NARIMS: Lessons Learned

1. NARIMS: Lessons Learned Mahmoud Rafea CLAES ARC MOALR Egypt AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

2. Purpose of this presentation • Give a brief idea about our experience while developing NARIMS and its expected future. • Meanwhile there will be no mention of: • Technology or engineering issues • No system demonstration or detailed description AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

3. Outline • What is NARIMS? • Why NARIMS? • NARIMS vision • Usability Statistics • Lessons Learned • Current Activities • Summary AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

4. What is NARIMS? • NARIMS stands for National Agriculture Research Information Management System. • It is a Web based bi-lingual information system aimed at capturing and disseminating information about: • Research institutions • Researchers of those institutions • Publications issued by those researchers • Projects done or currently active • National Agriculture and Veterinary research plan in Egypt • It consists of: • Backend that enables data management • Front-end that enables data browsing and searching AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

5. Why NARIMS? • Inefficient methodology for monitoring the current research activities • Weakness in agricultural development • Ineffective formulation of research plans • Limitation in conducting research that address real agricultural problems • Inefficient use of resources • Lack of cooperation and coordination • Conflict of interest • Unnecessary competition • Work redundancy with consequent loss of resources AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

6. NARIMS Vision • Work Flow within NARIC • Agriculture Information Network • National Agriculture Research Information Center (NARIC) Organizational Chart AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

7. Work Flow NARIMS Vision NARIC Administration and Data Validation acquisition of content NARIC Unit Data Entry dissemination of content Data Verification NARIMS Computer Servers retrieval of content Users of Agriculture Network production of new content AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

8. Agriculture Information Network NARIMS Vision Telecom. Egypt Cloud EUN Fiber Optics ARC Universities + Academy Extension • Egyptian Universities Network (EUN) AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

9. NARIC Organizational Chart NARIMS Vision Steering Committee CLAES Director National Coordinator Technical Director Network Department IS Department EDICA Department ARC Institutes ARC Laboratories Research Stations Faculties of Agriculture ……... ENAL Unit ……... NARIC Unit 37 NARIC Unit 1 NARIC Unit 2 AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

10. AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

11. AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

12. Lessons Learned • Define a strategy for national agriculture information management • Develop a methodology to accomplish the mission and follow it • Establish a steering committee • Institutional Capacity Building • Organization restructuring • Building helpful alliances • A champion is needed • Use of appropriate technology • Financial aspects for sustainability AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

13. Strategy Lessons Learned • Clear mission • Define objectives that will accomplish the mission • Promote your strategy in order to get support from decision makers • Prepare a plan of action AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

14. Methodology Lessons Learned • Establish Information Units (IUs) structure • Establish a Central Unit (CU or Focal Point) • Establish IUs within Functional Elements • Establish the steering committee • Design and implement network infrastructure • Train staff • Develop systems and tools according to the information strategy • Collect data for system in implementation • Feed data to the system • Verify data and publish it • Promote the system • Report staff performance to Institutes\ directors AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

15. Steering Committee Lessons Learned • Creates an enabling policy environment • Facilitate management • Ensure sustainability AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

16. Institutional Capacity Building Lessons Learned • Training of trainers on ICT and IM • Training on information automation and developed systems • NARIMS • Training on Arabic AGRIS Application Profile, document indexing, and cataloging • Training on NARIMS • Quantity and the quality of input into the system are still very low AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

17. Organization Restructuring Lessons Learned • Efficient structures and procedures facilitate management • Important for sustainability • Usually organizational restructuring is met with certain resistance • NARIMS • NARIC is introduced into ARC structure • EDICA problem • Inefficient administration AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

18. Alliances Lessons Learned • Ensure quality of the system • Reduce risk failure • Minimize production time • Minimize effort and money • NARIMS • Made by adopting and/or adapting existing standards, tools and methodologies, particularly those developed by FAO • The Electronic Information Management System (EIMS) software tool was customized and integrated in the “Publications” module • The AGRIS Application Profile (AGRIS AP) was translated into Arabic and chosen as the metadata standard • AGROVOC thesaurus (available both in English and Arabic versions) was adopted for indexing AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

19. A Champion is needed Lessons Learned • Preferably from the agriculture top management • He is a key factor for success because he can: • Motivate the development • Solve managerial problems • Push when there is resistance • NARIMS • Professor Dr. Fawzi Naeim X-President of ARC and acting as a Minister consultant was the champion of NARIMS AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

20. Use of Appropriate Technologies Lessons Learned • This includes: • Infrastructure • Band width • Routers and switches • Security hardware and software (firewalls) • Computer hardware (servers) • Software (OS, Services, DBMS) AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

21. Financial aspects for sustainability Lessons Learned • Continuous government support is essential AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

22. Current Activities • Development of a portal based on distributed NARIMS • Development a Researcher-Form module: • Backend: data is collected using a form on three-month basis. • Front-end: a report used in the promotion of researchers on 5-years basis. • According, the installation tool is updated. • Statistical reports for data content • Administrative reports for data entry activities AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman

23. Summary • Key factor of success are: • Good infrastructure • The existence of champion • Government support • Continuous capacity building • Organization structure • Effective administration • Adapt to improve stakeholders interest and keep management satisfaction AARINENA-RAIS Focal Units Workshop, Muscat, Oman