Overview

Background

The ESPA website www.espa.ac.uk is the principal communication channel for the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation programme – a 7-year, £40M research programme that aims to ‘provide the evidence and tools to enable decision-makers to manage ecosystems sustainably and in a way that contributes to poverty alleviation’. 

ESPA is primarily a research programme funded by three different UK Government sponsors. The ESPA Directorate operates through Research into Results Limited (Subsidiary company of the University of Edinburgh).  The Directorate is responsible to the sponsors for:  leading science, communicating research findings, supporting general communications, supporting pathways to impact, managing ESPAs assets, ensuring a living legacy from the programme.

Research provides evidence of how ecosystems function (environment) and how the services that they provide support or undermine efforts to alleviate poverty and/or enhance well-being for poor people in developing countries. ESPA investments  are  highly  interdisciplinary,  linking  the  social,  natural  and  political  sciences  to  address  a series  of  focussed  research  questions  and  evidence  challenges which acknowledges the interconnectedness of social and ecological systems.

Impact is at the heart of ESPA.  Its research and engagement activities aim to improve lives of poor people.  As the programme fills knowledge gaps with new insight and evidence and as decision-makers and communities act differently as a result.

The programme’s principle outputs are:

Academic publications – produced by researchers through projects operating globally and in the following regions:  Africa, Asia, South America.  Researchers are from Academic Institutions in the global north and south.

Grey literature – information produced by the ESPA Directorate or projects to encourage the use of research findings and to influence change and ultimately impact: -

Models, tools, datasets:  e.g. Models which are produced by projects and can be used by other researchers or decision makers; tools which can be evidence briefs which will support research into use and datasets provided either by projects or created by the ESPA Directorate.

See: the Impact Strategy describing the links between outputs, outcomes and impact.  The website purpose is to provide access to outputs and in so doing support outcomes and impact.

The programme is due to complete in March 2018.  There is a vision for the continuing existence and use of the website as a repository for programme outputs and a practical resource for policy makers or practitioners globally to at least March 2019.  A legacy partner to support this is being sought by the programme.

Scope

This project is to address changes to the current website used to make the programme outputs available to others. This must address the needs of at least four distinct stakeholder groups who are believed to have different, though overlapping, needs.  These are:

UK-based researchers;

Global decision-makers and researchers;

Africa-based decision-makers and practitioners;

South Asia-based decision-makers and practitioners.

The scope will therefore include:

1. Workshop-based UX requirements gathering for user needs in the above groups;
2. A review with recommendations of the site’s back-end database(s) and data sources; 
3. Management of requirements for reporting and discoverability;
4. Remodelling of existing data into target CMS / object handler (possibly Drupal);
5. Build and test of new database structures;
6. Development of front-end theming, search and navigation;
7. Deployment of code and management of products into appropriate service delivery arrangements;
8. Project management of the above to ensure timely and economic delivery of fit for purpose products.

 Out of Scope

The project will not undertake any activities with respect to or arising from the ESPA programme’s search for a suitable legacy partner.

Objectives & Deliverables

ESPA have further objectives of being able to measure the increased use of their programme outputs, though this is outside the scope of this project.

Benefits

Benefits arising from the continued provision of a fit for purpose website are likely to include:

• Compliance with funders’ transparency requirements – ESPA will demonstrate programme outputs.
• Improved research citation and re-use levels arising from readily accessible assets.

There are two likely collateral benefits –

• Successor programmes and projects will be able to learn from ESPA assets such as lessons-learned and guidance information.
• Decision-makers will continue to find appropriate decision support evidence via ESPA.

Success Criteria

The following success criteria have been initially identified for this project:

• An updated website in line with the designs agreed through the user interface design process;
• Updated back-end data sources and structures in line with good practice and identified user needs;
• Agreed ongoing support arrangements.

This will enable ESPA to further develop the success of the programme (out of scope of this project), through:

• Having the confidence of the programme community as a trusted source of information for all stakeholder groups – decision-makers, influencers, practitioners and researchers.
• Delivering fit for purpose content, at the right time, to the right people.
• Enabling the site to be taken-on by a suitable legacy partner.
• Providing consistent, trusted measures for discoverability and download of programme assets. 

Project Milestones

Planning sign off: 09/06/17

Discovery end:  UX Requirements & back-end analysis defined & signed off:  04/07/17

Infrastructure sign-off:  04/07/17

Development Build sign-off:  20/09/17

Install in test:  21/09/17

Integration / system test sign-off: 25/09/17

User acceptance sign-off: 02/10/17

Deploy to live: 03/10/17

Deployment / handover to support sign-off: 16/10/17

Post-implementation support sign-off:  16/10/17

Project Closure: 27/10/17