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Fundraise and Identify Gear and Resource requirements

Page history last edited by rsb 13 years ago

 

After speaking with the two MFIs we were visiting, it was clear that they each had network wiring in their HQ, but were not using it.  The wiring had most likely been put in place by a local IT person or NGO and possibly fallen into disrepair.

 

So I ran down what data I had on requirements and restrictions:

 

Both of the MFIs wanted a data network so that they could share internet access, share printers, backup and share files, and access their microfinance software from more than one machine.  Of course, both wired and wireless access were desired.  They also needed some help improving security. 

 

The situation for a company without a data network is that each one of those functions (printing, accessing the internet) can only be carried out by one person at a time, if it can be done at all.  In a situation like this, long queues will regularly develop of people waiting on a single resource.

 

In addition, there was strong interest in getting some web development done.

 

The only real difference between the two MFIs for my purposes was that ARD was a bigger company had more personell and a better internet connection as they were in Freetown.  In Freetown it is possible to obtain wireless broadband internet access that can be shared with the entire company.  In the provinces, where SMT is, this is not possible - much slower devices designed for use with only one computer are the only affordable access available - these devices take the form of small CDMA or GSM modems - little USB devices that one plugs into a laptop, and accesses the internet through something like a cell phone network.

 

Both companies were in a part of the world with 100F+ heat on a regular basis, very high humidity, little running water and intermittent electricity with plenty of power spikes.  They ran on tight budgets and could not afford to invest money in another failed network installation, nor waste the time of their personell.

 

Both companies operated on low margins and had to make maximal utilization of their human resources.

 

Knowing what I now knew about the needs and history of these two businesses, and their environmental limitations, I treated this as a business continuity problem.

 

They needed backups, documentation, training, and a way to train others - all business continuity.

Training a local IT guy would not work.

Leaving a network, however solid, in place with no one to maintain it would not work.

I had no idea if I could make anything work at all during my trip, in fact, it seemed unlikely.

Their wiring, computers, and network gear were likely to fail often, especially hard drives and cpus/memory in all equipment.

Maintaining even the simplest network would be a huge burden on these busy people.

 

At this point, I was able to make a number of decisions - limit the scope and the expectations - focus on training:

 

1) I would not risk any of these  MFIs money and as little of their time as possible on my crazy idea of helping them - I would raise funds through friends and family for the gear I needed to bring, and strictly limit my time at the MFIs to one week total for both.

2) I would let them know that we needed to train more than one person on every task, and to be prepared for two full days of training with everyone that could be spared.

3) I would start work with the simplest, highest impact systems, to prove value as quickly as possible.

4) I would set up wikis for each company to document their systems, and come up with as many other documentation systems as I could.

5) I would use a common set of gear for both MFIs and find some way to get some common documentation going.

6) I would have to find some magically reliable, cheap gear.

7) this whole thing was kind of sketch and probably wasn't going to work, so I was just going to kamikaze the project and hope for the best as usual 

8) I definitely needed help

 

So I gathered some gear:

 

I had a budget of 1000USD.  I rooted through the message boards, forums, store reviews, and IRC to find the scoop on the simplest most reliable small-business-grade gear I could.  I picked up routers (including one that would work with usb GSM modems), access points, raid nas systems, tools, wire, etc.  Basically every replacement part we needed to build a network from scratch, should everything be non functional when we arrived.  

 

And a team:

 

I told the MFIs what the final dates I could make it on were, then I lucked out as Noah Ballmer, all around renaissance man, agreed to join me.  The IQ of the team tripled that day.  Also, Noah is a much better musician than me and wanted to bring a ukulele as well, which made things a lot more fun.  Noah and I had been talking about doing this together for a month or two, but it wasn't until the dates became solid that we could make a firm agreement to pair up and get something done.

 

And we tested the stuff:

 

Once I had one set of gear in-house, we put it all on the workbench, tested the gear with some laptops, took pictures of it, let the MFIs know what we were bringing, and started brainstorming as to how to document the gear and  make sure it worked for as long as possible.  A good bit of the gear was rejected on quality metrics or as way too hard to configure or debug.  We asked and PBworks kindly donated wikis for our three partners in Salone - Awesome.  We also bought a box of 8 1/2" laminating sheets, surge protectors, power converters and adaptors, and got some kick-ass gifts donated by UnixSurplus.

 

Then we kind of stopped working on this the last couple weeks of Dec.  Delivering a good design is better than a crappy installation in this case, but staff trips can't be allowed to interfere with our work at Kiva too much, so we had very little design stamina.

 

Next: Friday - leave sfo

 

 

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