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Knowledge Sharing Innovations in the Natural Resources Community: A toolkit for community-based project teams

Abstract

Preface

Chapter 1 - Introduction

Chapter 2 - Assessing impact

Chapter 3 - Environmental Complexity

Chapter 4 – Reducing the risk of failure

Chapter 5 - Critical Success Factors

Chapter 6 - Advice

Appendix A: Project Descriptions

Appendix B: Project characteristics

Appendix C: Project Highlights

Appendix D: Teleconference Participants

Appendix E: Reflection Workshop Participants
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Chapter 5 - Critical Success Factors

Create a sustainable model

Creating a sustainable model had two aspects, according to the project teams. The first was to design a resource that was in and of itself sustainable, and the second was to create capability within the necessary organizations to ensure ongoing investment in and support of the new resource.

Creating a sustainable resource required that core project team members as well as partners in the project understood the goals of the project and the needs and capabilities of users. It was also critical to have an understanding of those with a stake in the success of the project. Making Smart IT Choices provided tools and techniques to build this understanding. In particular, building a model of the solutions allowed project teams to understand fully what would be necessary to sustain the new resources into the future.


Invest in sustainability from the beginning
Planning for the future beyond the duration of this grant was very important to the Shelburne Farms team as they realized the potential value of the Web site being built. To ensure that this resource would remain accessible in the future, the organization decided to include it as a regular budget item; thus making sure that funding would be available for continuous maintenance. Consideration of the project’s future also drove a decision to delay the design of the Web site until the hiring of an IT manager for Shelburne Farms. Although it slightly delayed the project plan, the project lead knew that having input from the person responsible for managing the Web site in the long run was invaluable and potentially crucial for the Web site’s continued existence.
Promise of Place

Many of the grantees found that planning for the long term was the most important thing they did in their project. It was also one of the most significant challenges for many of the eight projects as securing funding for maintenance of an ongoing project is more difficult than finding seed money for new projects.

One suggestion from the Augusta Springs team was to keep the core team connected and involved, even after launch of the knowledge-sharing system. Seek their input on ongoing questions of resources for maintenance and more importantly for enhancement. If there is interest in continued expansion of the program, there will be a specific interest in sustainability of the infrastructure. Another suggestion was to learn how to reassess priorities among specific modules or programs. If one piece of the program does not seem to connect with users anymore, remove it, and use those assets to create new resources.


Models of Solutions
When the stakes are high and uncertainties are great, it pays to build a model of your idea and test it in any and every way to you can. By modeling a process, a system, or a program before it is designed and implement, you can more clearly think through how it will impact overall organizational processes and performance. When the idea works in the modeling state you can be more confident that it will succeed in real operation. That is why building models and testing them thoroughly before getting to the final design and implementation phase is an effective way to hold down development costs and minimize risks.
Source: Making Smart IT Choices

Tips
  • Assess the alignment of project goals and potential value of the project to involved organizations to determine whether continuous financing can be argued to be in the organizations’ interest.
  • Make the project future part of the initial planning stages.
  • Develop detailed and concrete evaluation techniques to capture the overall value to the public and use this value data to argue for ongoing funding.
  • Make information on the impact of your efforts on the wider community available to decision makers and partners as evidence of the value created through the project. This may support efforts to secure additional funding.
  • Consider ways to create sustainability in the project plan by finding additional partners who may be better equipped and, in some cases, more appropriate to support the new resources in the long term once it has been developed.