An Update from I-WIRE

We haven't blogged for a while, so this is to give an update on where we are at the moment.

We are coming to the end of our 3rd design iteration; just one more iteration and set of User Stories to go, and then we will be asking the Project Management Group to approve our findings and design at the next board meeting in May. Then its on to WorkPackage 4, the Technical Development Phase. We have a meeting with the Research Administrator and two IT developers from one of our partner schools today, so are hoping for useful feedback on the current design.

We are also hoping to soon hear whether our poster proposal has been accepted for the Open Repositories International Conference that is taking place in Madrid in July - fingers crossed!

I-WIRE Updates

Just a quick update today. MePrints, an offshoot of EPrints, has just been brought to our attention. This is something we are interested in exploring as it is a more user-friendly version of the EPrints system, and gives users details of their recent publications and number of hits. These user-centred portal features are what the I-WIRE Project is setting out to achieve, so this is of great interest to us.

In other news, we are still ploughing through the requirements captured, focusing on what is achievable within the timescale and scope of the project. We've had three analysis sessions, and have two more scheduled for this week. Our requirements report is due at the end of January, and we also have a visit from Andy McGregor, our JISC project manager, tomorrow - a very busy week for us! Andy's visit is well-timed howver as we are wrapping up our requirements phase and moving into design and development.

I-WIRE User Needs Analysis and Process Design

Earlier this week I had a really productive conversation with Christine Stewart, the Lean University Programme Leader at Cardiff, about how we adopt Lean thinking as we progress the User Needs Analysis and Process Design phases of the I-WIRE Project.

Christine's team have been playing a key role in the PALET Project and could help us gain some ground on I-WIRE by adopting a similar approach to understanding current processes, the associated issues and ultimately what users need from the Repository service that the project is going to enhance. This will involve bringing academic and research authors together to help produce these models.  We can also take the opportunity to include the Research Administrators from the I-WIRE Project's partner schools to ensure we get an end-to-end view of the processes. This will not only give us a starting position to take forward into the design phase, but will also contribute to our baseline view and help inform our evaluation work.

The next steps are to identify the appropriate stakeholders to invite (we're getting there!) and get their buy in to attend a one-day workshop at a mutually convenient time, so watch this space for progress.