PREMIER Communication and Dissemination

Objectives

In order to be effective and efficient with PREMIER, either as a QM system or by using the modular application, it is important to involve all employees in the corresponding processes. The aim is therefore to develop a suitable communication and dissemination strategy for the laboratory and/or the entire organisation so that all participants are informed at all times.

Background

High-quality research needs an effective, targeted and comprehensible communication and dissemination structure. The size of the organisation determines which team, collaboration and project management tool is most appropriate and effective. The documentation of the meetings must include an action plan in order to define comprehensible responsibilities / accountabilities for actions. It is necessary to work transparently and to involve all interested employees in the development of a QM system or quality tools. For this reason, PREMIER has created the conditions for a transparent and open knowledge base.

Tasks / Actions

In order to create a lab specific action plan, the first step is an assessment, which will be carried out by the PREMIER team. The assessment will determine the status quo of the laboratory in regard to existing quality tools. Here you find the general tasks / actions that are necessary to implement the module.

The internal communication within a laboratory / organization should be clearly defined.

Due to the size and the different areas of expertise and working groups, different forms of communication are possible. They can take the form of general meetings or team meetings.

It is recommended that relevant meetings be established and an overview table created.

Meeting Table
MeetingsFrequencyParticipantsPurpose
    
    

The team meetings should be protocolled and archived on a server or in a QM folder. It might be useful to design a standard form for some meetings that is made available to all users.

Here are examples for internal communication which can be supported with the following tools:

  • Forum:

Intranet-based communication platform as a central information platform to which all employees have access. It serves to improve and facilitate cooperation, promotes social exchange between staff members and serves to provide information, announcements and notices.

  • Wiki system

MediaWiki as an internal platform. This structure of an open Wiki system guarantees a continuous exchange of knowledge. All information and documents about processes and internal regulations of a laboratory can be stored here and are available to all employees. Document control, e.g. writing and updating SOPs, could also carried out via MediaWiki. Each employee has an own Wiki account.

  • Electronic project management tool

An other possibility is to use special project management tools like e.g. "Open Project" to manage projects. This tool helps to keep an overview of the project and provides a place where all necessary information can be found. When changes and edits are made to the project, the system automatically sends e-mails to all participants.

  • Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a platform that combines chats, meetings, notes and attachments. The service is integrated in the Office 365 Pakage. Microsoft Teams is used to work on specific topics.

  • Collaborations

Depending on the project, collaborations take place within the research community and also with other stakeholders. External communication is possible via seminars, symposia, face-to-face meetings and telephone conferences.

Other possibilities for external communication are:

  • Interactive Websites
  • Social media / Twitter
  • Blogs
CC BY 4.0