Impact Calculator Pilots

With the aid of JISC funding six UK Higher Education Institutions were selected to pilot the Impact Calculator (IC) in relation to a records management focused change initiative. The purpose of these pilots was to trial the application of the IC in ‘real world’ settings with a view to sharing practical lessons learnt regarding its use with the wider community. Each pilot institution was also committed to making the data derived from their work freely available to JISC infoNet for public dissemination.

The six institutions selected were:

• The University of Aberdeen
• Cardiff University
• The University of Huddersfield
• King’s College London
• The University of Nottingham
• The University of Oxford (Bodleian Library)

The projects ran from January to June 2010 and the data and analysis provided in this paper is derived from their collective experience. As part of the pilots' outputs all six projects produced reports summarising their lessons learnt. These reports can be accessed by following each university link included on this page. In addition to that the actual Impact Calculator spreadsheets used by each project can be found on the 'Examples of metrics used' page.

The terms of reference for the selected pilots mandated that each project:

"must either be designed to improve an element of information or records management within the institution or improved information and records management must form a significant part of the proposed change initiative in pursuit of another strategic or operational objective".

Although all six projects complied with this brief each did so by focusing on a different aspect of records management and a different business process, resulting in a broad mix of scenarios and resulting data which can be loosely grouped into the following categories:

System Implementation

• Improving the retention, publication and dissemination of programme specifications through use of the University's electronic document and records management system (The University of Huddersfield Final Report)

• Piloting the use of the University's Enterprise Content Management System as an electronic documents management system for the management of student case work (The University of Nottingham Final Report)

Appraisal and Retention Management

• Piloting a records management policy and retention schedule that can be rolled out throughout University Administration & Services (UAS) with a view to regulating the transfer of records to the university archives and better managing the disposal of redundant information (The University of Oxford, Bodleian Libraries Final Report)

• A retrospective appraisal exercise designed to make operational improvements by increasing the space available in the HR Division's recordkeeping systems (Cardiff University Final Report)

Training and Policy

• Developing and testing sustainable strategies for managing the amount of email, which meet organisational needs while at the same time satisfying the requirements of users (The University of Aberdeen Final Report)

• To improve the management of estates records through the introduction of a shared file space, agreed file plan and the application of a de-duplication and records disposal strategy (King's College London Final Report)