New Feature of the Committee Home Pages Serves Member Needs

ASTM technical committee members now have fast access to committee and personal ASTM account information. Staff manager Len Morrissey explains how to connect.

Recently, ASTM introduced a new area to the ASTM Web site (www.astm.org) for its membership. The new Members Only section gives technical committee members greater and faster access to information relevant to their technical committee activities. The Members Only sections are password-protected areas that currently contain two main features: technical committee meeting minutes and roster information for members listed by subcommittee.

Minutes on the Web

Beginning with the technical committee meetings held in January 2000, ASTM has changed the way minutes are distributed. Meeting minutes are now posted on the Members Only section of the technical committee home pages. Committee members will be informed of the minutes’ availability instantly by e-mail. By shifting from hard-copy to electronic distribution, ASTM will be able to provide members with meeting minutes shortly after they are received at ASTM Headquarters. Additionally, members now have the ability to access and view only the minutes that cover their topics of interest by searching and viewing the entire documents or portions thereof.

These documents are posted in a downloadable, read-only, PDF format. Once the minutes are posted, members can access them by entering their member number and password in the secured section of the technical committee home pages, selecting the appropriate file, and using Adobe Acrobat Reader to view, print and search. Minutes that contain one or multiple attachments will be posted in a self-executable (.exe) file that requires no additional software to read.

Members without e-mail will be notified that their minutes are available on the ASTM Web site with a special flyer inserted into their main committee ballot package. For members who do not have access to the World Wide Web, this flyer also reminds them to simply contact their staff manager to obtain the hard copy documents they require.

Rosters

In addition to adding the technical committee meeting minutes to the ASTM home page, ASTM has now posted the contact information of all committee members in the password-protected Members Only section of each technical committee home page. Once access is granted to the Members’ Only area, members can view their colleagues’ addresses, phone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses. The e-mail address is hyperlinked for convenient, instant communication.

This new feature also gives members the ability to check and update their own contact information online. To do this, members can find their names on the appropriate main or subcommittee listing, click the hyperlink, and view the address information on record at ASTM Headquarters. If the information is incorrect or needs to be updated, members can select the Update Information link and correct any fields necessary. This updated information is then sent directly to the ASTM Customer Service department and will be changed across all committee affiliations and throughout all ASTM databases. Corrected information will be reflected on the roster area of the Members Only section when the site is refreshed (approximately seven to 10 days).

The addition of the Members Only section to the technical committee home pages represents a significant step toward ASTM’s goal of a digital path for standards development. To ensure the effectiveness of the features mentioned above and future enhancements such as online balloting, it is important that ASTM have your correct e-mail address in our records. Don’t miss out on any of the new tools offered to help expedite your standards development efforts. Be sure to check your contact information on the ASTM Web site to make sure that your e-mail address is registered. Please contact your staff manager with questions or comments or if you need further information about the Members Only sections or the technical committee home pages. //