Version 1.0

Adopted On 13 Oct 2019

1 Name

The name of the group shall be Zellis independent User Group; it’s short title shall be the ‘ZIUG’

2 Aims

The aims of the ZIUG shall be to:

2.1        Promote awareness and increase use of ResourceLink

2.2        Enable collaboration and promote user engagement

2.3        Encourage and promote an understanding of the ResourceLink product suite through exchange of information with others who are similarly engaged

2.4        Amplify the collective voice of the customers and work closely in partnership with the software provider

2.5        Share knowledge and skills through training, mentoring, and collaborating with the user group community through events

2.6        Increase the number of user group customers

2.7        Improve communication methods to the customer

2.8        Promote user group community events to increase level of participation and to provide a feedback mechanism into the product roadmap

3 Powers

To achieve its aims, the ZIUG may:

3.1        Raise funds and apply for, invite, obtain, collect, and receive contributions, grants, subscriptions, fees & otherwise

3.2        Open bank accounts

3.3        Organise user group community events

3.4        Work with other groups and exchange information

3.5        Do anything that is lawful which will help it to fulfil its aims

4 Membership

The ZIUG shall be proactive in seeking to ensure that it has a membership that represents the breadth of users of ResourceLink, and that the group’s activities reach the broadest spectrum of the current and future customer base. ZIUG members should expect to be active ambassadors to act as conduits to other relevant networks or groups.

Membership of the ZIUG shall be granted where the organisation has a licensed and a supported copy of the ResourceLink product by application, nomination, or invitation, approved and reviewed periodically by the ZIUG.

4.1        Membership is issued at organisation level to enable flexibility of attendance at various user group community events

4.2        ZIUG can offer trial membership (30 days) to other interested organisations

4.3        Membership shall be available to anyone without regard to gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, sexual preference, religion, or belief

4.4        Every individual member organisation shall have one vote at the AGM

4.5        Member organisations will be required to reconfirm membership annually, for clarity the subscription year is run from January to December

4.6        Membership to the ZIUG is not granted to individuals, only to organisations who are a paying member

4.7        A full list of member organisations and contact details will be held by the ZIUG. Reviewed annually with primary to confirm it is current and accurate

4.8        Attendance at all User Group community events, activities and access to the website will be restricted to registered members only. However, non-members, and associated third-party organisations may also attend at the discretion of the ZIUG.

4.9        Member organisations may resign at any time but will not be eligible for any subscription refunds which have been previously paid

4.10    The membership of any member organisation may be withheld or terminated for good reason by the ZIUG, but the member organisation has a right to be heard by the ZIUG before a final decision is made

4.11    The ZIUG Committee reserves the right to refuse membership to any applicant and to suspend or rescind membership of any member organisation, subject to that member’s right of appeal. Membership is not available to recruitment agencies, vendors, or independent consulting companies. Individual contractors may attend ZIUG events only if sponsored by an existing member organisation with which they are directly involved.

5      Management

5.1        The Officers of the ZIUG (otherwise known as the committee) shall be:

•          the Chair

•          the Secretary

•          the Treasurer 

•          the Committee Members

5.2        The ZIUG meetings will be held throughout the years as considered necessary to manage the group’s activities.

5.3        The quorum for the ZIUG committee meeting will be three committee members in attendance including the chairperson (or delegated chair) who also has the casting vote.

5.4        The ZIUG committee meetings will be delivered using either face to face and/or using technology to host virtual meetings

5.5        Minutes of ZIUG meetings shall be taken and published within 1 month of the meeting

5.6        The Chairperson shall chair all meetings of the ZIUG; where the chairperson is unavailable the secretary will assume the role of the vice chairperson

5.7        The ZIUG will consist of 3 – 7 member organisations covering across the different business sector e.g Public, Private and Higher & Further Education

5.8        Voting at the ZIUG meetings shall be by show of hands. If there is a tied vote, then the Chairperson shall have a casting vote

5.9        The ZIUG may by a one-third majority vote and for a good and proper reason to remove any committee member, if person has the right to be heard before a final decision is made

5.10    The ZIUG may appoint another member of the group as a committee member to fill a vacancy provided the maximum number is not exceeded

5.11    When a vacancy arises in the ZIUG the process for appointment to the ZIUG will be by way of nomination. Should there be more nominations than vacancies, the ZIUG will vote on which nominated members should join by considering a balanced sector representation. ZIUG may appoint another member of the group as a committee member to fill a vacancy provided the maximum number is not exceeded

 

6 Duties & Responsibilities of the Committee Officers

The following roles and responsibilities will be assumed by the committee officers.

6.1        The duties of the Chair are to:

• chair the ZIUG meetings
• represent the ZIUG as its figurehead and act as a spokesperson
• represent ZIUG at functions/meetings that the group has been invited to
• provide leadership in terms of direction and to set the vision
• ensure ZIUG functions properly and in accordance of the constitution
• responsible for global communication to the wider membership
  • deal with customer related inquiries and correspondence
  • responsible for organising dates, venues and subjects for group events, publishing schedules and agendas
  • be the primary contact for the vendor

6.2        The duties of the Secretary are to:

• arrange meetings, co-ordinate development of the agenda and circulate papers and relevant information, minute meetings
• perform the duties of the Chair, when unavailable

6.3        The duties of the Treasurer are to:

• supervise the financial affairs of the group
• keep proper accounts that show all monies collected and paid out by the group
• responsible for collecting and managing subscriptions
• maintaining the financial records and producing unaudited accounts for the general meetings

6.4        The duties of the Committee Member are to:

• deal with customer related inquiries and correspondence
• must attend and actively participate at events organised by ZIUG
• act as an active ambassador and a point of contact for the local regional customer base
• support peer group for relevant business sector and lead where required
• being the conduit for the customer and ZIUG
• may assist to triage posts submitted to a user group community online forum (when available)
• responsible for organising dates, venues and subjects for group events, publishing schedules and agendas
• liaising with members to collect, collate and communicate common business inquiries and/or correspondence
• Membership Management

7 Finance

7.1        The ZIUG financial year is January – December

7.2        Any money obtained by the ZIUG shall be used only for the ZIUG

7.3        Any bank accounts opened for the ZIUG shall be in the name of the ZIUG

7.4        No money shall be obtained by the ZIUG in the form of a loan or any other lending

7.5        Any BACs transfer shall be authorised by the Treasurer and one other nominated official

7.6        ZIUG must not incur financial commitment without the funds being able to support it

7.7        All member organisations shall pay the annual membership subscription at rates fixed by the ZIUG each year

7.8        No membership shall be considered valid until the full subscription has been paid, including any outstanding monies from previous years

7.9        The ZIUG will pay reasonable expenses incurred by the committee members, subject to obtaining prior written approval

7.10    The ZIUG/Vendor will pay reasonable expenses incurred for hosting ResourceLink Events

7.11    Any membership organisation hosting an event will be able to claim a £10 subsidy per delegate to cover for venue, refreshment or lunch costs providing prior notification is submitted to the chair/treasurer for approval prior to the event taking place and a list of delegates attending is provided after the event.

7.12    The ZIUG committee member delegate costs for the annual conference including overnight accommodation (excluding travel costs) will be paid for by the ZIUG

8 Alterations to the Constitution

No addition, alteration or deletion shall be made to any existing Article of the Constitution of the ZIUG except at a committee meeting, provided that the proposal has been circulated to all committee members at least 21 days prior to the meeting commencing and is placed on the agenda for that meeting.

Any proposal for alteration, addition or deletion to the existing Constitution requires the approval of a majority of at least one third of the members present at the meeting.

9  Interpretation of Constitution

The ZIUG shall have the sole power to determine any question that may arise concerning the interpretation of the Constitution of the ZIUG whether in full or in part. This will be decided at a committee meeting.

10  ResourceLink Events

These events are designed to allow larger groups of experienced and new users to hear about other customer’s real-life experiences of using ResourceLink and to provide an opportunity to network with fellow peers who are involved in similar business processes.

Events will include an overview of new functionality modules, customer case studies, examples of what can be done, but more importantly, provide information to allow users to consider how ResourceLink could be used to support operational efficiencies, automation and artificial and machine learning. Open channels for a two way feedback on innovation and product roadmap developments.

The purpose of these are to support and encourage the user community to be an active customer working together in partnership to further develop and innovate the ResourceLink product for mutual benefit to each other.

The frequency, format and structure will be agreed and defined by the ZIUG committee with options for either face to face and/or using technology assisted virtual meetings as deemed necessary to support the user community.

All ResourceLink events will be open to the ZIUG member organisations, however the ZIUG committee reserves the right to invite any non-member organisation, at their discretion to help increase future membership and in some cases, it should be noted there may be a cost for a registration fee to cover the running cost of the event. For clarity, non-members do not have voting powers.

The ZIUG together with the vendor will host a secure website to post notifications about events, activities, and meetings, provide a facility to download previous event presentations, promote the exchange of information and allow users to request assistance from other members.

The ZIUG/Vendor will disseminate information about events, activities, and requests for assistance to members via email, except where members have specifically requested not to receive email notifications.

Each delegate wishing to attend any of the Resourcelink events will be required to formally register their attendance, details of this will be available at the point the event is published.

Notification of events will be publicised at least 28 days in advance, however the ZIUG reserves the right to approve in exceptional circumstances for these to be less than 28 days.

For clarity on any voting processes at the formal events, these will be based on one vote per organisation.

11 Dissolution

The Group may be wound up at any time providing a proposal to dissolve the ZIUG shall be given in writing to all the member organisations and the proposal shall be considered at the ZIUG committee meeting, with 28 days’ notice having been given to members. To be effective, a formal resolution to dissolve the ZIUG must be carried by a vote of at least 50% of member organisations.

Upon the dissolution of the ZIUG, the property of the ZIUG shall be disposed of in a manner that ensures a fair price is obtained for each item. The proceeds, together with monetary assets of the ZIUG, shall be used to pay off debts owed by the ZIUG. The outstanding balance thereafter shall be donated to a charity chosen, by the final ZIUG committee meeting, from a list of three submitted to the members of the committee.