In this session, you will learn proven methods used for scoping the level of effort involved in achieving successful content project outcomes. You will also learn how to leverage this data to strengthen the case for the resources needed to successfully deliver on project goals.

1. Scoping Level of Effort
and Getting the Right
Resources for the Job
Jason Kaufman
President & CEO, Irrevo
LavaCon Conference
October 18–21, 2015
New Orleans, LA

2. Knowledge Management Consultancy

3. Knowledge Management Consultancy
Would we work more?
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/02/extra-hour-a-day_n_3697387.html
1 in 20 Americans
said they would do
more office work if
given an extra
hour in
the day…

4. Knowledge Management Consultancy
The business question
Can I get this the project done on time with the staff I already have
or do I need to get some outside help?
To answer this we need two things:
• Determine the Level of Effort (LOE)
• Determine the best resources who can finish the work on time

5. Knowledge Management Consultancy
Content projects take time…
• Standardization (voice, style & quality revisions)
• Consolidation (systems A, B♭, and Cm to system E)
• Migration (automated, manual, or both)
• Parsing Information (aka “Chunking”)
• Validity Audits & Archival
• Conversion (pdf > docx > html > pdf)
…and they aren't easy.

6. Knowledge Management Consultancy
Our average workday
• Working & related activities: 8.7 hours
• Average commute time: 25 minutes (~50 minutes daily)
Puts us around the
8 hours per day
we’d expect.
Travel Time: https://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/c2kbr-33.pdf
http://www.bls.gov/tus/charts/
NOTE: Data include employed persons on days they worked, ages 25 to 54, who lived in households with children under 18. Data include non-holiday weekdays and are annual averages for 2013.
Data include related travel for each activity

7. Knowledge Management Consultancy
What we’re working on
Workfront / Harris Poll 10/2014: The State of Enterprise Work
Perception:
Full time employees
have 8 hours a day to
perform core job duties.
Reality:
We only spend 44.5%
performing our Primary
Job Duties.
Everything else
“Wasteful” meetings
Interruptions for non-essential
tasks
Useful and/or productive
meetings
Administrative tasks
Sending, responding
to, and sorting email
Performing the primary
duties of your job

8. Knowledge Management Consultancy
Job description fine print
Candidate must be comfortable performing tasks that are not listed above
as well as assuming responsibilities of others within and outside of your
immediate department. Further, you may be performing work that is
perceived by your boss and peers as low priority where you are unlikely to
get recognition. These tasks are likely to take time away from other
"mission critical" deliverables but they just need to get done, so…
“
“

9. Knowledge Management Consultancy
Scoping the Level of Effort (LOE)
Perform a Content Inventory
Perform a Content Analysis
Identify your Subject Matter Experts
Narrow your focus
Create Work streams
Create Workflows
Calculate the Time per Task
Calculate FTE Hours (Level of Effort)
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10. Knowledge Management Consultancy
Perform a Content Inventory
Understand the depth and breadth of the body of content
• Content Location (Access, Data, and Export)
• File Types (HTML, PDF, Word, PPT, etc)
• Content Topics Areas (Categorization / Taxonomy)
• Prevalence of Links, Graphics, Tables, Templates
• Titles, Tags, and any other metadata
• File paths, hyperlinks, filenames
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11. Knowledge Management Consultancy
Perform a Content Inventory
Metadata Types
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Collect as much Metadata as you can:
• Filenames are sometimes clues to the titles.
• File folder paths are sometimes clues to which category of
information it falls under, which may provide clues to which Subject
Matter Experts might help.
• URLs will help access the pages more quickly, but also may provide
clues to the Content Topic areas.
• File Extensions can be used to give you a count by file type,
including images and other multimedia.
• Last Accessed, Modified, or Created dates can help discern what
may qualify for Archival.
• File Size may prove useful data as well.

12. Knowledge Management Consultancy
Perform a Content Inventory
Metadata Data Capture
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Data capture in a pinch:
TreeSize Pro can index file folders and
export meta data to various file types
including an Excel spreadsheet.
SnagIt by TechSmith: Try a Scrolling
Window Text Capture and create a text
file for pasting into Excel.
Viewing the sitemap or search results list in a browser, copy the page into
Excel, then NotePad, back to a new Excel worksheet, and then filter out
the empty rows.

13. Knowledge Management Consultancy
Content Inventory Analysis & Metrics
Generate the following high-level metrics:
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• Total Count of Articles
• Count of Articles by File Types
• Count of Articles by Content Topic Areas
Perform a review of a random sample of articles
Note: In Excel, create a new column, use the “=RAND()” function and then sort the rows by the random
column. Choose a representative sample size for the number of articles you’re working with.
• Average # of Images per Article
o Rough estimate: Divide the number of Images by the Count of Articles
• Average # of Hyperlinks per Article
• General observations on content consistency or inconsistencies

14. Knowledge Management Consultancy
ID your SMEs3
Identify Subject Matter Experts for each Content Area and add
their names and contact information to your Inventory list.
• Providing a list of topic areas to your various SMEs and ask them to let
you know in which areas they are experts.
• Or generate a list to the best of your knowledge and ask them to
validate your assumptions or point you in the right direction.
• There will be gaps and areas of overlapping responsibility, continually
ask who might know the most about a certain topic area.

15. Knowledge Management Consultancy
Narrow your focus4
Determine if there are certain files and folders of information that can be
archived based on given metadata.
Example: Unsupported or discontinued products or services. Older versions of the same document.
De-Duplicate: Run a Pivot Table on the File Names and/or Titles
Note: Potentially combined with their File Size to help ensure they are the same.
Decide whether or not your content will need validation prior to editorial or
migration work. Options: Yes/Some/No

16. Knowledge Management Consultancy
Narrow your focus
SME Content Utility Audit
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Provide a list of active hyperlinks or file paths “file:...” to your SMEs and ask them to
determine if each document is Valid and Useful.
We use our own proprietary tool to assist in task management and
streamlined workflow.

17. Knowledge Management Consultancy
Create work streams5
Work stream Process Effort
A. Optimal Good to go! Medium
B. Refine Revise & Validate High
C. Refine or Archive Decide whether the item is worth
the effort, otherwise Archive
Low – High
D. Archive Archive Low

18. Knowledge Management Consultancy
Create workflows
• Determine which steps will be necessary for each of your work
streams.
• Determine who will perform each step.
• Anticipate the amount of time each step would take.
• Approximate the number of times certain items such as Images,
Attachments, Hyperlinks will occur.
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19. Knowledge Management Consultancy
Calculate time per task
Given the workflow steps determine the approximate time per step to
get the total time per completed workflow task.
Example: Very manual process 6.61 minutes, assuming no system latency.
1. Locate and open source document (20 seconds)
2. Copy source content (3 seconds)
3. Paste into Notepad to remove formatting (3 seconds)
4. Copy from Notepad (3 seconds)
5. Open destination system and locate the new content category (30 seconds)
6. Create a new article (5 seconds)
7. Paste clipboard contents into article template (3 seconds)
8. Parse Title into Title field (5 seconds)
9. Add proper tags and metadata (15 seconds)
10. Re-insert graphics (60 seconds)
11. Recreate tables and formatting (120 seconds)
12. Re-link hyperlinks (120 seconds)
13. Save New Article (5 seconds)
14. Mark task as complete (5 seconds)
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20. Knowledge Management Consultancy
Calculate FTE hours (LOE)
Assume the following:
• Average Time to Complete Task: 6.61 minutes
• Original Article Count via Content Inventory: 25,000
• Revised Article Count based on the Utility Audit: 12,500
• No latency or distractions during allocated time.
• System is ready and process works as anticipated.
6.61 min * 12,500 = 82,708 min. (or 1,378 person hrs.)
• 4 people @ 100% of their workday: ~8.6 weeks
• 4 people @ 44% of their workday (the productive part): ~20 weeks
• 4 people @ 20% of their workday: ~43 weeks
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21. Knowledge Management Consultancy
Thank you!
Jason Kaufman
President & CEO
Irrevo
(888) 878-8908 office
(206) 229-1032 direct
@irrevo irrevo.com
Free 1-hour scoping
consultation
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