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Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 1 of 112Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 1 of 110
PLANNING FUNDABLE GRANT PROJECTS
Danielle Cunniff Plumer, Ph.D., M.S.I.S.
dcplumer associates
Ann Hodges, M.L.I.S., C.A.
University of Texas at Arlington
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 2 of 112
Course History
• Based in part on “Digital Project Planning and Management Basics,” part of the Library of Congress’ Catalogers Learning Workshop Series • Original design, April 2008
• Mary S. Woodley, CSU Northridge
• Revised June 2009, April 2011• Texas State Library and Archives Commission &
Amigos Library Services• To the extent possible under law, the Texas State Library and Archives
Commission and Amigos Library Services have waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work. Copyright in quoted material is not affected by this waiver.
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 3 of 112
Grant Components• Needs Statement
• What is the need?
• What data demonstrates that need?
• Project Plan• What is the project idea?
• How does it address the need?
• What are the project goals and objectives?
• Project Timeline and Budget• What resources (time, money, staff) do you need?
• What are the project activities and when do they happen?
• Project Evaluation• How will you know your project was successful?
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 4 of 112
Workshop Outline
• Statement of Need
• Project Planning
• Budgets and Funding
• Project Management
• Evaluation and Assessment
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 5 of 112
Workshop Objectives
• Understand the steps used in planning projects
• Learn the skills needed to develop a project budget and funding strategy
• Identify the elements of project management and how they can be used in grant-funded projects
• Define criteria for assessment and selection of tools to measure project success
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 6 of 112
Class Introductions
• Identify• Yourself
• Institution
• Types of projects you have worked on or are interested in
• Your role in these projects
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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PLANNING FUNDABLE GRANT PROJECTS
Section 1:
Statement of Need
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 8 of 112
Laws of Grantwriting
1. Know who you are and what you want to accomplish
2. Know what needs to be done and how you want to achieve it
3. Know your funding source
You + Funder
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 9 of 112
Developing Fundable Grant Projects
• Start with a good idea
• Poor ideas will not be successful regardless of how well you write the grant
• Sell your idea• Good ideas are often not funded because you didn’t
explain it well or you didn’t follow the instruction
• Repeat as needed• Many good projects are not funded on their first
application
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 10 of 112
Grant Development Process• Develop an idea, then match the idea to a funder
• Study the funder’s instructions
• Develop a timeline for proposal preparation
• Understand evaluation criteria and scoring
• Understand review process and who the reviewers are likely to be (individual scoring leads to group scoring)
• Get input on proposal before submission – from colleagues (an expert in the subject, a non-expert, and a good writer) and from program officer
• Allow time for your organization’s bureaucracy
• Meet the submission deadline
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 11 of 112
Needs Statement
• Interesting to read and accurate
• Related to purposes and goals of your organization
• Supported by evidence (data)
• Realistic – issue/situation you can really do something about over the course of the grant
• Stated in terms of the target audience (clients or beneficiaries)
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 12 of 112
Targeting the Audience• Characteristics of the target audience:
• Population size
• Language skills
• Disabilities
• Education level
• Geographic area
• Summarize the similarities and differences between the target audience and the broader population your organization serves
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 13 of 112
Wants and Needs
• Wants• Wishes or desires of the target audience(s) that may be
taken into consideration in determining the most appropriate solution or solutions to meet an identified need
• Needs• Gap between the desired results, on the one hand, and
the current condition of the target audience, product, or service, on the other
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 14 of 112
Identifying Needs
• Target audience says:• We want you to use social media to promote services
• We want to see more of your collections online
• We want your collections to be around forever
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 15 of 112
Actual Need
• Target audience says:• We want you to use social media to promote services
• NEED: Portions of the target audience are not aware of services and collections
• We want to see more of your collections online
• NEED: Portions of the target audience are not able to use collections in person
• We want you to preserve collections into the future
• NEED: Collections are at risk due to environmental, institutional, or format-related factors
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Scope and Significance
• Many grants include instructions that the grant have state or national significance• Significance can include:
• Methods of the grant (replicability)
• Target audience: peer institutions
• Content of the grant (materials to be digitized, processed, etc.)
• Target audience:
• K-12 (look at Common Core & state standards)
• Special populations (genealogists, higher education students, faculty)
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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PLANNING FUNDABLE GRANT PROJECTS
Section 2:
Project Planning
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 18 of 112
Project Management
• Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives.
• "Project Management." Wikipedia. Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management. Internet; accessed 7 July 2009.
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 19 of 112
What is a project?
• A finite endeavor• having specific start and completion dates
• undertaken to meet particular goals and objectives
• usually to bring about beneficial change or added value
• "Project Management." Wikipedia. Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management. Internet; accessed 7 July 2009.
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 20 of 112
People and Projects
• Project managers may or may not be people managers
• Key project management skills:• Negotiation
• Listening and facilitation
• Time management
• Leadership
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Types of Projects
• Collection Arrangement and Description
• Finding Aid Conversion
• Digitization
• System Implementation or Migration• Institutional Repository
• Discovery Layer
• Archival Management System
• Library Catalog
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 22 of 112
Defining Projects
• Why you are undertaking the project
• What you want the project to achieve
• For whom you are undertaking the project
• When you will achieve it
• How you will achieve it
• Institute of Museum and Library Services. "NLG Project Planning: A Tutorial." Available from http://www.imls.gov/project_planning/index1.asp. Internet; accessed 7 July 2009.
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Defining Projects: Why?
• Why do we want to do this?• What are our institution’s needs?
• What are our institutional priorities?
• Who decides the priorities?
• What do we want to achieve?• How will we know when we’ve succeeded?
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Defining Projects: What?
• What are we trying to accomplish?• How does this relate to our organizational mission?
• What strategic goals will this project support?
• What have we already accomplished?• What activities of the organization can be redirected
towards the digital project?
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Defining Projects: For whom?
• Who is our target audience?• Primary audience
• Secondary audience
• How are their needs being met?
• Where are the gaps in service?
• What skill, knowledge, or behavior can be improved?
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Defining Projects: Constraints• Scope
• What is the total amount of work required to complete the project?
• Time• What is the timeline?
• When will the project start? When will it end?
• Cost• What resources are available?
• To develop the project
• To sustain the products
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 27 of 112
Exercise: Defining Projects
• Define your project• See case studies in student manual for examples
(or develop your own)
You will be working with this project for the remainder of this workshop, so try to identify a project that will be meaningful to you.
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 28 of 112
Steps in the Planning Process
• Identify the key players
• Conduct an “environmental scan”
• Know your users• Needs and Gap Analysis
• Create a planning team who will be responsible for researching, planning, and managing the project
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Stakeholders
• Any individual, group, or organization that influences your project or is affected by it• External: Partners, boards, funders, consultants, target
audiences or users
• Internal: Management, team members, other staff
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Stakeholder Roles
• Project Director
• Task Performers
• Project Sponsor
• Subject Matter Experts
• User Representatives
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 31 of 112
Steering Committee
• Group composed of key decision makers
• In a partnership project, often involves one representative from each of the partners• Collaborative decision-making
• Agreements define responsibilities
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 32 of 112
Advisory Board
• Group composed of influential outsiders• Provides key skills or knowledge that the project team
may not have
• Lend reputation to project
• Increases trust in project outcomes
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Communication Strategy
• Stakeholders want to know what is happening in your project
• Communication tools:• Meetings
• Presentations
• Email lists
• Blogs
• Social Media
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 34 of 112
The Environmental Scan• Gather information
• Look both inside and outside the organization
• Scan for both content and context
• Use both formal and informal information
• Analyze and interpret this information
• Apply this analyzed information in decision making
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Formal Information Sources
• US Census statistics
• Institutional statistics • Size and scope
• Visitation statistics
• Customer service statistics
• Website analytics and usage logs
• Published studies
• Surveys and focus groups
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Formal Information Sources• National Center for Educational Statistics
• Academic Library Peer Comparison Toolhttps://nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries/compare/Default.aspx
• Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Data Centerhttp://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/
• Public Libraries• IMLS Public Libraries Survey (PLS)
http://www.imls.gov/research/public_libraries_in_the_united_states_survey.aspx
• Non-Profit Organizations• Charity Navigator
http://www.charitynavigator.org/
• GuideStarhttp://www.guidestar.org/
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Formal Information Sources
• Research and Innovation • Center for the Future of Museums
• http://www.aam-us.org/resources/center-for-the-future-of-museums
• Center for the Future of Libraries
• Ithaka S+R
• http://www.sr.ithaka.org/research-publications
• New Media Consortium
• Horizon Report: http://www.nmc.org/horizon-project
• Pew Research Center
• Internet Project: http://www.pewinternet.org/
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 38 of 112
Informal Information Sources
• “Usual, Reasonable, and Customary” Standard• Anecdotes and observations from peers
• Email lists and discussions in field
• Popular culture• Blogs & Internet sources
• Television
• Film
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 39 of 112
Organizational SWOT
Strengthsof the organization
helpful to achieving the goal
Weaknessesof the organization
harmful to achieving the goal
Threatsin the environment
harmful to achieving the goal
Opportunitiesin the environment
helpful to achieving the goal
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Sample SWOT
Strengths Qualified professional staff Existing set of print finding aids
Weaknesses IT department controls website No budget for software to
create XML
Opportunities ArchivesSpace hosting
available Funding available from
collection donor
Threats New version of standard due to
be released
Objective: Implement EAD at our institution
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 41 of 112
Outputs and Outcomes• Outcome:
• Changes or gains in knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviors, status, or life condition that you would like the target audience to achieve
• Output:• A measure of the amount, quality, or volume of use of
the service or product that you want the project to achieve
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 42 of 112
Identifying OutcomesType of Outcome Definition Example
Knowledge What someone knows
Students will increase their knowledge and understanding of history
Skill What someone can do
Students and teachers will be able to search a database of digitized objects
Attitude What someone feels or thinks about something
Students will demonstrate increased interest in history
Behavior How someone acts High school social studies teachers will find, analyze, and use digitized primary source materials in their lesson plans
Status Someone's social or professional condition
The number of high school graduates in the community will increase
Diffi
cult
y o
f m
easu
rem
ent
incr
ease
s
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Output or Outcome?
•Students will have an increased knowledge of and appreciation of history.
Output OutcomeOutcome
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Output or Outcome?
•The project will digitize approximately 11,500 assets related to exhibits, educational activities, and scientific phenomena.
Output Outcome
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Output or Outcome?
•High school social studies teachers will be able to incorporate digital primary source materials into a lesson plan.
Output Outcome
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Output or Outcome?
•We will develop an online forum where teachers can discuss primary sources and lesson plans.
Output Outcome
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Exercise: Outputs & Outcomes
• Identify 2-4 output measures for the services or products developed by your project
• Identify 2-4 outcomes for your target audience
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 48 of 112
Checking the Plan• Will the project achieve the desired outcome(s) for your target audience(s)?
• Are the project goals achievable, given the opportunities and constraints your organization may face in the near future?
• Do the key stakeholders support the decisions that have been made?
• Remember: • “No plan survives first contact with the enemy!”
--Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, Militarische Werke, 1897
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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PLANNING FUNDABLE GRANT PROJECTS
Section 3:
Budgets and Funding
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 50 of 112
Budgets and Funding
•Objective• Learn the skills needed to develop a project budget and funding strategy
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 51 of 112
Project-Based Budgeting• Assumes that most costs in an organization can be assigned to a given project• Indirect costs make up a given % of budget
• Sum of the budgets for all projects in the organization total the organization budget
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 52 of 112
Factors to Consider• Every project is unique; costs will vary depending on:• Intended results of the project
• Staff and equipment costs
• Application development
• Data preservation and migration is an ongoing, rather than a once-in-a-lifetime activity
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 53 of 112
Categories of Cost
• Staffing• Salary plus fringe benefits
• Services• Outsourcing
• Consultants
• Operational expenses• Equipment and Supplies
• Indirect (Facilities and Maintenance)
• Each cost category includes both grant & cost share, whether cash or in-kind
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 54 of 112
Budgets - Definitions
What is cost sharing (matching funds), you ask?
Newsflash
Definitions on various federal websites often are not very helpful if you don’t already understand the concept being “defined”!
Thus, the following definitions are adapted from several sources.
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 55 of 112
Cost Share
• “that portion of the project costs that is not charged to IMLS funds. These costs may be supported by your cash outlays; contribution of property and services; and in-kind contributions…”
• Cost share is often required by a funder to help support the project and to ensure that the organization requesting funding has a financial stake in the project.
• Cost share may be referred to as matching, but matching funds can also come from a third party.
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 56 of 112
In-Kind• Goods, commodities, or services (rather than money)
that help support a project. • Examples are the value of staff time, donated volunteer time,
and donated consultant time that support project activities, and equipment donated to the project.
• In-kind contributions must be necessary to accomplish project objectives, allowable according to funder guidelines, auditable, and incurred during the grant period.
• Cost-share by the applicant in a request for funding usually takes the form of in-kind contributions. (adapted from IMLS)
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 57 of 112
Direct Costs• Include:
• Faculty, technical and student salary
• Tuition
• Travel
• Supplies & equipment
• Services
• Consultants
• Other costs
• Human subject incentives
• Animal costs
• Direct costs can be assigned to a specific project with a high degree of accuracy. (Source = ASU)
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 58 of 112
Indirect Costs• Costs that cannot readily be isolated or identified with just one
project or activity. Indirect costs are often referred to as "overhead" or "administrative costs." • Examples are charges for utilities, general insurance, use of office space
and equipment that you own, telephone service, postage, and the salaries of the management and administrative personnel of the organization. (Source = IMLS)
• Watch for wording by funders that they disallow IDC. If instructions are unclear or do allow IDC, ask the granting agency for a statement that it is not allowed.
• F&A: Facilities & Administrative costs, formerly known as indirect costs or overhead.
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Note on Indirect (IDC)
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Federally Negotiated Rate
• Rate determined by negotiated agreements between federal agencies and non-profit organizations establishing the percentage that can be recovered by the organization receiving an award to reimburse indirect costs.
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Staffing• Labor costs (generally) represent the largest percentage of costs in a digital project
• Salary• Full or part-time staff
• Temporary staff hired for project
• Benefits• Range from 20% to 30% of salary
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Staffing Costs
• Salaries
• Benefits • Health
• Sick Leave
• Vacation
• Holidays
• Training
• Attendance at conferences and meetings
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Total Compensation Package
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Staff Model – Complex
Assistant Dean
Digital ProjectsUnit Head
ProjectDevelopment Coordinator
DepartmentalAdministrator
Digitization Lab Manager
ApplicationDevelopers (3)
Project Coordinators (2)
MetadataSpecialists (2)
Imaging Technicians (2)
StudentAssistants
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Staff Model – Simple
Manager
Curator ofCollections
EducationCurator
AdministrativeAssistant
ImagingIntern
TranscriptionVolunteers
EducationAssistant
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Project Based Budget – StaffPosition Annual
SalaryProject Responsibility % of
Time
Director $50,000 Administration and reporting
5%
Curator of Collections
$37,500 Oversees project intern and volunteers; performs quality control
30%
Imaging Intern $12,000 Grant-funded position. Does day-to-day scanning tasks
100%
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Equipment: Hardware• Desktop computers
• Scanners
• Digital cameras
• Audio/video conversion equipment
• Server for storage/delivery
• Server for streaming audio/video
• Long-term maintenance/replacement
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Society of Southwest Archivists, New Orleans, LA, May 28, 2014 Slide 68 of 112
Sample Equipment Costs• Scanner
• $600 (Epson V700 flatbed)
• $3,000 (Epson 10000XL large-format flatbed)
• $25,000 (BookEye 3 planetary scanner)
• Digital cameras
• $1,000 (Canon XSi, plus upgraded lens)
• $5,500 (Canon Eos 5D Mark II, plus upgraded lens)
• $2,000 (semi-pro copy stand system with lights)
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Equipment: Software• In-house application development:
• Requires skilled programmers
• How and by whom will the system be updated, enhanced, and maintained?
• Purchase of an off-the-shelf product:• Procurement processes must be followed
• Are ongoing maintenance costs and upgrades included?
• Software-as-a-Service model
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Outsourcing Services• Software development
• Database• Websites
• Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)• Digitization
• Large format• Audio, video, microfilm
• Transcription • Specialty markup
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Outsourcing Decisions
Can work be performed in-house with existing staff and equipment?
Is the cost per item with existing staff and equipment
less than the cost per item for outsourcing, quality being equal?
Can the equipment purchase be justified over a 3-5 year
period based on the number of items?
(Cost-benefit analysis)
Will doing the work in-house result in improved quality or reduced costs for future projects?
In-house Outsource
yes
yesno
no
yes no
yes no
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Proposed Project Budget
• Salaries & Benefits
• Travel
• Capital Equipment
• Operational Expenses• Supplies & materials
• Outsourcing
• Consultants
• Educational (Student) Expenses
• Indirect Costs
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Sample Budget
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
Project Archivist
Project Manager Project Director Total NHPRC UTA
Salary FY14 $ 44,000 $ xx,xxx $ xx,xxx
COLA 3% $ 1,320 $ x,xxx $ x,xxx
Salary FY15 $ 45,320 $ xx,xxx $ xx,xxx
Effort % on project 100% 50% 5%
Salary on project $ 45,320 $ xx,xxx $ x,xxx
% NHPRC 80.025% 0% 0%
% UTA 19.975% 100% 100%
Project salary NHPRC $ 36,267 0 0 $ 36,267
Project salary UTA $ 9,053 $ xx,xxx $ x,xxx $ xx,xxx
Fringe FY15 $ 16,768 $ x,xxx $ x,xxx
Fringe on project $ 16,768 $ x,xxx $ x,xxx
Project fringe NHPRC $ 13,419 - - $ 13,419
Project fringe UTA $ 3,349 $ x,xxx $ x,xxx $ xx,xxx
bluesheet sal/fringe subtotals per person $ 12,402 $ xx,xxx $ x,xxx
PC workstation $ 1,200 $ 1,200
XML software $ 300 $ 300
Total Direct Costs $ 99,376
IDC $ 994
Total Project Cost $ 100,369
Cost Share Required (50%) $ 50,185
Direct Cost per organization $ 49,686 $ xx,xxx
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Grant Budget Justification
• State the source of the budget numbers provided
• Include any details that will help the grant reviewers understand the budget
• Specific supporting documents may be required• 501(c)(3) exemption letter
• Indirect rate negotiation letter
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Tips for Success• Follow the directions in the grant guidelines
• Look at examples of similar projects funded by agency• Take advantage of staff review, if available
• Ensure that proposed budget and timeline are realistic• Check with other institutions in your area to compare
costs• Ask vendors for non-binding quotes• Double-check the math!
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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PLANNING FUNDABLE GRANT PROJECTS
Section 4:
Project Management
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Project Management
•Objective• Identify the elements of a project management plan and how they can be used in digital projects
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Project Lifecycle
Plan Develop
Perform
Sustain?
Evaluate
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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The Role of Pilot Projects• Scale and outputs of pilot project need to be smaller than in proposed project• Project type and resources should be similar• Can be a subset of the proposed project
• Pilot project activities• Keep careful records of cost and time• Document procedures and processes used in the
project
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Project Resources• Assigned to a project by project director
• With agreement of resource managers
• Personnel (e.g., permanent staff, temporary staff and consultants) • Often have a fixed percentage of time assigned to a
particular project
• Materials, equipment, supplies, and special services (e.g., telecommunications)
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Project Phases• A phase in a project is a set of logically connected activities that share one or more common milestones
• Often used in software development to mark major or minor releases of the product
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Project Activities• An activity is a self-contained element of work performed during the course of a project
• Activity components:• Expected duration
• Expected cost
• Expected resource requirements
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Project Tasks• A task is a component of a project activity
• Includes work that could realistically be assigned to or completed by a single project resource
• Can be subdivided into sub-tasks
• Task components:• Expected duration
• Expected cost
• Expected resource requirements
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Project Scheduling• Include start and finish dates of each of the activities • Duration: how long, measured in hours or days, it will
take to accomplish the activity
• Relationships among the activities • Dependencies: One activity cannot be started or
completed until another activity is completed
• Resource allocation constraints: Same resource is assigned to two or more activities at once
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Project Milestones
•Show accomplishment• Logically related tasks and/or activities• Interim targets• Targets
•Resources are never assigned to milestones
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Work Breakdown Structure
• Tree structure• End objective
• Work components
• Terminal elements
• Activities and deliverables
• Must include all elements necessary to achieve the end objective (100% Rule)
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Work Breakdown Structure
Goal
Objective #1
Activity A Activity B
Objective #2
Activity C
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Grant Design ChartPhase
Activities & Milestones
ActivitiesStart /End
Resources Outcomes Evaluation Budget
Phase I: Goal
Objective 1:
Objective 2:
Objective 3:
Objective 4:
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Goal: Increase the amount of primary source information available to meet researcher needs by enhancing access to finding aids for archives and manuscripts collections in the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries Special Collections.
Objectives Tasks/Activities Begin/EndDates Personnel Outcomes (short/mid/long)
Evaluation Budget
Increase online access to 173 finding aids that did not qualify for initial TARO encoding project
A-1: review finding aids and supply missing elements of information
Increase by 173 the number of finding aids available online. Reduce by 173 the backlog of unpublished finding aids at UT Arlington.
A-2: encode finding aids in XML according to DACS and EAD
A-3: publish encoded finding aids on TARO web site
Increase online access to 125 finding aids that failed quality control process of initial TARO encoding project
B-1: review finding aids and correct existing errors
Increase by 125 the number of finding aids available online. Reduce by 125 the backlog of unpublished finding aids at UT Arlington.
B-2: encode finding aids in XML according to DACS and EAD
B-3: publish encoded finding aids on TARO web site
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Goal: Increase the amount of primary source information available to meet researcher needs by enhancing access to finding aids for archives and manuscripts collections in the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries Special Collections.
Objectives Tasks/Activities Begin/EndDates Personnel Outcomes (short/mid/long)
Create online access to 173 archival finding aids that did not qualify for initial TARO encoding project
A-1: recruit project archivist (obtain Provost’s approval for position, advertise position, and accept applications)
July 1, 2014-July 25, 2014
McClurkin, Wagner
Pool of candidates is identified from which project archivist will be hired.
A-2: hire project archivist (review applications, interview, make hiring decision, appoint successful candidate)
July 28, 2014-August 15, 2014
McClurkin, Wagner
Essential project member is selected and reports for work.
A-3: train project archivist August 18, 2014-August 22, 2014
Wagner Project Archivist acquires skills and information needed to effectively perform the work required.
A-4: review finding aids and supply missing elements of information
August 25, 2014 - December 31, 2014
project archivist
Completed finding aids are ready for encoding.
A-5: encode finding aids in XML according to DACS and EAD
August 25, 2014 - December 31, 2014
project archivist
Increase by 173 the number of finding aids encoded.
A-6: review work of project archivist
August 25, 2014 - December 31, 2014
Wagner Accurate and complete finding aids are ready for publication. Quality of work of project archivist affirmed/any deficiencies in the work of the project archivist addressed.
A-7: transmit encoded finding aids to TARO for publication
August 25, 2014 - December 31, 2014
Wagner Increase by 173 the number of finding aids available online.
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Estimation Challenges• Lack of experience in estimating cost and duration of particular activity• Draw on experience with similar tasks • Draw on expertise of others; get estimates from multiple
sources, including similar projects at other institutions • Develop explicit methods and procedures for cost and
schedule estimates
• Technical glitches• Employ thorough planning and good quality
management practices • Assume the worst in making estimates
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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More Estimation Challenges• Changes to the project plan
• Conduct a risk assessment that identifies the overall stability of the project environment
• Put change management procedures in place
• Psychological factors • Place skeptics on the cost estimating team; no
individual estimate should be permitted to go unchallenged
• Political pressures • Establish project selection procedures at the
organization level
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Exercise: Allocating Resources
• Divide your project into phases (remember that phases do not need to be chronologically sequential).
• Identify 1-4 activities and any needed tasks in each phase, with estimated duration.
• Indicate resources needed (in general terms). You do not need to estimate costs.
• Identify which output or outcome applies to each phase and activity.
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Progress Reports• Narrative summary of work accomplished during a given time period• Project activities
• Interim targets and milestones achieved
• Project challenges• Changes to project schedule, deliverables, etc.
• May or may not include a financial report
• Should include any deviations from original grant design
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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PLANNING FUNDABLE GRANT PROJECTS
Section 5:
Evaluation and Assessment
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Evaluation and Assessment
•Objective• Define criteria for assessment and selection of tools to measure success of a digital project
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Outcome-Based Evaluation• The measurement of benefits to people achieved as the result of a project
• Identifies observations that can credibly demonstrate change or desirable conditions
• Systematically collects information about these indicators and uses that information to show the extent to which a program achieved its goals
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Types of Assessment
Assessment Strategies
How Much We Do Inputs and outputs: statistics, gate counts, Web use logs, and other measures of quantity and productivity
How Well We Do It Customer satisfaction, quality benchmarks, rankings
How Much We Cost / What We’re Worth
Return on investment and cost:benefit calculations
What Good We Do / Why We Matter
Outcomes measurement, impact assessment
IMLS, Outcome Based Evaluation, “Purposes.” Available at http://www.imls.gov/applicants/overview.shtm
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Grant Partners
• Institutional Review Board (IRB)• Anytime anything is to do with human subjects
• Yes, surveys!
• assess improvement in skills
• evaluate claims of improved ease of use
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Tasks Inputs Outputs OutcomesImmediate Intermediate Long-Term
Tasks and sub-tasks
Staff timeEquipmentMoney
Items produced by project
Changes produced during project
Changes produced within 1 year of achieving project goal
Changes produced within 5 years of achieving project goal
Digitizing Images
1.5 FTE Technical staff.5 FTE Metadata entry
1 digital library system (including at least 5000 digital objects with metadata)
Students have improved access to primary source materials
Students are able to search for specific primary source materials
Students have increased appreciation of history
Logic Model
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Output Statements• Use measurable units
• Examples:• Number and/or percent of items digitized• Number and/or percent of teachers who use materials from the
Web site
• Include desired characteristic refinement• Examples:
• Number and/or percent of items digitized that meet technical standards
• Number and/or percent of teachers from underperforming schools who use materials from the Web site
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Sources and Intervals• Specify sources of output data
• Examples• …as measured by the number of images
available in the production Web site• …as determined by a survey of teachers
• Specify frequency or interval of measure• Examples
• Tracked monthly• Performed quarterly
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Output Targets
• Target number that you want to achieve at specified points during the project• Example
• By the end of the second quarter of the project, 50% of items from target collection will be digitized and made available on production server, as determined by monthly item inventory
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Targets should be SMART
•Specific•Measurable•Achievable•Relevant•Time-based
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Outcome Based Approach
• Outcomes are (generally) not directly measurable
• Look for indicators of change• Applied to specific audience
• Measured against a benchmark through data collection
• Quantitative
• Qualitative
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Indicators
• What observable evidence of accomplishments, changes or gains can I use to show that the project has achieved the desired outcome? • Who: “The number and/or percent of target audience”
• What: “demonstrate” “produce” “report”
• How much: target amount greater than baseline
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Sample Indicators• 80% of teachers from underperforming schools report that they used a minimum of five primary source documents from the project Web site in lesson plans during the last quarter
• 50% of researchers reported that they were able to find a specific document within 5 minutes or less using the search function on the project Web site during the last month.
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Benchmarks
• Represent the starting point of a project• Determine what you plan to measure at the onset of the project
• Examples:• How many students and faculty use the archives and special collections for research?
• How many assignments on local history are answered by library resources, and which resources are used?
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Quantitative Measures
• Collection statistics• Number of inquiries • Transaction logs
• Number of visits to the sites• Referring urls• IP address of user• Date and time of searches• Number of searches• Types of searches
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Qualitative Outcomes
• Qualitative in terms of accessibility, usability, functionality, user satisfaction and expectations• Focus groups• Surveys• Interviews
• Note: check with institution concerning guidelines for using human subjects
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Exercise: Evaluation
• Consider what tools you can use to measure success in your project.
• Identify baselines you need to take at the beginning of your project and specific outcome indicators you will track.
Planning Fundable Grant Projects
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Contact Us
• Danielle Cunniff Plumerdcplumer [email protected]
• Ann Hodges, Director of Grants and ResearchUniversity of Texas at Arlington [email protected]
Planning Fundable Grant Projects