Q. Why are we doing this? Don't we have other priorities that we should be working on?
Q. What are some of the main features of the new model
Q. What happens to Sections under the new model?
Q. What happens to International Members-at-large under the new model?
Q. Currently the provincial associations only include certified members. What happens to non-certified members under the new model?
Q: Some provinces do not have provincial associations. What happens to members in those provinces?
Q: The model seems to do away with the one-person/one-vote concept. Won't the vote of individuals from small provinces have much greater relative weight than the vote of individuals from large provinces?
Q: What is the CCITP?
Q: It appears that under the new model, the Council will only provide a periodic oversight of actions by the National Office. Does this provide sufficient control and direction?
Q: It appears that there will be no necessary involvement of IT Professionals in the operation of the National Office. What kind of people should be part of the Office staff?
Q. How do we put the right capabilities in the National Office during the transition?
Q. Why do we still have individual members at the National level if the new model is intended to be a federation of provinces?
Q: Why are we doing this? Don't we have other priorities that we should be working on?
A: There are a number of reasons that governance changes are being made at this time. A major reason is that the division of responsibilities between the various levels of CIPS has not been well defined. This combined with the fact that CIPS has elected representatives at all three levels of the organization has resulted in the organization often going in different directions. There is no requirement for each level to work together towards common goals and objectives. This has been the root systemic cause of many of the problems we have today, such as a plethora of different dues, inconsistent messaging about the organization and, to an extent, lack of perceived value leading to member disillusionment.
Governance changes are not the only thing we are working on, nor should they be. However, it is believed that by putting in place a simpler, more unified organization structure, we can better work towards increasing value to the members.
Q: What are some of the main features of the new model
- Replacement of the current CIPS National Board of Directors with a smaller body called the "Canadian Council of Information Technology Professionals" with members held accountable to, and appointed by, the Provincial Societies.
- All CIPS members become members of their respective Provincial Societies.
- Responsibility for local CIPS Sections is transferred from the CIPS National Board of Directors to the CIPS Provincial Societies.
- Establishment of the "Office of the Executive Council" to include CIPS volunteers and paid staff.
A. In many cases sections will continue to operate much as they have. The primary difference is that sections will be connected constitutionally to provincial bodies rather than to a national body as they are currently. Other than that, sections may continue to function as they have in the past, carrying on activities at the local level.
There may be some changes under the new governance model. For example, in situations where there is only a single section in a province it may make more sense to have one single board - the provincial board - rather than duplicating effort through both provincial and section boards. In such cases, activities previously organized by a section might be organized through a committee of the provincial board.
Q. What happens to International Members-at-large under the new model?
A: Under the new governance model all members of CIPS must be a member of a Provincial Association. As an international member you will be contacted over the summer months and asked to pick a Provincial Association which you wish to belong to (usually your province of residence at the time of leaving the country). This will be entirely your choice.
Q: Currently the provincial associations only include certified members. What happens to non-certified members under the new model?
A: The governance model puts non-certified members under the control of the Provincial Boards and leaves it to the Provincial Boards to decide how this will be done. The governance committee has issued some recommendations as to how to deal with this. Although this could, in theory, leave non-I.S.P.'s in a province completely without a vote, this is unlikely. The provincial associations have all expressed a willingness to include non-certified members.
Q: Some provinces do not have provincial associations. What happens to members in those provinces?
A: Most of the provinces now have or are in the process of creating provincial associations. For those provinces that do not currently have formal associations the section(s) will select a representative for the province to represent thier members.
Q: The model seems to do away with the one-person/one-vote concept. Won't the vote of individuals from small provinces have much greater relative weight than the vote of individuals from large provinces?
A: Depending on how the provinces choose to handle non-certified members, we may end up closer to one-person one vote than we have today. Today members get to vote for one to three levels, depending on whether they are certified or not or whether or not they live in a city with a local Section.
The proposed national body is a federation model where at the National level each constituent province is represented with a single delegate. So, all provinces do have the same number of votes at the National level. The intention is to keep this body fairly small. As a senate type model, it is expected that there will be a high level of diplomacy among representatives. There should be few if any issues that would be decided by a close vote.
Q: What is the CCITP?
A: The CCITP is the Canadian Council of Information Technology Professionals and replaces the existing CIPS National Board. Its members are appointed by the Provincial bodies. There will be one member from each province, as well as two directors at large, appointed by the Council.
Q: It appears that under the new model, the Council will only provide a periodic oversight of actions by the National Office. Does this provide sufficient control and direction?
A: The CCITP as the elected National Body will have executive authority and responsibility for oversight of the National Office (Oiffice of the Executive Council. or OEC). The model as presented anticipates a target state where, as the organization grows, there will be additional staff in the National Office (including IT Professionals). In this target state, some executive responsibility could be delegated by the CCITP to the Office, for example to a paid (IT Professional) President. The oversight role of the CCITP is constant regardless of how much executive responsibility is transferred to the office and how many times per year the CCITP thinks it may need to meet.
Q: It appears that there will be no necessary involvement of IT Professionals in the operation of the National Office. What kind of people should be part of the Office staff?
A. The model anticipates a target state where staff can be added to the National office to augment many of the activities currently performed by volunteers alone. This includes IT Professionals as staff, for example a paid president. It is expected that we may not be able to move immediately to this office staffing model due to financial constraints. How much and how quickly will be at the discretion of the CCITP. The governance transition task list has a number of activities at the National level to identify the right skills required for the National Office, for example:
- Identify needed skills for the OEC
- Develop job description for Paid President
- Perform gap analysis between current and needed skills
Q. How do we put the right capabilities in the National Office during the transition?
A. The skills required in the OEC (Office of Executive Council) will be identified by a task in the governance transition plan. Which of these skills we put in place first and how quickly we move to this target state will be decided by the CCITP and will be based, among other factors, on the funds required to implement. In the interim, these activities will continue to be performed by volunteers.
Q. Why do we still have individual members at the National level if the new model is intended to be a federation of provinces?
A. The national governance document consists of two parts: the articles of incorporation commonly referred to as the Constitution and the Bylaws. Changes to the Constitution require more effort to complete. In order to achieve most of the required governance changes in the shortest period of time, we have restricted the proposed changes to the Bylaw section only. We believe that we can materially implement the new governance model by doing so. Additional changes, including changes to the Constitution can be made, if desired at a later time. The desire is also not to devalue what has been granted to Honourary or Fellow members. These members value the National recognition that comes with the privilege granted to them.
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