USAID Mission Partner Portal Form and Function: How the Portal may serve the Consortia Presented by Jean Brennan

Scenario Partners plan a “Sustainable Forestry Products and Renewable Energy Conference”. The Consortia needs to meet to plan how to best prepare for the conference.

Portal Design Overview - Portal Home: Welcome, news, and an interactive calendar. - An interactive library where partners can share documents and other digital media with each other and privately to enhance workflow. - A collaborative area where partners can do real work on topics of interest. - Portal Home: Welcome, news, and an interactive calendar. - An interactive library where partners can share documents and other digital media with each other and privately to enhance workflow. - A collaborative area where partners can do real work on topics of interest. Portal Home Library Collaborative Area (Meeting Room) Threaded meeting, Audio Conferencing Threaded meeting, Audio Conferencing Shared workflow, documents, digital media, training News Topical news items of interest to the partners Calendar Events of interest to the Partners

Assumptions - Several training sessions have been conducted on accessing and using the portal. - Group usage of the portal has been evaluated. - The NGO partner participants have expressed a comfort level using the portal and its tools. - The NGO Partner participants have (either through working with the Sandia consultants or on their own) developed a working system for audio conferencing to facilitate Consortia meetings. - Several training sessions have been conducted on accessing and using the portal. - Group usage of the portal has been evaluated. - The NGO partner participants have expressed a comfort level using the portal and its tools. - The NGO Partner participants have (either through working with the Sandia consultants or on their own) developed a working system for audio conferencing to facilitate Consortia meetings.

News Alert Maria, an NGO partner from one of the Consortia, posts a “News Alert” on the portal homepage announcing the proposed conference.

Collaborate: Plan Meeting Maria initiates a series of phone calls to each of the Consortia to discuss a possible meeting.

Communicate: Announcement to Group Rui, an NGO partner, uses the portal to all the Consortia partners announcing the meeting, which will be held face-to-face in Brasilia, and with an audio conference bridge for those who cannot directly attend.

Communicate: Post Event to Portal Calendar Rui will post the decided time/date for the meeting on the portal calendar and simultaneously on the portal homepage.

Collaborate: Meeting Maria facilitates a meeting in Brasilia with an audio conference bridge, wherein the group decides to draft a document detailing conference format and agenda. Existing documents and previous efforts are discussed. All agree to utilize the portal to review documents and previous efforts.

Collaborate: Document Sharing (MS Word Documents) NGO partner Edgard offers to upload a personal document into the consortia library for access.

Collaborate: Document Sharing (Websites) NGO partner Edgard offers to place in a public folder his NGO website that might contain pertinent information.

Collaborate: Shared Workspace USAID Mission Staff partner Ana Lucia offers to create a folder for public access that includes US DOE technology information currently residing inside the portal library.

Collaborate: Document Review Maria facilitates the second meeting wherein the group agrees to review the documents inside these public access folders on the portal…as well as explore other documents that might be of value in the portal library.

Communicate: Plan Meeting The Consortia members agree to meet again in 2 weeks to vote on these documents re their usefulness to the strategy process. A meeting date is set and posted on the portal calendar and on the portal home page. The Consortia members agree to meet again in 2 weeks to vote on these documents re their usefulness to the strategy process. A meeting date is set and posted on the portal calendar and on the portal home page.

Collaborate: Meet and Vote A meeting facilitated by Edgard is held wherein the group votes on preferred documents. The members decide to create an online meeting and work room on the portal and post collaborative documents into this room. Rui volunteers to create the meeting room. A meeting facilitated by Edgard is held wherein the group votes on preferred documents. The members decide to create an online meeting and work room on the portal and post collaborative documents into this room. Rui volunteers to create the meeting room.

Collaborate: Document Revision Edgard and Maria go into the meeting room and rework the documents to create a conference agenda and strategy document. The group agrees to visit the online meeting room and offer suggestions as appropriate. The members agree to meet for a third time in three weeks to review the resultant draft conference agenda and strategy document. A meeting date is set and posted on the portal calendar. Edgard and Maria go into the meeting room and rework the documents to create a conference agenda and strategy document. The group agrees to visit the online meeting room and offer suggestions as appropriate. The members agree to meet for a third time in three weeks to review the resultant draft conference agenda and strategy document. A meeting date is set and posted on the portal calendar.

Collaborate: Document Sharing Ana Lucia agrees to post the draft conference agenda and strategy document in a public access folder, and sends an message for the members to visit and review the document. Portal Draft 2 Draft 3 Draft 4 Draft 1

Collaborate: Meet and Vote In a meeting facilitated by Maria, members meet again (face-to-face and by audio conference bridge) to vote on the draft agenda and strategy document, discuss revisions, make revisions, give the approval to post the accepted final copy to a public access folder, and the group that the document will be available for review for a decided upon number of days.

Goal Achieved The draft conference agenda and strategy document is approved for publication. The Consortia has accomplished its goal. It created an agenda and strategy document to move forward on the conference while considering all Consortia interests and concerns pertaining to sustainable forestry products and renewable energy in their regions. The draft conference agenda and strategy document is approved for publication. The Consortia has accomplished its goal. It created an agenda and strategy document to move forward on the conference while considering all Consortia interests and concerns pertaining to sustainable forestry products and renewable energy in their regions.