Proactive Networking in Business Management of European SMEs smepro.

eu

MINUTES SME 2.0 Meeting in Cork Cork Institute Of Technology, Ireland, CORK 17-18 of May, 2011.

The aim of the meeting:

1. Finish the tasks related to WP2 (Needs-analysis) 2. Start WP3 Course Design 3. Overview the tasks of WP4 4. General tasks in WP8 Evaluation, WP9 Dissemination

1st day: 17. May The aims of the 1st day: finalization of R6 Needs-analysis, planning of
R7-SME 2.0 Competency Framework. a) Project management issues (monitoring report, collaboration on the portal, preparation for the interim report) b) Presentations on the survey's results. (IT: Pierfranco, HU: Maria, IE: Darragh), drawing conclusions for SME 2.0 Competency Framework. Decision on the deadline for R6 - Needs-Analysis. c) Suggestions to the SME 2.0 CF based on the practice of a Hungarian SME-s, integrating EU standards into SME 2.0 CF

Welcome DEIS, PROMPT

The organizer of the meeting Darragh Coakley said welcome for the participants. We had a great place for the meeting with high level ICT infrastructure.

WIFI used: Linksys / deis4123

Report on monitoring visit of HNA, management issues (Maria, Prompt)

Important management issues: 1. Monitoring: Maria (Prompt) gave a summary on the monitoring visit by the HNA. He mentioned the questions, put by the evaluator: (1) Why a
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question on the gender was not integrated into the questionnaire? (2) Did the consortium take into consideration the possible overload during the next months regarding the implementation of SME 2.0 course? Answers: (1) The gender was forgotten, sorry that we can not modify the survey. (2) Yes, we are aware of the risk, we will pay special attention. 2. Interim report In September 2012 there will be a financial revision, so a financial report should be prepared including all the invoices, documents, etc. There is a Financial guidelines folder under WP1 Project

Management on the portal, and all reports should be made using the given documents (time sheet, for reporting personal costs, better to use the daily subsistence). The following documents must be archived/filled in on the travel: boarding card, hotel invoice, Travel mission order document. Partners had to send a signed copy of the documents to Prompt before the interim report. Deadline: September 2012. Find all details in financial_issues.doc. 3. Collaboration on the portal The domain name: smepro.eu was reserved. The portal is working now under this domain, but the old one can be used too (sme2.prompt.hu) Till now the forum was the main platform for the collaboration. But it is very important to learn and use all other functionality of the portal. Now Maria gives an overview on these functions. Partners can find also a guideline for using the portal published by Prompt:

http://www.smepro.eu/en/content/user-guide-document-data
Further information on the structure of the portal was discussed. 3. Structure of the document repository on the portal
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The main parts of the repository were presented by Maria 1. SME 2.0 Basic documents: templates, design, SME 2.0 figures (abstract, partners, staff, WPs) We use the templates (already available the English and Hungarian versions) as follows: a) SME 2.0 Basic template for reports, for any working documents b) SME 2.0 Document template for longer studies (like the Needsanalysis) c) Evaluation template for evaluation reports on the results, project processes as tools of PDCA cycles. d) Newsletter templates for dissemination e) Others like Travel mission order document for the financial report Remark: we have not any presentation template, DEIS presentation template will be uploaded by Darragh into the document depository (SME 2.0 Templates) in order to use it during the whole project for all other presentations 1. WPs named by the name of the WP. In every WP folder two basic subfolders are stored: Results and Work. In Results the final documents will be uploaded, while in Work any other resources used for collaboration. 2. There is a WORK folder with subfolders for the partners for any special purpose 3. TOIResources with all materials adapted from SMELearning and usable from TENEGEN All the partners have the permission to upload documents into the folders. REQUEST: if a new document is uploaded into the repository, all partners should have an alert about the document name and its place on the related forum. Other tools on the portal 1. Event calendar In the event calendar each partner will find the schedule when to publish an own newsletter. Every partner are allowed to enter some important deadlines, events into the calendar, and the others can add remarks to them.

2. Dissemination plan
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Partners find an easy-to-use tool, a simple form (http://smepro.eu/en/content/sme-20-dissemination-plan ) for recording their dissemination activities. It should be used by all partners. 3. Evaluation questionnaires At the milestones the partners are asked to evaluate the results by using also simple online questionnaires (just now for evaluation of CORK meeting!). 4. Adding contents (articles on the front page) The partners are allowed and asked to publish any project related information (an article) on the front page. It can be used as a marketing tool for the partners too, if they have some important result which is relevant to SME 2.0 aims too. (This option is available only for the partners of course). Maria asked to use it! The partners (Zsuzsa, Laya) tried out this function.

WP2 Analysis and design

Results of the survey in Italy (Pierfranco, AICA)
The survey was carried out online (R5: SME 2.0 Survey portal (EN, HU, IT) where we implemented the questionnaire (R4: Questionnaire for employees, managers of SMEs ) elaborated by the consortium. Pierfranco presented the draft analysis of the Italian survey based on 33 samples. The analysis has proven the SME 2.0 assumptions: SMEs in Italy do not know and do use the IT tools we intend to teach online. Pierfranco was asked to upload the presentation into the WP1../Meeting/Cork/Presenations folder.

Results of the survey in Hungary (Maria, PROMPT)

Maria presented the draft analysis of the Hungarian survey based on 92 samples.
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Conclusions: There is a lot of space for the project to provide info and improve IT knowledge for SMEs to use it in project management and HR, because it seems to be rarely used in these fields. Fields where the project can offer benefits for participants in on-line training: On-line marketing Human resources Project management Knowledge and IT management

Decisions
Needs-analysis (R6:
Needs-analysis)

should be finalized by the end of May.

Needs-analysis report should be uploaded on 30th of May. Darragh (DEIS) will be the evaluator (by using the evaluation templates). IMPORTANT: if somebody fills out any evaluation template, the filled version has to be uploaded into the folder WP8 Evaluation/Results/R14_Evaluation-reports. This folder is controlled by Ken (responsible for WP8) Methods: The needs-analysis will be created by using the SME 2.0 document template. The Excel file on the Hungarian survey with the English questions and diagrams is uploaded into WP2Work/Analysis folder. Pierfranco uses that file for creating the Italian needs-analysis in English. To help him, Maria will upload the draft document to the same place.

Presentations and discussions on R7: SME 2.0 Competency Framework

Libetra Dc in networks (Istvn, Libetra)
Istvns presentation intends to give important point-of-view to create the R7: SME 2.0 Competency Framework. He gives us suggestions of an existing Hungarian SME (Libetra) on the networking competences needed in his business. Libetra uses several free web 2.0 applications, has just
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implemented most of them. See: http://libetra.prompt.hu. We discussed the competences suggested by Istvn:
The participants should be able to:

identify vendors and providers of the most promising web 2.0 solutions, available for SMEs evaluate, justify and propose the most appropriate one identify business advantages and improvements of adopting emerging technologies (open source CMS tools, LMS tools, cloud computing, etc.) analyze costs and benefits of implementing new ICT solutions apply appropriate software use the appropriate advisors or help groups take part in a networks for exchange of experiences between SMEs use the networks for business relations and marketing develop strong network co-operation between customers and own organization apply web marketing methods manage communications with ICT advisors or help groups in charge of the maintenance of the web 2.0 tools gather internal and external knowledge and information needs

Due to the lack of internal knowledge, Libetra and most probably a lot of SMEs welcome any ICT help. Therefore a course will be useful to provide an insight and practical advices: how to implement and apply these tools. The aim is of course increasing efficiency, profitability, market acceptance. Ken drawn the attention to: e-CF: e-Competence framework www.ecompetence.eu. Levels of e-competences: http://www.ecompetences.eu/1855,framework+competence.html Knowledge, skills, abilities should be build up through out the project. Discussion, decisions Maria: Course design should be speeded up, because by the end of September it must be finished, considering that the pilot starts in October. Maria proposes to widely use the experiences of TeNeGen project in order to keep the schedule. The logical chain is: R6-Needs-analysis ->R7-Competency Framework->R8-SME 2.0 Curriculum with four syllabuses->(R9: SME 2.0 Proactive Networking implementation is going on parallel)->R10: Digital learning objects (modules, units) of SME 2.0 course divided into 4 modules) A quick overview was formulated to see the next steps as a whole:
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Aim of the four modules-course is:

to help SMEs for using ICT tools, networking methods for marketing, and business management (project management, web 2.0 tools, etc., (personal, technical and social skills should be developed) 4 modules should be created (Project management, Information and knowledge management, HR management, Online marketing) with core content and other learning materials like video tutorials.

(1) The syllabuses will be elaborated with the collaboration of WHU and PROMPT in English and in Hungarian. (2) WHU, Prompt and DEIS will share the workload on creating the course modules. WHU provides the theoretical background (knowledge) for the four module (30 pages/module in English and in Hungarian), Prompt and DEIS will create the supporting learning materials. Decisions: (1) The competency framework will be based on the results of the needsanalysis and in this work every partners will take part. All the project partners will be given access to the analysis part of the website (It is done, please try it on the survey.prompt.hu portal! Partners can login on the site: http://survey.prompt.hu/user , if somebody does not remember on her/his login name, he/she should ask: andras.kovacs@prompt.hu). As the final version of the needs-analysis will be published only on 30 of May, during the next days the partners can use the online analysis statistics in order to be able to collaborate on the CF. (2) The platform for collaboration on CF GoogleDocs will be used. Maria will create a version and share with the others Remark (Ken, Pierfranco): we have to try to make the SME 2.0 courses compatible with EU standards, like EQF. (EQF: European Qualification Framework, much more personal and social skills vs. the technical skills used by the official Hungarian qualification frameworks). Presentations and discussions on the course design Syllabuses (related to
R8: SME 2.0 Curriculum)

Maria suggested to use the syllabus template, which was available in the
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folder WP3 Course Design/Work. A syllabus to each of the 4 modules will be created, based on the competency framework.

2nd day - 18. May The aim of the 2nd day Starting WP3 Course Design, general overview of the next WPs (WP4, WP5), discussion on IPR issues and business plan again. Dissemination, valorization issues.
a) Agree on SME 2.0 curriculum template for the course design b) Adaptation of SMELearning results c) Integrating Tenegens curriculum design experiences d) Implementation of R9-SME 2.0 PNP platform (see the prototype here: courses.smepro.eu) e) Planning the tasks content development (S01,2,3,4)

WP3 Course Design

SME 2.0 syllabus (Maria, Prompt)
Course design, decisions on the syllabuses WHU and Prompt collaborate on the syllabuses. We will define learning objectives learning outcomes (competences) chapters

The template was discussed, some small modification were suggested. (Zsolt suggested letting out the skills from the competency framework, as it was not mentioned in the syllabus template. Maria suggested to insert the 21st century competences/skills (search, collaborate, etc.) from Tenegen Pedagogical Model (available in TOIResources folder) into the template beside the Bloom-taxonomy. Decision:
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(1)

The

consortium

will

use

the

uploaded

template

with

some

modification. The modification will be carried out by Zsolt and he will upload the new template in some days. Ken will proofread the English template before finalization. In the learning outcomes Blooms Taxonomy and 21st century skills should be used for using the appropriate terms. Content will be divided into 6-8 chapters. (2) All syllabuses will be created first in English. After reviewing the English versions the translations of the syllabuses will be started: all modules into Hungarian (WHU, PROMPT), and one module into Italian (AICA). (3) The syllabus to start will be Project Management, but we will work parallel on the others too.

SMELearning suggested methodology (presentation Darragh, DEIS)

The presentation was great, Darraghs speaking speed was extra quick . Darragh will upload the presentation into the folder: WP1/Meetings/Cork/Presentations. The content authors will study the presentation and adapt it in SME 2.0 modules. Remark (Darragh): It is advised to study documents in the following folder: and the following document: Strategic recommendations (http://www.smepro.eu/sites/default/files/sme/TOIRecources/SMELearnin g/rs-en.pdf)

Planned chapters related to the SME 2.0 CF (Zsolt, WHU)

The draft version of the PM module was drawn up by Zsolt (WHU) Project management Knowledge Planning Managing your team Project Management Tools (not IT tools) Risk assessment Project tracking (documenting, monitoring, evaluation) Skills (Let out or not? Finally not decided!)
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Competences Discussions: Hybrid model: half of the learning material could be used from SMELearning project (Zsolts proposal). Darragh will check if the project management for SMEs learning material (in TOI resources) is under creative commons or not and will inform us on the forum.

WP4 Implementation of SME 2.0 PNP platform

Maria showed the draft version of the SME 2.0 PNP platform (R9: SME 2.0 Proactive Networking Platform) (http://courses.smepro.eu), where the content planned to published. She presented the concept: The mainstream courses will not satisfy the needs of SMEs by all means (see SMELearning conclusions). We want to offer them small pieces of knowledge for use just-in-time as they need during their daily work. The Moodle platform will not satisfy this demand. Prompt intends to create a Drupal based platform, and connected a Moodle too, if needed. Another important fact: Moodle does not support the multilingual content creation, Drupal does. According to Pierfrancos opinion the Moodle platform will be important, in Italy it is widely used. It was a heavy debate on this questions, most of the partners stated that we should use only one platform, to use more would make too complicate the collaboration. The final decision was not clearly defined, it needs further discussion online. One crucial point: if we use standard formats for the digital learning elements, they will be easily implemented on several (i.e. on both Drupal and Moodle) platforms.

WP5 Implementation of SME 2.0 modules

Remark of Maria: not only 30 pages document, but a very comprehensive
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on-line audiovisual background will be offered to the SME participants.

Creating learning objects: technical points of view (Ken, CAPM)

Students should be able to interact with the content of the learning material. Ken showed us a fancy Moodle surface where the students could interact with the content. This approach could be utilized in our project also! Ken: he offered to provide the consortium with the XML version of this course structure and the Moodle module for implement it into the LMS. Discussion, decisions on content creation (WP5) (1) On the basis of the syllabuses, WHU creates the core content (68 chapters/modules) with 10-15 questions/chapter for assessment in English and in Hungarian. Pierfranco will translate one selected module into Italian. (2) Related to the textual content (chapters created by WHU) the effectively usable ICT (web 2.0 tools) will be selected. For instance: the Planning projects will be a chapter in PM module, one or more ICT tools will be (to create Gantt-diagram) selected, and video tutorials (how to use it) will be created. We agreed: for about 6-10 multimedia materials/one module, depending on the topic. Prompt and DEIS will work together on the multimedia elements (video tutorials, flash animations, graphics, etc). (Related project result: R10: Digital learning objects of SME 2.0 course divided into 4 modules). Translation issues: a discussion started on the way of translation of the videos. Maria noticed that originally the English language was assumed only the mediating language, but if CAPDM and DEIS intends to use SME 2.0 courses, than the videos and other media-elements has to be translated for all the four modules. In that case we have to agree in the technology:
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1) The videos will be in the English version published with subtitles (and one module in IT) 2) DEIS will change the Hungarian narration into English (AICA for one module) 3) DEIS will produce the English versions of the videos (AICA for one module) The decision will be made after the first video in Hungarian will be produced by Prompt. Decision: the partners agreed, that if we find free video tutorial (IT, EN) matching the topic of SME modules, we will use the free version. (For instance: for Blogger, Wordpress, etc.) Evaluators of the modules: Zsuzsi: Online marketing module Istvn: Information and knowledge management Darragh: HR management Ken: Project management Proposed deadlines: 1. 15th June 2012 Project management material (syllabus and content) 2. 30th June 2012 Evaluation of the first material by partners st 3. 1 August 2012 Creation of all other materials 4. 1st September 2012 Evaluation of all the materials by partners

WP6 SME 2.0 pilots - planning the pilot

Zsuzsi asked to discuss the recruitment for pilot too, to decide the number of participants in the pilot course. Maria confirms, hence the training is online, number of participants can be unlimited. At start we have about 12 participants from the VET school (SZIGSZ) and other 6-8 from the SME partners. It means that we start with 20 participants. Other participants will be invited from that who indicated their intentions to join to the pilot by giving their e-mail address on the survey. Presently: 73 persons!
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Course schedule will be defined in order to work with groups (to provide them tutorial support), it would make sense to have the modules not parallel in order. At the end of each modules the participants will be requested for feedback.

14:00 15:00 15:00 15:15 Coffee break 15:15 15:45 IPR issues discussion
The participants discussed the IPR on SME 2.0 products. WHU will not state a demand for the copyright (Zsolt) Decision: all project partners will have the right for business use, but third partner can only use it under creative commons. Ken will write a common agreement among the partners clarifying the copyrights and third party usage under creative commons. (WP9 dissemination and valorization folder)

15:45 16:45 Dissemination, valorization issues All partners have to enter records under dissemination plan. http://sme2.prompt.hu/en/content/sme-20-dissemination-plan Pierfranco (AICA) will take care of the Dipity site of SME2.0 while Zsuzsa (Trebag) will be the administrator of the Facebook site. Slideshare will be managed by Prompt. Zsolt (UWH) will start up a blogspot blog for the project.
Darragh (DEIS) will manage the Sribd site. Laya (VART), Maria will take care of the twitter site. Hash tag for the project are sme20pro, sme20 (on twitter #sme20pro or sme20) both should be used in all tweets, and for all uploading,
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comments on blogs, etc. in order to make some marketing for SME 2.0 project.

Other issues: There will be a Cisco video conference in January 2013, organized by Pierfranco, while the next meeting will be in 1416th March 2013 in Milano.
A newsletter should be published by all partners using a template in SME2.0 Templates (sme2-newsletter_template_en.doc). PROMPT published the first one, and Darragh created the second. The next issue will be published by WHU (Zsolt Tth)

Newsletter timing will be available in the Event Calendar on the first page of the website. 17:00 Closure of the meeting

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