Project Barley Evaluation - Future Direction

19.1 Future Vision (from Price Waterhouse evaluation report)

Producers were asked about what their vision of the future was with respect to Internet delivery of agricultural services.

Producers and staff were asked about what their vision of the future was with respect to Internet delivery of agricultural services. Producers saw this as a way to communicate with specialists and to make specialists more accessible to them. They quickly saw this as an alternative to the "office" approach to provision of specialist services.

Producers saw this as a great tool for specialists to use to provide, gather and point at information for producers.

Producers saw the technology as becoming as useful as bank cards in the future where they could conduct their business affairs with the department (including such things as applying for crop insurance) over the Internet.

Producers saw the project as moving agriculture ahead with greater technology and AFRD as becoming world leaders in this regard.

19.2 Critical Factors for Future Success(from Price Waterhouse evaluation report)

Training and technology support for staff must be addressed. Staff will not get on board and be supportive of the project without this kind of initiative. The level of computer literacy and Internet literacy is highly variable among staff and in general inadequate for moving forward. A major effort will be required in this regard including considerable one on one support.

Must get department staff, especially specialists and scientists on the system and using it to communicate among themselves and with producers. Must get the discussion groups up and running. Staff must drive these.

There must be a major cultural shift in the department with respect to the technology and the "way we do business". People must begin to understand the implications for how this changes the way they do business and at the potential and power it provides them. Cannot allow people to try and operate in the old way under the new technology - the benefits of the technology will be lost. Need to get people to stop and think about everything they currently do and how it could be done differently/better under the new technology

Must establish departmental and staff priorities with respect to expansion of project barley. Don't just add it on to the plate of staff currently - determine what people should "stop doing" and make it clear where this fits into priorities.

Formalize staffing arrangements and organizational structure with respect to the project

Maintain the status and profile of the project among departmental staff so they want to be involved and see the benefits to them of being involved - keep the excitement up of being associated with the project.

Keep the content alive. Get the discussion groups going and get specialist contributing daily. Get the e-mail with specialists going. Concentrate on getting the "new and current" information on the system.

Maintain the momentum. Have created a positive image for AFRD as a result of project barley but along with this have also created expectations. Need to keep moving forward.

Develop partnerships with other groups to expand breadth and depth of system and increase recognition and credibility of site.

Maintain the quality focus in content and presentation. Don't allow the system to review to a "dump site" for data.

Partner with other groups

19.3 The Suggested Project Management Approach for the Future

There is need for a dedicated core group of people to be responsible for the implementation of electronic delivery of Ministry information and services on the Internet. The primary functions of this group will be in the areas of packaging and managing the organization of information and services; technology support (computers, telecommunications, etc); and training/communication (promotion, communication and training) the product. Based on our experience with Project Barley, we recommend the following full time resources:

Internet Project Manager (one manager, likely at Branch Head level)
Information Packaging (one professional and two technical support)
Technology Support (two professionals).
Training/Communication (one professional).
Admin Support (one person).

Depending on the volume of information and services being put on the system an additional 3 to 6 person years per year of contract help will be needed.

We recommend that this core group of people be established through a combination of contracts, secondments and developmental assignments with no overall increase in Department FTE's. The group does not have to be organized as a stand alone work unit.

We also recommend that the current contract for technical guidance to the project be extended as a part time contract for the next year to support the learning needs of this staff group.

We recommend that information development teams be established for each of the commodity areas that we develop information for. The information teams will be responsible for deciding and developing the information that will be put on the system for that commodity. This work will be done as part of the regular work that these people do. In each case the team leader will be responsible for coordination and implementation timing with the Internet Project Manager.

The Project Manager and his team should be responsible to a Project Advisory Group. This Advisory Group should be key people who were part of the Implementation Group for Project Barley. The Project Manager should also be part of the Advisory Group. This Group should be responsible for developing standards, and for developing operating policy and budget recommendations to Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee should be responsible for operational policy and budget approval.

19.4 Recommendations

Expand from the pilot project to production mode for delivering Department information and services on the Internet by:
1. expanding the current barley information base into more related information on grains
2. adding new commodities
3. adding discreet new areas of information (eg food processing, rural development), and
4. linking to other pertinent sites on the Internet
NOTE: Executive Committee may want to approve priorities for the first year
Approve a management structure and function that is required to implement the recommendations in this report (see Section 19.3)
Allocate funds (ie approve an operating budget) -- to be developed
That all Department information that is developed for delivery on the Internet be on one file server
That the Department place highest priority on equipping and training staff (especially the subject matter experts) for standard e-mail access and Internet, and priorize the development of e-mail/ask-the-expert systems as a way to meet customer needs for timely information that is tailored to their needs.
That Executive Committee continue to promote to staff the importance of using computer technology as a way to deliver information and services and to communicate with customers and with each other.
That the Department take an active role in promoting the expansion of the use of Internet across Alberta and by the Department's customers.
In order to move information delivery to production mode, preparing information to place on the Internet must become part of the regular work of the technical specialists in the Department. As resources are not increasing, management must support and encourage staff decisions to displace lower priority work to make time available for Internet work.
Develop partnerships with other groups to expand the breadth and depth of information and services that are available on Internet for agriculture, food and rural development in Alberta. Consider providing a complimentary delivery system for industry partnered electronic information products.
Develop partnerships within the Department to involve staff in producing information and promoting Internet as one of the ways that the Department delivers information.
Authorize (direct) the Project Barley Implementation Group to develop an implementation plan to address these recommendations for consideration and approval by Executive Committee.

19.5 Special Thanks

The development of this report was a group effort. Darwin Daviduk, Gerard Vaillancourt, Don Sass, Rick Ostrowski, Lorraine Constable, Alan Hall, Rick Pixley, Mel Miller, Karen Wright, Nancy Brown Andison, M Merali, Ed Sticksma, Rob Thirlwell, Keith Toogood, Gail Atkinson and others helped to author this report. Ron Weisenburger put the pieces together into the overall report.

19.6 Questions and Comments

If you have any questions or comments about this report e-mail them to duke@agric.gov.ab.ca.

This information is maintained by the Web Editor
Last Revised/Reviewed October 20, 1995

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