AZSITE
: Arizona's Cultural Resource Inventory
Approved 6 October 1999
Overview
With the AZSite Culural Resources Inventory on the brink of beginning a public evaluation and use phase, we need to plan for the long-term maintenance and development of the system. We previously decided to support the system through a mix of user fees, grants, and other sources. Of these, user fees most appropriately should go towards maintenance and improvement of the core components of the AZSite system. While we can make rough estimates of possible user fee income, based on data from ASM, this is a new service for the state and we need to be cautious in our budgetary planning based on fee income. Hence, we are proposing a plan to fund a series of core system components in order of priority as fees are collected.
Priorities for the Distribution of AZSite User Fees
AZSite funding priorities are initially divided into two categories: a suite of items that are essential to the successful operation of the AZSite Cultural Resources Inventory and a second group of items that are needed for the longer-term maintenance and improvement of the system--especially in terms of data quality and ease of user access. Within each category, items are ranked in order of funding importance. We propose that each item be funded only after the funding of all higher priority items. In this way we can ensure that available user fees go to support the most essential components, while maintaining the possibility of funding longer-term needs.
Annual Funding for Essential System Components (minimal needed to launch and operate the AZSite Cultural Resources Inventory on a day to day basis)
| First priority: System Administrator, to be funded initially at 0.5 FTE for up to $32,500 ($25,000 plus benefits) depending on skills and training. |
| Second priority: Up to $10,000 for hardware/software maintenance. The AZSite server and related software has priority over other uses (such as workstations) for this fund. |
| Third priority: Administrative and technical assistant to handle user accounts and fee income. Can also assist System Administrator in support roles. To be funded at 0.5 FTE for up to $16,250 ($12,500 plus benefits) depending on skills and training. |
| Fourth priority: Up to $10,000 to consortium member institutions on an as needed basis to support data entry, cleaning, and management. |
| Fifth priority: Data manager, to be funded initially at 0.5 FTE for up to $26,000 ($20,000 plus benefits) depending on skills an training |
Total annual funding needs for essential system components: $94,750
Annual Funding for Long-Term System Maintenance and Development
| First priority: Increase System Administrator to 1.0 FTE (up to $32,500) |
| Second priority: An additional $9,000 for hardware/software maintenance for non-server related needs (e.g., workstation or software upgrades). Initial hardware and software maintenance fund of $10,000 to be dedicated to AZSite server maintenance and upgrades. |
| Third priority: Three data entry and management, and user technical support positions to be funded at 2.5 FTE for up to $120,250 (Initial $10,000 would be included in this sum). |
Total additional long-term annual funding needs: $161,750
Total initial and long-term AZSite annual funding needs: $246,500
User Agreement Approval and Fee Collection Procedures
This is a brief overview of these procedures. More detailed information will accompany user agreement application forms and will be posted on the AZSite WWW site.
User agreements for access to the AZSite Cultural Resources Inventory will be made at the level of organizations or departments within organizations (e.g., CRM firms, archaeology divisions within CRM firms, government agencies, etc.) and signed by a responsible party within the organization. The organization or department receiving a user agreement is responsible for ensuring that the terms of the agreement are met, and for the proper use of any individual user accounts issued under that agreement. Sanctions for violating the terms of the user agreement (e.g., suspension or revocation of the agreement) will be made at the level of the organization or department signing the agreement.
Potential users will complete a user agreement and send it to the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office for review and approval. Upon approval, relevant user fees will be sent to the AZSite System Administrator's office at Arizona State University. After fee payment has been received, the appropriate user accounts will be activated. Funding will dispersed to other AZSite Consoritum member institutions according to the priorities outlined above.
Under the current proposed plan, user fees will be paid on an annual basis. A proposed fee structure is outlined below. These fees may be adjusted depending on the AZSite Consortium's success in obtaining additional funding and the costs of ensuring data quality and usability.
User Fee Structure
The following fee structure will take affect 1 January 2002
This fee structure takes into account the logistics of billing and managing user accounts along with estimated system costs. We currently favor a set of flat annual fees for access by users for an unlimited time within the year. To help maintain security and discourage individuals sharing user accounts (prohibited by the user agreement), no single user accounts will be offered. Our goal is to keep user fees as low as possible while providing a high quality, secure service; we will structure our fees according.
User category |
accounts per user agreement |
estimated number in category* |
annual fee |
monthly fee per user |
Projected annual income |
| Small users | 3 |
38 |
$750 |
$21 |
$28,500 |
| Medium users | 9 |
6 |
$1,800 |
$17 |
$10,800 |
| Large users | unlimited |
17 |
$3,000 |
$13 |
$51,000 |
| Total fees | 61 |
$90,300 |
*User estimates are based on data from Arizona State Museum.
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