Projects of the Month

All the Work Packages listed below were 'Available' at the time the Volunteer Newsletter was put together. If, when contacting the charity, they tell you that a volunteer has started work on the Work Package, please ask the charity to contact info@iT4Communities.org.uk so that we can assist them in assigning the volunteer to the Work Package. Once the charity has assigned a volunteer, the Work Package state will be changed to “In progress”, and taken off the iT4C website.

Please go to www.iT4Communities.org.uk /Log in/Search for volunteering opportunities - for these and more ‘Available Work Packages’. Please let us know if you have any difficulty contacting any of the organisations.

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Work Package Name: WPTechnical Support1504.1355
Location:North East, Chester le Street, DH3
Technical Support
This County Durham-based charity provides a free impartial and confidential advice service mainly through a drop-in service but also through a number of projects. They aim to ensure that no one is disadvantaged by not being aware of information and services available to them. The charity's Internet access is provided by their umbrella organisation and they are required to input information into a case management system via a web interface. They have been informed that older operating systems will not be supported in future which means that six of their PCs will no longer be able to access the Internet or the case management system. They would like a volunteer to advise on them on whether these machines can be upgraded and, if so, what it will cost. The PCs are various different specifications and operating systems. The PCs are not networked but currently all have Internet access.

Work Package Name:E-participation in Developing the Licensing Profession
Location: Remote
Strategy for e-working
This organisation is a recently launched professional body concerned with all aspects of regulation and licensing. Examples include markets and football stadiums. A key aim of the organisation is to provide information to the public. They are a membership organisation currently working within England and Wales but planning to expand into the rest of the UK and further afield. The organisation has been working informally for a couple of years but are now working to put systems and procedures in place. One of the things they'd like to consider is how e-communication, e-participation and e-administration can work for them. They plan to have a couple of office based staff with others working remotely. They would also like to communicate effectively with their members through their website. Their existing website doesn't meet their needs and they would like to re-launch it with a new design, interactive features and a structure they can maintain themselves. Initially the organisation would like a volunteer to work with them to put together a strategy for their IT needs and to define a number of projects which can be offered to other volunteers. This is a remote opportunity but the chief executive of the organisation is happy to travel throughout the UK for an initial face-to-face meeting.

Work Package Name:WPWebsite1095.948
Location:South West, Minchinhampton, Gloucs, GL6 (Can also be Remote)
Website
The charity has a web-site (www.good-moves.org.uk). They would like assistance on the following: - to advise on and discuss the objectives of the web-site; and then look to see if the website will meet these objectives; - to develop the website and implement the agreed changes if this is required; - to take over keeping the web-site up to date for a while and to train her to take this over; - to give advice on how IT could further the objectives of the charity; - to advise on the data-base they will need to set up; - to give her training in mailing lists, and review the mailing list she has. The work on the web-site could be done remotely.

Work Package Name:WPAdvice1473.1324
Location:North East, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD8
Advice

This charity is a community association in Bradford. Having successfully campaigned to prevent an old mill being demolished they have now obtained space within the refurbished mill to set up a community space. This will include a function hall, community cafe, IT suite, training rooms, crèche, etc. Within this space they will organise activities to benefit the community. The charity has received funding to create an IT suite. They plan to install a network of 12 PCs. They will also need IT equipment for 3 or 4 members of staff. The charity is concerned that they should spend the funding in an appropriate way and purchase the correct equipment for their needs. They would like a volunteer who can look at their requirements and advise on the correct PCs to purchase, which operating system to use, what sort of network they should install, how many servers they require, etc. It would be a bonus if the volunteer could also advise on the installation of the telephone system.

Work Package Name: WPWebsite1433.1284
Location:Scotland, North Berwick, E. Lothian, EH39
Website
This Scottish non-denominational church would like a volunteer who could help the charity configure and test a new web site. The charity already has the content for the site in front page format, however they would like the content to be embedded into a clear and concise design. Once the design is complete they envisage managing the system for themselves, in order to add and change events etc. This would suit a volunteer who could create the site for the charity along with advice on setting up a domain and web hosting. Website

Work Package Name:Guidance during tendering process
Location:London, Tower Hamlets, E1
Consultancy

This charity runs a summer university that facilitates training courses for young people throughout the borough of Tower Hamlets. Courses range from educational or workplace-related courses to arts, music and sports. Because of the success of the summer university they have been commissioned to help other London Boroughs roll out similar schemes. As part of this project the charity has won funding for a review of their IT systems, development of an IT strategy, improvements to two websites and ongoing maintenance. They are just beginning the process or tendering for a supplier and are looking for a volunteer to act as a "friend" and guide them through the process. They are looking for someone with project management and strategic IT experience to help them review bids, interview bidders, ensure they ask the right questions and generally make sure that nothing is overlooked when appointing a supplier. The charity has very little IT experience and is keen to have some impartial advice during this process.

Work Package Name:Web Site
Location:South East, Bordon, Hampshire
Website
This charity that provides home visiting volunteers support, friendship, and practical help to families in need would like a volunteer to help them create a new web site. The charity currently has no web presence and would like a site designed where they would be able to manage themselves. Advice would also be required with regards to hosting, domain name and how to make their current paper forms available to users on the web site, possibly a download section or an online form. This would suit a volunteer who would be able to give advice on creating a web site and to be able to create a site that would be manageable by the charity.

Work Package Name:Strategy
Location:South West, Glos, GL1
Strategy
A volunteer IT consultant is needed to assist this organisation with a strategic review & to produce a report for their trustees. This report and implementation plan will enable them to confidently fund raise for appropriate IT services that will support them and their service users. This charity provides the strategic & administrative services for a consortium of diverse projects that offer vital support services (health, education, training etc) to the deprived areas of Gloucestershire. This is a vital role as it helps keep the costs of the service delivery as low as possible, shares resources and enables projects to concentrate on service delivery. This project potentially benefits 100,000 residents so your input will have invaluable impact on many people. The report will involve the review the strategic direction for the of 8 learning centres (10-20 PCs in each) and their technical policies & procedures as well as planning to support the technology requirements of the project's staff and volunteers. All technology currently runs in a MS Windows environment. In conjunction with the plan the finance director also requires advice (& an independent view) about working with their out-sourced IT support agency to ensure that they are managing them well and getting the best value for their investment.

Work Package Name:WPConsultancy1425.1276
Location:North West, Warrington, Cheshire, WA1
Consultancy
This UK-wide charity helps people of all ages address relationship issues. They believe that given appropriate support individuals can survive the most difficult personal relationships and can be helped to move on and rebuild their lives. They provide support, training and one to one counselling. They also run a number of projects and work with many other professional and voluntary organisations. If possible they aim to prevent relationships breaking down and, for example, work with young people who are at risk of running away from home to resolve problems before they escalate. As part of a general assessment of quality issues the charity wishes to improve the way in which they manage their projects. They are encountering problems because they have not allocated enough resources to projects or have not monitored them closely enough. One of the charity's staff has attended a short course on Microsoft Project and thinks that this may be a suitable tool for them to use. However, she would like some advice from a volunteer before she spends money on any software. Typically the charity's projects will last for a few months and will involve two or three members of staff. An individual may be working on four or five projects at a time. This is an opportunity for a volunteer who can advise on a appropriate, reasonably priced method of managing multiple projects. Ideally the charity would also like the volunteer to help them install the software and to point them in the right direction when they start using it.

Work Package Name:Database and Web Strategy
Location:South East, East Clandon, Surrey, GU3
Database
An open gardens charity who helps raise money for other gardening charities would like support in upgrading their database. Currently the charity has a system in place called 'Thank You' but they are now finding that this does not quite suit their needs and they require extra fields and more reporting tools from the system. The charity would like the old data transferred from their existing database into an Access system. Ideally, the database would be run on a server with various user level controls and also be able to be run on a website.

Work Package Name:WPConsultancy1432.1283
Location:North West, Birkenhead, Wirral, CH41
Consultancy
This advice centre has recently merged 6 separate sites that are within a 12 mile radius of each other. Each site has a different PC network solution, with a range of operating systems and network environments. The aim is to streamline this into one network that works effectively from multiple sites. The plans include the telephone system; call handling, call logging and call management. A volunteer/s is required to assist the manager with a strategic view to creating a seamless telephone and computer system in the near future. The organisation is writing a bid to the National Lottery to gain funding on what could be a high profile system implementation. The volunteer at this stage is to act in an advisory role to ensure that the Lottery bid contains independent (not tied to a provider), realistic and sustainable solutions. Consultancy

Work Package Name:WPTechnical Support1463.1314
Location:West Midlands, Hereford, HR4
Technical Support
This charity run a community transport service. Working in a rural area they provide transport for vulnerable people where public transport is not available. Clients may request transport to take them to doctor or hospital appointments, to visit care homes, etc. A team of volunteer drivers are available to provide transport in their own vehicles or in one of two owned by the charity. The charity has an old laptop that they would like to use for a new member of staff. Currently the machine crashes on a regular basis and needs to be re-booted. It is running Windows XP Home edition and the crashes usually occur when using Word or Excel. They would like a volunteer to look at this laptop and see if it can be cleaned up in any way to stop the crashes occurring. Technical support

Work Package Name:WPWebsite1522.1373
Location:East Midlands, Kettering, NN15
Website
Remote Website This charity provides volatile substance abuse education, training, and awareness to children and young people, parents, professionals and the community. The charity needs some assistance in redesigning their website to make it more accessible, user-friendly, interactive and more appealing to young people. The site will be aimed at young people, so it needs to appeal to this particular target audience. However, there is a need to target professionals and parents as well. It would be great if it can have enquiry forms, trivia games, quizzes, chat facility and a forum to allow visitors to interact. Some advice and facilitation is required around acquiring an appropriate domain name with the correct extension (currently using .co.uk) and archiving an old site. Willing to work with a virtual/remote volunteer website.

Workpackage Name:Community broadband project - CF44
Location:Remote
Consultancy
Community broadband project needs help to write a funding bid. Initially help with costing and advice about a broadband hub at rural welsh village hall with wireless repeater stations to make the whole village a wireless hotspot. The bid for funds need to contain a realistic figure for installation and ongoing support so that this project can be sustainable and bring real value to this community that may otherwise be on the wrong side of the 'digital divide'. Volunteers who can advise remotely are very welcome.

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Please go to www.iT4Communities.org.uk /Log in/Search for volunteering opportunities - for these and more ‘Available Work Packages’, and please let us know if you have any difficulty contacting any of the organisations info@iT4Communities.org.uk