Managing risks and success

The intention is to launch Primo in time for the start of the new academic year in September 2010, although it will continue to be developed and tested after the launch. If for some reason this is not achieved the contingency plan is to carry out a soft launch at a slightly later date, making Primo available alongside the current Library Catalogue and MetaLib systems. These other interfaces will then be removed later on, leaving Primo as the single user interface, for searching for Library material.

The risks that have been identified relating to the project are listed below, along with the actions required to mitigate against those risks.
1. The risk of losing key personnel can be reduced by building expertise across the team.
2. The risk of delays due to inter-departmental dependencies can be reduced by ensuring effective internal communication and the inclusion of relevant staff in the team.
3. The risk of delays due to supplier dependencies can be reduced by agreeing the implementation timescale in the contract.
4. The risk of the unavailability of stakeholders for consultation and feedback can be reduced by effective project planning and the offering of incentives and by engaging with stakeholders early in the project.

Since starting the project the team has realised that there is a risk to authenticating via Shibboleth with the Aleph Library Management System, which the technical members of the team are working to resolve.

It is hoped that Primo will be very popular with the users at Coventry. There are no major problems anticipated as a result of this. However, we do need to be aware of the resource implications of continuing to develop the product and ensure that there is staff time set aside to do this.
Similarly, if the case study report is well received this shouldn’t cause any problems.