PolyU AAO pitch in one page

(Full reasoning is in FINAL-PLAN.md. This is the 90-second version.)

Who

PolyU Alumni Affairs Office (AAO). Contact: Robbie, their IT manager. He can say yes.

Robbie's two real problems

1. Alumni records go stale. They asked for a "LinkedIn refresh" because career info is drifting.
2. Event data does not return to AMS. Sign-ups run through CEMS plus forms and vendor tools. What alumni do there does not reliably land back in the alumni record.

Commercial move

• Ask for: a paid ~6-week discovery. Map their systems and prove one working path for keeping the alumni record current across LinkedIn and events. Then price the build and host the integration.
• Avoid opening with: a new app or a rip-and-replace of their event/QR/ticketing setup. They already have those. Lead with replacement and Robbie has an easy no.

The one-line story

"One alumnus, one record." Today one person signs up in 3 different systems and ends up as 3 disconnected entries. We make each of those resolve to the right person in the alumni database (AMS).

Where it runs

A self-hosted box in the AAO office. Data stays on campus, which makes the compliance discussion easier. Cloudflare in front, admin over Tailscale; no open ports. Robbie already OK'd this.

The wedge: "Pilot Zero: Parking"

Right now alumni book campus parking through a Microsoft form, retyping their ID, name, phone, email, and car plate every time. We give them a login that auto-fills 7 of the 10 fields, so booking drops to 3 taps: date + passengers + purpose. It is visible and well clear of core systems. It proves "one record, filled in everywhere" at the smallest possible size. That is the cleanest route into the paid discovery.

LinkedIn, without fantasy

Most LinkedIn products legally cannot feed individual records into a database. The reliable part is asking alumni to confirm their own info, pre-filled so it is one tap. LinkedIn's newer "Verified on LinkedIn" API might help. We test it in discovery before anyone promises it in the room.

The events plan

Keep their event system (CEMS) as-is. Make every event source return a standard "who registered / who actually attended" record to the alumni database. Coexist with the incumbent vendor (art-mate). Any future replacement has to be earned by numbers.

Money

Open at ~HK$188k for the discovery (verify against our real cost first; this number is not cost-checked yet). Expect a competitive quote process (RFQ). The bigger build gets priced later.

The 3 risks to watch

1. Do not overclaim what our own platform (cabi) can do. Verify what actually runs before we say it.
2. Will they pay us, or ask internal IT to build it? The parking proof + on-prem + Robbie's backing help, but procurement may still drag it sideways.
3. The budget may sit with the Development/Foundation (donations) team rather than AAO. Find out who actually pays.

Next step

1. Demo the parking auto-fill to Robbie.
2. Book a 90-minute working session to trace one real event sign-up through their systems.