Tapping%20Your%20Inner%20CEO:%20Management%20Tips%20to%20Stay%20on%20Budget%20and%20Deadline

1
Tapping Your Inner CEO Management Tips to Stay
on Budget and Deadline
By Kim Schroeder
2
Digitization Projects and Fears

• Most of our professional literature talks about
  the fear of obsolescence in context to these
  projects.
• While that is a fear not to be minimized, there
  is another fear that archivists have and that is
  running out of budget. Whether not imagining
  they have enough money to even begin or anxiety
  over running out in funds in the middle, these
  fears hamper digital projects and success.
• How to avoid this is not well documented and yet
  business processes are clear and supportive.
• We need to stop making solo archivists re-invent
  the wheel when embarking on a digital project.

3
Business Principles

• Sound business principles exist for a reason.
• Businesses that diverge from them, impact
  employees, company survival and even sometimes
  the world economy.
• Using these tools we can attain efficiency and a
  certain comfort zone.

4
Business Principles

• Few archivists have a business background.
• Many have an impression of business as something
  they are removed from.
• We need to be involved in ACTIVE management of
  these projects.
• As we are so understaffed, much of our time is
  spent reacting to users and issues rather than
  proactively managing.

5
Business Principles

• We need to actively plan out how much effort the
  project will take.
• How much money we have or need.
• How much money we think that we can obtain.
• Set deadlines and milestones.
• Build in the promotion, fund-raising and outreach
  of these collections.
• Lets begin where most archivists do

6
Pricing

• There is much talk on the listservs about what to
  charge for various services in libraries and
  archives.

7
Pricing

• There is much talk on the listservs about what to
  charge for various services in libraries and
  archives.
• What is wrong with this?

8
Pricing

• Addressing what a patron can afford is important.
  So is looking at the market rate to make sure
  you are not missing something in determining your
  price and set it unreasonably too high or low.
• BUT

9
Pricing

• You need to know how much your COST is.
• Example
• Your institution will provide on-demand scanning
  of archival materials (within reason). How much
  do you charge?

10
Pricing

• You need to know how much your COST is.
• What costs go into this determination?

11
Pricing

• You need to know how much your COST is.
• What costs go into this determination?
• Fixed Costs
• Variable Costs

12
Pricing

• Fixed Costs
• Costs spread throughout the institution for it to
  exist.
• Variable Costs
• Depends on the type of service and may vary on a
  case by case basis.

13
Pricing

• Fixed Costs
• Might include building costs, staffing, utility
  bills, office supplies, etc.
• Variable Costs
• Might include ink that varies in annual cost
  based on how many prints you make.

14
Pricing

• Fixed Costs
• Costs spread throughout the institution for it to
  exist.
• Might include building costs, staffing, utility
  bills, office supplies, etc.
• Building - Annual Lease - 100,000
• Staff Salaries and Benefits - 250,000
• Utilities - 10,000
• Supplies - 1500
• Insurance - 2000
• Total - 363,500 / 2,000 open hours 181.75
  per hour base cost

15
Pricing

• Variable Costs
• Might include ink that varies in annual cost
  based on how many prints you make.
• Ink Cartridge - 50 (used half of it)
• Paper - 1.00
• Staff Scanning/Research Time 1 hour
• Total Cost to make a patron scan 207.75

16
Budgeting

• Knowing your internal costs allows you to
  determine your real budget.
• Hidden costs, not knowing internal cost, fees,
  and timing all create failing budgets.

17
Budgeting

• Defining a digital service is important. For
  instance, developing a Twitter project to help
  you promote your digital collection is a
  reasonable option. Lets look at the real costs.

18
Sample Twitter Project Costs(Assuming no
Technology Investment Needed)
Needs Assessment 5 hrs 25 x 5 125
Developing Content for Twitter/ Competitive Research Developing Content for Twitter/ Competitive Research 10 hrs 25 x 10 250 You should start with a backlog of content
Developing Institutional Process Developing Institutional Process 5 hrs 25 x 5 125 Minimum!
Setting up Account .5 hrs 25 x .5 12.50
Monitoring Account 2.5 hrs 25 x 2.5 62.50 Per Week Minimum!
Uploading Content 2 hrs 25 x 2 50 Per Week Minimum!
On-going Develop of Content On-going Develop of Content 2 hrs 25 x 2 50 Per Week Minimum!
Totals 512.5 Start-up Staff Time
162.5 On-going Weekly Costs
19
Budgeting

• Developing a digital project budget is quite a
  bit more complicated and often takes a team of
  people to review for accuracy.

20
Budgeting

• Simple Budget

21
Budgeting

• Simple Budget

22
Budgeting

• Simple Budget cont

23
Budgeting

• Advanced Project Budget

Interface Design
Search Methodology
User Access
Folksonomies?
Network Back-ups
Vendor Management
On-going IT Administration
24
Vendor Relations

• Hidden costs are rampant with vendors and this is
  a problem on both ends.
• Arguing over money ruins many marriages and a
  business relationship is no different!
• Understand the fine print, the amount of
  maintenance now and in the future, fees, upgrade
  issues, etc.
• Consider capping service hours.
• Be sure to specify in contracts what is a working
  product or service. Completion is not competency.

25
Tracking

• Report generation is something that is often put
  to the side.
• It is vital for management
• You can feasibly track EVERYTHING.
• Staff time on the Internet
• Average chat reference length
• Satisfaction with reference interaction
• Improvement in digital response, breadth of
  content, depth of content, user volume, etc.

26
Sample Time Ticket
Archive Media Partners, Inc. Archive Media Partners, Inc. Archive Media Partners, Inc. Archive Media Partners, Inc. Daily Time Sheet Daily Time Sheet Daily Time Sheet Daily Time Sheet Daily Time Sheet Daily Time Sheet Daily Time Sheet Daily Time Sheet Daily Time Sheet Daily Time Sheet Daily Time Sheet
220 Bagley, Suite 828, Detroit, MI 48226, phone [phone], fax [phone] Bagley, Suite 828, Detroit, MI 48226, phone [phone], fax [phone] Bagley, Suite 828, Detroit, MI 48226, phone [phone], fax [phone] Bagley, Suite 828, Detroit, MI 48226, phone [phone], fax [phone] Bagley, Suite 828, Detroit, MI 48226, phone [phone], fax [phone] Bagley, Suite 828, Detroit, MI 48226, phone [phone], fax [phone] Bagley, Suite 828, Detroit, MI 48226, phone [phone], fax [phone] Bagley, Suite 828, Detroit, MI 48226, phone [phone], fax [phone] Bagley, Suite 828, Detroit, MI 48226, phone [phone], fax [phone] Bagley, Suite 828, Detroit, MI 48226, phone [phone], fax [phone] Bagley, Suite 828, Detroit, MI 48226, phone [phone], fax [phone] Bagley, Suite 828, Detroit, MI 48226, phone [phone], fax [phone] Bagley, Suite 828, Detroit, MI 48226, phone [phone], fax [phone] Bagley, Suite 828, Detroit, MI 48226, phone [phone], fax [phone] Bagley, Suite 828, Detroit, MI 48226, phone [phone], fax [phone]
Employee Name Employee Name Willie C. Durant Willie C. Durant Willie C. Durant Willie C. Durant Willie C. Durant Week Ending Week Ending Week Ending 8/15/2010 8/15/2010 8/15/2010 8/15/2010 8/15/2010
                             
Client/Work Order Monday Monday Tuesday Tuesday Wednesday Wednesday Thursday Thursday Friday Friday Sat/Sun Sat/Sun Totals Totals
Client/Work Order HO prod HO prod HO prod HO prod HO prod HO prod HO prod HO prod HO prod HO prod HO prod HO prod HO prod HO prod
AMP-002 DAM Meeting 2                       2 0
Scan-0003 5 25         8 40         13 65
Index-0001     6 60                 6  
Index - 0002     2 10 8 45             10 55
QC-001 1 15           8 100     9 115
27
Sample Time Ticket

• From this simple format the following data can be
  generated
• Average scans per hour
• Percentage of time for each task per employee
• Overall production
• Amount of time spent on tech problems

28
Adjusting

• Tracking is of no value if the data is not
  analyzed and acted upon.
• A good project management practice is to define
  the process but leave room for adjustment for
  optimal efficiency.

29
Workflow Tables
30
Workflow Table

31
Data Sample

• Example The weekly time ticket report generates
  the following. What does it tell you?

32
(No Transcript)
33
Reading the Data

• 1) The through-put of the scanning is making the
  goals but the through-put for the other tasks is
  holding the entire project behind.
• 2) More staff needs to be given to indexing and
  qc or decreasing scanning might be an option.
• 3) The backlog of quality check is increasing at
  a faster rate than indexing. This might mean
  that there are issues with the training of the
  staff or an increase in questions with the
  indexing. The indexing process might need to be
  examined as well.
• 4) Looking at increases month to month might be
  important rather than quarterly.
• If nothing is done, you risk having your
  collection piled high in incomplete stacks
  instead of fully digitized and refiled.

34
Reading the Data

• If nothing is done, you risk having your
  collection piled high in incomplete stacks
  instead of fully digitized and refiled.
• You also risk not completing a task at all.

35
Feedback

• Staff, management and patrons all deserve to be
  given feedback. In a service business we all
  need communication of our mutual goals,
  successes, failures and (hopefully) improvements.
• When issues arise that hold up a smooth workflow,
  the entire team should be asked for input. This
  has to be done in a comfortable atmosphere so
  that true suggestions will be offered.
• Even if your team is making its goals, regular
  solicitation of staff for ways to be more
  efficient should be executed.

36
Feedback Tools

• Suggestion Box Posted in a clearly marked area
  of the workroom. It should be reviewed each
  week.
• Announcing Open Door policy for all staff to
  suggest improvements to management.
• Hiring a consultant to moderate and document
  suggestions and an optimal process.
• Create an online survey of staff in Survey Monkey
  or others.
• Hand out surveys to staff.

37
Feedback Tools

• Sample questions
• What are typical problems that you encounter in
  ______?
• (Scanning, indexing, quality control, etc.?)
• If you were to re-do the process, what would you
  change?
• If we had an unlimited budget what would you like
  to see done to the process?

38
Evaluation

• Evaluating how your budget is progressing is
  important. A weekly or monthly review is
  recommended and even more frequently if needed.
• This means that overages can be caught before it
  is too late.
• In the previous example, we see a few things that
  affect the through-put for hitting completion but
  what about the impact on budget?
• Not enough is typically done to think about the
  dollars that are now needed. The impact of
  slow-downs in tasks might be greater search time
  to answer a user research request or it might
  mean the project goes tremendously over budget.

39
Evaluation and Quantification

• Does the backlog in indexing mean that we are
  pulling other staff off of other vital tasks?
• Analyzing the data and adjusting the workflow is
  critical to staying on budget and deadline.
• The quantification is one side of it, but quality
  is a big half of this. The quality of work and
  quantifying that is often a tough aspect for
  archives.
• It is possible to create this type of numerical
  support and create a business case? Yes, it is.

40
Evaluation and Quantification

• Akin to public libraries that look at their
  circulation numbers for the year and multiply out
  the cost per book to get a total purchase price
  for books and magazines that shrinks the cost of
  a millage. Creating these numbers is an
  important selling tool in developing your budget.
• Perhaps, you plan to digitize your 75 most
  requested images. This will then cut down on
  repeat questions and create an economy of scale.
• This when uploaded to your website also creates a
  buzz about your archive and its valuable
  contents. Media coverage can be quantified.
• The more people know about your archive, the more
  they will use it and sustain it.

41
Time Studies

• The results of the time tickets can give you
  great information about how much time it takes to
  do each task.
• When comparing it to the time expected it is a
  strong tool for managing a digital project that
  is on a limited budget.

42
Time Studies

43
Time Studies

• This tells us that

44
Time Studies

• This tells us that Henry and John should not be
  scanning?
• Mary is a stronger scanner?
• If Henry did all of the scanning for 1000 images
  then it would take him 400 hours. If Mary did
  it, she would take about 143 hours. With a rate
  of pay of 20 per hour the cost difference IF
  quality is the same would be
• Henry 8000 vs. Mary at 2860 with a dollar
  difference of 5140.

45
Time Studies

• Money is part of the picture.
• Quality is the other side.
• How often do each of them make mistakes?
• The quality control aspect has to be part of this
  story problem!

46
Tools Re-cap

• Spreadsheets
• Tracking Forms
• Time Tickets
• Charts!
• Surveys
• Suggestion Boxes

47
Sample Tracking Forms Included

• Workflow Tables/Charts
• Time Studies
• Production Reports
• Time Tickets

48
Contact Information

• Kim Schroeder
• Adjunct Faculty
• Wayne State University
• School of Library and Information Science
• AG1797_at_WAYNE.EDU
• President/Consultant
• Archive Media Partners
• kim_at_archivemediapartners.com
• Professional Blog to talk about these issues
• www.archivemediapartners.com/AMPed
• Note a link to this presentation is available
  via the blog