Business Case Planning for Research Support Services
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Transcript of Business Case Planning for Research Support Services
Business Case Planning for Research Support Services
A Progress Report to the DLF Forum
Mike Furlough & Elizabeth Kirk, November 1, 2011
Responsibility and Credits Ted Fons, OCLC Mike Furlough, Penn State Elizabeth Kirk, Dartmouth College Carol Hunter, University of North Carolina Judy Luther, Informed Strategies Michele Reid, North Dakota State University
CLIR/DLF sponsors this work MediaCommons will host results of our work Beverly Lynch, Director, Senior Fellows
Program, UCLA introduced us
Context for the Project
Our goal is to provide the Library/Higher Education community with processes, tools, best practices, and examples to enable successful planning for library services to support new scholarly communications practices.
Transformation: Drivers Consumer technology and user expectations The marketplace for academic publishing The open access/copyleft movement The emergence of digital scholarship in
humanities & social sciences The emergence of computationally-driven
data-intensive science Mass digitization …
If you can’t persuade me that the work you’re doing is going to make us more famous, we’re not going to be interested in investing in you…. Is that wise and profound and good? No. It’s stupid. But that’s the way it is….
--John V. Lombardi, President of Louisiana State University at the October 2011 ARL Meeting.
Recommendations: Business Planning for Emerging Services
Recommendations for Success We need a toolkit for making informed
decisions about creating new services Diagnose organizational and institutional
readiness Develop a business case “A culture of discipline is not a principle of
business; it is a principle of greatness.” (Jim Collins on non-profits)
Organizational readiness In your DNA, or a radical shift? Are the climate and capacity ready for very
different kinds of services? Four steps:
Understand if you are mission-ready Know your risk tolerance Determine outcomes that promote impact and
sustainability Make sure that you can put resources in the right
places
Mission and risk Do proposed new services “fit”? Create a balance between allowing change
and maintaining identity Are the library and the institution comfortable
with new service development? Is risk-taking rewarded or is maintaining the
status quo essential? Is there an understanding of the importance of
revenue and a willingness to keep services financially feasible?
Outcomes and resource allocation Social enterprises balance social and
economic values Outcomes must promote high mission impact
and high viability Is the moment right? Environmental scan: are all of the essential
pieces in place?
Developing a business case What happens if… ? Multiple steps
Create a basic outcome statement Identify options and analyze them Pinpoint and test Write your implementation plan
Outcomes and options Define what a service will accomplish Tie desired outcomes to library and
institutional strategic goals Brainstorm every possible option for action,
then narrow the list Gather data and analyze the options
Benefits, viability, costs Should you really do this alone, or as part of a
distributed effort? Timeframes
Talk to key stakeholders early and often (marketing)
Pinpoint, test, implement Find the sweet spot Identify and plan for risk Be realistic: avoid best-case scenarios Rewrite the outcome Write an implementation plan Action items and timelines Value proposition and marketing
Further considerations: Test. Build. Assess. Rebuild. To pilot or not to pilot? Project management skills required Creativity and freedom to fail Execution and assessment And more assessment The cycle of change and assessment
1. Organizational
Assessment
2.1 Business Case
Development
3. LaunchGo/No Go
Decision 2
Go/No Go
Decision 1
4. Periodic Reassessme
nt
Time
Business Planning Lifecycle
2.2 Pilot
Decision 3
5.1 Service
Modification
5.2 Exit
Case studies and timeline
Why Case Studies Explore planning processes employed by
libraries "on the ground" Can we identify best practices? Refine and extend initial work Publish examples from practitioners to provide
models
Recruiting 6 Participants The commitment:
Initial questionnaire on baseline data 1.5 day on-site interviews about planning &
managing the services Follow ups & write ups
http://is.gd/casestudies
Respond by November 15 This is NOT A CONSULTING SERVICE
Timeline By end of 2011:
Publish our initial report via Media Commons for public comment
Identify pool of case study sites First half of 2012:
Conduct case study research September 2012:
Publish final results
Questions Email address of today’s speakers
Mike Furlough: [email protected] Elizabeth Kirk: [email protected]
Suggest a case study subjecthttp://is.gd/casestudies