Constitution
Definitions
Through out this document the word "member" or "members" shall be construed as meaning a person or persons who are severally members in good standing of the IAIDQ who, through living or working in the nominated geographical area has elected to join the CoP.
Geographical Area
The CoP shall cover the British Isles with the exception of the Republic of Ireland, for which a separate CoP is planned. Therefore, members living or working in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man shall be considered members of this CoP unless they choose otherwise. It is anticipated that members from Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man will opt to join the Irish CoP if it is more geographically convenient.
Officers
The members involved in setting up the CoP and therefore the officers of the CoP during its early stages are:
- Keith Underdown of AKMA Consultancy
- Steve Tuck of Datanomic.
- Gary Palmer of Sweet and Maxwell
Objects
The Primary Objective of the CoP is to promote the Aims and Objectives of the IAIDQ within its defined geographical area.
Specifically within its geographical context it will:
Sponsor links between government (e.g. The Information Commission), academic institutions, users, professional bodies and suppliers in the field of IDQ to develop and publicise standards for Information Management;
Partner with the relevant bodies to develop a certification process for IQM professionals. Such bodies are likely to include the British Computer Society and University teaching departments where IQM is a topic of study.
Partner with like-minded bodies outside its geographical areas to develop European and or international standards
Encourage research partnerships between academics and professionals
To develop supra-national groupings of CoPs to influence decision-makers from pan-national bodies, e.g., the EU.
Partnerships
The CoP may work with other bodies with similar Aims and Objectives in order to develop and promote industry standards, public awareness and the like.
It is anticipated that there will be a close relationship between this and the proposed Irish CoP, particularly in the development of EU based professional development initiatives.
Organisational Structure
In this initial phase it is not expected that the CoP will be more than an informal grouping of members organised under the aegis of the IAIDQ's legal status in the USA. However, if, in time, the CoP, in particular its officers, becomes responsible for organizing events and other activities that carry a risk of financial loss then the CoP will be formally incorporated as a "Community Interest Company" under the laws of England and Wales. This is a risk management strategy that will provide a legal structure to protect the Trustees/Directors from financial liability and possibly convey some tax advantages in the UK.
There shall be three Officers of the CoP:
Chairman
Keith Underdown
Secretary
Steve Tuck
Public Relations Officer
Gary Palmer
In addition, a Steering Committee shall be appointed. This will consist of the Officers plus four members in good standing. The officers will seek nominations from the members for the committee members. If necessary, an electronic poll will be conducted open to all members via the CoP's website. The Steering Committee shall be responsible for developing the activities of the CoP.
The CoP will report to the Board via Andrew Kinnear (VP Member Services) who will also act as Advisor to the CoP.
Its domain name within the IAIDQ website shall be" brit" as it does not include the United Kingdom only.
Number of Members
The current IAIIDQ membership in the proposed geographic area is 32. The CoP officers and Steering Committee will pursue the establishment of block membership deals with bodies such as the British Computer Society.
The CoP will target CIO's within FTSE 100 companies and their counterparts in Second Sectororganisations and major Third Sector bodies as well as practitioners by offering Organisation Membership, according to IADQ corporate membership rules.
We presented at the London Event and anticipate a number of new members as a result.
Member Services
The CoP shall exist for the benefit of its members. It will represent the member community on the Board of the IAIDQ and run events and meetings (both real and virtual). It may receive a per-capita funding from the IAIDQ itself but the level is yet to be determined. It will not charge an additional subscription over and above the standard IAIDQ subscription but it will charge members and non-members for services such as conferences offered to the wider professional community. However, members may be offered a discount for such events.
It will support the formation of local groups under its umbrella. These will be informally organised and consist only of a community of interest who may get together to discuss issues of mutual interest without incurring costs to the CoP.
Status of Local Initiatives
Any initiatives with regard to Certification in the area of Information Quality, the development of training programmes, the definition of standards for IQ, or similar that are undertaken at a CoP level (i.e. within a geographic region, intellectual domain or industry domain) shall operate at all times with due regard to the objectives, directives, code of ethics and policies of the IAIDQ as an international body. Where an International initiative in any of these areas is launched, the CoP level programme shall, within a reasonable period of time, be amended to align with the structure, content, methodology, etc… of the International programme. A derogation to this requirement may be approved by the Board of the IAIDQ only where there is a substantive local reason preventing this alignment such as the operation of specific local laws. In such cases all best efforts shall be made to align the CoP level programme as much as is reasonably possible
Events
There is a regular Information Quality event in London in November and others are organised by various bodies at various times in the year. The British CoP will liaise with the IAIDQ VP Events and may represent the IAIDQ to those organising bodies to promote the Association, arrange member discounts and ensure an Association presence at the exhibitions associated with such events.
Once the Committee is established, more public events of this kind will be organised in conjunction with established conference organising companies. It will liaise with other European CoPs and like-minded groups to optimise the spread of such events in time and space and to optimise the use of speakers.
In addition there will be member only events organised up to six times a year using webinars or similar technology and real meetings. These events may incur a charge to cover the operating costs but sponsorship will be sought.
UK Initiative to define a industry badge of excellence
IAIDQ members have set up an initiative:
"To consider a charter for Information and Data Quality management and to define a broad industry badge of excellence in IDQ"
The first meeting was held in the Home Office and representatives of Government, public engineering bodies and financial services companies attended.
Full details of the Agenda of that first meeting can be found in Appendix 2<</p>
Next Steps
The PRO will prepare a press list and press release for release in the New Year, also a mailing for the UK members and an article for inclusion in the next newsletter.
A meeting of the Charter Initiative has already been scheduled for January 25th.
The Chairman will liaise with the VP Web Services to develop the .brit domain in readiness for the launch.
DoB will prepare announcement to membership, KU will broadcast it.
KU and DoB to prepare invitations to local members to join the appropriate CoP
KU and DoB to meet with Grant to discuss getting better promotion of forthcoming events on website.
