4C - Collaboration to Clarify the Costs of Curation

MS7—Functioning Information Dependency Profile

“Coordinate, design and monitor the information dependencies within the project“

Executive Summary

This milestone report (MS7) relating to a Functioning Information Dependency Profile (FIDP) provides an overview and status of the work being conducted by Task T3.1—Coordinate, design and monitor the information dependencies within the project (T3.1).

The function of Task T3.1 is to support the progression of the project and facilitate the work of the other project Tasks as well as the communication between them. This report details how the work of T3.1 is planned and executed. It describes the mechanisms and products that enable T3.1 to fulfil its mission and how the 3.1 methodology is applied continuously throughout the duration of the project.

The identified tasks for T3.1 are:

1. Establish a common understanding of the project
2. Identify and map the dependencies between Tasks
3. Enable the information flow between Tasks
4. Ensure continuous application of the T3.1’s methodology throughout the lifetime of the 4C project

And the products to support the execution of the tasks are:

1. An excel sheet, the “Dependency Registry”, that maps all dependencies within the project
2. A visualization of the dependencies of the project in a PERT chart
3. The on-going creation of templates for other Tasks
4. A glossary to support the use of a common terminology within the 4C project
5. A procedure that ensures that T3.1 does its job throughout the project

The products have reached the appropriate level of maturity for this stage of the project and have proven to be efficient so far:

• The Dependency Registry is used by the Task leaders, by the Project Coordinator (Jisc) and by T3.1. It has already been used to identify needs for templates and solve timing and resource issues.
• The visualization of the dependencies (PERT chart) is a product that has been completed most recently, but is now in use and will serve the project throughout its lifetime.
• The glossary is work in progress and will be during the project lifetime. The core, however, has been created, and will serve as a crucial project locus.
• The creation of templates is an on-going job that has already been productive and that will continue.
• The principles, the established mechanisms and the planning of T3.1’s work described in the procedure ensure that this task does its job.

References to the products are to be found in the corresponding sections.

MS7 - Information Dependency Profile

MS7 - Information Dependency Profile - Annex