1 Devise projects
A
project describes the work that has to be carried out in order to meet an objective. All
activities are the subjects of projects.
Define
the major controlling factors
Most
of the day-to-day work on a nature site involves projects organised to
control the major factors, positive or negative that influence the ability of
management to reach its objectives. For example, addition or removal of
farm livestock will affect the condition of grassland. The integrity of fencing
is a vital related factor.
Monitor
the plan
Monitoring
projects are organised to chart the year on year progress of the
plan. They yield performance indicators that can be used to assess progress
and efficiency of the plan by:-
Measuring
condition of habitat/species
The
most important role of monitoring projects is to assess the
condition of a habitat or species by measuring one or more of its
attributes so that the proximity to the objective may be assessed.
For example, a monitoring project for a grassland habitat would be
to measure sward height at a particular time of year.
Checking
progress with milestones
A
milestone is basically a check on progress to be carried out at a
particular time or stage of a plan. For example, a milestone could
be set at a particular date in order to check that a particular job had
been done according to plan.
Measuring
condition of factors
Since
objectives are reached by controlling factors it is important to
keep a check on the most important factors that affect the
condition of the habitat or species. For example, even though it
cannot be controlled, rainfall would be a suitable factor to record to
produce a year on year base line for grassland. Where rabbits are
controlled to establish a favourable condition of grassland, counting
them would measure their condition as a limiting negative factor.
2 Schedule the work
A
work schedule describes the resources needed, the methods to be used, and when they are
required, to control a factor or monitor a plan. This work plan is produced by answering 9
questions about resources, methods and timing. It describes the inputs to
the project.
What
is the project?
How
important is it?
What
has to be done?
How
will it be done?
Who
will do it?
When
will they do it?
What
resources are needed?
Where
will it be done?
How
much will it cost?
3 Record what happens
As
a project is carried out its progress is charted by answering six questions that summarise the
outputs of the work.
What
was done?
When
was it done?
Who
did it?
Any
problems?
What
did it cost?
Where
was it done?
4 Report what has happened
Reports
on the state of the habitat or species in relation to the conservation plan and the plan’s
progress/performance against its long-term objectives, are produced according to who requires
information at a strategic level. These reports normally involve making available the following
information.
Plan
overview
Desired
condition of habitats/species?
Actual
condition of habitats/species?
Resource
inputs (work plans)
Decription
of site
The above logic is appropriate for estabalishing a a paper system, with event recording
cards and a
diary.
It can also be organised on various types of commonly used software, such as an office
suite (e.g.
MS Works), a topic outliner (e.g. Maple or MindManager), or a simple relational database (e.g.
SoftKey’s Project Manager).
