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learning portal business plan------final report
PREPARED BY SANATHAN KASSIEDASS,
OVERLAP ASSOCIATES
FOR THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE,
ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE NORTH AND PARTNERS
JULY 2013
2 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
contents
summary ......................................................................................................................... 4
the process ..................................................................................................................... 6
The Survey .............................................................................................................. 6
User focus group sessions .......................................................................................... 7
Partners’ input ............................................................................................................ 8
Reporting .................................................................................................................... 9
Vendor survey ......................................................................................................... 9
requirements documentation — for use in RFP ........................................................... 10
Feature Table ............................................................................................................ 10
Requirements Document .......................................................................................... 11
vendor summary ........................................................................................................... 13
Vendor survey ........................................................................................................... 13
Vendor comparison .................................................................................................. 14
Table 1: LMS Vendor Comparison ............................................................................ 15
vendors ......................................................................................................................... 16
business model ............................................................................................................. 17
Business Model Canvas............................................................................................. 18
Value Proposition ..................................................................................................... 19
Key Partners .............................................................................................................. 22
New partners: ....................................................................................................... 22
Key Activities ............................................................................................................. 23
3 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
Cost analysis.......................................................................................................... 23
Develop a fee structure ........................................................................................ 23
MOU between partners ........................................................................................ 23
Project management ............................................................................................ 24
Create tools, submit training, and create policies ................................................ 24
Communication plan ............................................................................................. 25
Constant feedback ................................................................................................ 25
Key resources ............................................................................................................ 26
Customer Segments, Customer Relationships, and Channels .................................. 27
Customer segments .............................................................................................. 27
Customer relationships ......................................................................................... 27
Channels ............................................................................................................... 28
How do we raise awareness? ............................................................................... 29
How do customers (users) purchase from us? ..................................................... 29
How do we provide support? ............................................................................... 30
Cost Structure ........................................................................................................... 32
External costs ........................................................................................................ 32
Internal costs ........................................................................................................ 33
Revenue Streams ...................................................................................................... 34
Budget Table ......................................................................................................... 36
recommendations ......................................................................................................... 37
Appendices ................................................................................................................... 39
4 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
summary
Relevant skills.
If two words could sum up what library staff across the province want out of a library
training portal, those would be it. It has become apparent through outreach efforts with
users that a learning portal is highly desired and viewed as a tool which can enable
transformational change. Beyond the vital task of training and keeping the skill set of our
library staff up-to-date, this portal can further enable the sharing of information, bridge
geographical gaps, and unite staff through collaborative tools.
Through this project, the partnership formed by the Southern Ontario Library Service,
Ontario Library Service North, and their partners has gained a very thorough
understanding of what their users (and themselves as service providers) need out of a
learning portal. Not only do we now have a very clear articulation of what those needs
are, but we also have unique ideas for solving problems – generated out of the user base
themselves. This input will enable the partnership to source the vendor who is best
positioned to meet the needs, within a set budget.
The partnership has enlisted the services of Overlap Associates to create this business
plan, and has followed processes used in other sectors such as high tech to understand
and document their requirements. This started with an end-user survey, which yielded
788 responses out of a poll of about 2,500 users. Initial insights gained here included the
5 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
need for centralization, a desire for continued notifications, and the need for interaction.
As a quantitative study, it also provided the estimate that 79% of your 5,100 users are
likely to be active users on the new system. Next, seven focus group sessions were
conducted (three in southern Ontario, and four in northern Ontario) to gain a greater
depth of understanding for users’ needs. Examples of insights gained through these
sessions include: a desire to find relevant training offerings that help users to perform
their jobs better, the need for collaboration and flexibility, and career growth as a driving
motivator. Lastly, the partners themselves were consulted during two focus group
sessions (and adjunct interviews) to determine their needs as service providers and to
build the business model.
The vendor landscape includes a range of offerings – some of whom come very close to
meeting most of your needs, and some of whom are very far off. This partnership is
expected to spend anywhere from $12,000 to $40,000 on vendor fees to implement the
solution, and a range between $27,000 to $133,000 annually to maintain the system (plus
taxes). In addition, several internal costs will need to be considered, such as extra staffing
to support the system (at least during the implementation phase). A survey of vendors
has provided the solution details and budgetary information needed for this partnership
to make a decision on the next steps, as well as a view of the likely features that can be
supported within your chosen budget range.
Overlap Associates has thoroughly enjoyed working with your team and your user groups
during this project. We recommend that the partnership decide upon a budget range
which is feasible today, and sustainable in the long term (considering cost-recovery
options as well), then use the documentation included with this report to solicit bids to an
RFP for a system which will deliver the transformational change that your users desire.
Note:
This external version of the report has been created for public consumption. Confidential
vendor data has been removed.
6 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
the process
The Survey
The project started with a survey as a quantitative study to gain a broad view of the
user base. The top issue that was identified in the survey was the requirement of
centralization. Users want to go to one site to find all training options – they find it
burdensome to visit the multiple sites offered by partners to gain a view of all training
Survey (Mar -
April)
•788 responses
•Insights – users’ need:
•Centralization
•Notifications
•Interaction
•92% female
•79% took training w/in last year
User Input (April – May)
•3 southern sessions
•4 northernsessions
•Insights – users’ need:
•Relevant skills
•Collaboration
•Flexibility
•Career Growth
•Value
Partners’ Input (May)
•Session focussed on partners' needs
•Session focussed on the business model
•Led to list of questions for vendors (and partners)
Reporting
•Interim reports after each phase
•Vendor survey (June)
•This report
7 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
options available to them. The survey therefore confirmed that there is a strong need
for the system.
The survey was designed by Overlap, and reviewed by the partnership.
Approximately 2,500 users were sent an online survey in March, and 788 responses
were received in March and April. Both quantitative and qualitative questions were
used. The quantitative questions gave us a broad-stroke view of the audience (for
example, an understanding that 92% of users are female and that 79% of users have
taken a course in the last year). The qualitative questions provided greater depth to
the uses. Some examples of insights that were gained include: the fact that users
appreciate their in-box notifications (and don’t want to see those disappear with the
new system), users are looking for features to help them compare training options,
connect with instructors and peers, and they are looking for flexible scheduling.
For a summary of the survey results, please see Appendix A.
To review the survey data, please see Appendix B
USER FOCUS GROUP SESSIONS
The next step in our process to discover users’ needs was a series of seven focus
group sessions, developed using design thinking methodology. These processes have
been known not only to be effective in facilitating discussion, but also to drive
innovation out of a collaborative. The participants did indeed leave the sessions
feeling engaged and excited about the potential of this new system – after all, they
had contributed several creative ideas to solving their own problems!
These sessions in April and May began with an “empathy map” exercise, which
provided an in-depth view of challenges, concerns, and the general environment a
user is in when they are searching for training. Next, users identified their goals,
barriers to those goals, and brainstormed methods to overcome those barriers.
Through the collaborative discussion, various new features were described – several
8 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
of which were very specific to the needs of a library staff learner. Lastly, users
worked with us to list out and prioritize the complete list of features against their
needs, including some very mundane required features.
Some examples of key insights include:
• Relevant skills – finding courses that help to perform job better, relevant to
size of library, experience level, etc
• Collaboration and interaction – ability for the user community to share
content and interact with each other
• Flexibility – in times to attend courses, types of courses, length of courses,
and methods of delivery
• Career growth – courses that are aligned with a career path
• Value – justifiable courses, both time and money’s worth
To see a summary of the southern sessions, please refer to Appendix C.
To see a summary of the northern sessions, please refer to Appendix D.
PARTNERS’ INPUT
Overlap consulted with the partnership on two separate occasions in May. The first
session was to gain an understanding of needs at the service provider level (SOLS,
OLS-N, and partner organizations). The second was focussed on the design of the
business model required to launch and sustain this project.
Although it is clear that a more in-depth response is required from potential vendors
prior to concluding on a number of business model items (such as user support), the
sessions have identified the core business model areas for future planning once the
RFP responses have been received and a vendor selected.
9 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
Some activities which will need to be explored further at that time include: defining a
support plan, defining a method for allocating funds received for course payments,
and the division of expenses to keep the system running.
For a summary of the business model, please refer to the Business Model section in
this report.
REPORTING
The partnership has been updated on this process through interim reports which have
been circulated after each milestone, and included in the appendix of this final report.
Vendor survey
The last element which requires reporting is the vendor survey. Overlap has sent a
survey out to thirty six vendors (selected from online searches, and two vendor
listings), to gain an understanding of the vendor landscape. Eight vendors responded,
providing an overview of their system, and information to gauge how well they could
meet the requirements of this project..
A summary of the four vendors who can meet the requirements is included in the
internal version of this report. (In addition, four other vendors are mentioned,
although they would be disqualified based on some of their responses). This
summary, along with an extended vendor listing should provide the basis of a vendor
list for the partnership to issue a formal RFP and obtain legally-binding responses
from the vendors.
10 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
requirements documentation ------ for use in RFP
Two key documents are included as part of the output of this plan: a feature table,
and a requirements document. Both of these are formatted for use in an RFP to
select a solution provider. Together, they respond to the first two required project
deliverables sought by the RFP which resulted in this project to document the
business plan. The deliverable of standard language / metadata tags is covered by a
section on metadata within the Requirements Document.
FEATURE TABLE
The feature table summarizes all requirements that have been defined for the ideal
solution. It includes the feature priority, as well as a brief description. It can be used
in a vendor response form. For example, SOLS can add two additional columns to the
table: “compliancy”, and “comments.” Vendors can respond using the table to self-
rate whether their solution “fully complies”, “partially complies,” or “does not” meet
the required system functionality being requested by the partnership. The vendor
can then add additional comments, and elaborate further in a blown-out proposal.
For questions about any feature, vendors are expected to review the appropriate
sections of the Requirements Document.
11 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENT
The Requirements Document is a detailed document providing all information a
vendor would need to understand the solution that this partnership requires to be
built. Key sections of this document include:
User Descriptions
Library staff are unique users. They can be very different from the university
and college student market which many LMS vendors treat as their primary
market. Providing these user descriptions enables vendors to understand
your user base and articulate how well their solution can meet the needs of
these users.
User personas were used to provide this summary. Personas are a common
method used in product development to assist developers in understanding
their users in terms that they can relate to. Nine personas were created to
showcase the breadth of different users for this system. These were fed by
qualitative research conducted during the focus group sessions.
Use Cases
This section summarizes the major tasks that users wish to accomplish with
the new system. It provides context for the following feature listing.
Features
This is the most important section of the document. It details out all features
which are required, and their associated priority level. Features are organized
by related topics, such as user profiles, and search and registration.
The priority ranking system classifies each feature as either critical, important
or useful. A legend is included on the first requirements page. Critical
features are those features which are needed on the first day of release –
otherwise the solution does not meet the needs of users. Important features
12 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
are those features which are highly desired by users, but not mandatory in
order for the system to be a functioning solution to their needs. Useful
features are those nice-to-have features that would enhance some aspect of
the system, but are not mandatory. This ranking should assist with vendor
reviews – a low-cost important feature can be added or removed at whim,
however all critical features must be met by any vendor who is selected.
Both of these documents are available in conjunction with this report.
13 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
vendor summary
This section responds to requirements 3 and 4 of the original RFP for this project –
providing options, analysis and recommendations for building and maintaining the
portal, including cost estimates. Given the wide range of vendors specializing
specifically in this space, it has quickly become apparent that a custom software
solution would be unnecessary to solve for the needs of your users.
VENDOR SURVEY
In order to obtain an understanding of vendor offerings (including estimated costs), a
survey was conducted by Overlap (representing an RFI). Vendors were selected
through a series of web searches, and reviewing two industry reports. A pre-screen
of the vendors’ websites were conducted to narrow the search. Thirty six vendors
were sent a copy of the survey, however only eight responded. Some additional
vendors did reply to the request but advised that they do not respond to RFI’s – those
vendors would be interested in responding to a formal RFP issued by SOLS.
To review the survey which was sent to vendors, please refer to Appendix E.
14 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
VENDOR COMPARISON
This section will provide an overview of the vendors who have responded to our
survey. We begin with a summary table (Table 1) which provides an overview of each
vendor’s capability to provide the most critical features of the system.
A letter grading system was used, and the legend is included in the table. The
methodology used was a subjective review of each vendor’s response by Overlap,
with judgement made based on our understanding of your users’ needs. The most
straight-forward grades were “B” if a vendor met everything that was being asked of a
feature, and “F” if they did not have the capability. We marked an “A+” for vendors
where they demonstrated something unique or innovative within a feature set – we
recommend that the partnership pay closer attention to this area, for potential added
benefits. Lastly, we marked a “C” for vendors if we felt they did not fully meet the
feature set requested, or if further information would be needed to determine that.
We recommend that the partnership also pay close attention to these areas when
vendors respond to your RFP, these are areas where more questions should be asked
to vendors for clarity.
Vendors are sorted in descending order based on cost.
15 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
TABLE 1: LMS VENDOR COMPARISON
Vendor 1 Vendor 2 Vendor 3 Vendor 4 Vendor 5 Vendor 6 Vendor 7
Data storage in Canada B B B B B C B
Home page view B B B B B B B
iMIS integration A+ B A+ B B B C
Easy to register for a course B B A+ B A+ B C
Scheduling A+ B A+ B B B C
Accessing archived presentations B B A+ C B B C
Session resume B F B B B B C
Audio for presenters C B C F B B C
Relevant skills: course
recommendations B B or C C or F C A+ B C
Searching for a course C B B C C B C
Career path charting A+ B A+ C B B B
Linking organizational competencies A+ B B B B B C
Creating a course A+ C C A+ B B C or F
eCommerce A+ B A+ B C B F
Trading/sharing training
(clearinghouse) C C B C C C F
Collaborartion A+ B B C B B F
Rate-my-trainer B A+ B B B B F
Pricing
Implementation / One-time fees $ 25,000 $ 85,000 $40,000 to $ 12,000 $ 52,522
Annual Fees
Unique scenarios (20-40%
discount to be
offered)
$ 25,200 $228
for 4000 users $ 116,000 $ 16,000 Plus
additional
fees
+ $5/user
per course for 4700 users $ 133,325 $ 95,000 $ 24,000
for 5100 users $ 143,225 $ 107,500 $ 91,859 $ 50,000 $ 26,580
Rating Legend:
A+ Exceeds expectations. Has something innovative to offer.
B Meets expectations. Can deliver functionality requested.
C Area for concern. Further questions / clarification needed.
F Can not deliver functionality.
16 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
vendors
This section has been removed from the public version of the report, to protect
confidential data shared by individual vendors.
17 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
business model
To help document the supporting business processes and required work to launch this
project, Overlap has adopted the Business Model Canvas. It is a strategic
management template formed out of the collaborative contribution of 470 managers,
consultants, and business practitioners from various fields. It is documented in the
book “Business Model Generation” by Alexander Osterwalder. The template is
shared under a creative commons license.
Overlap worked with the partners in one session to create the business model for this
project. The resulting visual chart is shared on the next page, and described in
greater detail in the following section.
18 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS
Revenue Streams
Cost Structure
Key partners Key Activities Value Proposition Customer Segments
Key Resources
Customer
Relationships
Channels
www.businessmodelgeneration.com
SOLS OLS-N OLA OALT/ABO London and Hamilton public
libraries Key suppliers with dedicated
training staff Ontario Learns Extra provincial partners Potential partnership with
university library schools OALT/ABO working with
colleges
Cost analysis Develop fee structure MOU btwn partners Create tools Submit training (seamless) Create policies Project management Raise awareness with
audience (marketing) Constant feedback
Our training portal enables
our users to quickly discover,
register for, and participate in
the most relevant training
opportunities to meet their
goals -- regardless of their
location in Ontario.
Advisory committee Finances
and manager Vendor contacts LMS/portal system dedicated project manager Test environment Temporary staff Space requirements
Established Group experience Single contact for support Brand recognition Standard communication
Expectations Presenter approachable Self-service Human support
How do we raise awareness?
(Online, Offline) How do customers purchase
from us? (End user, content
provider requirements) How do we provide post-
purchase support?
(automated, human touch)
Librarians Library technicians Supervisors / managers Other library staff
Monthly recurring fees One time fees add admin fee to all transactions providers – listing fee Memberships Certifications
Connections (tech between systems, human between partners LMS = big cost Project manager cost Improve independent usage and user experience Marketing expenses/roadshow
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.
19 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
VALUE PROPOSITION
The value proposition for a product or project defines the value that is delivered to
customers. Once defined, all business decisions should reflect the delivery of this
value – even in a not-for-profit project. The value prop statement answers the
following questions:
• What value do we deliver to the customer?
• Which one of our customer’s problems are we helping to solve?
• What bundles of products and services are we offering to each Customer
Segment?
• Which customer needs are we satisfying?
The value prop statement serves as a centralizing theme to ground decision making.
The core value prop agreed upon for this portal is:
Our training portal enables library staff to quickly discover,
register for, and participate in the most relevant training
opportunities to meet their goals -- regardless of their
location in Ontario.
Additionally, we have identified several layers of value that build upon each other:
All in one place – the portal enables library staff to quickly find relevant
training opportunities because they are all listed on one website, removing
the need to visit multiple sites to find all current opportunities.
Ease of registration – the portal will allow library staff to access the site with
an existing user ID, or quickly create a new one.
20 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
Participating in training – the portal will make it easier for library staff to
participate in training opportunities, primarily by addressing time and
location issues:
In-person sessions: advanced notification of dates (six months in
advance), options to allow multiple libraries to pool together to get
sessions in a more local area.
On-line webinars: will be offered at multiple times, recorded and
available for review at alternate times, and will allow users to resume
a session if it is interrupted by a technical issue (such as bandwidth)
or alternate need (patron, distractions).
Relevant skills – the portal will enable users to find training opportunities
most applicable to them, first by ensuring complete descriptions of courses
(including target roles, target size of library, knowledge level, etc), second by
enabling search of these key terms, and third by presenting recommended
courses based on user profile.
Planning for career development – the portal will allow users to track all
courses that they have taken. It will also enable them to chart a development
plan to achieve their career goals, identifying courses that match
competencies relating to their next career steps.
Creating training offerings – the portal will allow any user to create training
offerings to share with other users and libraries. It will allow users to create
both content and quizzes or other testing methods to confirm understanding
of material.
Trading or sharing training material – users or libraries who create their own
training material will be able to trade this material with others – either for
free, or on a barter system. This will limit duplication of training material
creation, and help extend limited training budgets by providing access to
more content.
21 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
Connect and collaborate – the portal will enable library staff across the
province to connect with peers, mentors, and trainers for ongoing discussion
of relevant topics.
Rating training material and trainers – the portal will enable library staff to
comment on training material and trainers, providing feedback for other
users to asses relevance for their needs.
These statements can be referred back to, to help understand the core functionality
required of this system, and the value it is delivering to your users. Indeed, these
statements were included in our vendor survey, with questions wrapped around
them.
22 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
KEY PARTNERS
This partnership is already aware of who your core partners are: SOLS, OLS-N, OLA,
OALT/ABO, London and Hamilton public libraries.
New partners:
Through our discussions with this group, you have listed the following additional parties
to consider during deployment and ongoing maintenance of this system:
• Key suppliers with dedicated training staff
• Ontario Learns
• Extra-provincial partners
• Provincial Partners
• University library schools, and
• Colleges (through OALT/ABO)
These additional partners may provide a source of funding, or other resources. When
working through the financial model to provide cost-recovery for the system, Overlap
recommends including scenarios where these groups become partners and pay a fee-for-
service. For example, key suppliers may be interested in purchasing ad space. Or, a
supplier may offer a discount to the partnership for increased attendance, the partnership
can then pass on the training material at the regular price to its member base, and
withhold the difference in funds to assist in paying for the system. Additionally, all
partners will play a key role in the communication plan to ensure the project is a success.
Lastly, please consider your selected LMS vendor as a partner in delivering value to your
end users.
23 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
KEY ACTIVITIES
The following key activities have been identified for this project:
1. Cost analysis
2. Develop a fee structure
3. MOU between partners
4. Project management
5. Create tools
6. Submit training
7. Create policies
8. Raise awareness with audience (communication plan)
9. Constant feedback
Cost analysis
An obvious first step is cost analysis – this will be covered in the Cost Structure
section.
Develop a fee structure
This will be covered in the Revenue Streams section.
MOU between partners
Creating a memorandum of understanding, project charter, and other partnership
agreements/documentation is critical to the success of the partnership.
Some items to consider for inclusion are:
• Role definitions – lead organization(s) vs. partners
• Decision making authority – categories of decisions, and who has ownership
for each
24 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
• Cost sharing responsibilities – who pays, how much?
• Surplus division – if a surplus is received from service fees charged how will it
be divided amongst the partners?
• Timelines – is the project set out as a trial, or expected to run in perpetuity?
Creating this agreement is a separate activity unto itself. Overlap advises that this
partnership create an agreement prior to signing a final contract with any vendor (and
if possible, prior to sending out an RFP to select a vendor).
Project management
This is a large project. Overlap’s assessment is that it should not be expected that the
activity of project management for the project be consumed as additional duties by
any one person who presently has regular duties. We are recommending a dedicated
project manager – at least during the implementation phase, if not ongoing.
Create tools, submit training, and create policies
There are a number of activities related to getting the system up and running for
which the selected LMS vendor would be in the best position to provide guidance.
Example questions to ask vendors, during the vendor selection process:
• What are the activities which you need a SOLS/OLSN/partner person to
administer to set the system up?
o What is the process to complete each of these (major) tasks?
o Roughly how much time does each of these tasks require?
• What is the process to create a course record?
• What is the process to create a course (populate the system with all content)?
• What example policies can you share with us, based on standard processes or
industry best practices?
25 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
Communication plan
A formal communication plan should be developed, which will ensure the entire user
base is aware of the new system. This is expected to be handled internally, amongst
the partnership. It should incur very little additional costs, however some additional
funds may need to be set aside for travel – in instances where the communication
plan was unable to piggyback on existing events.
It is expected that the selected vendor will have a number of materials to be used in
the communication plan. Therefore, it should be an element of discussion during
vendor selection to ask what resources they have to offer to assist in the task of
generating user awareness.
Constant feedback
Feedback loops should be defined in your project plan. The process to date has been
heavy on user engagement, and users have an expectation that that will continue.
Incorporate methods to share progress with the user base, and obtain their input for
major milestones.
26 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
KEY RESOURCES
The following is a list of key resources required to make this project live:
• Advisory committee
• Finances/funding (and the management of finances)
• Vendor contacts
• The LMS/portal system itself
• A dedicated project manager, at least during the implementation stage
• Test environment
• Temporary staff, and
• Space requirements
These are the resources that are required to support the project activities defined
previously. These resources should be accounted for and documented in any project
charter, partnership agreement, or MOU signed amongst the partners.
Key questions to be asked amongst the partnership:
• What is the role of each member of the advisory committee?
• Who will manage the project finances? (Does the funding go into the bank
account of one of the partners? Is it managed by a third-party?)
• Which vendors will be included in the RFP?
• Who (which partner) will cover the cost of the project manager and
temporary staff?
• If there are physical space requirements (server room, desk for the project
manager, etc), who will cover these items?
27 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
CUSTOMER SEGMENTS, CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS,
AND CHANNELS
Customer segments
The partnership must decide upon a method to group their users into a number of
segments. This will allow you to create a communications plan which is targeted, and
utilize different tactics by each segment. Three options for segmenting your users
include: segmenting by role/job function, by geography, and by a combination of the
two – using the user persona’s as guidance (from the requirements document).
• By role:
o Librarians
o Other library staff
o Library technicians
o Supervisors / managers
o Volunteers
• By geography:
o Southern Ontario, northern Ontario
o Urban, rural
• By user persona
o (See requirements document)
Customer relationships
There are a number of established customer relationships between users and the
service providers in the partnership which must be maintained as the new system is
rolled out. There are also a number of expectations for relationships, where if these
are currently not met, must be established with the new system. Both are listed
below.
These should guide decisions as you implement the system. For example, if there’s a
debate regarding whether an instructor’s contact information should be listed online,
28 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
the debate may be resolved by deciding upon whether that action makes the
presenter more approachable by registrants.
Established:
• Credibility
• Single contact for support: email or 1-800
• Standard communication (website, newsletter)
• Ability to share and cooperate
• Group experience
Expectations
• Presenter approachable by registrant
• High level of interaction between participants
• Validation (pass/complete, certificate/proof)
• Self-service 24/7
• Human support – email and telephone
• Variety in payment options
• Easy refunds/cancellations/changes
• Continuous analysis of user needs – use surveys and meetings for feedback
Channels
This section identifies the key requirements that a communications and a support
plan will be required to address, once a vendor is selected for this system. These
discuss the methods (channels) in which your customers (users) purchase your
product (training) and gain support.
29 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
How do we raise awareness?
The strategy and tactics to raise awareness for the new system will need to be defined in
a communications plan. Some activities include:
Online:
• Partners’ websites
• e-mail Blasts / newsletters
• The portal itself
• Online calendars
Offline:
• “Roadshow” – travelling to various locations specifically to present the new
portal to groups of users
• Piggybacking on existing events (more likely) – adding segments to existing
conferences/sessions
• Print newsletters
• Word of mouth
Incentives to log on and use the new system:
• Pre-made membership accounts / group registration (take away the legwork of
creating an account)
• Discounts
• Multiple payment options
How do customers (users) purchase from us?
This is an un-resolved area of the business model. The partners will need to discuss a
number of questions prior to the implementation of this solution:
• What payment options will we allow? (Credit card – yes, Paypal or Amex ok?)
30 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
• Will we continue our current processes of invoicing in batches?
• How do we validate payment?
• Is payment to be made to the ‘portal’ or to the content providers directly? What
is the workflow?
• If payment is made to the ‘portal’, how do funds get transferred to or from the
partners?
How do we provide support?
The creation of a support plan will be required prior to implementing the new system.
This support plan will be heavily dependent on support options available from the
vendor that the partnership choses.
The following will need to be documented in the support plan:
Automated support
• Confirmations
o Confirmation of course registration
o Confirmation of changes
o Confirmation of course cancellation
o User should receive an automatic email with all the details of their
transaction, including support information (email / phone)
o Any pre-course work (such as articles, readings) should be sent to the
user at time of purchase/registration
o This is documented as part of the product requirements - vendors
should be providing this functionality as part of the solution
• Reminders
o Users should receive reminder emails several days prior to their
course, as well as the day of (depending on user/administrator
settings)
31 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
o This is also documented as part of the product requirements -
vendors should be providing this functionality as part of the solution
• Content owner re-directs
o In some cases a course provider or content creator within a library
system may have offered support
o In these cases, there needs to be re-directs to the supplier of content
for support
The human touch
A key part of the support plan will be maintaining the human touch to ensure that the
service feels welcoming to users. Some methods to do this include:
• Give instructors registrant info?
o A decision needs to be made as to whether or not instructors will
receive registrant details and contact info
• Enable content owners to trouble-shoot post-purchase support
• A help line with shared responsibility
o An idea that came out of one session with the partners was that the
group of partners could share in providing support. The setup could
work such that the email/phone que could rotate amongst different
partners depending on a set schedule
o The ability for vendors to enable this type of support model should be
queried during the RFP process
• A help line with extended hours
o The partners would need to decided how would this could be funded
32 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
COST STRUCTURE
There are two elements of this system which must be budgeted for – external costs
and internal costs. Through the vendor surveys which Overlap has administered, the
partnership now has a clear estimate of the range of external costs required for a
vendor to implement and maintain this solution. Although Overlap can not provide
the additional internal costs which the partners may incur, we have identified the
major cost items and provided a very rough estimate of these costs in the attached
table.
External costs
The three elements of external costs are:
• Vendor implementation fees
• Annual system hosting fees
• Third-party fees
Overlap has reported on the range of fees from vendors for the first two elements
(please refer to Table 1: LMS Vendor Comparison).
Examples of third-party fees are fees paid to a webinar or audio conferencing solution
provider for elements of the solution which a selected vendor may not provide
natively. These fees can not be estimated until vendors provide a formal response to
an RFP.
Overlap recommends that the partnership reserve up to $158,325 in funding to cover
the maximum vendor fees for the first year, plus $133,325 for each additional year
that the system will need to be supported prior to becoming self-sustaining. For
example, if the system is expected to become self-sustaining in three years, then the
budget reserve for this portion should be: $158,325 + $133,325 + $133,325 =
$424,975. (Note: taxes extra, above these quoted figures).
33 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
Reserving this level of available funds does not mean that the partnership will spend
it. It simply means that the partnership has the freedom to select the highest cost
vendor in the range, if it is decided that that vendor is best suited to meeting the
needs of users. Cost savings could be achieved if a lower-cost vendor is selected, or if
fewer users are active on the system.
Additionally, the budget reserved for additional years can be adjusted depending on
revenue models which would allow the system to be self-sustaining sooner.
Internal costs
Costs internal to the partnership include:
• Staff
o A dedicated project manager to coordinate implementation during
start-up
o Temporary staff member to assist with implementation
• Travel expenses
o To execute the communication plan
Overlap has estimated a rough salary cost of $80,000 for a project manager and
$40,000 for a temporary staff member in the first year. The travel expenses are
estimated at $4,000 to execute the communication plan, and are based on travel
spent during the consultations for this project. (It is assumed that internal staff time
will be used, so no additional labour fees would be part of the estimate for the
communication plan). These estimates have been included in the Budget Table on
page 52 of this report.
While it may be a difficult task to estimate these additional internal costs, Overlap
does recommend that a budgetary figure be assigned to such costs and tracked as the
project progresses. If funding sources external to the partnership are sought, now is
the time to raise these requirements.
34 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
REVENUE STREAMS
There are several revenue models which have been discussed during the engagement
sessions with partners for this project. It is important to note that revenue is sought
simply for cost-recovery of the system, as we are operating in a non-profit
environment.
Revenue models:
1. Monthly recurring fees
• A library system, or other body could pay a monthly fee to provide
access to the system for its group of users
2. Per-transaction fees
• A small fee could be added to each transaction
• Ex. If a vendor charges $100 for the delivery of a course, the end user
could be charged $102 and $2 would be put towards a system fund
• (The end user would be reimbursed from their library system per
standard processes)
3. Bulk / discount savings
• Discounts can be negotiated with vendors for connecting them with a
larger group of users taking a given course
• The discount can then be diverted to a system fund
• For example, if the normal price of a course is $100, but the vendor
will give a 10% discount if 20 users take the course ($90/user), the
partnership can ‘resell’ the course for $100 and divert the $10/user in
‘surplus’ to the system fund.
4. Listing fees
• The portal could be offered as a “marketplace”
• Vendors would have their training content reviewed and approved
35 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
• Once approved, the vendor would be charged a listing fee (either a
flat fee or a percentage of sales) to offer their material to the user
base
5. Memberships
• Users could be charged a membership fee to access the portal
6. Certifications
• A portion of fees to become certified can be re-diverted to a system
fund pool
7. Diversion of training funds
• With the new system the clearinghouse feature has the potential to
save money for some library systems, as they can obtain training
from partner library systems rather than re-creating the content
themselves
• The cost savings could be diverted to a system fund pool
The partnership must decide which of these revenue models (if any) will be followed,
or define new revenue models. Through these options the partnership may find a
viable method to make the system self-sustaining.
36 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
Budget Table
Project Budget: three scenarios
Startup Ongoing
Low-Cost Mid-Range Premium Low-Cost Mid-Range Premium
LMS Vendor
Implementation Fees $ 52,522 $ 40,000 $ 25,000
Hosting Fees (First Year) $ 26,580 $ 73,487 $ 133,325 $ 26,580 $ 73,487 $ 133,325
Add: fees for third-party modules (requires formal RFP to confirm) (requires formal RFP to confirm)
Sub-total $ 79,102 $ 113,487 $ 158,325 $ 26,580 $ 73,487 $ 133,325
ADD: Internal considerations
Temporary staff for implementation
(one-time) $ 40,000 $ 40,000 $ 40,000
Project manager salary (start-up) $ 80,000 $ 80,000 $ 80,000
Communication plan - travel $ 4,000 $ 4,000 $ 4,000
LESS: Cost recovery options
Discount in annual fees (if only 4,000
active users) -$ 10,580 -$ 5,270 -$ 17,325 -$ 10,580 -$ 5,270 -$ 17,325
Service fee revenue
Net costs: $ 192,522 $ 232,218 $ 265,000 16,000 $ 68,218 $ 116,000
Note: taxes extra
Yellow highlights = Overlap
placeholder data
37 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
recommendations
Your users are excited about the potential of this solution. It has become very clear
to us that they have real training needs which are not being met by the present
options. Across the province library staff are seeking relevant skills, collaboration,
and career growth. A healthy sampling of users has worked hard with us to define
the ideal solution to meet their needs, and we have found a number of vendors who
satisfy the majority of those needs with off-the-shelf, customizable software
solutions. Overlap recommends that this partnership sets a budget and then moves
forward with an RFP to select a vendor which best meets the requirements set out in
the associated document to this report.
The following represents our recommended next steps:
1. Set a project budget and obtain approval
2. Share status with users
3. Issue an RFP
4. Select a vendor
5. Create a communications plan, and support plan
6. Implement solution
7. Communicate with users
We recommend the creation of a project budget from the outset – ideally set at a
minimum of $158,325 (plus taxes) for external costs to enable the full range of vendor
offerings -- however internal cost constraints may limit options. This budget should
also account for internal costs, estimated to the best of your ability at the time of
38 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
project kickoff. Approval of budget funds should be sought, with this report as
supporting documentation. Once a decision is made to move forward, Overlap
recommends communicating an update to the user base, or at the very least the
stakeholders who participated in the focus group sessions.
A formal RFP should be issued to the vendors indicated in this report, and additional
vendors in the Learning Management System space, identified by the partnership.
Given the wide range of vendor options for vendors specializing in this type of
solution, there is no need to seek out a vendor for a custom software solution.
Vendor selection should be made utilizing the prioritization scales provided with this
report – a vendor should be rejected if they can not provide any feature ranked
“critical”. Vendors’ capabilities in meeting “critical” features should be weighted
more heavily than their capability in meeting “important” features, likewise for
“important” vs “useful” features.
A communication plan and support plan will need to be created once a vendor is
selected. This will ensure that the solution ties into your existing business processes –
ensuring that users are aware of it, and know where to go to get support when
needed.
Lastly, implementing the solution will be the most rewarding part of the whole
process. We recommend that a dedicated project manager be designated for this
activity (and the follow-through activities to get system up and running).
We know that there will be a question during budget discussions asking whether or
not this partnership can afford the range of costs outlined here. However, we would
like to ask, after knowing all the benefits that this solution can provide and the
training and collaboration problems that it will solve: can you afford to not move
forward?
39 THE SOUTHERN ONTARIO LIBRARY SERVICE TRAINING PORTAL FINAL REPORT
Appendices
The following documents are included as separate attachments to this document, and
are available on request by contacting Barbara Franchetto at bfranchetto@sols.org :
Appendix A - Survey Results
Appendix B - Survey Data
Appendix C - Southern Sessions Summary
Appendix D - Northern Sessions Summary
Appendix E - Vendor Survey
Recommended