifty percent response from the registered voting membership within the stipulated time limit, and · For regular balloting, one third of the registered voting membership present and voting, or voting by proxy. 8.0 Duties of the Board Members 8.1 Chairperson The Chairperson will be the chief executive officer of the User Group and will have supervision over its affairs subject to the general agreement of the Board. The Chairperson will preside over all general User Group meetings and Board meetings. 8.2 Secretary The Secretary will keep all records and documents including the official minutes of the User Group and Board meetings. The Secretary will hold a current list of members and will serve and give notice to required members. 8.3 Meeting Planning The Board Members will contribute generally to the advancement of the business of the User Group and will endeavor to be responsible to the needs of the membership in helping to plan the location, content and time of any general meeting. 8.5 General Duties The general duties of the Board will be to: 1) Arrange the provision of information to members in accordance with the purposes of the User Group. 2) Develop and enact policies. 3) Interpret and implement motions put forward by the User Group. 4) Invite nominations and distribute a list of nominees for the next election. 5) Call for special elections and meetings when required. 6) Foster membership in the User Group. 7) Interpret the User Group Charter upon the written request of any member. 8) Be responsible for election procedures and validation of ballot counts for all elections. 9) Meet at each meeting of the User Group and report on the state of the User Group to the membership. 10) Publish proceedings for User Group meetings. 11) Coordinate efforts and share information with other Business Objects User Groups, CDUGNA (Business Objects User Group of North America) and other Business Objects user groups around the world. 9.0 Charter Amendments 9.1 Amendments from the Board Proposed charter amendments will be submitted to the membership upon the majority approval of the Board. 9.2 Amendments from the Membership Alternatively, charter amendments may be proposed from the general membership, by sending them to the Secretary who will forward them in a timely manner to the Board for review. Although the Board will confirm that the submission is legitimate and applicable before placing it on the agenda for the next general meeting, the Board will not unreasonably withhold proposed amendments from general consideration. In the event that the Board does not agree to present the amendment for consideration, the member may gather by written petition or email the support of 20% of the members to place the amendment in consideration at the next general meeting. In every case, details of the change proposed will be circulated to the membership at least six weeks in advance of the proposition being voted upon. This presupposes that there will be a short User Group business segment of each meeting. 9.3 Passing an Amendment Support of fifty percent of the registered voting membership including proxies will be required to carry out any charter amendments. The Board may establish and allow voting through the website or by email in addition to in-person at general meetings. 9.4 Effective Date of An Amendment A charter amendment, when approved by the membership, will become effective immediately unless otherwise specified. 10.0 Meeting Rules 10.1 Selling The purpose of the User Group and therefore the meetings is to exchange information relating to Business Objects products. Consequently, no selling is allowed at meetings. That means that vendors cannot give presentations that overtly focus on their corporate capabilities, or are otherwise intended to influence members to buy the vendor’s products or services, unless the Board explicitly schedules a vendor show in lieu of, or in addition to, a regular meeting. 10.2 Handouts No material may be handed out at meetings unless it has been explicitly approved by one or more voting officers of the Board. Material must be available for review by the Board no later than 6 weeks prior to the meeting at which it is to be handed out or made available to members. The material must bear a legend, at the vendor’s expense, stating that it has been “Approved on 10.3 Membership List The membership list showing contact information will not generally be available to the Full Members or Business Members, but will be kept by the Secretary. If it is necessary for a Full Member or Business Member to have access to the list to assist in the business of the User Group, that list cannot be used for soliciting business by the member, or passed to a non-member for similar business use. Members will be able to contact one another during meetings, by exchange of contact information through meetings for contact outside meetings, and through any chat, bulletin board, or other communication media that the Board may make available to the members. 11.0 Amendments 11.1 Amendment to 4.2 Initial Board The initial officers and Board will be empanelled on a volunteer basis and will serve a term of one year. All subsequent officers will be elected by the User Group. Newly elected officers will assume responsibility at the end of that meeting and maintain office until the next election. Terms of office are to be one year in length. |
