Appendix A. Mahara Implementation Pre-Planner

In this appendix, we have laid out and sequenced some of the important questions that your organization will need to address should you want to get your ePortfolio system set up efficiently and for it to be a success. This appendix serves as a pre-planner, not as a planner. It is intended to get you thinking through some of the important issues behind organizational ePortfolio platform implementation. After you have worked through this Appendix, you should then go on to draw up an Implementation Action Plan.

One action plan format, for example, could be based on the following. The items styled in Italics are example objectives:

Mahara Implementation Planner
Overall Aim:
PHASE ONE: Analysis and Specification
Objective 1: Decide which ePortfolio tool is best for us
Action	Who?	By when?	Resources required	Planned outcomes and outputs	Impact measures
Draw up a list of criteria for what we want the ePortfolio to be able to do. This will later be used to evaluate the suitability of market-leading ePortfolio platforms.	ePortfolio champion and information technologist. Verified by management.	01/09/2012	Time: An initial meeting with management to discuss requirements and goals. Research and development of criteria.	An ePortfolio criteria list.	Existence of criteria list and its success in informing the ePortfolio software selection process.
Define market-leading ePortfolio solutions.	ePortfolio champion and information technologist.	10/09/2012	Time: Researching market-leading solutions.	A list of market-leading ePortfolios.	Existence of market-leading ePortfolio list.
Analyze ePortfolio solutions against the ePortfolio criteria list in order to decide which to implement.	ePortfolio champion and information technologist.	15/09/2012	Time: Analyze ePortfolio solutions against criteria list.	ePortfolio recommend ation and presentation to manage ment	Efficiency of the decision making process in the management meeting to decide on the solution.
Objective 2:
Action	Who?	By when?	Resources required	Planned outcomes and outputs	Impact measures
PHASE TWO: Planning, Design, and Implementation
Objective 1:'Create a Buzz' about the new portfolio software
Action	Who?	By when?	Resources required	Planned outcomes and outputs	Impact measures
Draw up and implement a communications plan that targets all different types of stakeholders (users, staff, leaders, trainers, assessors, parents, employers and so on).	ePortfolio champion, a tutor and a member of management.	23/09/2012	Time: Meeting to decide communication approach for each stakeholder type. Booklet: communications plan to present to management.	ePortfolio communica tions plan	Effectiveness of communications plan in actioning marketing activities.
Publicize real-life case studies via our website and newsletters.	Website manager and ePortfolio champion.	28/09/2012	Time: Finding, creating, and publishing examples.	Case-study publications.	Reach of publications. Interest generated from marketing activity.
Creation of online user guide and training video.	Website manager, content producer.	28/09/2012	Software: Video editing program Time: Putting together training video and written user guide.	Video and written user guide produced.	Number of hits of the video and its impact on ePortfolio activity. Number of user guide downloads.
Objective 2:
Action	Who?	By when?	Resources required	Planned outcomes and outputs	Impact measures
PHASE THREE: Evaluation and Continuation
Objective 1: Evaluating impact and usage of ePortfolio solution
Action	Who?	By when?	Resources required	Planned outcomes and outputs	Impact measures
Set general and quantifiable targets for site engagement.	ePortfolio champion and information technologist.	01/12/2012	Time: Setting some useful, practical targets.	List of general and quantifiable targets of site engagement.	Usefulness of targets when coming to analyze actual site usage.
Analyzing ePortfolio usage against targets.	ePortfolio champion and information technologist.	20/12/2012	User data: Access to ePortfolio user data and feedback forms. Time: Putting together data results into easy to read charts and reports.	Usage reports and charts. Charts show usage versus targets and general metrics.	Statistical data showing how well targets have been met and where they haven't.
Objective 2:
Action	Who?	By when?	Resources required	Planned outcomes and outputs	Impact measures

An .odt and also a .doc version of the preceding matrix is available for download from http://maharaforbeginners.tdm.info, in the links and resources menu. You will also find a version with the preceding examples included.

It is our hope that by getting you to think through the following sections, we will help you to ensure that your software implementation goes smoothly. Successful software implementations have more to do with cultural changes than they have to do with technological changes. Too many software implementations have gone astray; let's make sure that yours is not one of those. A classic failing software implementation runs like this:

1. 1. One management member opts to adopt while others look skeptically on.

2. 2. The manager brings in technicians to install, configure, and launch the software.

3. 3. Staff and user time is not provided, neither is any further training, guidance, and development time planned or purchased.

4. 4. The implementation quickly starts to lose direction and the project fails.

Let's be clear again, this Mahara Implementation Pre-Planner will only serve to guide your decision-making process, we cannot make your decisions for you, and we are leaving it up to you to form your formal implementation strategy for yourself.

Also, please bear in mind that as we write this Implementation Pre-Planner, we are catering for a wide readership, so some of the questions and suggestions we make in the following sections might sometimes be pitched at a larger, or smaller, or just different organizations to your own, and they may not all always seem relevant to your context. If this is the case, just skip that question or suggestion, and move onto the next one.

You need to start thinking about what you will need to do and what your staff will need to do if you are going to make it happen.

So, now that all the disclaimers are out of the way, please read on.

What's involved with a Mahara implementation?

Although real life is not always as neat and tidy as you would like it to be, a Mahara implementation will essentially pass through three broadly distinct stages:

• Analysis and Specification

• Planning, Design, and Implementation

• Evaluation and Continuation

To scaffold your Mahara implementation here, we have decided to take you through a sequence of opinions, questions, and suggestions. We have split those broader stages into some smaller phases as follows:

• Analysis and Specification

  • Phase 1: Decide if Mahara is right for you.

  • Phase 2: Understand your own specific needs and working conditions.

  • Phase 3: Choose between a Mahara-partner supported site and your own installation.

  • Phase 4: Scope out your implementation plan.

• Planning, Design, and Implementation

  • Phase 5: Create a buzz!

  • Phase 6: Get some quick wins in first!

  • Phase 7: Continuously involve the users in your planning and design process.

  • Phase 8: Keep going despite adversity!

• Evaluation and Continuation

  • Phase 9: Review and Re-evaluate.

  • Phase 10: Change and Embed.