Date: February 10, 2016
Time: 11:00 A.M.
Location: Old Overton Club – Monthly Meeting Location
Member Companies: Representative(s): Attended:
American Cast Iron Pipe Company Jeremy Gilbert No
BBVA Compass Bank Tracy Mountain No
Birmingham Water Works Board Tilden Leigh No
Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Alabama Blake LeCroy No
City of Birmingham Tammy High Yes
Drummond Company Nancy Hennessy No
Energen Corp Deborah Banks No
Jacksonville State University Alan Wallace Yes
Jefferson County No Representative No
Liberty National Life Insurance Barbara Shook No
University of Montevallo Craig R Gray No
Motion Industries Ellen Holladay No
O’Neal Steel Mark Troncale, Matt Myles No
Regions Financial Corporation Mike Terry Yes
Samford University Angeline Jackson Yes
Shelby County Winston Estes No
Social Security Administration Tracie Stone No
Southern Company/ Alabama Power No Representative No
Trinity Medical Center No Representative No
University of Alabama Birmingham Bill Laughlin Yes
Next Meeting: March 9, 2016
11:00 a.m.
Location: Old Overton Club – Monthly Meeting Location
Calendar Year 2016 Meeting Schedule (Second Wednesday)
January 13, 2016
February 10, 2016
March 9, 2016
April 13, 2016
May 11, 2016
June 8, 2016
July 13, 2016
August 10, 2016
September 14, 2016
October 12, 2016
November 9, 2016
December 14, 2016
Attachments: BLUG Class Schedule
Minutes
Mike Terry (Regions) presided over the meeting and Tammy High (City of Birmingham) was the meeting recorder.
The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 9, 2016 at 11:00 a.m., at Old Overton Club.
OLD BUSINESS
· Classroom Space
o What should be escalated to the Executive Committee?
§ Need to get notes together of what we need to discuss. (Need for classroom space, etc.). Alan suggested that the committee creates a document stating the problems that we are encountering and a proposed solution to the problems. Mike will compile this document and Alan will present it to the Executive Committee.
§ Determine how to escalate (email, attend meeting, who should attend, etc.)
§ Bill suggested using VM access for some classes. He will be testing the Amazon VM to see if this is a viable option for us.
§ We are going to produce a fact sheet about the current availability of classrooms, and a list of courses we can currently support with these classrooms. Additionally it will include a list of courses we currently cannot support due to the lack of member classrooms.
o We can currently use ThinkData space for $750 per day, they would be able to support DB2.
o Mike is continuing to work with his executives to acquire classroom space within Regions.
· There are several classes where there is interest, but waiting classroom before scheduling. (Note: The Executive Committee wants us to obtain 3 estimates before deciding on an instructor for the class. The estimates need to be on business’ letterhead.)
o DB2 training
§ Blake has a need for this class. Judy Nall of CBI usually offers a very reasonable flat rate for this class. Regions also has a need for this class.
o COBOL training
§ Tammy High teaching, proposing a 3 day class.
§ Class may have to be held at ThinkData due to a lack of classroom space at Regions.
o JavaScript training.
§ Blake knows a teacher and will reach out to him at Accelebrate (Eric Ladd).
§ Checking on equipment needs and room location.
§ Tammy may have a need, Bill may have 2-3, Mike may have 1-2 and a few others might have 1 or 2.
§ Possible location for the class: City’s IMS Building
o Oracle
· PowerShell class, proposing 2 days to be held at New Horizons.
o Samford, UAB and Regions together may have 10-12 students
o Vendor information and costs were distributed to the committee for consideration when booking.
o No date has been set for training yet, re-polling membership.
o Bill has emailed an announcement for this class; no response so far.
· Web Site updates
o Request to add a feature when registrations are touched to email the sponsor has been completed. However, the changes have not been deployed.
· Membership
o Discussions regarding the Members list:
§ Jefferson County – Bill has reached out to the executive committee member Roosevelt Butler and at this time we have received no response.
o Request to add University of Montevallo to the member list. The membership process been completed. U of M has paid their membership dues.
· City of Birmingham is requesting an ASP .net VB class. We have a local instructor. The syllabus has been distributed.
· General Reminder: You can now use the www.blug.info website to register students.
NEW BUSINESS
· Course Requests
o Request for DB2 Q1 2016.
o Mike is in need of an EasyTrieve for Q1 2016. Mike will sent Tammy the dates for this class to see if the IMS Training Room is available. Tammy will reserve the IMS Large Training Room.
o Web App Development: UAB has 2 or 3 people interested in this class. City of Birmingham and Regions may also have a need for this class.
o Project Management Prep Class: Angeline is coordinating this class. The class will be held April 4-8, 2016. An announcement has been sent for this class.
o Bill will create a schedule for 2016. classes and a cost savings report for 2015.
· Alan Wallace has agreed to address the Executive Committee concerning the following issues:
o Decline in membership on the Education Committee.
o Decrease in number of classes held due to the lack of classroom space.
o Pursuing a partnership with Tech Birmingham to increase class offerings.
· The cost savings report for 2015 has been sent to committee members. The report will be sent to the Executive Committee as well.
· A SharePoint folder was created to house vendor estimates.
The meeting was adjourned.
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