Early 1970s
The Club’s membership list was kept on paper cards.
About 1975
The first activity statistics were compiled manually by Terry Jordan.
About 1982
Membership Secretary Alan Vidler entered the membership data into his new Osborne PC, with 64K of memory, running dBase II. The first and main purpose of the membership database was to produce printed mailing labels for the Club newsletter It.
About 1985
Alan Vidler moved the membership database to his new Taiwanese PC, with 1MB of memory, running dBase II.
About 1989
Alan Vidler added activity statistics to the membership database. From looking through past copies of Its, he also entered retrospective activity data. The activity statistics covered walks and leaders; participants were not included.
About 1993
Alan Vidler added participation statistics to the activity statistics for about 6 months. He then, as directed by the Committee, deleted all the participation statistics to avoid what the Committee considered to be an invasion of members’ privacy.
March 1996
The Club’s first website was launched, at http://www.pcug.org.au/amikkels/cbcprog.html. It was designed by Allan Mikkelsen.
June 2001
Electronic versions of the newsletter became available for download from the site, in Adobe Acrobat version 4 PDF format. The membership application form was also available for downloading. The website was split into public pages and password-protected pages for members.
April 2004
The domain name www.canberrabushwalkingclub.org.au was registered. The website was migrated from Allan Mikkelsen’s personal site to the new domain name. By this stage, the Club had established a ‘Webmaster’ position filled by Allan.
October 2009
The domain name was changed to canberrabushwalkingclub.org (i.e. the .au was removed). This may have been due to the cheaper domain registration prices for non-.au domains, though the Club continues to maintain both registrations.
February 2010
Discussions commenced between the then Web manager, Quentin Moran, and Club member David Briese on a redesign of the website. David prepared a redesign, adding a contemporary face, while keeping some familiar elements (navigation button arrangement and colours) to make the transition easier.
April 2010
The redesigned website was launched.
August 2010
The Web Manager position became a Committee position. David Briese took over the position from Quentin Moran. Over the next few years, David made many improvements to the website, including the addition of a photo gallery, a newsletter archive and search function, and a new way of incorporating the monthly walks program (DOC file) into HTML format.
May 2011
After researching a number of membership packages, David Briese selected AMember, and implemented it with adaptations for the Club. The new method of handling applications, renewals and payments saved both the Membership Secretary and the Treasurer considerable amounts of work.
2014
The Club Committee investigated options for a new website that would support online booking and other functions and be mobile-friendly. A statement of requirements was prepared.
July 2015
After considering offers from over 20 companies, the Club selected Zealous System, an Indian software development company, to develop the software.
2015-2017
The following Club members helped with testing or advice on the software project: Christine Allen, Mike Baker, Jeff Bennetts, David Briese, Maude Caruana, Robin Cayzer, Julie Anne Clegg, Karen Cody, Irene Davies, Michael de Raadt, Janet Duncan, Roger Edwards, John Evans, Jocelyn Fitzhardinge, Doug Gordon, Brett Goyne, David Hatherly, Meredith Hatherly, Meg McKone, Andrew Meers, Quentin Moran, Lisa Quilter, Terrylea Reynolds, Llewellyn Sibley, Phillip Starr, Jenny Stewart, Keith Thomas, Lorraine Tomlins, Alan Vidler, David Williams, Yvonne Wisbey, Gabrielle Wright, Ian Wright and Tim Wright.
Development, Implementation and Testing was coordinated by Linda Groom.
August 2016
David Briese resigned as Web Manager and was replaced by Andrew Meers.
3 November 2017
The new software was implemented. The software was developed by Shailesh Bist (project manager), Sanjay Vaghela (technical leader), Suman Rathore (quality control), Jay Patel (programmer) and other Zealous staff.
July 2020
After several years successfully operating with the Zealous software, a number of changes were needed. It proved difficult to get skilled developers willing to take on this work but eventually a small business, Thought Foundry, agreed. Their developer, Jeremy Rojo, started the first phase of the work in August 2020. A full audit of the system was undertaken and a copy established in a development environment. During this process, many issues were discovered and after considering these and the implications of a no longer supported software platform, Thought Foundry proposed to the Executive Committee that a completely new system be developed. Thought Foundry proposed to build an equivalent system for the same fee as set for the maintenance work. The committee agreed to this proposal and work commenced in June 2021.
The new system aimed to provide similar functionality to the existing system but to be easier to use, more cost-effective and easier to maintain. The design was significantly different to the former Zealous system and uses different approaches to providing guests, members, leaders and Committee Members easy access to the Club’s activities.
September 2021
The new system started to take shape and the committee were kept informed of progress. During this process, Jeremy considered the potential for the system to be used by other clubs. This eventually led to him proposing to operate the system on behalf of the Club and to charge an appropriate subscription fee for the service. The committee considered this proposal and agreed in principle to the approach subject to the details of a license agreement.
December 2021
The new system gains a name, Bilby. Work progresses and some initial testing is undertaken by the Web Manager.
January – June 2022
Existing CBC data is migrated into Bilby and formal testing commences. The test results are reviewed and used to further enhance the design and features of Bilby. There is a strong focus on being able to configure Bilby to allow it to more closely align with the Club’s needs. This should allow easier adaptability for other clubs that may choose Bilby.
July 2022
Usability testing is conducted with 4 Club members and 1 non-member. The findings lead to further system refinement and a final pre-release beta version is ready by the beginning of August. This is used as the basis for updating the Club’s website information and preparing answers to the range of potential questions by Club members.
October 2022
Final data migration and validation is completed in mid-October and access to the existing system is frozen. The Bilby system went live on 17 October 2022.