Community Outreach Proposal
From RMUWiki
Contents |
Mission statement
The aim of this program is to provide computing hardware and IT support to non-profit organizations and educational facilities in the local community. The RMU Student Chapter of the ACM intends to improve its visibility and contacts in the community. This program will also present members the opportunity to work with computer hardware and software at a level they may not be exposed to in the classroom.
Project profile overview
Scope
The project will involve undertaking research in what organizations need computers and what we can provide them with. The ACM will restore RMU’s older computers to working order and donate them to an organization who wants them. These computers may need to be repaired and have software installed onto them. If the organization that needs them is unable to, the ACM will provide support in setting up the computers.
Schedule
While finding organizations that need computers will be a continuing process, the first organizations will be found within the Fall 2006 semester. Setting up and donating the computers will follow a custom schedule per client.
Costs
The RMU Student Chapter of the ACM will be pursuing budgeting from SGA, but this is small seed money, nothing substantial. Licensed software costs will look to be subsidized by the receiving organization or a third party contributor. The program will investigate appropriate open source or free software solutions. Hardware requirements are going to be pursued for no cost from within RMU.
Risks
A considerable amount of the hardware we receive may be too old or deprecated to donate. If organizations need licensed software, like Windows XP, we may not be able to provide them with it initially. Regarding open source solutions, some organizations may not have the technical skills to operate it properly, for instance, Linux OS.
Target customers
Educational and non-profit organizations in the local community who are in reasonable need of computers or IT solutions but cannot afford to buy new ones.
Needs
The RMU Student Chapter of the ACM will need access to RMU’s older computers and miscellaneous hardware which are no longer used. The chapter will also be looking into increased amounts of funding from the SGA as the program ramps up.
Satisfaction measures
Success will include RMU getting rid of older computers which may be costly to recycle. We can also simply count the number of organizations we are able to assist. Chapter members who work on the project will provide feedback on the skills and benefit they receive from participation.
Key technology
This will depend on the particular software requested by the receiving organization. This software will likely include Linux, Firefox, and Open Office. Hardware will most likely average as Pentium 3, 256 MB RAM, 10 GB HDD, and other comparable technology.
Operational requirements
None.
Critical project constraints
Performance
The computers need to meet standards set by receiving organizations and be capable of running the software packages needed for each project, these values will be changing too much to document here.
Ease of use
Once a disk image is produced for a particular set of needs or hardware it can be copied as many times as necessary to similar computers, making the process of delivering solutions easy and efficient.
Volumes
The project will need at least one person to search for organizations to donate to and at least one person to set up older computers to operational status. We also hope to assist one organization per semester, even if that means just specifying a need and delivering at a later date.
Key financial indicators
The chapter can estimate the recycling/removal costs saved by RMU. We can investigate the savings versus commercial hardware/software/service costs. Depending on student involvement and specific skills trained, we can determine the value of the education gained through setting up the machines.
