[The 9-HI™ Basics] How do we organize everything in 9-HI™?
9-HI™ provides a standard organizational structure by implementing Groups, Projects, and Topics as explained below.
To keep 9-HI™ organized for you we have established Groups, Projects, and Topics as follows:
Groups: Creation of a Group is a prerequisite to starting a 9-HI™ Project. Groups are organized to represent parts of, or an entire organization for a Company, Academic organization or Government organization. A Group may also be more loosely formed for a Consortium, partnership or just a circle of people with a common interest (Innovation Exploration Group). Common interests may be related to a theme for a specific Product Technology for development, a specific Team & Stakeholder improvement area or a specific Market Application (any of the 3 Tier 1 Lanes). In this way Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) can work with like-minded people to publish information in 9-HI™ related to their interests, boosting common knowledge of this interest and building their personal Profiles and Scores, making them more likely to be selected as a SME in desirable Projects.
Groups can be formed with privacy settings that protect sensitive information privately held within their own Group. A Group is a Tenant on the 9-HI™ Platform. They can set up rules for privacy, confidentiality, and any other necessary agreement as might usually exist within a conventional business or organization. A Group is managed by their Program Manager(s). The Program Manager (PGM) ensures that all members have obtained and completed all necessary agreements and have signed off and acknowledged all rules and understandings necessary to effectively operate within their group. These agreements are essential for conducting many development proposals and projects to support protections of Intellectual Property. In many cases the 9-HI™ Group will be the on-platform extension of an existing Company, Academic, or Government organization. In these cases, such agreements and understandings may already be in place and simple enforcement of these policies/procedures as an extension of the workplace is recommended.
Members of Groups are permanently attached to the Group until a retirement is issued resulting in an ending of access to that group's information. If temporary (Guest) members are desired, they can be accommodated at the Project Level not the Group Level. This is done by inviting the Guest Member to a specific Project Pool, however, no temporary guest memberships can be granted within a Group.
Interestingly, a Group may create Internal Projects or External Projects. Internal Projects strictly use members from their Group as they may be addressing sensitive or confidential activities that the Group does not want to share with 9-HI™ members outside of the Group. External Projects include personnel outside the group because the Group may be in need of solutions, capabilities or expertise that does not exist within their Group.
Projects: Once a Group has been established, the Program Manager(s) (PGM) can create Projects with one or multiple Topics. The Program Manager selects one or more Project Manager(s) (PJM) and together they identify all Topics that reside within a project and sets up any rules or processes or other information that govern project activities that are not already established at the Group level. A Program Manager can also be a Project Manager and a Team Lead within a project, or these roles can be held by separate people.
Projects are set up with rules for execution of the Project, therefore only one type of Selection, Development, Deployment, or Innovation Exploration activity should be conducted within each Project. If more activities are desired to occur in parallel, then more projects should be opened. Request for Information (RFI), Request for Proposal (RFP), Request for White Paper (RWP), or Pitch Events may occur sequentially using multiple Linked Projects.
The determination of an Internal vs External Project should be decided at the start of the Project, but this may change as the project evolves should it be necessary. A review of personnel will need to take place when this occurs. There is no setting in 9-HI™ for internal vs. external projects, the Program and Project Managers need to determine how they want to run the project, what agreements and rules are necessary, and who will be selected if they want to conform to an internal vs. an external project. The project will be established for Technology Selection (Pitch Event, RFI, White Paper, RFP), Technology Development (TRL Advancement or Product Deployment) or Innovation Exploration (Acceptance or advancement of Innovation Exploration Topics). Technology Selection Projects may have one or more Topics. Technology Development, Responder Solution, will only have a single Topic that is the focus of that development or deployment activity.
The Project Pool is a group of people expected to be good matches for current or upcoming Topic activities. To populate the Project Pool the Project Manager (PJM) invites either members from their group, who have already agreed to rules by signing agreements, or the Project Manager may invite people outside the Group as Guest project members for an External Project. The Pool is a ready area for prequalified personnel before any assignment to Topic activities that is available for group chat or discussion if desired.
Topics: After a Project is established, Topics can be created within the Project. A Topic typically will address a specific Technology need.
For Technology Selection projects the Topic description is a concise statement of requirements that convey technology needs to possible Responders. Likewise, the Topic description conveys needs for developers in a Technology Development project. A dedicated SME Team is needed for every Topic. In an Innovation Exploration (IE) Topic, the SME Team is brought together to research and review a Technology, Team, and Application as a type of Case Study or to prepare for a selection or development Project. IE Topics may be published on 9-HI as public information or kept private by the Group that established the IE Project. IE Topic Team Members can review Keywords, Risks, Success Factors (SFs), or Success Evidence. They can review improvement opportunities for a Technology, organization Team or Stakeholder, or trending Market Application opportunities. IE Topics are critical and necessary in order to vet information before it is accepted into a subsequent project and the 9-HI™ Databases. Thus, any final selections of information that the IE Team identifies for inclusion in a 9-HI™ Database must be sound, logical, and valid. The appropriateness and importance of these inclusions in the 9-HI™ Databases will be reflected in the team individuals' profile scoring.
The Topic Team should be selected so that the diverse skills to address the Topic and Project activities are provided. The Project Pool will provide all or some of the Topic Team members. After developing the Topic name and description, the SME Team will identify risks, select and tailor SFs, and weight the SFs for that topic alone, multiple topics need their own Risks and SFs. The Topic is then ready to publish or export to another Project.
For Technology Development projects the Topic description conveys needs for developers. The Success Factors from the selection process are carried over and used to measure development improvements as the technology progresses through TRLs to maturity and deployment. Additional Short Term SFs are added to address Risks, goals and objectives for immediate or upcoming TRL needs. Once the current TRL objectives are met, those associated Short Term SFs are then satisfied and will no longer be used in the Development Project as new Short Term SFs are selected for the next upcoming phase of development and corresponding TRL(s). Long term SFs should progressively increase in scores as Technology and TRLs mature and Success Evidence (SE) is created to meet Project objectives and goals and reduce overall Project Risks.
