The Internet plays a vital role in sustaining the PTC/USER community. Although our membership is spread across six continents and works in a multitude of industries, electronic communications help us transcend the enormous geographical distances to exchange information, solve problems, and improve productivity.

Here are some of the important new capabilities that members.ptcuser.org now offers.

• Database publishing. Thanks to new relational database technology, the PTC/USER web site now dynamically updates member information. This critical upgrade serves to move the power to publish out of the hands of a privileged few and extends it across the entire PTC/USER community. Individuals can now revise event and group information instantly, giving all community members timely access to news.

In addition, we have centralized and consolidated our member database, replacing multiple redundant, obsolete, inaccessible and frequently inaccurate systems. With this change, individuals have complete control over access to their contact information. For example, Technical Committee members may choose to let other committee members see their mailing addresses and phone numbers, but only make their e-mail addresses available to the wider community. Members can even block all access to their contact information, if desired.

• Communications. For our e-mail exploders, the site now uses Lyris 7.0—a major upgrade of our mailing list management software. Online chat rooms are a new feature, where members can now participate in real-time discussions of Pro/ENGINEER®, Pro/INTRALINK®, Windchill® and other PTC software-related issues.

• Collaboration. PTC/USER Technical Committees and Regional User Groups now have the benefit of enhanced collaboration services. Through document management services, TCs and RUGs can disseminate important information to their members, as well as establish workflows for in-process documents such as white papers. They can also schedule events on the PTC/USER master calendar, manage member registration for their groups, and conduct online surveys to gather feedback. Each group and committee also controls its own web site home page and can edit the information using a forms-based tool rather than HTML.

A sample screen from the new members web site.

During phase two of this project, we will add other advanced features that build upon this new foundation. Some potential areas for expansion include an online knowledge base, overhaul of the discussion system, and training services. We welcome your feedback and suggestions for other improvements you would like to see at members.ptcuser.org.

Though much has changed over the years, one thing that’s still the same is the price. PTC/USER membership remains free of charge, thanks to the support of members and our Industry Partners for activities such as the PTC/USER World Event. It’s hard to imagine any free service today that can make such a different in your day-to-day work, let alone one that has the extensive resources offered by ptcuser.org.

If you haven’t registered as a member, you’re really losing out, so don’t wait—join PTC/USER today. We hope to see you online soon.

Rick Snider is Executive Director of PTC/USER and is also the webmaster for the ptcuser.org site. He can be reached at rick@ptcuser.org.