Information Services Management Committee

Minutes of the Meeting of December 11, 2001
1:30 - 3:15 pm
Porter 407

Regrets: Richard Pinnell, Linda Teather

Guest: Michele Laing

1. Minutes of Previous Meeting

The minutes of the meeting of December 4, 2001 were approved with one change.

2. Business Arising:  ISMC's Web Site

   Cheryl has completed a draft of new Web pages.  Richard spoke with Jenny Marvin, who agreed to have her presentation included on ISMC's page on the Staff Web.  Susan R. received an update from Marina on the status of the Web Operational Management Group's project on statistics, which is in process. The group will keep ISMC informed.

3. Virtual Reference

   Scope Management Plan
   The Committee discussed the Scope Management Plan for the Project Charter for a Virtual Reference Feasibility Study at the University of Waterloo.  If the project broadens in scope, any changes will be dealt with as a committee.

   Project Stakeholders
   The Committee identified the project stakeholders it felt may be affected by the feasibility study as follows:

   1. staff: 
      • Library: service providers, support providers, other (e.g. administration)
      The Committee will plan to keep the staff group informed throughout the project, and seek their input and feedback as appropriate. 

   2. clients:
      • UW students
      • faculty
      • staff
      • other (to be defined)
      ISMC does not anticipate communicating with the client group during the feasibility study phase, however, there is a need to consider clients as stakeholders.

   3. vendors
      The Committee will gather information from the vendor group.

   Communications/Reporting Plan
   The Committee determined the nature of the communication or reporting that may be required by ISMC for the project stakeholder groups identified above. 
   1. staff: 
      • Library:  service providers:  Share the completed project charter and plan a meeting with the information desk staff.  Provide updates at departmental meetings before the feasibility study project is completed. At the next ISR meeting, Susan R. will provide the background information about the project and discuss project management tool techniques. 
      • Library:  support staff (e.g. Systems):  Share the project charter and final report when completed.  In the meantime, Linda Teather will keep Systems informed.
      • Library:  other staff:  Share the completed project charter and final report. When the report has been completed, offer an information session (perhaps a demo) for those interested.

   Risk Management Plan
   The Committee discussed how to manage the risks it identified in the project charter. 
   1. Undertaking the study may lead people to conclude prematurely that we will introduce virtual reference.  Emphasize whenever communicating with groups about the project that the study is an open-ended investigation, and conducting it does not say that we are introducing virtual reference.
   2. We may not be able to conclude the study by the time specified. Set a realistic time frame, once the specific tasks have been identified during the work breakdown process.
   3. We may become frustrated by the amount of up-front time spent planning the project and lose interest and energy when it comes time for the actual implementation (of the feasibility study, not the service). The Committee is confident that any enthusiasm lost will be gained as the project picks up momentum after the work breakdown.

   All elements needed for the project charter have now been considered.