A Word From the AMS Advantage® Users Group Steering Committee
By Trucynda Hawkins, City of Tucson, Arizona

The Steering Committee has been very busy over the past few months working with CGI on several initiatives, with the goal of achieving enhanced product quality and improved communications between CGI and the AMS Advantage community. The following is a brief summary of the activities that we have been working on.

CGI Training Symposium – This year we are initiating something new for the Symposium-virtual training. CGI has designed sessions that allow clients to attend the Symposium via the Web. The first week of the two week-long event will feature technical and 2.x course onsite in Fairfax. During the second week, sessions will be completely virtual and accessible by all registered attendees from the comfort of their own office. Virtual training will be instructor-led by the same skilled CGI experts via the Web, but without the added expense of travel. The intent is to give clients a way to have more staff attend more sessions. The Symposium is scheduled for May 14 through 25, with onsite courses offered from May 14 through 18. Learn more at www.cgi.com/trainingsymposium.

Product Enhancement Request Feedback – We've been working to establish a method to provide feedback on enhancement requests so users will know where their enhancement request is in the review process. Remember, the best place for all enhancement requests is through eAccess since it provides the opportunity for others to comment on a request. We encourage users to continue to use the enhancement request process and remind users that even if they don't have enhancement requests, they should still routinely look at the enhancements that have been submitted and provide feedback. This allows the Steering Committee to see how the user community feels about various requests.

CGI Forum – The May Steering Committee meeting is approaching, and the agenda includes CGI Forum 2007 content development. I encourage users to contact Steering Committee members with any concerns, issues, feedback, kudos and ideas for CGI Forum 2007. Now is the time to let us know. Additionally, if your organization is doing something innovative, the CGI Forum is a great opportunity to showcase your work by leading a session. This not only highlights your innovations, but also allows you to get feedback to enhance your work and share best practices with your colleagues.

Software Change Control Board (SCCB) Enhancements – All enhancement requests are reviewed and prioritized by the Software Change Control Board (SCCB). The SCCB is comprised of Steering Committee members and CGI experts that help guide the software for optimal use and performance at all customer sites. The Steering Committee continues to work with CGI to review all enhancement requests and to incorporate the requests into the baseline product where appropriate. The enhancement request guidelines and criteria used by the SCCB can be reviewed on CGI's website at eaccess.ams.com.

These are just a few items that the Committee has been working on, and we want to remind you that we are on this Committee to represent you—the users. We strongly encourage you to contact us if you have concerns, questions or comments. We are here to advance the effective utilization of all AMS Advantage solutions and provide a channel of communication with CGI for matters of interest from the AMS Advantage community. Please contact us through the Discussion Gateway at https://support.cgi-ams.com/discussiongateway/.