deliverable report 2.3 deployment of ... - brightness.esss.se
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BrightnESS
Building a research infrastructure and synergies for highest scientific impact on ESS
H2020-INFRADEV-1-2015-1
Grant Agreement Number: 676548
Deliverable report: D2.3
Deployment of an In-Kind Data Management Information System
Ref. Ares(2016)5756001 - 04/10/2016
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1. Project Deliverable Information Sheet
BrightnESS
Project Project Ref. No. 676548
Project Title: BrightnESS - Building a research infrastructure and
synergies for highest scientific impact on ESS
Project Website: brightness.se
Deliverable No.: D2.3
Deliverable Type: Report
Dissemination Level: Contractual Delivery Date: M11
Public Actual Delivery Date: M12
EC Project Officer: Bernhard Fabianek
2. Document Control Sheet
Document Title: Report on deployment of an In-Kind Data Management
Information System
Version: v1-2016.09.30
Available at: https://brightness.esss.se
Files: N/A
Authorship Written by R. Pugliese (Elettra),
C. Bocchetta (ESS WP-leader)
Contributors Gábor Németh, Milos Davidovic, Gareth Aspinall,
Reviewed by R. Pennings (coordinator)
Approved by brightnESS Steering Board on 04/10/2016
3. List of Abbreviations
ESS European Spallation Source
EVM Earn Value Management
EV Earned Value
FAT Factory Acceptance Tests
HoA Heads of Agreement
IKC In Kind Contribution
IKCIS IKC Information System
IKRC In-Kind Review Committee
KPI Key Performance Indicator
PMO ESS Project Management Office
PV Planned Value
REST Representational State Transfer
SAT Site Acceptance Tests
SPI Schedule Performance Index
STC ESS Steering Committee
SV Schedule Variance
XRM EXternal Relationship Management tool
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List of Figures
Figure 1: XRM requirements .......................................................................................... 12
Figure 2: Login Screen ................................................................................................... 22
Figure 3: Main XRM menu ............................................................................................. 23
Figure 4: List of countries ............................................................................................... 24
Figure 5: A specific country summary sheet .................................................................. 25
Figure 6: In-kind contributions tab main panel. .............................................................. 26
Figure 7: In-kind contribution details. ............................................................................. 27
Figure 8: A specific deliverable/milestone...................................................................... 28
Figure 9: document management tab. ........................................................................... 29
Figure 10: list of reports tab............................................................................................ 30
Figure 11: specific report form. ...................................................................................... 31
Figure 12: in-kind contribution change history tab ......................................................... 32
Figure 13: Contact management functionalities. ........................................................... 33
Figure 14: integration tabs. ............................................................................................. 34
Figure 15: XRM home based on the VUO ..................................................................... 37
Figure 16: Administrator after login. ............................................................................... 37
Figure 17: List of users. .................................................................................................. 38
Figure 18: User details. .................................................................................................. 38
Figure 19: List of Countries and Country specific information ....................................... 39
Figure 20: List of in kind contributions (sort, filter, select, add functions). .................... 40
Figure 21: Specific in-kind details (general information)................................................ 40
Figure 22: Specific in-kind details (phase 1). ................................................................. 41
Figure 23: Specific in-kind details (phase 2). ................................................................. 41
Figure 24: Specific in-kind details (phase 3). ................................................................. 41
Figure 25: Full or partial export of the database in excel readable format. ................... 42
Figure 26: Read only access for a non-administrator user. ........................................... 42
Figure 27: Country administration. ................................................................................. 43
Figure 28: Institute (partner) administration. .................................................................. 43
Figure 29: Database (workflow, notification) administration. ......................................... 44
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Table of Contents
1. Project Deliverable Information Sheet ...................................................................... 2
2. Document Control Sheet ........................................................................................... 2
3. List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................. 2
4. Executive summary ................................................................................................... 5
5. Purpose and Structure of the Deliverable ................................................................. 6
6. Background ............................................................................................................... 7
7. Relations management ........................................................................................... 10
8. General Requirements ............................................................................................ 11
9. Navigation requirements and user stories .............................................................. 20
10. Deployment and Status of the Management Information System .................... 355
11. References ........................................................................................................ 455
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4. Executive summary
This report concerns Deliverable D2.3 of the BrightnESS project and describes the “Deployment of an In-Kind Data Management Information System”. The system consists of a centralised software platform called XRM+, that will provide support to the In-kind Management Coordination Office, ESS partners and management and for the governance of the ESS Project. The software code is strategically important for the management of In-Kind Contributions (IKCs) considering the total number of partners, the variety and complexity of the contributions, the number of partners per technical work-package and their interactions. This document provides background information related to the meaning, structure and processes connected to the ESS IKCs that affect the functionality of the software system. A description then follows of the general requirements, data requirements, navigation requirements and user stories for the software system. The system will manage contacts for effective communication and monitoring of IKCs, allow various level of access and permissions to users, maintain a status of IKCs through documents, plans, progress and risks, permit the integrated management of reports and their generation, establish EVM indicators and general KPI's, import data from CiviCRM, import data from project planning code Primavera P6, have integration with INDICO software and manage attached documents or links to external document management tools. The software will be based on cloud servers and permit access via various hardware platforms. The system will have three separate databases covering:
IKCs (potential, planned and agreed with status, changes, milestones, etc.),
countries (IK objectives, budgets, status of funding and key personnel, etc.),
partners/people (contact data). A user will be able to search for and filter data that will be shown in a spreadsheet view, track changes and generate reports. The full software system is built in stages as a (1) deliverable, (2) technical two updates and 3) a final review, for a practical and effective user experience. The staged approach permits an optimised means for improving and adding functionality. The first deliverable includes the core and most important functionalities and is the official deliverable related to the grant agreement (D2.3– Deployment of IKC Information System). In particular this version includes the design of the core database and the implementation of the general structure of the system on top of which all other components will be added. The two equidistant updates within the following year will add a "dashboard" and online report, include forms for integration with external tools such as CiviCRM and Primavera 6. Improvements will be also be incorporated. For the final review (after 24 months) integration with INDICO and CHESS will have been implemented. At present (as part of this deliverable) the system is running on Elettra servers and is externally accessible. Transfer to ESS servers will be part of the first update.
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5. Purpose and Structure of the Deliverable
The purpose of this document is to describe Deliverable D2.3 “Deployment of an In-Kind
Data Management Information System”.
After some background information related to ESS, the meaning, structure and
processes connected to the In-Kind Contributions (IKC), this document describes the
general requirements, data requirements, navigation requirements and user stories.
The deployment plan and feature priorities are presented. The chapter “Deployment of
the In-Kind Data Management Information System” describes the deployment of the
system and the current status with the help of screen shots taken from the running
system. Reference document and links close the deliverable.
Please note, that following agreement from the European Commission Project Officer
(email to the project coordinator from 25/7/2016), this deliverable is submitted at this
time in the understanding that several updates will be made to the tool as part of Work
Package Task 2.3.
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6. Background
The European Spallation Source (ESS) is to be built in the spirit of cooperation, sourcing
the knowledge of Europe’s leading experts and institutions. In that spirit, all interested
parties from Member Countries are invited to provide In-kind Contributions (IKC) to the
construction. Of the total €1,843 Billion project cost, nearly €750 Million (41%) is
expected to be realized through IKCs. When one excludes the cost of civil construction
and labour in Sweden, the IKCs amount to more than half of the technical scope. These
contributions have several important purposes:
They allow Member Countries to politically justify their investments in an international
project outside their borders by ensuring that some of the value of their contributions
remains with their respective institutions and industry.
They enable technology transfer through the participation of those organizations in
the construction of a large-scale European research infrastructure.
They allow the ESS to leverage the collective knowledge, experience and resources
of Europe’s leading research institutions and industry.
An IKC is a non-cash contribution provided by a Member Country to the ESS and covers:
technical components for the ESS facility as well as personnel needed to perform
the testing, installation and/or integration of any such components;
R&D work as well as personnel needed to perform the R&D work;
personnel made available for specific tasks during the Construction Phase;
other products or services relevant for the completion of the ESS facility.
Suitable IKCs and their value are identified and specified by ESS with reference to the
ESS project descriptions included in the Project Construction Management Plan, and
are made accessible to all Members in the ESS Cost Book. The verification of suitable IKCs is subject to review and recommendation by the In-Kind Review Committee (IKRC),
to the ESS Council. In all cases, an IKC is implemented according to guidelines defined
in the “European Spallation Source Framework for Handling In-Kind Contributions”
which have been approved by the ESS Council. The IKC activities span all ESS projects
and participating partner organizations, therefore processes detailed by other ESS
departments are inseparable parts of an overarching ESS IKC process.
The ESS IKC process can be separated into three fundamental phases:
The first phase is Preparation, or managing expressions of interest and contracting
with Partner institutions.
The second phase is Implementation, or tracking the delivery of the contracted
solutions, services, materials etc.
The third and final phase is the Conclusion, which is the phase where the IKC value
crediting process is applied and the closeout of a contribution is conducted.
6.1. Preparation
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In the first phase, potential partners are selected on the basis of Expressions of Interest
(EOIs), and detailed contract negotiations are initiated. The selected partners are those
who indicated sufficient knowledge, experience, motivation and resources to contribute
to the ESS. They must have explicit financial support from their respective funding
agencies. In order to achieve an agreement both the Partner and the ESS must agree
on the value of contribution, delivery dates, and technical scope. There may also be
standardization and regulatory requirements. All of these requirements are captured in an ‘In-Kind Contribution Agreement’.
The ESS governance (which includes representatives from all the Member Countries),
has adopted an agreement template, the “In-Kind Contribution Agreement –
Construction Phase” that is the basis for all IKC contracts. All collaborations are to be
guided by the “Framework for In-Kind Contributions” that is an integral part of the
agreement. Once the contracts are finalized and verified by the ESS and the IKC
Partner, they are signed and forwarded for evaluation and recommendation by the IKRC,
and then to the ESS Steering Committee (STC) for approval.
6.2. Implementation
A precondition of IKC Implementation activities is to have a signed contract between
ESS and the relevant IKC Partner. The implementation process will cover the planning,
design process, production, quality acceptance testing, integration, commissioning and
the final approval of the product, solution or services delivered by the IKC Partner.
Based on the IKC contract and its annexes the Partner will perform the work as agreed
in the schedules and prepare the relevant deliverables according to the phases,
milestones defined by the agreement.
During the Implementation phase, either Party involved in delivering the respective
WP/WU delivery may trigger changes. These changes could be categorized by 3 terms
according to the IKCM Framework. These categories are:
Delays.
Variations.
Defects.
During the Implementation Phase of the IKC process, the quality of the deliverable must be continuously controlled. This includes Factory Acceptance Tests (FATs) at the IKC
Partner’s premises when material/services are received by the IKC Partner. The Partner
is responsible to define FATs and provides the ESS Project team with associated
documentation for review. The FAT and associated documentation must be in
accordance with the IKC Agreement. In case of defects the Partner is fully responsible
for the resolution of deviations. Following these tests, the release documents will be
created (e.g. factory test report, quality report, inspection report, etc.) according to the
agreed requirements detailed in the IKC Agreement. The Projects shall approve them
and validate the milestone to be able to proceed with further activities. If the FAT tests
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are completed successfully and accepted by the ESS the Partner shall ship and deliver the solution, materials, equipment to ESS premises for integration and further Site
Acceptance Tests (SAT). The quality assurance at the ESS site is continued following
the delivery of the produced WP/WU with performing SATs. The SAT specification
should be covered by the IKC contract. The delivered solution, materials, equipment
shall be deemed to be completed when the Partner has delivered all the results and
performed all other works and services defined by the relevant IKC contract.
6.3. Conclusion
The Conclusion phase is the process of performing a final evaluation of the performance
of IKC collaborations. Based on and in accordance with the evaluated and approved
project results the corresponding IKC value is to be defined and credited to the Member
Country. A benefit of this process is that it will document closure of the collaboration and
provide documentation for future reference.
During this evaluation process proposed IKC values will be defined considering delays,
variations and defects. The evaluation is to be supported and recommended by the In-
Kind Review Committee (IKRC) to the Council for approval. After the formal approval
process ESS IKC Management will notify the related member country of the approved
IKC value and status.
Information on contract schedule, scope, quality, and cost performance along with all
contract change documentation and inspection results must be recorded. This
information will be used for lessons learnt and as a basis for evaluating further IKC
Partners for future contracts.
The ESS IKC activities entail interactions between more than 50 Work Package and
Project Leaders in the ESS alone, along with multiple corresponding partner
representatives for each Work Package. In the case of instruments being built for
Neutron Scattering Systems alone, one of 6 ESS sub-projects, each of the 16
instruments is between €15-20 Million in value and will be built by consortia of 2-5
institutional partners. The number and quality of interactions between the ESS and IKC
Partners represents a significant management challenge.
The vision of WP 2, Task 2.2 is to establish a centralized platform that will provide support to the In-kind Management Coordination Office, management, and governance
of the ESS Project. This involves using technology to organize, automate and
synchronize IKCs, project management, ESS service to partners, and technical support.
The system will benchmark industrial customer relationship management systems, and
adapt relative to the unique needs of a large, distributed, infrastructure project. It will
provide project intelligence and offer interactive, real-time management information to
cover key activities in ESS:
1. Activity reporting.
2. Project management status reports.
3. Documentary evidence for quality assurance and control.
4. Process tracking.
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7. Relations management
The specific aims of Task 2.2 provide the ESS Project with an active database to
establish a matching between the Work Breakdown Structure in Oracle “Primavera”
(which is the integrated planning tool used by ESS) and Work Package realization according to Work Plans with IKC Partners. The targeted result is to maximize on-time
deliverables by mapping and monitoring key processes and activities in real-time.
The database system will enable the ESS to systematically track potential versus planned IKC agreements. All steps of the preparation, implementation and conclusion of
specific IKC contracts are entered into the system:
It enables reporting and tracing delivered IKCs in a fully documented and quality-
controlled system. Key performance indicators for managing IKC are tracked
It allows any deviation in schedule or performance to be understood and actions may
be taken to prevent delays, defects, or incompatibility issues. For final crediting of IKC
value, the system can track identified IKCs in Member Countries.
The system must enable the possibility to track the communication status of IKC
Partners and provide a complete database for stakeholders and enable access to
information about each Partner.
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8. General Requirements
It is worth noting that while the ESS project uses Oracle “Primavera” as a project
management tool, not all the Partners will do the same. Primavera and Microsoft Projects
have been suggested as tools to use to all partners but it is reasonable to expect that
some partners will not do so. Primavera is, however, equipped with tools to import data
from other common project management tools. An important point is to be able to
collaborate in an effective way reducing as much as possible the required administrative
overhead.
In other words, even if an integration between the IKC information system (IKCIS) and
the specific project management software of the specific IKC information partner is not
mandatory and will be difficult to perform due to the many different versions and tools
used by the different partners, an integration between the ESS Project Management
Office (PMO) and the IKCIS could be extremely useful.
A second important thing is related to the effective use to the Project Management
standards defined by the Project Management Institute based on pre-existing project
management concepts such as Earn Value Management (EVM) and in particular the
use of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Schedule Performance Index (SPI; Earned
Value/Planned Value) and Schedule Variance (SV; Earned Value/Planned Value).
A third important aspect is related to effective risk management. The IKCIS should
support effective communication and risk management.
The IKCIS should implement all the functions needed to support the effective communication between IKC partners, IKC regional Field Coordinators and the IK
Management Coordination Office. The system will be cloud based and accessible by
different platforms and devices with a priority on the web platform.
The ESS in the past years has developed a tool called XRM (EXternal Relationship
Management tool) based on the CiviCRM platform. The functionalities of this tool have
to be extended and absorbed by the IKCIS that can keep the same name XRM as a
strategy for change management. The new system will be capable to import contact
information from the old XRD and to import data from Primavera P6 used by ESS PMO.
The system will support the following functionalities:
Management of contacts to support effective communication and management
of ESS related meetings. A sort of integrated management of who is who in the
world of ESS IKCs.
Management of access and permissions for the different kinds of users (Super-
user, IKC partners, IKC regional Field Coordinators and the IK Management
Coordination Office).
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Integrated management of IKCs, their status, documents, plans, progress, risks
and changes.
Integrated management of project reports.
Automatic calculation of EVM indicators and in general of KPIs to permit progress
monitoring and early detection of potential risks and hence delivery problems.
Import data from CiviCRM
Import data from Primavera P6 (It would be very useful to update data directly
from P6 most probably the current dates of key milestones).
Integration with INDICO software to support the organization of conferences and
events.
Possibility to manage attached documents (such as Monthly Progress reports)
or links to external document management tools (e.g. CHESS).
The following picture presents graphically the requirements.
Figure 1: XRM requirements
The system will allow both access by humans possibly through different platforms
(desktop, tablet, smartphone etc.) and by software via a suitable API with a REST
(Representational State Transfer) interface.
Considering the complexity of the systems and its expected life span, it is mandatory
that the systems is developed using an agile development methodology based on
iterations and progressive releases of functionalities. The developed software source
code should contractually be a property of ESS (i.e. the release source code should be
part of the offered solution). The system will be released in a Cloud-based server
solution, possibly backed up at an ESS server.
The following sections will describe in greater detail the different parts of the
requirements.
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8.1. Data Requirements
The platform will have three separate databases (areas) containing different data entries.
These areas are IKC, Countries and Partners (people). Data entries are defined in the
table found below. Additionally, the platform should have the ability to offer different
levels of interaction and user rights.
User rights can be divided into three (or more) categories. View only, View and Edit, and
finally Admin rights. All data entries in all three databases should be editable by an
administrator. Some data entries can be editable by users with Edit rights. Which data
is excluded from these rights remains to be seen, but can always be altered by an
administrator as well.
Ideally, raw data in the IKC database should come from the Oracle “Primavera” software.
Naturally, some of this data may need to be edited or require manually input. The
platform should support both types of activities.
Furthermore, a simple file attachment system will be incorporated in each of the three
databases. There is the need to have the possibility to upload new files, update existing
files, and most importantly keep track of changes and versions of the files.
The software will be capable of creating reports using any raw data available. Reports
can be both predetermined (quarterly, monthly, yearly), or user defined, where users
could define which data entries and their relationships they want to see reported.
The software will be as user friendly as possible and offer easy access to all data entries.
There will be three main areas or databases in the tool:
Member countries, with their IK objectives, budget and text fields describing
some of their IKCS, status of their funding, key personnel etc.
Contacts. List of people associated with IK work mainly at the various institutes
across Europe. Would contain their names, places of work and contact details.
IKCs, both potential (without partner), planned and agreed with their descriptions,
values, status, institute, milestones, history of changes, comments etc. The following XRM Database Relationship Diagram gives an idea of some of the tables and of their relations related to the management of contacts and related documents and work packages.
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The following tables give a view of the fields and the nature of those fields that the tool will update and display. The details, naming and quantities are given below and may be added to as the tool is further developed.
Country Table (17-25 Entries)
Field Name Value Description/Comments
Country Text String Name of the country
Total Planned
Commitment (Member
Currency)
Currency Value Most in Euros, but some are
in CHF or GBP
Total Planned
Commitment (Euros)
Currency Value Euro equivalent value of Total
Planed Commitment
(Member Currency)
Country In-Kind Objective Percentage (0-100%)
Commitment Text String – max 100
characters
Large text description
ESS Liquidity Planning Text String – max 100
characters
Large text description
Comments Text String – max 100
characters
Large text description
Cash flow/Liquidity, for
years 2013-2030
Currency Values 18 fields of currency values
for the years 2013-2030
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IKC Table (200-300 Entries)
Field Name Description Indicative example (not
exhaustive)
No. An id for the IKC 7
ESS Project The ESS project ACCSYS, ICS, NSS, Target
Country The assigned Country. One of 15 options
[member countries of
ESS]
Poland, Spain, Italy, …
Type of Agreement … Collaboration, HoA, IKC
IKC Partner The specific partner. Taken from the Sub-
database – List of
Partner
ISIS, ESS Bilbao, …
WBS/IK No. The associated ESS
WBS. Unique contract
identification number
AIK 10.1, 13.6.x
IKC description … Tests of Spoke Cryo-module
Prototypes
HoA Signed date
… Jan, 20th 2015
HoA Expiry … Jan, 20th 2015
IKC Signed Date … Jan, 20th 2015
Agreement Planned
Date
… Jan, 20th 2015
Status follow-up … Failed, Planned, Potential,
Send to partner, Signed,
Signed and approved by
Council, TA Agreed, TA
Signed, Under discussion,
Under preparation, Under
review
CB Value (kEUR) Value of the contribution 6.500 Challenges/
Obstacles/
Comments
… Severe Challenges, budgeting issues.
Date (to be)
endorsed at IKRC
… 2016 Q2
Presentation Needed
Executive Summary
Needed
For IKRC Decision
Potential Country 1
Potential Country 2
Potential Country 3
Phase 1 (Preparation) STATUS follow-up
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Drafted One of Done, In-progress,
Action needed, Process
halted
Done
Reviewed by Legal
One of Done, In-progress,
Action needed, Process
halted
Done
Sent to partner
One of Done, In-progress,
Action needed, Process
halted
Done
Agreed and signed
by partner
One of Done, In-progress,
Action needed, Process
halted
Done
Agreed and signed
by ESS
One of Done, In-progress,
Action needed, Process
halted
Done
Presented to IKRC
One of Done, In-progress,
Action needed, Process
halted
Done
Endorsed by IKRC
One of Done, In-progress,
Action needed, Process
halted
Done
Endorsed by Council
One of Done, In-progress,
Action needed, Process
halted
In-progress
Phase 2 (Implementation) STATUS follow-up
Start date … Jan, 20th 2016
Deliverable/Milestone
names
Status. One of Done, In-
progress, Action needed,
Process halted
10-25 entries per IKC
Current date
Original date
Current date
Slip (difference between
the Original Date and
Current Date Time period
in months)
Weighting. Percentage
Value
Change Request
No. Number 30 entries max per IKC
Text
Date
Phase 3 (Conclusion) STATUS follow-up
Date of completion Date of completion Date of completion
Final report Final report Final report
Date of IKRC
approval
Date of IKRC approval Date of IKRC approval
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Date of Council
approval
Date of Council approval Date of Council approval
IKC Credited Value
IKC Credited Value
IKC Credited Value
Date of Partner
Country Crediting
Date of Partner Country
Crediting
Date of Partner Country Crediting
Date of Transfer of
Ownership
Date of Transfer of
Ownership
Date of Transfer of Ownership
Additional information ESS WP coordinator Name … link to contacts Ext. WP coordinator Name … link to contacts In Archive (y/n) Start of Work date … Est. date of
completion
…
Follow-up date .. Updated by Name Updated on Last info on WP received
on
Report Comments Comments about the
reports TA being negotiated, aim to sign cover letter before 4 Feb. Work started refurbishing labs.
Quarterly Reports
Quarterly Reports Text fields Compiled every 3 months hence 20+ fields needed
Attached files Or link to a file repository
Additional attached files
Files Attached files Or link to a file repository
It is likely that there will be additional fields and this table will be implemented with
more than one relational table.
Partner Database (3,000-6,000 Entries)
Field Name Value Description/Comments
Title Chosen from a list of
possible titles
Dr., Prof. etc
First Name Text String
Surname Text String
Job title Text String Position
Telephone Number Number String Format should be defined
Email address Text String
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Institute or company Taken from the Sub-
database – List of
Institutes
The same list that is used
for IKC Partner
Department Taken from the Sub-
database – List of
Institutes
There may be additional fields and it must be possible to define groups (such as
Members of Committees, Scientists, Engineers etc.). In the past it has also been helpful
to define the source where the contact information originates. Possible additional fields
may include a photo or attachments (e.g. the CV) of the person.
XRM also tracks the participation in activities such as events and relationships between
contacts and the “relationship type” (employee of, employer of, etc.)
In terms of reporting it must be possible to filter according to specific search criteria and
export the raw data according to a pre- or self-defined function.
Institutes Table (30-80 Entries)
Field Name Value Description/Comments
Institute Name Text String Admin can modify/add
options
Address of Institute Text String Admin can modify/add
options
Post Code Number String
Country of Institute Text String Admin can modify/add
options
Web Page of Institute Text String Admin can modify/add
options
Email address Text String Admin can modify/add
options
Users Table (15-60 Users)
Field Name Value Description/Comments
User Name Text String Admin can modify/add
options
User Password Text String Admin can modify/add
options
Write Access to Target Y/N Admin can modify/add
options
Write Access to NSS Y/N Admin can modify/add
options
Write Access to
Accelerator
Y/N Admin can modify/add
options
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Write Access to ICS Y/N Admin can modify/add
options
Write Access to Country
Sheets
Y/N Admin can modify/add
options
Write Access to Partner
List
Y/N Admin can modify/add
options
Overall Admin Rights Y/N Admin can modify/add
options
The variety of the functionality of the various types and levels of users will increase as the tool becomes more complex. These tables should be finalized during the first phases of the development process and refined progressively.
8.2. Access rights management
In the first phase until the transfer of the system to ESS (in early 2017; see section 10.1
for details), the system will be controlled by the super-user who has developed the
software-code. This is Elettra. The company will also provide initial training support to
the power-users.
Power-users are the In-Kind Contributions unit at the ESS. They will be able to enter
data and modify (parts of) user-interface field descriptions to tailor the system to ESS
needs. However, they will not be able to access the underlying database and code.
At ESS, one person (already nominated) within the Information Systems Group (ISG) is
closely involved in the roll-out and use of the system, as in early 2017 the database will
migrate to ESS servers and be managed and serviced from there as well as linked
to/integrated with other relevant ESS ICT infrastructure.
Normal users are the Field Coordinators located at the different partner institutes. They
are able to view and enter IKC-data but cannot modify any part of the system. Comments
and suggestions for tailoring can be made directly to the super-user who will liaise with
the IKC unit and the ISG representative. Training to normal users will be carried out by
a combination of Elettra and ESS staff.
Once the system has proven itself, access to the system will be widened to include other
(types of) users within the partner institutes and at ESS who may have need for this kind
of information. This may include scientists, procurement staff, legal staff, financial
departments etc. The management and monitoring of the system will then be in the
hands of the ISG at ESS.
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9. Navigation requirements and user stories
Upon opening the tool, the user should be able to select different options depending on
whether the user is interested in viewing and/or updating one of the three databases or
producing a report.
For the countries there will be a way to select the country, with a subsequent window
allowing the data to be viewed/edited taking into consideration the large text fields
associated. Some text fields could be created automatically but allow modification
afterwards to tailor the individual ways countries show their in-kind information.
There will be the ability to add additional countries.
The IKCs may be shown in a spreadsheet view allowing the user to filter and sort
data. Clicking on a specific IKC would open a new, editable window allowing the user
to change data and see more information that is not available in the summary table.
This extra information will be a history of changes, information on the progress, a list
of contract milestones and deliverables with latest dates and potentially EVM data
taken from P6. New IKCs can be added and old ones deleted.
For the contacts database, a list of contacts may be shown in alphabetical order with
a filter and search function. The user will be able to edit and add new people.
An important function of the tool will be to produce reports replacing the documents that
are currently largely completed by hand. Examples are:
Executive Summary – summaries of the IKCs shown to the IKRC for the
endorsement of work packages. This will contain information on the description
of the work, value, milestones and status of documents.
Quarterly Report – used in the ESS quarterly report for the council. A large array
of information is taken from the IKCs with the ability to compare the current data
to that that was shown in the previous report 3 months earlier.
Country Sheet – summary sheets for each country. Most information will come
from the country area/database
Final Report – when the In-Kind Contribution is completed and is presented to
the IKRC for accreditation. This will be information similar to that shown in the
Executive Summary.
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The following figure is an illustration of a potential path of windows and menus for the
tool. The next section will translate this view in a set of user stories (the stories of the
interaction of the user with the XRM system).
Figure 1: Potential path of windows and menus
9.1. XRM user stories
The following paragraphs present potential ideas for the visual interaction of the tool.
They are provisional ideas to give an idea of what information needs to be shown and
how the user can view and input data. There will undoubtedly be further information that
needs to be added to the views. Furthermore, the style of views will be the result of
further interaction with the agile development team.
The tool will be web based. A first user story is the access to the home page (possibly
placed somewhere in the ESS portal). Graphics will be designed in order to adhere to
the ESS corporate image. The user will be presented with a login screen with standard
behaviour. The user will enter username and password and if these match XRM will
grant access to the functionalities enabled to the specific user (Figure 2). This feature is
quite important as the interface described will be common to all the users but the
available functionalities should automatically adapt to the specific user role.
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Figure 2: Login Screen
The XRM will present to the user the main menu with a tab for each main group of XRM
functionalities:
in-kind contributions,
contacts,
tools (integration with external tools),
dashboard.
The dashboard will be visualized by default with overall graphs and key performance
data presented (Figure 3).
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Figure 3: Main XRM menu
A sub tab allows the selection of the list of hubs (groups of countries) and of the list of
countries. A selection of the former will allow the selection of a specific hub and a further
selection will present the summary of data related to the selected hub.
In the same line, by selecting the country sub tab, the user will be presented with the list
of countries and a further selection will present the summary data related to the selected
country. Figure 4 shows the view the user would see if they select Country Sheet from the main
menu. Here the user can select the country of interest by clicking on the flag or (if they
have Admin rights) they can add new countries.
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Figure 4: List of countries
Clicking on the flag will open the country sheet view as shown on the next figure using
the UK as an example (indicative data). Here the user can add in details and save them
if he/she has write access. The In-Kind and Cash Value are calculated automatically.
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Figure 5: A specific country summary sheet
The core of the XRM will be the In-Kind contribution related functionalities the user can
find by selecting the “In-Kind Contributions” tab (see figure 6). This is the view the user would see if they select IKC from the main menu. It is based
on a scrollable spreadsheet view showing all the IKCs in the database. There will be the
ability to filter and sort the IKCs by some key characteristics such as:
Project,
Name,
Contract No,
Partner,
Country,
Planned Approval Date,
Value
Status.
If the user wishes to see more details on a specific IKC clicking on the IKC will open
a window on the following page. Additionally, there will be the option on the IKC table
to create a new IKC or to delete an obsolete IKC.
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Figure 6: In-kind contributions tab main panel.
By selecting a specific in-kind contribution, it is possible to visualize the specific in-kind
contribution information panel and to access all the related functionalities.
Figure 7 shows the first tab of the detailed IKC information which is called Details. This
tab shows all the key information about the IKC such as name, value, status, partner
and a short description. When there are two partners interested in the IKC the user can
enter the second partner in the associated box.
The user can switch tabs by clicking on them. If the user has write access he/she can
change the values or text of the boxes by clicking them and typing. To save the changes he/she clicks on Save at the bottom right of the tab.
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Figure 7: In-kind contribution details.
By selecting the Deliverables tab, the system shows the second tab of the detailed IKC
information. The tab presents a table of the deliverables and milestones connected to
the IKC. These are taken from the Technical Annex or at the start of the work – most
likely at the Kick-Off meeting.
It is important to establish the key milestones/deliverables with dates early on during the implementation of the contract. The Original Date refers to the first date agreed on and
should never be changed. The Agreed Date usually has the same date as the Original
Date but could be different if a Change Report (CR) has been approved for new delivery/milestone dates. The Forecast Date is the latest forecast. This could be entered
manually or could come from the scheduling software P6 used for the ESS via integration
functionalities, which will be described later.
The user can scroll up and down the list of milestones, with the scroll bar on the right of
the table. As with the other tabs, the user can switch by clicking on the tabs. The user
can also select a specific deliverable (see figure 8). If the user has write-access, he/she
can change the values or text of the boxes by clicking them and typing. To save the changes the user clicks on the Save at the bottom right of the tab.
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Figure 8: A specific deliverable/milestone.
By selecting the Docs tab (figure 9), it is possible to access the interface to manage and
upload the documents associated to the specific in-kind contribution. These documents
can be of any kind and it is also possible to have them linked from an external document
management application like CHESS (see integration features).
The system shows a scrollable table of values like “Date of File Added”, “Added By” and
“Description of File”. In order to select a particular file, the user can just click on it. This
opens the file for viewing or deleting. There is also an option to add a new file, like for
example the Technical Annex or other key supporting documents – such as the
Technical Specifications. In a next release of the tool it will also be possible to upload
monthly progress reports with the implementation of a dedicated separate tab.
Similarly to other tabs, the user can switch tabs by clicking on them. If the user has write-
access he/she can change the values or text of the boxes by clicking them and typing. To save the changes he/she clicks on Save at the bottom right of the tab.
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Figure 9: document management tab.
By selecting the Reports tab, it is possible to access the reporting functionality of XRM.
In a next release of the XRM this functionality may also be made available to a single
partner.
The system shows a sub-tab of the detailed IKC information. A first view shows a
scrollable table of reports (figure 10) with Date of Report, Author, Summary, and a way
to select a specific report. When selecting a report, it is possible to view a detailed form.
The summary is automatically filled in by the software.
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Figure 10: list of reports tab.
The user can Add, Open or Delete a report. By selecting a specific report, an editing
form is presented to edit and submit a new report.
The user can fill in all the required information in a style common to all partners and
similar to the current official template (figure 11). After updating the information on the
milestones / deliverables, the system calculates the key performance indicators. The
visualized information is presented to the user in read-only mode.
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Figure 11: specific report form.
When selecting the Changes tab, the system shows the detailed IKC information change history (figure 12). It provides a scrollable table of 4 values: “Date of Change”, “CR No”, “Change Description” and the new “IKC Value”. The user would enter the nature of the Change in the text field Change Description. This field could be rather large.
The user can switch tabs by clicking on them. If the user has write-access, he/she can
change the values or the text of the boxes by clicking them and typing. To save the changes he/she clicks on Save at the bottom right of the tab
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Figure 12: in-kind contribution change history tab
This tab completes the functionalities related to the in-kind contribution database. By selecting the top level tab Contacts (figure 13), the system will give access to all the
functionalities related to the management of the contacts database which includes users, partners, institutes and their associated activities. These functionalities are similar to the ones currently provided by the CiviCRM system. For this reason, we do not provide into a further detailed description of these functionalities here.
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Figure 13: Contact management functionalities.
Finally, by selecting the Tools tab (see figure 14), the system gives access to all the functionalities required to integrate external tools like:
CiviCRM - to import the already available contacts,
Primavera P6 - to integrate with the ESS master plan,
INDICO - to integrate with the tool to manage conferences, workshops and meetings,
CHESS - to integrate with the document management system in use. The detailed description of these tabs is out of the scope of the present document, however, for each tool there will be a specific tab with functionalities to configure the connection, import and re-synchronize the support databases.
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Figure 14: integration tabs.
As an example for the INDICO case, the tab will present the following low level functions:
Settings: A form with the data to select a specific INDICO server with the
necessary access information.
Events: Presents a list of already integrated INDICO events and for each event
a link to update the event information.
Add a new event: Presents a list of not yet integrated events (on line access to
the INDICO server) and for each event a link to integrate the information in XRM. When the user selects the link the system starts importing all the data in the INDICO database including the basic information describing each event and the list of contacts. Conflicting contacts are merged using appropriate criteria. For each contact the integration will register the event as one specific activity of the contact.
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10. Deployment and Status of the Management Information System
The deployment of the Management Information System will be described in the following sub-sections. The first section (Deployment) describes the timeline for implementation and the base technology while the second section describes the current status of the system running.
10.1. Deployment
The new XRM has been developed at Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste using the Virtual Unified Office platform (VUO) [1]. The VUO is based on the Oracle database (the same as used in Primavera) and coded mainly in plsql language. The software has been developed using an agile software development methodology with frequent interaction between the developers and the users. The release plan is described below. What follows is a description of priorities for the various features of the software, the development and update timeline and a description of the developments. The software is composed of a dedicated database for ESS and In-Kind partners and a user interface. The main users of the deliverable (first deadline) will be the ESS IK-Kind team as well as the Field-Coordinators (task WP2.4) at the hub institutes. XRM1 Deadline: 31/8/2016 The first version of the system includes the core and most important functionalities and is the official deliverable related to XRM in the grant agreement (D2.3– Deployment of IKC Information System). In particular this version includes the design of the core database and the implementation of the general structure (users, contacts, institutes, in-kind contributions, etc.) of the system on top of which all other components will be added. This release includes the implementation of the in-kind contributions database management tools to be used by experts only at this stage (i.e. the persons actually maintaining the database). In order to speed up the release this version is externally accessible for managing the in-kind contributions with the system running on Elettra servers. The first version is initially intended for use only by specifically assigned persons and not yet for the wider Partner-user base. The assigned persons inside ESS and at some of the Partner organisations will receive dedicated instruction on how to fill, use and maintain the database system and help solve any remaining technical and user-interface issues. The input gathered from this test-community will be used to further refine the user-experience and to create a “user-manual” (this may be in form of online-assistance or video training) that can distributed at the time of the XRM2 update for wider use. XRM2 Update: 28/2/2017
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The first update of the XRM system will be associated to an internal deliverable (named D2.3.2 – Deployment of IKC Information System v2). In this update additional features and user stories will be added on top of the functionalities already available in version 1. Suggestions for improvement of the interface and additions to the code will be implemented following use by personnel at the ESS and the Field Coordinators. In particular the new XRM will include a Dash Board and an on-line reporting system to facilitate periodic reporting by the specific in-kind contributors. The system at this stage will run on ESS servers. XRM3 Update: 31/8/2017 The second update of the XRM system will be associated to a new internal deliverable (named D2.3.3 – Deployment of IKC Information System v3). In this update additional features and user stories will be released on top of the functionalities already available in version 2. In particular the system will include forms of integration with external tools: CiviCRM and Primavera P6. In this release the developers at Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste will work together with developers at the ESS. XRM4 Review: 31/8/2018 A review of the XRM system will be reported. At this stage and after a further year of use, additional features will have been added on top of the functionalities already available in version 3. In particular the system will include forms for integration with external tools: Indico and CHESS with the storage of acceptance reports.
10.2. Current Status
Currently the system includes a searchable, filterable list of IKC, the ability to edit and
input data in the IKC database and Country Sheets and viewing the inputs. This version
has administrative and normal user access, some simple reports such as the country
sheets.
The current version is running on the Elettra servers and is reachable remotely at the
address http://xrm.elettra.eu. The image of the system is running on the cloud and will
be directly transferrable to ESS servers (http://xrm.esss.se) when the second release
will be ready.
The remainder of this section describes the functionalities available in the current version
of the system through a set of screenshots. Figure 15 shows the XRM home page a user
is presented with once entering the system.
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Figure 15: XRM home based on the VUO
Figure 16 shows the interface a user with administrator rights sees after login.
Figure 16: Administrator after login.
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Figures 17 and 18 show the interface of the user management package and in particular the list of users and user details.
Figure 17: List of users.
Figure 18: User details.
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The dashboard component currently has an active Countries link where each participating country is listed with the possibility to generate a summary of the status of in-kind contributions related to the selected country (Figure 19).
Figure 19: List of Countries and Country specific information
The following figures illustrate the core package with the functions to manage the database of in-kind contributions (list of in-kind contributions, contribution details, in-kind contribution phase specific details) associated with the three phases of an IKC (preparation, implementation and conclusion/crediting). Figure 20, in particular, shows the filtering functionalities that allow the operator to select rows in a way that resembles the well know functionality available in most spreadsheet applications.
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Figure 20: List of in kind contributions (sort, filter, select, add functions).
Figure 21: Specific in-kind details (general information).
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Figure 22: Specific in-kind details (phase 1).
Figure 23: Specific in-kind details (phase 2).
Figure 24: Specific in-kind details (phase 3).
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Figure 25 shows the extraction functionality that allows the user to extract an excel readable file from the database.
Figure 25: Full or partial export of the database in excel readable format.
Figure 26 shows one of the core functionalities of the system: a user without the role of administrator can only access a limited set of functions and for example can have only the right to read some information. The interface adapts automatically to the role of the user.
Figure 26: Read only access for a non-administrator user.
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Figures 27 to 30 show the general administration function currently available. It is possible to administer countries, institutes (partners), the whole database (workflow, notifications) and the look and feel of the system.
Figure 27: Country administration.
Figure 28: Institute (partner) administration.
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Figure 29: Database (workflow, notification) administration.
Figure 30: Administration of the look and feel of the portal.
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11. References
Below are the references used as the basis for the production of this report. They are
not specifically linked on any one section due to their generic usefulness.
[1] R.Pugliese et al., 2013, “Managing by Objectives a Research Infrastructure”,
Proceedings of ICALEPCS2013, San Francisco, US,
http://accelconf.web.cern.ch/AccelConf/ICALEPCS2013/papers/moppc083.pdf.
The documents below are only available on the internal ESS-Wiki webpages.
References 5-12 are for ESS-internal use only. Please send a request to the brightnESS
project coordinator to obtain a copy for reviewing purposes.
[2] BrightnESS Proposal-SEP-210231326.pdf
[3] BrightnESS GrantAgreement.pdf
[4] BrightnESS Consortium Agreement.pdf
[5] ESS Planning & EVMS Handbook Ver 1A.pdf
[6] Milestones Ver 2A.pdf
[7] P6 & Change Control Ver 2A.pdf
[8] Planning with Partners Ver 2A.pdf
[9] Procurement & In Kind Planning ver 2A.pdf
[10] Project Control - Overview 2A.pdf
[11] Project Review Template_Rel2 - MJ.pptx
[12] Scheduling Tools Ver 2A.pdf