JISC

Exit and sustainability planning is thinking about what outputs should live on after the programme ends and how, and which ones simply need a good resting placeSustainability is about what lives on after the project and how. Some project outputs will live a useful life during the project and simply need a good ‘resting place’ at the end. Some project outputs will live on after the project ends (e.g. content hosted by a service). Some project outputs will be taken up by others and transformed - VisiCalc was an early spreadsheet, and Mosaic was an early browser. They don’t exist as products now, but the concept was so good, it was taken up by others who developed better products that were sustainable. 

Programme strategy

The programme manager will develop a sustainability strategy at programme-level. This will give some consideration as to the outputs that are most likely to be sustainable in the long term in the context of the programme’s objectives and the outcomes it envisages. It will consider the processes necessary for embedding, and take-up by the community. Sustainability tends to focus on models and scenarios. The programme manager will share the programme strategy with you, and this will provide a framework for planning exit/sustainability strategies at project-level.

Project plans

JISC funding is for the limited term, as set out in the letter of grant. From the start, you need to plan for what will happen to the outputs at the end of the project.  This may seem premature, but sustainability has implications for the work done during the project. 

The exit/sustainability plan will cover:

• Exit  The planning needed to complete the project and get the best value from the work that has been funded
• Sustainability  An assessment of which project outputs should be sustained after the project ends, how, and by whom

In developing the exit/sustainability plan, you should be guided by the programme manager and any requirements given in the circular/ITT or letter of grant. For example, some development projects involve creating a product or service that is specifically intended to be sustainable, and include requirements about design, service levels, intellectual property, etc. Obviously, these must be followed.

Exit plan

Step 1: Revisit project outcomes
A good starting point is to revisit the project outcomes you envisage, the changes your project will stimulate or enable, and its impact on the teaching, learning, and research communities. Your outcomes may relate to what people will be able to do better, faster, or more efficiently because of what you’ve done or learned.

Step 2: Action for take-up
Think about the take-up and embedding needed to achieve the change you envisage. Your project outputs may include tools, models, guidelines, methods, case studies, knowledge, or recommendations that can be taken up by the community. Dissemination will be important to inform them about your work. Think about what else you need to do to encourage take-up (e.g. to ensure that tools and models are used, guidelines or criteria are adopted). Considerations include how to make them available and how to get them accepted. Stakeholders may play an important role.  t’s a bit like launching a ship. You build and launch it, and others will sail in it.

Step 3: Action for exit
Before you launch a ship, you do need to make sure that it’s safe and can be maintained. This is your exit plan. Considerations include access, preservation, maintenance, and intellectual property:

• Access  Who will host the deliverables after the project ends?  Will they be available on your project web site?  Have you made other arrangements for hosting?
• Preservation  All deliverables must be archived in the appropriate JISC data centre or managed repository, and core project documents must be archived in the JISC records management system.  What preservation issues need to be addressed before this happens?
• Maintenance  What supporting documentation will be needed to maintain deliverables, e.g. specs, user guides, technical documentation?  Will any ongoing maintenance be needed and what will it cost?
• Intellectual property  What third-party rights need to be cleared to make sure deliverables can be accessible to the teaching, learning, and community after the project ends?  If you’re developing open source software, which open source license would be appropriate?

The project plan template has a table to complete indicating the action needed for take-up and exit.   

You may not know all the answers at the start of the project, but think through the issues and develop a short plan that you can build on later. Thinking about take-up and embedding will inform your dissemination plan. Thinking about issues like access, maintenance, and IPR may have implications for project work.

Sustainability plan

Step 4: Sustainable outputs
Think about what outputs are likely to be sustainable in the long term. For many projects, there won’t be sustainable outputs. The work the project has done has been taken up by the community, leading to changes in thinking and practice. But for some projects there may be sustainable outputs, particularly in the area of content, software, and tools. You may be creating content that could be made available to the teaching, learning, or research communities on a permanent basis or to other sectors. You may be developing software or tools that could be developed further and licensed for different types of applications. Try to identify the outputs for your project that should live on after the project ends, who will want them, and why.

Step 5: Sustainability options
Think through sustainability scenarios for the outputs that should live on after the project. Think about who might carry them forward, how, and the issues that will need to be addressed to make your outputs self-sustaining. You won’t have all the answers, but you’ll have ideas that can be discussed with JISC throughout the project. Thinking through scenarios at the start will help you address the issues as you go along.

When developing scenarios, think about the partners you may need to take your outputs forward. For example, if you’re working on a technical standard, a standards organisation could take if forward. If you have content, you will need an online host. If you have a pilot system or prototype software, you may need a technical partner to help develop it further. You rarely have all the skills needed to develop project outputs into products or services that are self-sustaining, so think of the partners you may need.

Think also about the issues that may be involved in making a product or service self-sustaining, such as:

• Market need  There should be a genuine market need that isn’t currently filled by other products or services. Your  evaluation plan should ensure that what you’ve created is useful and wanted by the community.
• Quality  Sustainable outputs need to be fit for purpose, of high quality, and created using appropriate standards and best practice. Your quality plan will ensure this is the case.
• Intellectual property  You must ensure that any intellectual property rights are cleared to make outputs available after the project ends. Software should be registered.
• Investment  In most cases, investment will be needed to develop products further, and in all cases a sound business model will be needed to make them self-sustaining.

The project plan template has a table to complete on sustainability where you can list possible scenarios for taking your work forward and issues to address. You won’t know all the answers at the start of the project, but thinking about the issues now will inform the project work.

Business plans

The exit/sustainability plan is done early in the project to help you decide what outputs might be worth sustaining after the end of the project and the sustainability issues that should be addressed during the project.  As the project proceeds, it will become clearer which outputs should be sustained and how. Where you wish to exploit deliverables on a commercial basis after funding ceases, you should submit a business plan with economic models that demonstrate how the product or service will be self-sustaining. The timing might be around the project mid-point, and the business plan might cover the following topics:

• Market analysis  Market need, market sectors(s), users and user needs, competition
• Product/service  Definition of the product/service, benefits, unique selling points, critical success factors, cost-benefit analysis compared to competition
• Infrastructure  Hardware, software, hosting, delivery, processes, standards, facilities, maintenance
• Future development  Upgrading infrastructure, updating content
• Expertise needed  Competencies, partners needed and their roles, staff, suppliers, outsourcing
• Management  Leadership, organisation, staffing, administration
• Economic models  Setup/ongoing costs, investment, income generation (e.g. sales, subscriptions, third-party licensing, advertising, sponsorship)
• Marketing  Market sectors, marketing and promotion, training and support
• Legal and intellectual property  IP rights needed, licensing and legal agreements, digital rights management, software registration
• Risk assessment and management, including financial risks
• Timing  Overall timescale, phasing, milestones

Before preparing a business plan, you should review the letter of grant and see if there are any implications for commercial exploitation of project outputs. You should also discuss your plans with the programme manager and any programme advisory board for advice and guidance.

Review as you Go It’s important to think about what will happen at the end of the project from the very start. The exit/sustainability plan will help you plan how to achieve the outcomes you envisage, and get your work taken up and taken forward.Your project may or may not have sustainable outputs. Make a preliminary assessment at the start of the project and see how things go. Discuss sustainability at project meetings, get the views of stakeholders and project ‘champions’ as work progresses. Change the plan as you go along as you get feedback from users, stakeholders, and other projects in the programme.

Further resources

• Sustainability issues for digital resources TASI (Technical Advisory Service for Images)
• Issues in sustainability: Creating value for online users Abby Smith, First Monday, Vol. 8, No. 5, May 2003, The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR)
• Survey of digital cultural heritage initiatives and their sustainability concerns Diane Zorich,  June 2003, The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR)