Project

Citation

McLeod, J. (2006), "Project", Records Management Journal, Vol. 16 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/rmj.2006.28116cae.003

Project

The espida model from the University of Glasgow, www.gla.ac.uk/espida

This is a very different type of resource to the ones I have reviewed in the past which, together with its nature and purpose, make it all the more exciting. espida (which I have heard pronounced as E-spider) is the name of a project jointly funded by JISC (the Joint Information Systems Committee in the UK) and the University of Glasgow which runs until December 2006. The very striking publicity material (a model for any research project) says the project “is developing a business-focused model to articulate the value of digital materials and the need to take an active role in ensuring their longevity.” Virtually every word in that sentence, apart from the prepositions etc, should grab the attention of virtually every records professional; and I am sure that is precisely what the project team, under James Currall’s direction, wanted it to do with such carefully crafted words. Yet another model to emulate and I still have not reached the espida model itself!

The espida project is about exploring the value of information, initially the value of digital resources, in an effort to support the development of the business case for sustaining digital assets and incorporating digital preservation into an organisation’s strategic planning. However, as the project has progressed the team has recognised the potential of the model in a much wider range of contexts where the value and benefits of intangible assets (i.e. information and records) needs to be clearly demonstrated and communicated to senior managers in their own language.

As the introduction to the model explains, “if information is the raw material for the activities of your organsaiton it can be very hard to demonstrate the full value of the material and the activities. It follows then, that making business cases for resources is hampered by an inability to properly assign explicit values to outcomes, and since organisations care about their continue viability and success, they will not make an investment unless projects demonstrate worth. The model that espida has developed can help make business cases for proposals that may not necessarily offer immediate financial benefit to an organisation, but rather bring benefit in more intangible ways.” (www.gla.ac.uk/espida/ Introduction to the espida model Version β0.1)

If talking the language of senior managers is what this model is about then what better management model to build upon than Kaplan and Norton’s (1996) Balanced Scorecard, a strategic management tool, which is used to translate an organisation’s strategy into specific goals or targets at the corporate, business unit and individual level and to communicate the strategy throughout the organisation. Whilst the project team says they have repurposed the Balanced Scorecard in a “cavalier way” the espida Score Card does comprise its four familiar perspectives: customer/external stakeholder; innovation/development; internal business process and financial perspective. These will apply in most organisations but what will differ are the elements within them, so the project web site gives an example of the elements of the espida Score Card for the University of Glasgow. Identifying these elements for the particular organisation and aligning them to its strategic aims is a vital step in customising the Score Card.

The intention of using the Score Card is not to reduce the value of information (say) to a final quantifiable figure, in fact that would “defeat the purpose of the approach.” Instead, what the two associated templates enable a proposer to do is to identify and assess both the value and cost of the proposal (e.g. a project, a business case) against the pre-determined elements. The evaluator responsible for making the decision or recommending the action then uses these. The developers do include an “evaluator’s summary” area in the value template but do not prescribe a method for summarising the value; they do, however, caution against it being a reductionist numerical score. Not having used the model in practice it is perhaps unfair or even inappropriate to ask the question “would the proposer not find a summary useful too?” Of course, this may also be seen as defeating the object but may be necessary for successful communication to the decision-makers.

The current beta test version of the espida model can be downloaded from the website (www.gla.ac.uk/espida/model_download.shtml) for anyone to use. The project team is actively seeking feedback on its application in practice and is planning a workshop in November 2006 to discuss experience and further development of the approach. There is no doubt the model has huge potential value in building business cases, making impact assessments and evaluating proposals, and should become a new tool in every records manager’s toolkit.

Julie McLeodSchool of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK