Communication & Collaboration setup for research CoCoNut and MyBBT

1. Communication & Collaboration setup for research CoCoNut and MyBBT

2. Practice in general • CoCoNut = an internal IBBT project involving researchers from many domains & backgrounds (sociologists, economics, engineers, law researchers,mathematicians, etc.) • “research the ways in which IBBT researchers work and interact, design the ideal collaboration/sharing environment to work efficiently while being geographically spread.” • MyBBT = the implementation of the coconut findings • “Smart, interactive, attractive collaboration & knowledge sharing platform for IBBT researchers and partners”

3. Practice step by step • Step 1: Present state analysis • Step 2: Conceptual Modelling • Step 3: Technology Mapping (MyBBT) • Step 4: Dissemination & Valorisation

4. Step 1: Present state analysis • Investigate the environment • What are the usability criteria for optimal acceptance? • What are the socio-professional criteria for optimal acceptance? • Who are the relevant stakeholders, relations & working routines • Investigate the market • What technical tools and non-technical building blocks • Create inventory of best practices

5. Step 1: Present state analysis - results • the environment • IBBT is very heterogeneous, be cross browser / cross platform • Both early adopters as laggards among the users, tool must technically be state of the art as well as very simple to use. • Current working routines are very diverse. Information is spread throughout the enterprise. • the market • Established companies have excellent tools, but they tend to assume one platform and one set of clients. • For our case: more relevant stakeholders in the open source solutions.

6. Step 1: Present state analysis - results

7. Step 2: Conceptual Modelling • SOTA on multidisciplinary & virtual communication. • ‘literature’ study • Focus on models rather than tools • Integrate previous findings into a general common model • Model to be used in step 3 (technical implementation) • Model to be used in ‘Cookbook’ • Developing Cookbook • Set out the basis for a living cookbook, an IBBT manual • First version is written here, and handed to community afterwards. • Cookbook describes best practices in various aspects of the project work

8. Step 2: Conceptual Modelling

9. Step 3: Technology Mapping (MyBBT) • System architecture layout • Market study • Write technical specification • System implementation • Using an Agile approach (6 sprints spread over 4 months) • Using CoCoNut users (~40) as feedback audience • Implementation based on Alfresco Share but adapted to the needs of IBBT, as defined in the first two steps. • Main functionality: Wiki tool, Document Sharing functionality, Discussion boards etc. per project • Aggregation of all project data in user/project dashboards.

10. Step 4: Dissemination and Valorisation • System v1 live: October 2009 • Relatively small number of projects (20) and users (300) • Close interaction with novice users is vital • Disseminate results to IBBT community • Make people aware of the cookbook • Have people contributing to the cookbook • Organize some events (e.g. We-BBT 2010) • Continuous development! • Get a feedback loop going. • Listen to the users, implement and listen for feedback again. Repeat.

11. MyBBT? Please join us!

13. When? • Timing • Original concern: at the very start of IBBT • Project CoCoNut: started in Jan 2008, ends Dec 2009 • MyBBT platform: launched october 2009 • MyBBT is a continuous effort. • CoConut will continue in 2010 for: • User feedback and interaction • Redaction tasks on Cookbook (maintain integrity of information) • Specific tasks that require specific knowledge. E.g. usability issues, metrics or security.

14. Who? • Stakeholders • IBBT • Active involvement of 5 people. • Should involve the entire staff (30) in time, as the system is vital for IBBT in a horizontal way throughout the organisation. • At stake: structuring the information in the entire organisation, as well as optimising the internal processes. • IBBT researchers • Core group of 15 FTE involved during project. • Feedback board of 40 users during project (about 120 man days) • At stake: obtain a usable one stop shop for all project related information, tailored to their needs.

15. Where? • Location • In all 5 universities of Flanders, at IBBT and online. • Most of the work was done online. • Monthly meetings were there of course, but video conferencing and online collaboration tools were the larger part of this project.

16. Pro’s & Cons • Pro’s • Strong user interaction during setup & implementation • MyBBT itself: all project knowledge in 1 platform • User-centered approach for continuous development. • Cons • Adaptability of Alfresco: it is possible, but not always as easy as it may seem. • Users can be very demanding. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but you will have to work hard to keep up. Make sure you have a skilled team ready.

17. Why ? • Why was it established? • IBBT is a decentralized structured organisation • 900 researcher spread over 5 universities and many more campuses. • Equal amount of research partners in industry • There was no common work space before MyBBT • Projects did have separate, closed collab websites • This means: no knowledge sharing cross projects, no overview for senior people that participate in more than 1 project • Hence: little or no tools for knowledge sharing.

18. Why ? • Impact • All tough very young, the system is received quite well. • Most added value for seniors, who need overview and dashboards • When everybody uses the tool in the right way we should be able to: • Provide a single source of info regarding IBBT projects to our researchers • Have one single point of entry for all IBBT related questions that are not publically available • Have clear processes and practices defined and documented • Have a good way to communicate to the IBBT community, or segments of it.

19. Outcome • What happened after the implementation • As said: the system was received quite well. • Researchers are inclined to start new projects on MyBBT (such as contract research), although we do not oblige them to do this. • Many bug reports bottom up. We consider this a good thing. • Unexpected side effects? • More work than expected • API proves a very useful tool, even more than expected. We already managed to roll out an integration with our survey platform, contact DB. • API makes for a powerful administrative tool (e.g. give me all projects of type X, and of those projects all the project managers).

20. Outcome • Plans for the future? • Continuous development of MyBBT • After phase I ended with go-live in Oct 2010, phase II was launched • Scope based on early experiences of users and our own input based on our experience • Initial scope: better feedback mechanism, better email client integration, RTE enhancements for the wiki. • Follow up project of CocoNut • Given the success of CocoNut, we will continue to use our own research group as prime input for MyBBT or even other projects •  use the expertise of IBBT research groups in IBBT production environment

21. Lessons Learned • Looking back now we would … • Probably invest even more time into the project. • Put more focus on feedback to the feedback group • Giving feedback to users that have invested a lot of their time into this project is key to keeping them motivated and active. • Content is key • Especially for the extranet, content is truly the key to success • Invest early on in the project in writing that content • Invest early on in people that will continuously working on that content.