1. Deadline for ending RI support of software - 31 December 2008
Based on feedback from clubs and districts, RI will continue to provide support to users of the standalone versions of the software until the end of the calendar year, 31 December 2008. This means that Rotarians will still be able to download the software from Rotary's Web site, purchase it from the catalog, and discuss issues on the CAS/DAS forum on Member Access until 31 December 2008.

2. Deadline for online users of RI-CAS/RI-DAS - 30 September 2008
CAS-DAS online will no longer be available after September 30th. All users of this system must obtain their data and transition to another product or the desktop version by this date. Rotary International will not be able to supply users with copies of their database or make them available after 30 September . For assistance with this process, please contact Hardik Patel directly (RI-CAS: cats@rotary.org; RI-DAS: dats@rotary.org).

3. Other software alternatives to RI-CAS and RI-DAS
While RI cannot endorse or recommend another product, we have posted a list of several Web sites offering club administrative software tools for Rotarians. This list is not exhaustive, but can be used as a starting point to assist Rotarians in locating alternate software.

4. E-mail support by private contractor
Hardik Patel, the software support expert directly responsible for providing support to Rotarians with RI-CAS and RI-DAS questions for the last eight years, has agreed to continue to provide software support on an annual fee basis to Rotarians who wish to continue to use this software.

Hardik has made a commitment to RI to continue supporting clubs and districts that provide a minimal annual subscription rate (approximately $US120 per year). No new updates or releases to the RI-CAS or RI-DAS software will be available under this support.

This support option allows Rotarians to continue to use the software with the knowledge that assistance will still be available. Additionally, this support may be useful to Rotary clubs that would like to take their time and carefully consider other options before transitioning to different software.

Rotary International will not be involved in providing this support and thus will not be responsible for the quality of service, claims against, or fees related to this direct support after 31 December 2008.

For more information, please contact Hardik directly at patelhq@gmail.com.

5. Archiving RI-CAS and RI-DAS knowledge-base
All of the information in the CAS and DAS User Forum will be converted to a PDF file on Rotary's Web site so that Rotarians can search it for information. No new questions or changes will be permitted to this file after 31 December 2008.

6. Synchronization of Rotary club data with RI data
Rotary International would like to provide the ability to synchronize data between the club and RI, but there are a number of issues that need to be resolved first. Protecting the privacy of our members' data is a key concern and worldwide privacy laws are complex. Many such legal questions would need to be addressed prior to deciding to provide this type of data interchange. RI is currently reviewing these issues and will only be able to provide synchronization functionality in the future if it complies with privacy laws worldwide.

7. Other alternative paths suggested by users

• Providing RI-CAS and RI-DAS source code
  • Unfortunately, RI does not have working source code for this software. In software technical terms, this specifically means that the source code will not compile (generate an .exe file).
  • In order for Rotary to release the source code, it would need to spend thousands of dollars to fix the source code and to verify that the code will generate an .exe file that does exactly what the existing RI-CAS and RI-DAS software does today. In addition, for protection of RI's trademarks, all references to Rotary would have to be removed from the code, further increasing the costs to update the source code before its release.
  • Finally, perhaps the most compelling reason that this option is not viable is that the underlying software technology is over eight years old. In the software industry, this is considered completely out of date. Current trends for administrative software have developed in a completely different direction and use different approaches (e.g. online access) to provide this functionality.
• Selling the software to a district, not-for-profit entity, or user group
  • Given the current condition of the source code, it would be a massive undertaking for another group to take the code as is and clean it up as outlined above. Rotary International is also very concerned about not making the current situation for users worse by providing a sense of false hope. RI was unable to fully support this software or to promote its widespread use. Expecting another group to be able to change this situation may be unrealistic.

Questions?

Read the RI-CAS/RI-DAS retirement FAQ.

Contact your Club and District Support representative to get your questions answered.