Progress report: Project Sharing Engine
By Ed Mitchell 15th February 2013
This is most of our lastest progress report for the Project Sharing Engine project. We remain grateful to the Nominet Trust, who fund this work.
Overview
Technical, design and engagement work on the Project Sharing widget was progressing satisfactorily. At our last report, we were about to hold the Alpha webmasters’ meeting to discuss the alpha widget, and start the much anticipated webserver move. The meeting went well, the webserver move is still ongoing (but nearly done).
Engagement
Our ‘alpha webmasters’ community meeting in December 2012 went well. We had thorough discussions and got invaluable feedback from the frontline, ranging from software design to usability, editorial and facilitation.
We captured the feedback from this meeting, categorised it and shared it in a public document which we also use now as a project management sheet for works to move the widget software from alpha to beta.
Read the widget feedback and changes document here:
Technical and design
Following the alpha webmasters meeting, we were poised to do the widget changes suggested. These have been held up by the necessary works on the webserver move however – which is why we are putting this report on Amber and not Green.
Technical delays
We anticipated that the installation of the Projects Widget on Transition Initiative websites will result in much higher, and unpredictable, volumes of web traffic. Planning for this, plus aiming to work with a wider group of technical staff in the future, and on multiple ‘platforms’ for different areas of Transition support and engagement, meant we identified the need to move to the ‘Aegir’ multi-site hosting framework.
Aegir is a strong and advanced open source choice with web hosting companies and organisations with multiple websites (and dedicated full time technical teams). It is also a slightly unknown quantity.
We underestimated the work involved in moving to this new webserver and hosting software. We knew that we needed to do it, and are nearly done, but this has proved to be a very significant piece of research and production, costing nearly four times the estimate in time and money.
It is proceeding, and the product is on its way. We identify two key risks now which we will monitor closely and keep Nominet Trust closely updated about:
The risks: 1. Technical delay
We are testing the new server now and hope to move onto it fully on Monday 18th February.
We will then do the remaining beta product work, and once we are happy that the server is stable in the live environment, we will release the beta product – at the beginning of March. This will give us one month for the beta product testing and some time for changes before the full live release, but it is less time, with less room for manoeuvre for this stage than planned. So this is a risk we are monitoring closely and openly, and will keep Nominet Trust up to date as it progresses.
The risks: 2. Finances:
We expect to have spent approximately £4,000 on the server move. Our estimate for this was approximately £1,000. To deal with this as it arose, we used development budget (saved for post-beta product work) as well as the maintenance budget initially earmarked.
This has increased our exposure to the risk of needing to make changes after beta product testing and before live release, and not having the budget set aside for this work.
We did a lot of deeper work than planned at the earlier stages of the project, and the server move should be able to handle the changes in load and usage, so we hope that we will not have too much to do after the beta release. It is a risk however, and, as with the delay risk, we will monitor it closely and openly, and keep Nominet Trust up to date as we proceed.
The move is very nearly complete with a date of Monday 18th February. We will be glad to see it done – it’s been a ‘journey’!
We are exceptionally grateful for the funding as it has enabled us to take an innovative risk within an innovative project.
- Read the widget feedback and changes document here
- Read all of the project updates on the project blog here
- Read all of the up to date project documentation on the project wiki here
What changes are you making to address this and when will these changes happen?
We still aim to release the live product by the end of April and appreciate the opportunity to extend our project delivery date from our original date of February.
We recognise the two key risks of time delays and finances, which we have explained above.
Overall project progress
Please summarise any project developments not covered in your Project Flightdeck (500 words max)
Three things have come out of this work which we were not expecting and have been positive for Transition Network:
1. Projects forms enhancements:
As recorded in our last report, we have reviewed and updated all of the project profile fields that we use to capture projects information on the main website. This is invaluable work as it will enable projects to add more pertinent information to their profiles, making them more findable, and their classifications more relevant to the activist world. It is also a vital part of Transition Network’s evaluation ambition.
We will shortly be contacting all of the project owners with the news that they can update their existing project profiles.
2. Information Systems for Transition Network:
As recorded in our last report, the wider issue of Transition Network’s Information Systems and management has come up through the Project Sharing Engine work. The question is: having encouraged people to add their details and information, how can we keep it up to date?
Following a number of internal brainstorming meetings, we have procured separate research funding for a researcher to research the UK Transition Initiatives listings and their pertinent data, and contact and update them where suitable.
3. Communications plan for Transition Network:
We have been trying to find the time and resource to put together a communications plan for Transition Network. An outcome of our recent staff restructure has been that this has been identified and we are now putting a communications plan together. This need was identified in the Project Sharing Engine work early on and it is great news that we are doing it.
Tell us about any unexpected support you’ve received to help deliver the project e.g. pro bono support, financial help)
N/a
Please detail any unresolved issues affecting your project that are outside of your control
N/a
Please tell us about any issues affecting your organisation that may impact your project delivery e.g. staff capacity, funding levels
We reported on our staff restructure in our last report. This is ongoing. It is not expected to affect the project delivery, but has been influenced by the outcomes of this project, which is great.
Please tell us about any significant changes to your project budget since your last report e.g. overspend, additional costs
We expect to have spent approximately £4,000 on the server move. Our estimate for this was approximately £1,000. To deal with this as it arose, we used development budget (saved for post-beta product work) as well as the maintenance budget initially earmarked.
This has increased our exposure to the risk of needing to make changes after beta product testing and before live release, and not having the budget set aside for this work. We did a lot of deeper work than planned at the earlier stages of the project, and the server move should be able to handle the changes in load and usage, so we hope that we will not have too much after the beta release.
It is a risk however, and, as with the delay risk, we will monitor it closely and openly, and keep Nominet Trust up to date as we proceed.
Other support
Please tell us about any ways we have been able to help recently and what the impact of this has been:
We are sending Rob Hopkins our ‘Catalyst’ on a video editing course, and are delighted that we have a Media Trust training course left – we will decide which one to do based on the findings from our communications planning process.
Are there additional ways in which we could offer you support?
We are looking for legal advice about our terms and conditions which we know Nominet has looked for.
Communication and publicity activities
What activities or events do you have planned, over the next period, to promote your project and raise its profile? :
Our plan for the release involves:
- Alpha webmasters: will use their widgets as case studies
- Beta webmasters: we have a list of beta webmasters who are waiting to install the widgets
- Our new communications plan: will feature the Projects widget as our spring release across the usual social media channels, news items and our own newsletter
- The widget users’ newsletter: following the alpha webmaster meet, we will set up a ‘widget users newsletter’ to stay in touch with the widget owners
- Transition Thursdays: we are launching our new book from May 2013; this will involve a personal tour by the author on Thursdays, who will be encouraging the use of the widget