PP6: CREW Project Management

Rationale

The overall research programme value is £2M, of which £1.6M is funded by EPSRC. This research comprises five significant Programme Packages that, together, span 18 Universities across the UK and is made up of a range of engineering, physical and social science disciplines. A number of necessary strategic linkages between the Programme Packages have been established that must be managed effectively to deliver the overall project objectives and deliver value for money. As a consequence of the programme complexity and the magnitude of resource invested in the programme, and the large amounts of potential data and output that will be generated, the project's success is dependent on maintaining proper, managed links between the Programme Packages. To this end, this dedicated Programme Package for ‘CREW Project Management' (PP6) has been established, and will be managed by Dr Gavin Wood at Cranfield University.

Objectives

• To monitor and manage Programme Package integration and risks to delivery
• To provide a centralised repository of all project data and output, and make this available to everybody (subject to IPR and licensing)
• To organise and chair project meetings (Project Management Committee meetings; Advisory Committee meetings; and Stakeholder Assemblies)
• To facilitate project dissemination to stakeholders and the wider public, including providing a dedicated Web site
• To maintain a ‘contacts' database, including full details of stakeholders, their project roles and contributions
• To provide a central point of contact for all project-related issues

Methodology

Monitoring and managing

The overall programme is split into 5 Programme Packages. A Project Management Committee (PMC) will provide a focussed group made up of the Principal Investigators (PIs) for each Programme Package. This group will maintain regular contact by phone, email and via a project web forum; the PMC will meet formally every 6 months, and will have the role of:

• Representing, communicating and discussing Programme Package progress (presenting work completed, tasks ahead, problems/risks to delivery, revisions, ‘any other news')
• Developing and agreeing a framework for evaluating programme progress/success
• Ongoing programme evaluation
• Coordinating dissemination material and activities
• Planning the content and delivery of Advisory Committee meetings and Stakeholder Assemblies

The Programme Manager (PM) is responsible for ensuring that the Programme Packages are delivered to-time and in accordance with the stated deliverables against the programme plan (Figure 6.2).

At the Programme Package level, the PI will act as project manager interacting with academics and researchers involved the project. Access to data or models will also be managed within each PP and will be the responsibility of the PIs; the PIs will also be responsible for passing on data, models and output to the central repository (described below).

Within each PP, individual workpackage have a named co-investigator (CI) who is responsible for its delivery. This will include planning, execution, coordination of the research and its integration within the overall PP.

Further more, the PM will be responsible for ensuring that minutes of all meetings are recorded and circulated (administrative support will be provided) and that all actions are taken. The PM will maintain a project Risk Register and coordinate actions required to maintain a successful project trajectory. It is the overall responsibility of the PM to find solutions to any ongoing problems. Any executive decisions will be made democratically by the PMC and in liaison with the Advisory group where appropriate.

Centralised repository/database

PP6 will setup a data collation/dissemination portal for the overall project, which will allow up- and downloading of all (digital) project data to a dedicated, central Cranfield-based server. This will include all available questionnaire survey results, interview transcriptions and focus group output; collated spatial and non-spatial datasets; socio-economic data; model input/output; model code (subject to IPR), and any other project data or output.

The originators of the data or information will be given access to the server and will be able to upload their relevant files through a password protected link via a web-browser (similar to a Wiki, but with a structured database management system (DBMS) to organise the data and metadata). A simple interface will be developed to allow input of metadata, as quickly as possible, and will follow suitable metadata protocols. Access to retrieve the data will again be password protected and made available via the web.

Where paper documents (primary data) are generated, originators will be encouraged to scan this digitally for input or, as a last resort, photocopies will be made and mail-posted to a central file at Cranfield.

Project meetings

The PM will be responsible for organising and chairing project meetings:

• Project Management Committee (PMC) meetings
• Advisory Committee meetings
• Stakeholder Assemblies

PMC meetings will take place every 6 months and will be held over a morning slot, followed by an afternoon meeting of the Advisory Committee and PMC. The Advisory Committee, made up of representative stakeholders and decision makers, will be invited to join the PMC in an open forum for mutual evaluation of project progress and for directing advice for future tasks. These meetings will serve to allow information and feedback to flow in both directions to the mutual gain of both parties. Stakeholder Assemblies (figure 6.2) will be annual and will last a full day. The make-up and communication between Project Packages and Committees is presented in figure 6.1.

The role of organising meetings will include coordinating and managing meeting material (preparing/copying agendas, organising venues and catering; and for stakeholder meetings, this will extend to invitations, badges, delegate packs and travel claims). Admin support to the PM will be available for taking minutes/key actions points and disseminating these after each meeting. EPSRC will be made aware of all formal meetings, if required.

The PM will ensure that the programme team, through co-operation with PIs, will have outputs in a form that can be presented both to stakeholders and to the advisory committee in time for the various meetings.

At meetings where two-way exchange between stakeholders and the PMC is necessary (e.g. at Stakeholder Assemblies), meetings will be facilitated by the relevant expertise from associated Programme Packages.

Figure 6.1 Project Management and communication routes

Public dissemination

To facilitate project dissemination to stakeholders and the wider public a dedicated Web site will be setup. This will contain both public and password-protected areas to provide a range of access levels. PP6 will be responsible for setting up and maintaining the website. Involvement of EPSRC, the complete programme consortium, and any sponsors will be sought during the initial set up and design in order to agree on content, style and corporate identities. The public web site will be written in an accessible language suitable for viewing by the lay person. The website will be reviewed at the 6-month PMC meetings and update or modified accordingly. All outputs from the Programme (Newsletters, reports, briefings and Web pages etc.) will follow a specific ‘house style'

Contacts database

A complete list of stakeholders will be recorded and stored on a central server for internal use by the project consortium. Due attention will be paid to the Data Protection Act 1998. This will provide a central resource for monitoring whether a person has been contacted, by whom and when, their level of involvement in the project to-date and the level of future involvement (for project team members to gauge and avoid any burden on stakeholders).

Deliverables

• A successful project, where all stated Project Programme outputs are delivered to time and budget
• A collation of all project data and output in a transferable and accessible database format
• A successful programme of dissemination via the web, public meetings, scientific conferences and peer-reviewed journals
• A research-active network of scientists, policy makers, communities and individuals

Innovation

The innovation will arise through the interactions between the other Research-focussed Programme Packages (PP1-PP5). A centralised and searchable database of project output is intended for delivery to and access for other projects outside of CREW, and is hoped to set a standard for data dissemination.