Tapping Your Inner CEO: Management Tips to Stay on Budget and Deadline

By: Kim Schroeder

Tapping Your Inner CEO: Management Tips to Stay on

Budget and Deadline

Digitization Projects and FearsMost of our professional literature talks about

the fear of obsolescence in context to these projects.

While that is a fear not to be minimized, there is another fear that archivists have and that is running out of budget. Whether not imagining they have enough money to even begin or anxiety over running out in funds in the middle, these fears hamper digital projects and success.How to avoid this is not well documented and yet

business processes are clear and supportive.We need to stop making solo archivists re-invent

the wheel when embarking on a digital project.

Business PrinciplesSound business principles exist for a

reason.

Businesses that diverge from them, impact employees, company survival and even sometimes the world economy.

Using these tools we can attain efficiency and a certain comfort zone.

Business PrinciplesFew archivists have a business background.Many have an impression of business as

something they are removed from.We need to be involved in ACTIVE

management of these projects.As we are so understaffed, much of our

time is spent reacting to users and issues rather than proactively managing.

Business PrinciplesWe need to actively plan out how much

effort the project will take.How much money we have or need.How much money we think that we can

obtain.Set deadlines and milestones.Build in the promotion, fund-raising and

outreach of these collections.

Let’s begin where most archivists do…

PricingThere is much talk on the listservs about

what to charge for various services in libraries and archives.

PricingThere is much talk on the listservs about

what to charge for various services in libraries and archives.

What is wrong with this?

PricingAddressing what a patron can afford is

important. So is looking at the market rate to make sure you are not missing something in determining your price and set it unreasonably too high or low.

BUT…

PricingYou need to know how much your COST is.

Example:Your institution will provide on-demand

scanning of archival materials (within reason). How much do you charge?

PricingYou need to know how much your COST is.

What costs go into this determination?

PricingYou need to know how much your COST is.

What costs go into this determination?Fixed CostsVariable Costs

PricingFixed Costs

Costs spread throughout the institution for it to exist.

Variable Costs Depends on the type of service and may vary on a

case by case basis.

PricingFixed Costs

Might include building costs, staffing, utility bills, office supplies, etc.

Variable CostsMight include ink that varies in annual cost based on

how many prints you make.

PricingFixed Costs

Costs spread throughout the institution for it to exist.Might include building costs, staffing, utility bills,

office supplies, etc.

Building - Annual Lease - $100,000Staff Salaries and Benefits - $250,000Utilities - $10,000Supplies - $1500 Insurance - $2000

Total - $363,500 / 2,000 open hours = $181.75 per hour base cost

PricingVariable Costs

o Might include ink that varies in annual cost based on how many prints you make.

Ink Cartridge - $50 (used half of it)Paper - $1.00Staff Scanning/Research Time = 1 hour

Total Cost to make a patron scan = $207.75

BudgetingKnowing your internal costs allows you to

determine your real budget.Hidden costs, not knowing internal cost,

fees, and timing all create failing budgets.

BudgetingDefining a digital service is important. For

instance, developing a Twitter project to help you promote your digital collection is a reasonable option. Let’s look at the real costs.

Sample Twitter Project Costs(Assuming no Technology Investment Needed)

Needs Needs AssessmentAssessment 5 hrs5 hrs

$25 x 5 = $25 x 5 = $125$125

Developing Content for Twitter/Developing Content for Twitter/Competitive ResearchCompetitive Research

10 10 hrshrs

$25 x 10 = $25 x 10 = $250$250

* You should start with * You should start with a backlog of contenta backlog of content

Developing Institutional ProcessDeveloping Institutional Process 5 hrs5 hrs$25 x 5 = $25 x 5 = $125$125 * Minimum!* Minimum!

Setting up Setting up AccountAccount

.5 .5 hrshrs

$25 x .5 = $25 x .5 = $12.50$12.50

Monitoring Monitoring AccountAccount

2.5 2.5 hrshrs

$25 x 2.5 $25 x 2.5 = $62.50= $62.50 * Per Week Minimum!* Per Week Minimum!

Uploading Uploading ContentContent 2 hrs2 hrs

$25 x 2 = $25 x 2 = $50$50 * Per Week Minimum!* Per Week Minimum!

On-going Develop of ContentOn-going Develop of Content 2 hrs2 hrs$25 x 2 = $25 x 2 = $50$50 * Per Week Minimum!* Per Week Minimum!

TotalsTotals $512.5 $512.5 Start-up Staff TimeStart-up Staff Time

$162.5 $162.5 On-going Weekly CostsOn-going Weekly Costs

BudgetingDeveloping a digital project budget is quite

a bit more complicated and often takes a team of people to review for accuracy.

BudgetingSimple Budget: Equipment

ScannerSoftwareServer?

Scanning SuppliesArchival GlovesGlass CleanerClothsInkBack-up Media

Archival SuppliesArchival SleevesArchival Folders

BudgetingSimple Budget:

EquipmentScanner 300Software 600Server? 1000

Scanning SuppliesArchival Gloves 50Glass Cleaner 12Cloths 50Ink 1000Back-up Media 1000

Archival SuppliesArchival Sleeves 2000Archival Folders 2000

TrainingArchivist to Scan? 500Scanner about Archives? 500

Subtotal 9012

BudgetingSimple Budget con’t:

TrainingArchivist to Scan?Scanner about Archives?

Staff TimeHow many per hour to scan?How many per hour to qc?How many per hour to catalog/index?How many per hour to qc?Administrative Time?Promotion Plan

BudgetingAdvanced Project

Budget: Interface Design

Search Methodology

User Access

Folksonomies?

Network Back-ups

Vendor Management

On-going IT Administration

Vendor RelationsHidden costs are rampant with vendors and

this is a problem on both ends.Arguing over money ruins many marriages

and a business relationship is no different!Understand the fine print, the amount of

maintenance now and in the future, fees, upgrade issues, etc.

Consider capping service hours.Be sure to specify in contracts what is a

working product or service. Completion is not competency.

TrackingReport generation is something that is

often put to the side.It is vital for managementYou can feasibly track EVERYTHING.

Staff time on the InternetAverage chat reference lengthSatisfaction with reference interactionImprovement in digital response, breadth of

content, depth of content, user volume, etc.

Sample Time Ticket

Archive Media Partners, Inc. Daily Time Sheet 220 Bagley, Suite 828, Detroit, MI 48226, phone: 313-963-6355, fax: 413-383-9946

Employee Name: Willie C. Durant

Week Ending: 8/15/2010

Client/Work Order Monday Tuesday Wednesday

Thursday

Friday Sat/Sun Totals

HO prod#

HO prod#

HO prod#

HO prod#

HO prod#

HO prod#

HO prod#

AMP-002 DAM Meeting 2                       2 0

Scan-0003 5 25         8 40         13 65

Index-0001     6 60                 6  

Index - 0002     2 10 8 45             10 55

QC-001 1 15           8 100

    9 115

Sample Time TicketFrom this simple format the following data

can be generated:

Average scans per hourPercentage of time for each task per

employeeOverall productionAmount of time spent on tech problems

AdjustingTracking is of no value if the data is not

analyzed and acted upon.A good project management practice is to

define the process but leave room for adjustment for optimal efficiency.

Workflow Tables

Workflow Table

January January Backlog February February Backlog March March Backlog Quarterly Through-put% Complete of Scans BacklogScans per Piece 500 0 550 0 450 50 1500Items Indexed 250 250 225 275 220 280 695 46.33% 805Items Quality Checked 200 300 195 305 175 325 570 38.00% 930

Data SampleExample: The weekly time ticket report

generates the following. What does it tell you?

Reading the Data1) The through-put of the scanning is making the goals but

the through-put for the other tasks is holding the entire project behind.

2) More staff needs to be given to indexing and qc or decreasing scanning might be an option.

3) The backlog of quality check is increasing at a faster rate than indexing. This might mean that there are issues with the training of the staff or an increase in questions with the indexing. The indexing process might need to be examined as well.

4) Looking at increases month to month might be important rather than quarterly.

If nothing is done, you risk having your collection piled high in incomplete stacks instead of fully digitized and refiled.

Reading the Data

If nothing is done, you risk having your collection piled high in incomplete stacks instead of fully digitized and refiled.

You also risk not completing a task at all.

FeedbackStaff, management and patrons all deserve to be

given feedback. In a service business we all need communication of our mutual goals, successes, failures and (hopefully) improvements.

When issues arise that hold up a smooth workflow, the entire team should be asked for input. This has to be done in a comfortable atmosphere so that true suggestions will be offered.

Even if your team is making its goals, regular solicitation of staff for ways to be more efficient should be executed.

Feedback ToolsSuggestion Box – Posted in a clearly marked area of

the workroom. It should be reviewed each week.

Announcing Open Door policy for all staff to suggest improvements to management.

Hiring a consultant to moderate and document suggestions and an optimal process.

Create an online survey of staff in Survey Monkey or others.

Hand out surveys to staff.

Feedback ToolsSample questions:

What are typical problems that you encounter in ______?(Scanning, indexing, quality control, etc.?)

If you were to re-do the process, what would you change?

If we had an unlimited budget what would you like to see done to the process?

EvaluationEvaluating how your budget is progressing is

important. A weekly or monthly review is recommended and even more frequently if needed.

This means that overages can be caught before the it is too late.

In the previous example, we see a few things that affect the through-put for hitting completion but what about the impact on budget?

Not enough is typically done to think about the dollars that are now needed. The impact of slow-downs in tasks might be greater search time to answer a user research request or it might mean the project goes tremendously over budget.

Evaluation and QuantificationDoes the backlog in indexing mean that we are

pulling other staff off of other vital tasks?Analyzing the data and adjusting the workflow

is critical to staying on budget and deadline.The quantification is one side of it, but quality is

a big half of this. The quality of work and quantifying that is often a tough aspect for archives.

It is possible to create this type of numerical support and create a business case? Yes, it is.

Evaluation and QuantificationAkin to public libraries that look at their circulation

numbers for the year and multiply out the cost per book to get a total purchase price for books and magazines that shrinks the cost of a millage. Creating these numbers is an important selling tool in developing your budget.

Perhaps, you plan to digitize your 75 most requested images. This will then cut down on repeat questions and create an economy of scale.

This when uploaded to your website also creates a buzz about your archive and its valuable contents. Media coverage can be quantified.

The more people know about your archive, the more they will use it and sustain it.

Time StudiesThe results of the time tickets can give you

great information about how much time it takes to do each task.

When comparing it to the time expected it is a strong tool for managing a digital project that is on a limited budget.

Time Studies Name Scanning Time

John 15 5Henry 25 10Mary 21 3

Time StudiesThis tells us that:

Name Average per HourJohn 3Henry 2.5Mary 7

Time StudiesThis tells us that Henry and John should not

be scanning?Mary is a stronger scanner?If Henry did all of the scanning for 1000

images then it would take him 400 hours. If Mary did it, she would take about 143 hours. With a rate of pay of $20 per hour the cost difference IF quality is the same would be:

Henry $8000 vs. Mary at $2860 with a dollar difference of $5140.

Time StudiesMoney is part of the picture.

Quality is the other side.How often do each of them make mistakes?The quality control aspect has to be part of this

story problem!

Tools Re-capSpreadsheetsTracking FormsTime TicketsCharts!SurveysSuggestion Boxes

Sample Tracking Forms IncludedWorkflow Tables/ChartsTime StudiesProduction ReportsTime Tickets

Contact InformationKim SchroederAdjunct Faculty

Wayne State University School of Library and Information [email protected]

President/ConsultantArchive Media [email protected] Blog to talk about these issues:

www.archivemediapartners.com/AMPedNote: a link to this presentation is available via the

blog