He describes himself as a stoic, stubborn and attractive person and he is the creator and developer of the Online Membership System (OMS) which will replace the old Intranet. Fabrizio Bellicano is our Member of the Month for February and in this article he explained to us how the Online Membership works and how it can change AEGEE in the long term. So this is how we got to know him better, through his continuous work for the new Intranet and his perspective as an IT person both in AEGEE and outside of it.

The AEGEEan: To begin with, tell us three words that best describe you and why.

Fabrizio: Stoic, stubborn and.. uh, sexy, yeah, so we have three S.

How did the concept of OMS (Online Membership System) come to life? 

Oh, there’s so much to say, I’ll try to be short and simplifying stuff..

AEGEE (i.e. the Comité Directeur) used to have a product called “Lotus”, back in the times when the computer applications weren’t networked: they received paper documents, and recreated the information inside Lotus to be handled by the CD.

In order to expand the functionality, a new system with online capabilities was designed: the Online Membership System. Due to the usual problem that we are also facing now (i.e. lack of HR) it was outsourced (allegedly to a company “friend” of the President at the time…). Specifications, however, were bad; in other words, we asked for a product in a generic way, and we got a product that generally works. Some parts are worse, some parts are ok. Clearly suboptimal, especially if you think that a loooot of money were spent to get that. Anyhow, that’s the current intranet.

What I am doing is a total revamp of the intranet, borrowing some parts from the concept of “OMS”, yet what I am doing is definitely not “the OMS” – the first code name for my project was “Calaf” (his name, and he ends up by singing “I will win”) except only me and Paul Smits keep calling it like this. The most important part of the revamp was the use of “marketable skills”, in other words, the technologies I am using for this project have been picked with two criteria in mind: 1) they are modern and easy to pick (a new person is able to get started soon); 2) they are in high demand in the job market. I hoped that this would foster IT students of AEGEE to jump in and help out, but I was too optimistic. I guess we’re not so full of volunteers after all… As it always happens, the more people take part in something, the less it’s being done (everybody thinking “somebody else will take care of it”.. simple social science).

What is the purpose of the OMS and how can AEGEE benefit from it?

Since the network is only one, it is stupid to make every local reinventing the wheel to make a system that works. The first purpose of the new system is to relieve IT resources on the local: think about shared website space managed by AEGEE-Europe, instead of paying hosting space, domain name, and perhaps mail server or other additional services.

How AEGEE can benefit is simple: the second problem the system wants to tackle is information management. Currently we have no clear way to obtain information about.. well, anything. Just as an example, I got asked once by the board of AEGEE-Amsterdam how to know where their members applied/to which events they participated (they have something like prizes for the most traveller or something similar). The point is clear: how is it possible that I have no data telling me what is going on in my own antenna?

The third benefit is, once all data is harmonised and we have a strategy on how/what/where to store data, it comes naturally that the interchange of such info is eased. Think you don’t need to submit members list anymore – a snapshot from the database of your members (hosted on AEGEE-Europe’s servers, as mentioned) will suffice.

What would you say is the biggest problem in AEGEE at the moment and how do you think it can be solved?

The biggest problem in AEGEE is that we’re not self-sustainable. We have such big ideas about saving refugees or opening locals in some places, that we are not realising this is blinding us. We are constantly spamming the word AWESOME, yet locals are closing slowly one by one. Why? It’s simple: intranet. Wow, you’ve spent two days in trying to bring your friend in AEGEE, you told her/him about SU, about NWM, about Agora, s/he gives in and joins AEGEE! S/he goes on intranet.aegee.org and registers. First impression: we are still in the ‘90s with that look & feel – user experience anyone? Second impression: wow, I registered, now I didn’t receive any email. Yet I can’t retry because it says that my email is already registered. Ok, we’re done here, goodbye and see you never.

AEGEE-Kyïv told me they lost a handful of members because of that – their problem is even worse, the page they received on registration is completely blank (the server errors). AEGEE-Siena is losing members in this period of SU applications. Many others are facing the same problem, yet just imagine closing those two antennae. And another one. And another one. We are slowly decaying – do you think we are still 13,000?

Oh, now that I mention numbers, last fun fact about intranet members: there are 60,000 (sixty thousands) members in the database, because when people forget their passwords they simply re-register….

ITC (Information Technology Committee) is right now very silent. Do you have any idea as how it can be brought to life again? 

 ITC is a body like any other, it needs HR, PR, FR. Some IT skills would be favourable, yet not necessary. I was very happy when this year (actually last year) the candidates were not just “nerds”. I don’t know what happened to them though.

How do you see AEGEE in five years’ time?

It just depends on the next two years, if we are placing our bets on internal development or not – and this involves IT, as I said, but also literally developing our members. The academy, LTCs – whatever it is, we have to instruct our members of what AEGEE can offer. Also, we should start thinking of more flexibility so that we can respond in time to events, instead of waiting six months every time just to change the CIA… we’re getting too much bureaucracy.

What do you plan to do next in AEGEE?

I just look forward to the Agora, and then I applied to the SU “Nordic smile” by AEGEE-Riga, AEGEE-Tallinn and AEGEE-Helsinki.

More on the long term, I plan to chill and have fun, contributing slowly but steady, and not rushing anymore (risking a burnout).

Written by Gabriela Geană, AEGEE-București

Peppe Colicchia, the current speaker of the Information Technology Committee, has been a member of AEGEE-Pisa for two years already, even though now he’s back in Sicily, where he comes from.

From his place in “the most beautiful island in the Mediterranean”, Peppe took some time to talk to The AEGEEan about the current plans of the ITC, after coming back from a very intense, but productive, meeting in Brussels to work on the new Online Membership System, which all AEGEE members will soon benefit from…

The AEGEEan: First of all, Peppe, congratulations for being elected as Member of the Month of February! For those who don’t know you, please introduce yourself!

Hi, I am a twenty-twelve years old guy from AEGEE-Pisa! Even if I recently came back to the most beautiful island in the Mediterranean, Sicily.

How and when did you join AEGEE?

I became a member two years ago, when some friends of mine introduced me to the association. I knew them as a group of friends, and they were working in the expansion of an antenna. I went to a first meeting with them and soon we started having lots of fun together and organizing local activities.

Why did you join the ITC? What can you tell us about your time as Speaker?

The approach I had with the ITC was similar as the one I had with AEGEE-Pisa: finding a group of people doing something interesting together and having fun doing it. So now, as speaker, my primary task is to represent the committee, “trying to overview” the activities, understand if there are some tasks in which people would like to be involved and if there is something more to do for the association in terms of IT.

OMS Meeting at the AEGEE Head Office

You were recently at a very relevant meeting for the ITC in Brussels. What was it about?

Yes, in ITC we are managing permanent activities and working on projects. We cannot improve the current system so we are working on a new tool: the Online Membership System.  It has been in the air for a long time but, for many reasons, it was stuck at some points. And now we are working to move on and finding strategies to implement it.

How would you define the Online Membership System, and what can you tell us about it?

OMS is a modular system to manage data inside AEGEE, that means: offering functionalities that will support administration level (CD), European Level bodies, locals and members. The aim is to rely on a single node, this could avoid to have scattered applications that could confuse. It’s long but it’s a need, and the result will be for sure better than the actual intranet from several perspectives. ITC offers real solutions for real problems, and the IT world is more complex than how it appears, but we are very lucky that actually very experienced people are managing our systems (and I think AEGEE members should thank them).

And when will AEGEE members see it implemented?

In Zaragoza we had a progress meeting and we showed a timeline. But going deeper into the project we saw some missing details, so we were too optimistic and we will be unable to fulfill that timeline. Actually there is no release date for that, we are defining step by step things to do dividing the job in small tasks, because it’s a quite complex system. We have a route and we are moving on, this is important from my point of view.

Which other plans does the IT Committee have?

Well, a service we are offering to the locals is the possibility to have for free a website according with the corporate Visual Identity, using a nice web template made by the PR Committee. We are working on a systematic solution to store data hierarchically, so we’ll adopt a groupware for documents and an open Wiki: both potentially very useful for knowledge transfer. We also hope to become Eduroam Identity Provider (free wifi access for AEGEE members). “Dulcis in fundo”, a mobile app for statutary events to provide useful info to participants.

Also, you recently announced that you are organizing the IT European School with AEGEE-León. Who should apply for the ITES?

First of all, I want to thank all three locals who have applied; the choice was so difficult, indeed! We will talk about several interesting things for locals as well as for the people that want to actively give a contribution to global AEGEE needs. I am sure AEGEE-León is preparing an exciting social programme, in the meanwhile we are defining the topics. This ITES could be a first step for cooperation with IT responsibles of the locals, because we think that sometimes they need to reinvent the wheel all over again, so a collaboration among them could be useful, especially for new members. There will be also space to share best practices. The teambuilding is very important, this is what I would like to create.

ITES 2013 in Debrecen

What about you: what makes you so interested in the field of IT? Is it what you work for?

Yes, this is my field and I am currently working on the “technical” side of the advertising world. And maybe I am also a bit geek, so it helps…! But, surprise, I don’t have a smartphone. To be honest, I have a tablet, but not a smartphone… It’s a personal conviction! I hate Whatsapp!!

Could you tell us any AEGEE members that have inspired you?

Pavel Zbornik, for his professionality. Beata Matuszka, for her energy. And Costas Deltouzos, for his freshness!

What about your next plans? Will you be in Agora Patra?

Sure thing, I will be in Patra where ITC will try to have another Progress Meeting to share with the community our work and, as OMS is a project for AEGEE members based on their needs, we will be there listening to them, for a better understanding of the way to build a useful and friendly IT system.