Review Methodology
Resources and Links
It is strongly recommended that the review work be undertaken following project management guidelines as promoted by JISC infoNet in the Project Management infoKit. In particular, any such project should ensure that it is supported by a committed Project Sponsor, with cross-institutional influence to ensure that all institution staff will engage with the review.
The review of BCE activities comes in three parts. Firstly, a series of one-to-one interviews with managers of BCE-specific areas such as co-ordination units, Innovation Centres, Conference Organisers and practitioners involved in CPD delivery, work-based delivery, applied research, medical liaison, Knowledge Transfer and Exchange etc. Then a self-evaluation workshop using the diagnostic and self evaluation workbook, designed as part of the project, is held to assess the organisation's strengths and weaknesses under the headings of:
- Policy and Strategy
- Processes and Business Systems
- Partnerships and Resources
- Roles and Responsibilities
- Measurement of Performance and Customer Perception
The workshop should be operated under the Chatham House Rule - delegates can say whatever they wish and be open and critical but no remarks should be attributed outside the meeting.
The workbook makes a series of statements under the headings given above which are then discussed by the delegates in terms of how well the organisation meets, exceeds or fails to meet the statement. During discussions a scribe takes note of any asserted strengths and weaknesses and identified areas for improvement. Delegates are requested to score the organisation as a whole against a scoring system set out in the workbook. Where a range of good and poor practice exists, delegates are encouraged to consider the overall score in terms of the balance of good and poor practice. The workbook needs to be facilitated by a chairperson able to keep momentum going without stifling any healthy discussion. The workshop is likely to require four or five hours in total. It is also almost certainly going to create disagreement around the table at some point.
Finally the identified areas for improvement, alongside any such identified during the interview process, are prioritised and an action plan formed to implement improvements within the organisation.
The review must engage with stakeholders before any of this can happen. Reviews carried out as part of the 'Embedding BCE' project were preceded by an Internal Launch Event that brought together major stakeholders from core business functions, co-ordinating or service functions, Heads of Faculty/Department/Research Institutes and practitioners involved in Business and Community activities.
This internal event started or ended with refreshments and:
- Set out the external drivers for Business & Community Engagement
- Set out the context for the review i.e. that it would:
- Identify the BCE Landscape of the organisation
- Identify how well supported BCE activity was by core business processes and any issues affecting such support
- Identify whether BCE activity was linked to strategy and assess how well any strategy was disseminated
- Identify the links and impact of BCE activity on mainstream teaching and learning and vice versa
- Identify staff perceptions of BCE activity and any issues arising from perceptions
- Introduced the workbook and the concept of the self-evaluation workshop.
- Undertook an exercise to start to identify the organisation's BCE Landscape. This also helped identify interviewees.
- Stressed that the end benefits were to include a prioritised and agreed development plan.
