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Introduction

The BCS branches have grown up historically, initially the result of individual effort, achievement and commitment.

Most of the membership of the BCS is in the BCS branches, most of the power and money is with BCS HQ.

Part of the BCS therefore consists of a voluntary and elected membership and part consists of a commercial business organisation committed to being profitable but also with some charitable status.

Straddling these two parts is a third part which is a learned society, a recognised authority capable of bestowing recognition on the achievements of others in all areas of IT practice.

To promote democratic accountability, the membership part elects branch officers to represent the wishes and aims of the local membership to the branches management committee (elected from these branch officers) who work with Council and HQ to come to agreements on policy and planning decisions.

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Development

The membership is mostly interested in the benefits of belonging to the BCS

HQ is mostly concerned with increasing recruitment (creating a snowball effect), selling products and benefits (discounted to members), establishing in the perception of the IT community the value of BCS membership, BCS accreditation, BCS recommendations and BCS products and services.

The funding for branches and all departments of the BCS must be available for scrutiny so that judgements on value for money can be properly made. This must not only be a one-way process, i.e. this is what we spent and that's it. What we need in a webby world is feedback from the membership, the chance to ask questions, justification for decisions made and accountability of those that make them, the opportunity for unpopular or badly judged decisions to be reversed.

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Conclusion

There should be a creative conflict between the commercial aims and aspirations of the BCS HQ and the wishes and aims of the BCS branches. This should be achieved by democratic interaction and proper debate. SL: This one sentence sums up the role of the BOG.

The branch membership through their elected representatives need to be in control of their own local projects and also have a powerful influence on the direction taken by the BCS nationally.

The membership is what keeps the BCS alive. The membership represented by the branch committees must be able to contribute to the future direction of the BCS.

There is no point in the BCS becoming an online society if it is just to make use of current technology to hand out information after the deed. The online society means all its members are potential players.

The key to all this is the democratic allocation of funds, which will stem from recognition of the foregoing. (SL: Is there a problem with our funding?)

(SL: Generally, what is the vision? and who's vision is it?)

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Sources

Annual Report BRANCH Congress BCS Site Council Papers
Computer Bulletin
Learned Society for the21st Century Professionalism in IT, Grand
Challenges in IT
Aims/activities of BCS: Charter? Relationships with Communities –
Social Industrial and Professional and Political Central government
and Local Government Professionalism Learned Society
ECDL, ISEB, ICDL Professional products BCS Exams

Aims/activities of Branches

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Issues

This section has been dealt with see the Guilford Position paper on branch Evolution published in 2002

• What Members want
• What Members get 
• What The Society wants the Branches to do
• What Branches want the Society to do
• Consultation with Branches
• Communication with Branches
• Briefing of Branches on what HQ/BCS want to do and why and what they are doing and why
• Delivery of quality services to Branches/members
• Consider expenditure of other Boards and sections and compare that with Branches and justify those activities to ordinary members.
• What performance criteria are there for other activities Branches can deliver in cooperation with HQ BCS.products and services to members future members organisations and communities.
• Branches can also do marketing and market research.
• About the BCS
• As the industry body for IT professionals, and a Chartered Engineering Institution for Information Technology (IT), the BCS
• exists to provide service and support to the IT community, including IT practitioners and employers of IT practitioners.
• The Society also acts to generate public awareness and appreciation of the concomitant social and economic benefits IT.
• The BCS was formed to establish and maintain appropriate standards of education and experience for persons engaged in the profession or practice of IT and Computing or those entering upon courses of study in Computing and allied subjects

Review BCS Structure Diagram from web and site map

BCS Vision mission and values

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