Case Studies

The Project

Summary

The Western Innovation Network (WIN) is funded under the EU ERDF programme and co-funded by InvestNI. It is an interconnected suite of 15 programmes designed to promote and deliver innovation within the micro business sector to the western counties of Londonderry, Fermanagh and Tyrone.

InvestNI and NORIBIC invited tenders from competent and experienced companies for the delivery of an overall WIN Management Information System ["WIN MIS"] Biznet Solutions were awarded this contract in October 2005.

The WIN MIS had to assess the impact of the WIN Programme and its performance against the projected outputs stipulated in its evaluation framework, to validate the management reports produced by the delivery agents and assess their performance operating on a regional basis.

The MIS system had to be developed to allow for the Tracking and Reporting of all WIN programmes,the system also needed to be future proofed to allow for new programmes to be added as necessary.

The MIS system had to be user friendly and include relevant help tutorials to guide users,step by step,through the system.

The Client

NORIBIC is a full member of the European Business and Innovation Centre Network (EBN) comprising over 160 member BICS across Europe. Each BIC is designed to meet the unique requirements of its region and to complement and co-operate with other EU, national and regional enterprise support mechanisms.

The BIC Network provides NORIBIC with direct access to European markets,information and knowledge and successfully supports the development of trans-national linkages between Northern Ireland companies and European businesses and organisations.

The Situation

Biznet Solutions were requested to deliver the WIN MIS Application within a 6 week timeframe, to allow for the tool to be in place, with all staff fully trained in its procedures before the WIN Programme was to begin.

The Challenge

To manage, integrate and add value to innovation support provision across the region, thereby creating an Innovation Network.

Establish baselines for project impact measurement across the 14 projects;

Determine how successful the activities have been in meeting the set targets and to assess the localised impact of these projects on a quarterly basis;

Gather qualitative data on a quarterly basis on WIN projects in terms of quality of inputs, format and outputs;

Assess the success of WIN programmes in levering additional public or private sector support;

Assess value for money;

Allow for dynamic reporting in relation to the 14 projects;

Consider overall client satisfaction with the programmes;

The Solution

The ability to record and track company participation throughout individual programmes, referrals, linkages, and monitor company progression across the entirety of WIN programme suite.

Allows for certain documents / forms to be filled in, submitted, stored and automatically assigned / circulated to particular people based on user role / category specified by the accepted methodology of the programme delivery agent.

Allows the company / delivery agents' personnel to submit information / forms and / or track progress through a web interface

Produces individual programme detailed statistical information to support benchmarking and performance monitoring.

Supports KPI dashboard views, of the WIN programme collective whole, and severely, of its programme element parts, with drill-down dynamic as well as static reporting on programme performance Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), programme delivery service levels, and company statuses.

The Business Benefits

Since the initial deployment of the WIN MIS over 300 Delivery Agents have managed and controlled over 3,500 companies across 15 unique delivery programs.