OFFe background facts

 

OFFe is the VLM Institute’s largest project to date. In July 2004 the VLM Institute’s project management team used its experiences, completed workshops, trends monitoring, etc. to develop the content for an application intended for Mål 2 Norra.

The parties in the VLM Institute’s Triple Helix network who may be interested in taking part in the project were contacted in August. The project content was then further developed in joint consultation with the parties. The interested parties’ financial contribution to the project was also established.

An application was drafted and submitted to Gävleborg County Administrative Board and Mål 2 Norra.

On 20 October, it was announced that the VLM Institute had been granted funding application for the OFFe project.

In November and December, the parties cross-referenced their expectations, visions and resources. The terms and conditions of their collaboration were regulated through a partnership agreement.

An office for the project was set up at Sandbacka Park in Sandviken, and selected municipal employees were transferred from their regular duties in order to take part in the management group of the OFFe project.

Procurements for a basic agreement were conducted in January and February 2005.

In March and April, selected individuals independently ‘investigated’ the project’s business areas. This form of trends monitoring resulted in an extensive collection of reports.

In May, these reports were analysed and attractive development areas were singled out. The project’s management group used these reports for the development of some twenty ‘e-concepts’, i.e. descriptions of IT support placed within specific situations. 13 of these concepts subsequently took the form of 13 marketing folders. These folders were then used for the evaluation of the e-concepts by a selection of users, IT strategists, purchasers, teaching staff and supervisors, amongst others.

The findings of these evaluations were compiled at the beginning of July, and they are now used as guidelines for the continuing project work.