Item

Description

Action

1.       

Apologies (See above)

2.       

Minutes of Last Meeting

2.1.   

Confirmation received by Kevin Flannigan that Patricia Spreull and Martin Walmsley had now discontinued their support of FSIG. New Chair and Secretary required and Vacancy had been advertised on the Website.

2.2.   

Minutes were posted within agreed time scale of 10 days.

2.3.   

Users did review the Website and feedback was passed to Nicole James. FAQ’s item was raised as being very out of date and off putting to users. Jonathan Lassman to raise with Nicole James.

JL

3.       

VACANCIES

3.1.   

Chair and Secretary still vacant and despite adverts on Website and in the Newsletter no one had come forward. Jonathan Lassman emphasised the benefit of joining in and how important it is for users to participate.

3.2.   

In the absence of any other offers Neil Edgar offered to be Deputy Chair. Kevin Flannigan offered to continue supporting the group as Chair until January 2004 and offered support for the Secretary from Hugo Pullen, again until January 2004 at which time the group will need to find replacements.

NE/KF/HP

3.3.   

At the same time Kevin Flannigan suggested that we still continue to look for new Chair and Secretary.

ALL

4.       

Focus of the Group

4.1.   

Several ideas were suggested as to how the group could be developed and how we could utilise the next FSIG meeting.

4.2.   

As Sheila Brisland from Sage was present the group asked for the view of Sage as to what we could best utilise the FSIG sessions for.

·         Sage are interested in the strengths and weaknesses of the product.

·         What users like and dislike.

·         What is on the ‘horizon’ especially for business practices, legislation, etc.etc

4.3.   

Users want to be involved in the development process to address the issue of changes made without users really wanting them or in the form in which they end up in the product. REAL INVOLVEMENT will benefit both Sage and the Users.

4.4.   

There was much discussion on how Users could be involved with Sage in the development process, and it was re-iterated that Users would always be prepared to make themselves available to work with Sage, even at very short notice.

4.5.   

As a suggestion Sheila Brisland offered to bring forward an item to the next FSIG meeting for some input…..International Bank Accounts/Banking in general.

SB

5.       

FSIG Objectives

5.1.   

Original objectives of the group were shared and agreed and to be added to the website. An additional objective was to be added emphasising Finance issues to be brought through FSIG as a way to try and engage users in the process.

NJ

KF

5.2.   

Gordon Hancock to raise this at the main ISTUG meeting to try and get users involved through the SIGS.

GH

5.3.   

Jonathan Lassman also re-iterated that it is part of the role of the SIG’s to help each other with issues, perhaps suggesting workarounds etc compare to the role of ISTUG which will intervene where there are big issues with Resellers/Sage

6.       

FSIG Registration

6.1.   

Original Form for registering an interest with FSIG was discussed and it was agreed to re-issue this, in colour.

6.2.   

Jonathan Lassman to send out with the next distribution of invites to ISTUG, and also to be left on seats at the next ISTUG meeting, and additionally added to the Members Club on the website.

JL

NJ

7.       

FSIG area on Website

7.1.   

Needs to be completely up-to date at all times, and improvements made by Nicole so far will be extended as she gets more time freed up to work on this.

7.2.   

‘Shopping List’ appearance of the site needs to be amended/re-thought. Ie; Remove Lists, include Graphics/Icons, Improve introduction, Only retain top part of first screen as first page linking out to all others in related groupings.

(Correct text messages RE: Members Club introduction).

NJ

8.       

FSIG and relating to SAGE

8.1.   

MBE’s were discussed under this item in advance of the ISTUG Committee meeting.

8.2.   

Explanations were given by Sheila Brisland on the status of MBE’s etc and how BUG Fixes had taken priority until recently. Current list of MBE’s now has a target date for completion as end of 2003.  

8.3.   

The process of MBE’s has also been reviewed with several changes put in place to make the process more efficient.

8.4.   

Sheila Brisland would look at how MBE’s/Fixes are presented on the Reseller and End User Website to ensure that as much useful information was included as possible, especially in relation to documentation/instructions.

SB

8.5.   

Sheila would also discuss with Nick Voller opportunities for Users to get involved in any appropriate Projects, with perhaps attending at FSIG or possible breakout sessions at ISTUG.

SB

9.       

HIT-LIST for FSIG (Key Issues)

9.1.   

Item had been mainly covered in various discussions throughout the meeting. However, it was agreed that everyone should give this some consideration and Gordon Hancock suggested that everyone should try and come up with at least one idea to take forward.

ALL

10.   

AOB

10.1.                     

Breakout Session at the next ISTUG meeting on 17/09/2003 was discussed and agreed that we would utilise the time to explain how we were trying to develop FSIG and also to follow up on the previous ISTUG session that day RE: Changes to the BACS System.

10.2.                     

Henry Jones asked if anyone else had encountered any difficulties/extra cost with the installation of Service Pack 3. He informed the group that his Reseller had suggested that he would not be able to complete the installation of the service pack himself. Instead he would require ½ a day downtime, and three days consultancy. Nobody else at the meeting had yet tried to install Service Pack 3 but Kevin Flannigan did say that his FM provider was unable to have it released to them from the Reseller (TAH), who were insisting on testing it out first.

11.   

Date of Next Meeting 15/10/03, Wednesday @ SAGE, Winnersh Triangle.