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November 30, 2005
Disaster Contractors Network
The Disaster Contractors Network (DCN) Web site is available to connect contractors and vendors offering services in the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma with homeowners and business owners seeking repairs, the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Florida State Emergency Response Team (SERT) announced today. This is in addtion to those states already on for Katrina - Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.
The DCN Web site is www.dcnonline.org. It provides a point of entry to the DCN, a virtual organization of construction-related associations, state and federal emergency management organizations and regulatory agencies. The purpose of DCN is to foster communication and resource matching among government; the construction community; and home and business owners before, during and after natural disasters. The site also offers online courses for contractors. The DCN's Web site is funded by the states involved and staffed by FEMA.
The core of the DCN site is the Virtual Emergency Operations Center. To reach the VEOC, click on the map of the state you need information about. Then click the green VEOC icon near the top of the screen. The following options will be available:
Critical Needs allows homeowners, business owners and contractors to list items and resources that they need to recover from the storm. This section may contain requests for materials, requests for labor, or requests for services. For example, a construction company might be in need of roofers, a homeowner might need drywall work done on his or her home, or a general contractor might need lumber.
Resources let homeowners, business owners and contractors look for contractors specializing in certain services, including architects, engineers, and general contractors. Contractors can be searched based on category, keyword, or geographic location.
Situation Reports contains links to reports filled with vital Wilma-related information, such as weather summaries, current power outages, health advisories, damage reports, and locations of Disaster Recovery Centers.
Homeowner Information contains documents that might be of particular importance to homeowners, including tips for protecting one's home and the steps to take after a disaster has occurred.
Hot Topics links to press releases, fact sheets, and newspaper articles of interest to homeowners and contractors alike.
License Check allows homeowners and contractors to check if a contractor's license is valid and current. This tool is accessed via the state's web sites.
Links allows users to visit other helpful Web sites.
By accessing the DCN Web site, homeowners and contractors will have access to all of the above - and more. Contractors will be able to post their firms as available resources, manage their information, update their records, archive their resource availability during busy times when they are no longer available, and add their firms to future disasters without repeating the registration process. Homeowners and business owners will be able to post their critical needs in rebuilding after each disaster, update their records, and archive their critical needs when they have been filled.
Posted by joewest at 9:43 AM
November 27, 2005
Transparency is usually a good thing
It pops up in the news every now and then - an owner asks to see some association records and gets stonewalled by the board or management. Yes its a pain, it takes time and costs money, but in the end, the owner always wins. Either a court orders it, or the legislature passes laws to require it, or it ends up in the news and the association looks like it has something to hide and caves as a result.
This is the information age, and people have grown to expect that they can access information about an organization that they belong to and pay money into. Telling them they can't see financials or minutes won't work anymore. You're going to have to come up with some type of reasonable policy and mechanism to provide basic information to the members of the association.
Secure web sites are the easiest and cheapest. Letting a logged-in owner browse through documents at their leisure reduces the potential for conflict. Newsletters that publish a well-edited version of the minutes and financials, as well as updates on projects and other activities is also good. In reality, the more information yu provide, the more bored they're likely to get. Its when they get told they can't see something, that suspicions arise and confrontations occur. They have a right to know what's going on and how their association is operating. Find a way to make it work.
Posted by joewest at 11:07 PM
November 13, 2005
Web Resources
There are internet resources and then there are internet resources. The strength of the search engine is also its weakness---it finds everything on the planet, but then leaves it pretty much up to you to weed your way through the umpteen million results. They're getting better, and if you take the time to figure out some of the advance search mechanics, you can find some good stuff. However, I still think the best way to find good sites and information is from friends and professional acquaintences who periodically send a web site address along to me in an e-mail.
Long introduction simply to pass along a couple of web sites that contain good reference material.
The first is BNET (www.bnet.com) which contains a library full of business-related articles, white papers, presentations and blogs. Its a free resource covering communications, finance, human resources, leadership, marketing, operations, strategy, construction, engineering, and more.
Google has been all over the news recently, but have you visited their site to see the programs they are now offering? Google Earth can give you an aerial view of the properties you manage. Google Desktop can deliver specific news items, current blog postings for those blogs you want to keep tabs on; checks your e-mail, indexes items on your computer, create "alerts" and more. Blogger lets you create your own blog for free. And there are a lot more programs that help you with the interne and your computer. You might also want to take a look at Google Labs, just to get a peek at what's coming down the road. Checking in at the Lab has saved me from purchasing software that was shortly going to be available for free. Take a look at their "Site-flavored" search and see if it wouldn't help your web site.
While these items may look like they should be in the Technology blog, we want to keep managers up on what's available. There are things that will help you do your job better or make it easier. When we find them, we'll post them here.
Posted by joewest at 7:50 PM