Tools for invisible administration

Research information management infoKit
(JISC Advance)

What is it?: A briefcase of advice, guidance and institutional experience on how to manage your research information.

How it works: Explores the issues relating to Research Information Management by theme (business case, systems and data and implementation) and reflects on a range of institutional experiences of dealing with them.

Why you need it: Reductions in university funding and changes to external reporting requirements mean there will be an increased need for institutions to maximise their research potential and to be able to demonstrate how their research funds were utilised and the value for money they provided.
What it isn’t: A generic framework for how to manage your data.

Who it’s for: Researchers, research managers, research administrators
What they said: Senior practicitioner in email: ‘this is very useful’.

Freedom of Information and research data: Questions and answers

What is it?: A Q&A document on what to do about Freedom of information requests for research data.

How it works: A simple list of questions and answers, available online
Why you need it: Research data can be the subject of Freedom of Information requests, as recent high profile cases have shown. As a researcher, how should you respond if faced with such a request? This document sets out to answer that question and others on the topic.

Who it’s for: Research managers; information services managers; information officers.

What it isn’t: Details of particular circumstances can make a major difference, so conclusions that you reach in your individual case may well differ from the general suggestions here. The document isn’t legal advice. Other sources of advice include your FoI Practitioner, JISC Legal and JISC InfoNET as well as outputs from JISC’s managing research data programme.

What they said: Chris Rusbridge, previously director of the Digital Curation Centre, who helped put the guidance together with Dr Andrew Charlesworth, said ‘There is good protection against premature disclosure of research data in Scotland. Oddly, in the rest of the UK the best way to reduce the chances of premature disclosure may well be to have a policy to publish the research data once the research is finished.

The Impact Calculator (JISC Advance)

What is it? A tool to demonstrate the impact of any institutional change initiative by weighing up the tangible benefits or efficiency gains that will be or have been derived from it.

Who it’s for: Information service managers; record and information managers, project managers and other posts responsible for changes to institutional systems or processes.

Why you need it: To help demonstrate if and when your proposed change initiative will deliver a return on investment for your institution.

How it works: It includes methods for capturing and measuring three distinct sets of data and from this calculates if and when a return on investment will be realised:

performance information before and after completion of the initiative

costs of implementation

an accurate calculation of its measurable benefits in both monetary and non-monetary terms

What they said: ‘The impact calculator is potentially a very strong tool to provide comparative costs information in a clear and helpful way to demonstrate savings, and could easily be reproduced for summary reports’ Oxford University, Bodleian Library Pilot Project.

Process Review InfoKit (JISC Advance)

What is it: step-by-step guide on methods for reviewing and improving your business processes using a common sense approach.

How it works: a very simple range of options for evaluating your current processes and planning a move to a more efficient and effective state.
Why you need it: It helps you review, then redesign your processes, and then re-engineer them if necessary.

Who it’s for: senior managers in all disciplines.

What it isn’t: You don’t necessarily need to use all options and as the InfoKit says, ‘full-blown business re-engineering isn’t appropriate for everyone.’

Managing information to make life easier: a practical guide for administrators (JISC Advance)

What is it?: A resource which provides practical solutions to many of the every day problems administrators face in managing their information; including email management, version control and when it is safe to dispose of information.

How it works: It has been designed to answer real life questions and provide practical solutions. It does not dwell overly on theory or assume idealised situations which bear little resemblance to reality. It does not claim to be a comprehensive guide but does provide references to sources of further information where relevant for the user who wishes to obtain more detail on a given issue.

Why you need it: Institutions now create and receive more information than ever before.. Unfortunately our collective capacity to create and disseminate information is in danger of outstripping our ability to manage it. This can often lead to individuals feeling as though they are fighting a losing battle. What should be a positive and enabling asset can rapidly become an unwelcome burden and a drain on precious time and resources.

What it isn’t: A comprehensive guide to setting up an organisation-wide information strategy.

Who it’s for: It is particularly aimed at those who have responsibility for setting up or maintaining information and records management measures within their local area, be that a project team, department or faculty but should also be of use to anyone who creates or uses information as part of their daily work.