December 2010
Letter From The Chair Technology December 2010 (Gadgets?) Hello to All Our NPCAI Members, Happy Holidays! This month we’ll talk a little bit about “Playground Contrac tor Technology”. As we all know in today’s Playground Industry we are for ever needing to stay in touch with Our Customers, Employees, Truck Drivers and Suppliers. To maximize our time and efficiency we find ourselves using all kind of “Gadgets” to assist us in our endeavors. I have listed a few items we use to help us with Our Playground Installations.
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Customer Database: It starts here and everyone has one. Our system is web-based and also housed on our network for anytime access. All Customer information is stored on our network with the essential information going on-line so it can be retrieved as needed. The main thing you need to know about a Customer Database is that it is only as good as how often you input, update and follow-up on the information stored inside the Database. Work Order/Job Order Tracking System: Our Work/Job Tracking System is also Web Based and stored on our network as well. We use 2 different systems so one is open only to Our Employees while the other is for our customers to view. Two systems have not caused us any problems and have served us our needs very well. I know of some compa nies who use only one system and I guess a single system has its merits. We like the two system strategy as it allows us to choose to filter who sees what. Laptop: This is my most valuable “gadget” in my arsenal. My Laptop allows me to stay in touch with my Office PC, all web-based applications, map quest and the Internet. My Lap top goes with me everywhere! The only thing I’ll say about a Laptop is to be sure you buy enough machine on the initial purchase. Camera: All of us carry some type of camera. I use a KODAK which is light, good quality and affordable. The camera is an essential tool and is invaluable when it comes to docu menting our job installations. Mobile Phone: Here we could start a war with discussions! Myself, I own an underutilized phone. It has more features than I’ll ever learn BUT, it’s fast, the provider offers great cov erage for my area and my phone keeps me on real time with my office, customers, em ployees and suppliers. It also has a camera, voice recorder and video capability.
Enough about “Gadgets”! See the Tool Box Tips Links below: Tool Box Tips: Used with Permission - Technology for Tracking Your People http://www.exaktime.com
or
http://www.jobclocks.net
Technology for Tracking Your Assets http://www.navtrakgps.com or http://www.gpsmerchandise.com Upcoming Events: March 23-25, 2011 Chicago, IL Playground Construction School November 1-4, 2011 NRPA Congress & Expo - Atlanta, GA November 3, 2011 NPCAI Social Event, Atlanta, GA November TBD 2011 Tampa, FL Playground Construction School
December 2010
Letter From The Chair (con’t) Be The Best Playground Contractor You Can Be!
NPCAI Social Sponsors 2010
Thanks To All Our Current and Renewing Members! Become a NPCAI Qualified Contractor and Continue to Support The NPCAI! The Playground Contractors Role with the NPCAI As we come to the final link in the chain in becoming a True Playground Contractor. The NPCAI Mission is: To professionally construct today's pre-manufactured playground equip ment. THE NPCAI IS: A worldwide partnership formed to contribute to the advancement of the playground building industry by promoting playground installation as a legitimate contracting profession within the playground industry. THE NPCAI LENDS SUPPORT: To all playground safety programs, guidelines, and standards that promote playground safety by assisting the public in identifying the need for a professional playground installation. THE NPCAI SEEKS: Active participation in and contributions from its membership and corpo rate sponsors for the development and growth of individual members, their contracting busi nesses, and the playground construction profession worldwide. THE NPCAI OFFERS: MEMBERS A VOICE in the playground industry through leadership opportunity and networking to affect industry changes to address developing needs. MEMBERS ANSWERS to everyday installation questions and immediate access to informa tion regarding certification, licensing and industry standards.
Roger Davis – CPSI President – Playground Safety Services, Inc. www.playgroundsafetyservices.com
A Note From The Executive Director Dear NPCAI Members, Season's Greetings to you and your staff from everyone at NPCAI. Goodbye 2010 and Wel come 2011!! I want to say Thank You to all the members of the International Playground Con tractors Association for all their support to our association. Being that this is a members' trade association, together we have a large voice to ensure the continued growth of our industry. I also encourage you that the more you put into the association, the more you will benefit from the association. Planning for 2011 is already underway; we are working on some additional benefits for our members. We have recently updated our website with the latest on the next Playground Construction School, and Information on purchasing the Playground Safety is no Accident Handbook from Kenneth S. Kutska, and over 200 Playground forms for you. As for Playground Construction, it is going into its fourth year and is stronger than ever. To date, we have had over 300 participants that have taken the step required to be licensed, in sured and certified for our industry. If you haven't already done so, please log in to the NPCAI website at and verify that all your information is correct. I mailed out letters to everyone with their username and password. Should you need to get the information again, please call or email me at npca@playground-contractors.org The NPCAI website is getting a lot of traffic and I want to make sure that your information is correct in order for viewers to be able to contact you. For this year, from January 2010 to De cember 18, 2010, we have had 2,921.242 hits on the website. So don't miss out on reaching potential customers via the Internet, which is the way of the future I look forward to a New Year and wish each and every one of you and your families a very Happy and Prosperous New Year.
Sylvia Salazar, NPCAI Executive Director npca@playground-contractors.org
December 2010
Features NPCAI Welcomes New Board Member, Dr. Joe Deutsch Of Imagination Play, Inc. NPCAI is pleased to announce a new Board Member to the Association. Below is his profile and please welcome him to the association. Dr. Joe Deutsch is a professor of Physical Educa tion and Recreation at North Dakota State University as well as the Master Designer for Imagi nation Play Inc. playgrounds. CPSI and NPPS "Safe" certified, Joe lives in Fargo, North Dakota with his wife Brandi and three boys, Andy (14), Jake (7), and Jack son (1).
Photos from the Year! Playground Construction School Nashville, TN March 2010
Joe studied playground safety and design while attain ing his Masters degree and teaching Elementary School Physical Education for six years. Joe has taught in the University ranks for six years now and completed his Ph.D. studying child development and wellness. As the Master Designer for Imagination Play Inc., Joe looks forward to sharing his expertise in children's play and physical development as well as playground design with the NPCAI board. He hopes to learn the "nuts and bolts" of play ground installation and looks forward to working with everyone involved with the NPCAI.
Creating A Secure Records Management Program Changes to technologies, laws and business structures have resulted in a perfect storm for businesses across the globe. Records management is no longer limited to the hard copy in a box in a warehouse. The explosion of discoverable content in wikis, blogs, social networks and cloud computing systems have added to records and information managers’ challenges managing email, PDAs, smartphones, shared drives, VOIP and intranets. In this article, the terms records and informa tion are used interchangeably because most of us still consider a record to be hardcopy and information to be electronic. It’s important to note that content is the driver for identifying the importance of a record or information, not its format. Format comes into consideration during preservation methodologies in order to ensure that an authentic and reliable record of the busi ness is available five, 10, 50 or 100 years from now, when it is needed. In any assessment of where the business stands, the classic questions need to be asked of the information used on a daily basis: 1. Why Was It Created?
What business function does this record serve? Are there similar records serving the same
function with different names? Is it still used for the original purpose or is simply created be-
cause it always has been?
2. Who Else Uses It?
Does it have a life after its initial use that is important to the company? What is the lifecycle of
the information? Is it audited? Is it used in litigation? Are others using this record in creating a
new record with a different purpose? For instance, does the Marketing Department use sales
figures from prior years for trending analyses?
3. Where Is It?
Are your employees storing records on their hard drives, shared drives or lap tops? How many
records repositories does your company own or co-own? Have you outsourced payroll or mar-
keting activities to third party vendors? Do you have a wiki? Do your employees blog? Can
customers purchase from your webpage? How many contracts for offsite storage do you
have? Where are backup tapes stored? How are virtual drives preserved?
4. What Is It Called?
Taxonomy is a methodology to define what records are named but it is a document itself that
needs constant revision by subject matter experts and communication to be effective. The
social networking trend to tag documents— a “folksonomy” — with multiple descriptors is a
December 2010
Features
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Creating a Secure Records Management Program (con’t) methodology which polls the intelligence of the group in identifying valuable resources for the company. The objective in either case is to be consistent in labeling so that others in future years can make use of the information and knowledge. 5. Who Owns It? When you want to dispose of obsolete information, the department that created it has a say in it disposition, but, so do the others who you’ve identified as having secondary and tertiary uses for the information. You need to identify who the owners of the information are in order to iden tify where to start the destruction process.
Photos from the Year! Playground Construction School Irvine, CA 2010
6. How Long Do We … Have To Keep It? There are a multitude of laws, regulations and statutes of limitations that dictate how long you must keep a record. Knowing this information at the time of creation and using the known mini mum retention time as part of the metadata will enable you to manage the disposition process much more effectively. ...Want To Keep It? It could very well be that your company wants to keep records longer than is legally or finan cially necessary for either operational reasons or corporate cultural knowledge. However, ob solete information can also lead future employees down the wrong path so a review of the usefulness of the information is as important as research into the legally mandated retention times. 7. How Much Is There?
A well-run records retention program enables you manage the growth of the storage method
required to house the information you use, whether electronic or hardcopy. The growth of data
should mirror the growth of the company and if it’s out of synch, you need to look at where
you’re out of balance. Are there duplicates being saved in multiple departments? Are data sets
being downloaded for manipulation because business applications are too slow? Are multiple
departments creating similar repositories of information?
8. Do We Need It To Continue In Business?
What do you need to resume business in the event of a disaster? Most electronic information
is backed up and available but is that executed contract with wet signatures imaged and
backed up? Is your original research and original art duplicated? How often? What are your
service level agreements, both internally and externally, for the preservation of mission critical
information?
9. Is The Information Audited?
Is the information that is audited in electronic form so that you can control what the auditor
sees — i.e. only the information that’s been requested? Have your employees been educated
on what constitutes a record and how to write for the record?
10. Does It Have Historical Value?
What do you want others to know about your business 50 or 100 or 200 years from now?
What artifacts, such as a founding charter are milestones in the formation and direction of your
company? Once you’ve identified what those are, preserve them with archival methods so that
they will be around 50 or 100 or 200 years from now.
Blueprint By State Blue Print for Becoming a District of Columbia Licensed Contractor - Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs Business Regulation Administration 941 North Capitol Street NE • Washington, DC 20012 Telephone: (202) 442-4311 E-mail: dcra@dc.gov Website: http://www.dcra.dc.gov/dcra/site/default.asp The Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs Business Regulation Administration indi cated that Commercial contractors must contact Office of Tax and Revenue at 202-727-4829 to register company and no general contractor’s license is required. Residential Contractors must contact Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs at 202-442-4400 to get a Home Improvement Contractors License and register company with Office of Tax and Revue at 202 727-4829.
December 2010
Building Your Business
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Master Your E-Mail (So It Doesn't Master You) Here are seven tricks to take control of your inbox and get more done. I've seen a few reports that say kids these days think e-mail is passĂŠ. That may be, but for people who have actual work to do, the inbox remains the center of the universe. And I have some tricks to help you take that universe in the palm of your hand and utterly dominate it -you know, just in case e-mail doesn't go the way of the telegraph anytime soon.
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Like many of you, I field hundreds of incoming e-mail messages each day. Processing them all -- from opening the inbox to making good decisions about which items to act on, which to file for reference, which to delete, and which to mark as spam -- takes more than just time and energy. It takes planning. Here are some useful tactics to add to your e-mail strategy so you can tame you inbox and work more productively. These tips aren't fancy -- they're basic. But even highly productive people stand to benefit from reviewing sound fundamentals for effective work habits. None of the ideas in this story are entirely my own, but I practice all of them as diligently as I can, and I've seen tremendous pro ductivity benefits from using them. 1. Zero your inbox.- When was the last time your inbox was completely empty? Most people haven't seen an uncluttered inbox since they set up their mail account. And that's a shame, because attaining the state known colloquially as "inbox zero" is one of the most liberating experiences a person can have in the Internet age.
Photos from the Year! NRPA Congress & Expo Minneapolis, MN 2010
It's a transient feeling, of course, because new messages are likely to arrive at any minute. But if you process everything in your inbox effectively and strategically, you can keep your list of pending messages down to a manageable size throughout the day and shut down your PC with the knowledge that, though new messages may come in overnight, you've addressed everything that came your way today. Many of the tips in this article are designed to help you achieve this blissful state of emptiness. But make no mistake: If you really want to master your mail fully, an empty inbox should be among your daily objectives. 2. Use folders sparingly. - E-mail folders can be useful for organizing old messages that you want to keep for reference, keeping your inbox clear of old clutter. Beware the urge to create more folders than you can consciously track from day to day. The purpose of folders is to make old messages easy to find, and the more folders you have, the less successfully they fulfill that purpose. When your folder list gets so long that you can't see all of them all in one glance, you're unlikely to maintain adequate awareness of what's in them, which ones require attention, and which are just storing aging detritus. So avoid having more folders than you need for tracking active projects. Use whatever folders you keep as "trusted buckets" that you check periodically during their useful life. For instance, I have an HR folder where I keep important documents and messages from our human resources department that I know I'll need to refer to later. I have an Invoices folder that holds new invoices that require my attention, and so on. I review the contents of these folders about once a week and remove any messages that have been adequately ad dressed or are no longer relevant. Every message worth keeping that doesn't go into one of my seven or eight active folders gets archived in Gmail, and is available via a quick search. Pulling up a three-year-old message from my boss about an important past project that we want to revisit or refer to usually takes me only about 20 seconds with a search. Hunting through dozens of cluttered folders in my sidebar might take 10 minutes or more -- and might not turn up the needed message at all. 3. Use filters sparingly. - Much of the e-mail I receive every day is merely informational -- the product of colleagues including me on threads about the status of projects that I need to be in the loop about but don't need to act on. Many of these go to e-mail groups that I'm subscribed to through our corporate mail server, and they often include status keywords (such as "got it") in the subject line. Setting up filters to spot the keywords that are least relevant to me -- or to gather messages from a specific group and sweep them out of my inbox to a trusted folder --
December 2010
Building Your Business Master Your E-Mail (So It Doesn't Master You) (con’t)
Photos from the Year! single, known location to review the messages in a particular category. NPCAI Social Event 2010
Filters are also good for gathering messages about an important project or event into one place for quick perusal. Because these incoming messages roll in at a fairly brisk clip, I've set up a filter top prevent them from reaching my inbox at all, instead diverting them to a special folder. I can peruse the contents of this folder once a day and respond to messages about the show without letting it dominate my work life for a month in advance. Several of my colleagues use folders and filters to capture messages from specific people into folders dedicated to just that sender. They swear by it, but they also seem to miss more than their fair share of messages. When I say "Hey, I didn't hear back from you about that e-mail I sent the other day," they invariably grab their mouse and click the folder with my name on it to go looking for the message. And sure enough, it's there, two days old, unread. Over filtering is a problem. 4. Delete first, read the surviving messages later. - Most of the e-mail you get is probably garbage. Not spam, necessarily, but useless to you and unworthy of your attention even for a moment. This is doubly likely to be true if you've let online retailers add you to their mailing lists while making a quick purchase, thereby ensuring an unending flow of daily marketing messages that you've signed up for but don't want. Instead of scrolling through your inbox at the start of the day, looking for important messages in deep drifts of junk, give yourself a little psychological relief by deleting the obviously worth less items first. It's astonishing how you can start the day with 80 messages in your inbox, and winnow it down to 15 within 5 minutes or so. Disposing of the clutter feels good, and it requires very little effort. When you're out and about, you can trim down the size of your inbox by using your phone's mail client to scout and delete unwanted messages. While mobile interfaces aren't really ideal for composing messages, they're great for scrolling quickly through your message list and weeding out the undesirables. 5. Take action immediately. - When you open an e-mail message, do something with it right away. If it's junk or if it just isn't worth keeping around for some other reason, delete it without further ado. If it's worth keeping but requires no further action, file it in a trusted folder or ar chive it so you can search for it later if you ever need to. Use the 2-minute rule: If a message requires action from you that you can complete in less than 2 minutes (such as typing a reply and hitting Send), do it at once. Then file, archive, or delete the message and move on.
Photos from the Board Members
If the message requires action from someone else, delegate it by hitting Forward and sending it to the person who needs to act on it. If you need to track the item to ensure that it gets done, file it into a folder labeled 'Waiting For' so you can follow up on it later if you need to. (It's a good idea to check the contents of your 'Waiting For' folder at the end of each day.) 6. Slow your roll. - Don't let mail become a constant distraction during your workday. When you need to concentrate on a project, the constant inflow of new messages can easily lure you away from the task at hand. But e-mail is not instant messaging, and there's generally very little expectation that you'll respond immediately to any given message. To give yourself uninterrupted blocks of time, set your mail client to refresh every 30 minutes or so, not every one to five minutes. If you use a Web-based client, such as Gmail, keep the email tab in your browser closed except when you think it's time to check it.
MaryLou Iverson, Roger Davis, Jamey Snider, & Karen Spears.
7. Use canned responses. - Most of us receive lots of e-mail messages about a few recurring topics. In dealing with many of them, you can save time by using boilerplate responses that contain such details as directions to your office, statements of policy, and information about important products. In Outlook, the Signature feature works in much the same way as Gmail's Canned Responses. Create a separate signature for each boilerplate message, and then select it from the Signa tures option when you need it.,. These are just a handful of many tactics to help you.
December 2010
Travels Around The Playground
Mark your Calendar Upcoming Play Industry Events & CPSI Courses
ASTM International Establishes A Presence On Social Media Networks
January 4-6, 2011 62nd Annual Northern New England Recreation & Parks Conference Location: Bartlett, NY Contact: http:// northernnewenglands.com/ default.aspx January 11-13, 2011 Tennessee Recreation & Parks Asso ciation National Playground Safety Course & Exam Location: Barlett, TN Contact: http://www.trpa.net/ displaycommon.cfm?an=3 January 11-13, 2011 Massachusetts Recreation and Parks Association Certified Playground Safety Course & Exam Location: Clarion Hotel & Conference Center, West Springfield, MA Contact: http://massrpa.org/cpsi.aspx January 12-13, 2011 Maryland Recreation & Parks Asso ciation National Playground Safety Institute Course Location: Landover, MD Contact: http://www.mrpanet.org January 17-19, 2011 Indiana Parks & Recreation Associa tion Playground Safety Inspector Course & Exam Location: Indianapolis, IN Contact: http://www.nrpa.org/ uploadedFiles/Learn_and_Grow/ Academic_Accreditation/npsi% 20brochure.pdf Jan. 19 – 21, 2011 Indiana Parks and Recreation Asso ciation State Conference Location: Indianapolis, IN Contact: http://www.inpra.org Jan. 23-26 - Sunday-Wednesday Alabama Recreation and Parks Asso ciation Conference Location: Tuscaloosa, AL Contact: www.arpaonline.org Jan. 30- Feb. 1, 2011 Louisiana Recreation and Park Asso ciation Annual Conference Location: New Iberia, LA Contact: www.lrpa.net
Find Standards Information on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube ASTM International has recently established a presence on some popular social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. These social media platforms provide another out let for users and stakeholders to receive the latest news about ASTM International and inter national standards activities. The official ASTM International Facebook page provides follow ers with the latest news about standards development within ASTM's 142 technical committees, as well as information about publications, meetings and more, with direct links to the ASTM website. Currently, more than 1,200 "fans" keep up with ASTM through Facebook. A separate Facebook page for ASTM stu dents features news about ASTM student memberships, awards, paper contests and information about standards in the classroom. More than 450 users currently follow @ ASTMIntl on Twitter. ASTM tweets include all of the latest headline news from ASTM with links to the ASTM site. ASTM also tweets important information about upcoming meet ings, training sessions, publications and other general ASTM news. As with Facebook, there is also a student presence on Twitter, with the username @ ASTMStudentFans. The ASTM channel on YouTube, www.youtube.com/ASTMIntl, features informational videos from ASTM, including membership and student videos, as well as specialized committee vid eos that highlight a particular ASTM technical committee or standards activity. Users can view several uploaded videos that cover a variety of standards development subjects and easily share the videos with colleagues and friends. ASTM's presence in social media is another way to reach an even broader audience of stake holders interested in the standardization process, and to share important standards develop ment news with the world.
Virtually Anything You Need At NPCAI At The Click Of A Mouse! It's www.playground-contractors.org our all-inclusive Play ground Contractors Association website! We can help with Playground Insurance Savings, Quali fied Contractors search, members listings, RFP’s for Play grounds, playgrounds news, playground state law, con struction forms and register for the Playgrounds Construc tion School. Plus many new features have just been added! Check us out at www.playground-contractors.org