By all accounts, O-NET is on track to meet the goals of its business plan.“We're progressing very well. We have a number of contractors working with us that are both installing conduit into the homes and also helping us with the installations in the actual premises,” said Bill Dunbar, president of O-NET.However, Dunbar did not provide specific details on just how well the fibre provider is doing.“I'm not going to comment on how well we're doing because I don't think that's really something that should be out in the public,” he said. “We certainly don't want our opposition to know how well we're doing or how badly we're doing.“Let's say I'm satisfied and I'm confident that we're going to achieve what we set out to do.”At a council meeting on June 23, Coun. Harvey Walsh reported back from an Olds Institute for Community and Regional Development technology committee meeting and said O-NET was still “getting up to speed” on reaching its key performance indicators (KPIs) in June.Garth Lucas, the town's director of corporate services, sits on the Olds Fibre Ltd. board but as a spectator. He said council considered putting him on the board in March but decided to maintain the separation between the town and the institute.Lucas said the list of KPIs is three pages long and encompasses sales, hookups, installations, collections status, accuracy of billing, disconnections, cancellations and the overall state of business operations.Up until the end of May, he described O-NET's performance as acceptable.“They weren't great. They weren't terrible but they weren't great,” Lucas said about the KPIs during the June 23 council meeting.“I would describe it as good. They didn't do anything stellar but they were acceptable so that means they were good,” he said in a later interview.One process he and O-NET management said O-NET needed to improve on was sales verification.After signing up a new customer, a sale cannot be finalized until O-NET visits the site to check if installation is physically possible.In the last two weeks of May, O-NET had 47 sales but 16 were not approved because they were pending a site visit, Lucas said during the meeting.According to Dunbar, the company has made adjustments to speed up the process.“We've actually have got about – I believe – there's about three or four people actually doing those,” Dunbar said. “It was one of the bottlenecks and we've redirected resources to accommodate that.”By the first two weeks of June, Lucas told council, “Everything was very encouraging.”During the meeting, Coun. Mary Anne Overwater asked what the consequences were if O-NET fails to meet the goals of its business plan.“If we're not meeting our KPIs, what are the repercussions on that?” Overwater said.The answer to that question is unclear.“I don't think there's repercussions. We just want to know how they're doing and the reasons if they're not meeting (KPIs)– and I think they've got good reasons. They're just getting up and going,” replied Walsh.He added he was confident the Internet, television and telephone service provider will reach its year-end goals.Both Lucas and Dunbar said they wouldn't speculate on the consequences of O-NET not meeting its targets.“They presented a business plan to council in March. Although they do not report to council, there is a connection there and if they don't meet the goals of the business plan … it's going to be just like any other business in town. If you don't perform, of course there's consequences,” Lucas said.“That would be determined at the time as to how badly they haven't met the goals of the business plan. How close they've come, how far they've missed. Is there a valid reason, is there not a valid reason. That would have to be addressed after the construction season is over.”“At best, they meet all their targets and everybody's happy,” he continued. “At worst, I'm not going to go there.”Lucas said the questions he asks during Olds Fibre Ltd. board meetings included why O-NET was behind in sales verification, meeting targets in sales and hook-ups and whether the company could meet its goals for the remaining year.He said the company should be able to do so.“They proved to me that they have policies and practices in place where, although nothing is guaranteed in this life, they are on the right track.”[email protected]
