Our Team Members

I am responsible for the delivery of Beacon for the Trust. I work closely with Frank, Roy and the software company we use, to support the ongoing developments of the system and to ensure that it meets user needs.

I manage the Beacon team. My role is to ensure that Beacon is reliable and available and that the whole Beacon team is coordinated and working towards a common goal.

I lead the On Going Help Team that provides help and assistance to all u3a Beacon users across the UK with “How do I…?” and Technical issues submitted to the Beacon Help Desk.  

As Technical Liaison, I manage the technical relationship with the independent software development company to ensure Beacon’s software and hardware platform delivers a Beacon service that is available, reliable and meets user needs.

I manage the team of supporters and migrators who work with individual u3as from when they start to evaluate Beacon through to going live.

Specifications document changes and enhancements to Beacon that are developed by our contractors Siftware.

Assist with the upkeep of the Beacon website.

The Communications Lead is responsible for Beacon-related external communications, including production of the bi-monthly newsletter – Beacon News and overseeing the work of the Website Administrators. Also, monitoring the effectiveness of communications and reporting back to the Coordination Team. The Communications Lead is a member of the Coordination Team.

Responsible for user acceptance testing the enhancements and other developments that the software developers have undertaken.  These include new features that will enhance the u3a experience and make Beacon easier to use for both the officers and members of the u3a.   We work closely with the Enhancement team to ensure that the specifications are developed and delivered to meet the user requirements.

As Forum Moderator I am prepared to enforce good manners on the u3a Support Forum; I carry out a simple check of the bona fides of those registering with the Forum before activating their membership of the Forum (which allows them to post messages on the Forum); I send out a digest of the week’s posts on the Forum to members of the Beacon Team and to Admins of those u3as using Beacon; finally I assist those who have forgotten their user name or password for the Forum and can’t make the automated password reset facility behave itself. My reward is to read every message posted on the Forum and judge how well Beacon is meeting the needs of Beacon users.

I coordinate the Beacon Enhancement Team which reviews and prioritises all the change requests from individual u3as. The Enhancement Team liaise with the developers to ensure that all changes are developed and tested before being implemented. We also ensure that all the documentation is kept up to date.

Marian looks after the administration for the Team; which includes making sure that people joining the team have all the information they need, have signed the appropriate forms and arrange for their email account to be set up. Their names are entered into our database and added to the relevant Team on Microsoft Teams, she also ensures that when people leave their email accounts are deleted and their names are removed from the Team list on Microsoft Teams and the database.