In an earlier play we discussed how challenging a task it can be to fund an Information Sharing and Safeguarding (IS&S) Environment. The goal for any project should be the long-term sustainability of the systems to meet the mission-critical needs of the agencies. To do this we can break the overall project into logical pieces or phases so that funding can be obtained across a longer period of time. Plans for IS&S Environment’s development and the technology stack must be scalable to meet any identified future phases. As the capabilities in the IS&S Environment are enabled, there will also be changes in user needs, corrective actions, and enhancements that will arise, and there should be a plan in place to not only sustain the project funding but also to keep the IS&S Environment meeting the needs of its end users.
Desired Outcome: Line item budget or other ongoing means for sustaining operations have been adopted by legislative or executive bodies.
Play Checklist
| 1. Develop a long-term sustainability plan. |
| 2. Create a maintenance and upgrade path responsive to user needs. |
| 3. Seek placement of ongoing support in an established budget process with multi-year support defined. |
| 4. Engage the community of interest in the product to ensure that a continual increase in usage is achieved to justify ongoing support. |
| 5. Maintain an ongoing roadmap to add new capabilities and services based on user demands. |
Play Key Questions
| 1. Where in the budget is ongoing maintenance and enhancement funded? |
| 2. What organization is responsible for the care and feeding of the IS&S Environment beyond initial implementation? |
| 3. What ongoing staff and contractor capacity is available to ensure responsiveness to user needs for bug fixes or enhancements? |
| 4. Do we have the requirements to ensure scalability? |
| 5. Have we addressed the scalability and new capabilities and services development in our contract with our solution providers? |
Play Resources
The following resources can help you with this play:
| Check back soon for additional resources! Have ideas for resources for this play? Email us at info@standardscoordination.org. |