Spring 2007


Snippets

A Symantec Success Story

Symantec, a global company that provides organizations and businesses with online and IT security solutions, is featuring the CGIAR on its website as one of its success stories. Read how the company's services have helped Centers block more than 55,000,000 spam and 1,200,000 viruses per year by clicking here.

New Team Member

The ICT-KM Program is happy to announce that Shawn Landersz has recently joined the team as a part-time Program Assistant. While continuing his work with Bioversity's Administration Group, Shawn will assist the team in implementing System-wide projects. More about Shawn in the next issue of ICT-KM News.

CGVlibrary Makes Ex Libris News

The CGVlibrary continues to make waves with a mention in the Ex Libris newsletter. Find out what the global pioneer in software solutions and information centers has to say about the CGIAR's System-wide library at http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/ newsletter/?cat=113&parent=103

ICARDA Awards

The recipients of ICARDA's "Staff of the Year 2006" awards include Hashem Abed, Scientific Databases Specialist, and members of the Network & Desktop Support Team (Colin Webster, Michael Sarkisian, Mousa Tawaifi, Basel Gozem and Waddah Khairallah), some of whom were also actively involved in the ICT-KM Program's Enterprise Security & Business Continuity Project. Kudos to all!

Upcoming Events

KM4Dev Workshop

Egypt-Bound

G&D Get-Together

ICTD Conference in Bangalore


Events in Detail  bullet


ICT-KM Homepage




Extended Projects Fulfilling Objectives

Of the 14 projects under the ICT-KM Program's 2004 Investment Plan, ten came to a successful conclusion in 2006 and the others continue to be implemented. These four projects have all faced various challenges including: changing priorities at the Centers; having to find a single IT solution for multiple locations; different needs and approaches to business practices across the CGIAR System; transient project leaders; and changing timelines.

Project extensions will ensure that the four projects either fulfill their original objectives or meet the additional goals that were set after new needs were identified.

Second Level Connectivity (2LC) Project
To date, the 2LC Project has improved connectivity at 10 remote locations and helped four other sites improve their IT connections by providing them with expert advice. Work on an ICT Briefcase, which was in its final stages at the end of last year, is now being finalized under the Project's no-cost extension. Plans are also underway to establish a pilot activity to identify an acceptable model for ICT support for regional and country offices.

Enterprise Security and Business Continuity Project
At the end of last year, the ESBC Project had conducted detailed IT risk and security assessments at pilot Centers in Asia and EMEA. Non-pilot Centers in the same regions also received site visits to help staff identify IT risks. The Project is now focusing on developing enterprise security for the Centers in the Americas: IFPRI, CIAT, CIMMYT and CIP.

E-Publishing Project
The Project is now testing and finalizing the beta-version of the E-Publishing software. At the same time, it is also identifying ways of linking final publications to the CGVlibrary.

Web Content & Usage Analysis Project
Under its initial implementation, the WC&UA Project developed two guides that evaluate the usefulness of web-based products and measure CGXchange usage. The Project is now completing these guides, which are earmarked for distribution and promotion at CGIAR Centers, and will also evaluate CGXchange's current and future usage, usability and usefulness.

As implementation of these projects continues, the Program will regularly evaluate their activities and make any necessary adjustments. Look out for further updates in the next issue of ICT-KM News!


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We welcome feedback on the ICT-KM News, so please feel free to contact us at ictkm@cgiar.org