Project Process Research Articles

Pathways for Strengthening Lived Experience Leadership for Transformative Systems Change: Reflections on Research and Collective Change Strategies.

The Activating Lived Experience Leadership (ALEL) project was a South Australian participatory action research project that aimed to improve the ways lived experience is recognised, valued and integrated across mental health and social sector systems. ALEL was completed during 2019-2021, where it engaged 182 participants in generating community action and research knowledge. Our paper discusses the project's processes of building a collective partnership among lived experience leaders and other leaders from within the sector, so that the actions and strategies identified through research could be implemented by systems-level impact. We describe the collaborative process and key learnings that resulted in eight key action areas for transformative systems change in South Australia. The project invited a diverse range of self-identified lived experience and other leaders to be involved in a PAR process featuring formal qualitative research (focus groups, surveys and interviews) as well as community development activities (leaders' summit meetings, consultations, training and community of practice meetings). These processes were used to help us describe the purpose, achievements and potential of lived experience leadership. Project priorities and systems-level analysis was also undertaken with lived experience sector leaders and project advisors across two leaders' summit meetings, integrating research outcomes with sector planning to define high-level actions and a vision for transformational change. Participatory action research as informed by systems change and collective impact strategies assisted the project to generate detailed findings about the experiences and complexities of lived experience leadership, and collective responses of how systems could better support, be accountable to and leverage lived experience perspectives, experience and peer-work approaches. Systems change to define, value and embed lived experience leadership benefits from collective efforts in both formal research and sector development activities. These can be used to generate foundational understandings and guidance for working together in genuine ways for transforming mental health and social sector systems, experience and outcomes. Members of lived experience communities codesigned the project, and contributed to project governance and the development of all findings and project reports.

Participatory video as a tool for co-management in coastal communities: a case study from Madagascar

Here we examine participatory video (supporting a group to make a film around a specific issue) as a tool to facilitate input of local knowledge and empower communities in stewardship over their local marine resources. We draw from the “Voices of the Vezo” project, where researchers collaborated with a co-management partner organization and local youth to create participatory videos in traditional Vezo fishing communities in southwest Madagascar. The project focused on documenting and sharing local knowledge on shifting social-ecological conditions. Four communities participated in the project with 90 people interviewed and seven short films (7–15 min) created. The films were shared in the communities at public cinema nights and made widely available online. This paper describes the Voices of the Vezo project's process and outputs, examines participatory video's potential as a tool for community co-management, and outlines practical challenges and recommendations for implementing a participatory video project. We found videography to be a powerful tool for synthesizing local knowledge of shifting social and ecological conditions, especially where written records are scarce. We also identified specific examples where gathering and sharing community perceptions of marine ecosystem decline could foster discussion and action toward locally driven management interventions. Youth participants in the Voices of the Vezo project reported gaining knowledge and motivation to address marine management issues, indicating the potential for participatory video processes to cultivate local leadership. Finally, for participatory video practitioners, we found important practical considerations to help minimize biases when supporting communities with a participatory video process.

ANALISIS UMUR PROYEK DENGAN METODE PROGRAM EVALUATION AND REVIEW TECHNIQUE (PERT) PADA PROYEK RENOVASI BANGUNAN MES DAN SARANA PENDUKUNG KANTOR BALAI PENGKAJIAN TEKNOLOGI PERTANIAN BALI

Office buildings listed into universal facilities buildings are one type of construction projects thatrequire a good project management to design, organize, perform and organize the construction project itself. Toachieve the success of the project needs to create a planning agenda that matches the wishes to be achieved. Ingeneral, project scheduling makes use of waku estimates of course. But the reality in the field of various obstaclesoccurred during the implementation of the project. therefore, researchers are trying to rescheduling theimplementation time of the Mess Building Renovation Project as well as supporting facilities of the BaliAgricultural Technology Assessment Office to recognize the maximum time of completion of the project. ProjectEvaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is one of the management tools in ensuring the scheduling of a projectby estimating the level of success. The pert procedure estimates 3 times is optimistic time, pessimistic time andvery maximum time. The level of accuracy estimated at the time of completion of the project is determined by thelevel of accuracy estimated the duration of each activity in the project. In analyzing calculations with the PERTmethod, an application-shaped tool, Microsoft Project, is used to manage projects. This application generallymakes it easier for users to create a work plan so that the implementation of the project can take place accordingto the agenda, mastering the influence of possible changes that occur, which can have an effect in the process ofproject implementation, financial scheduling and to unite businesses through communication and reporting ofproject data. Based on the results of the research that has been done, obtained optimistic project plan age of 128working days, the expected project plan age of 140 working days, the age of the pessimistic project plan of 153working days, and the optimum plan age (Te) of 141 working days.

Principal modeling of technological support for sustainable construction projects

The rationale for the choice of technological solutions in the framework of construction design is largely interrelated with the effectiveness of solving problems that arise during the stages of the project life cycle. The modeling of the project's technological support is based on a systematic approach, which is a connecting element between various tools and techniques by presenting the project's processes in the context of the life cycle, as well as their mutual correlation with technological solutions. This approach eliminates the adoption of chaotic decisions in the process of project development, since its implementation occurs directly at the initiation stage. As part of a comprehensive solution to this task, a system of principles of technological support for construction projects has been developed, including the principles of unity, balance, compliance and synergy. The results obtained in the framework of the study, the key of which are the scheme of principal modeling of technological support for construction projects and the algorithm for modeling technological support for construction projects, develop approaches to scientific and methodological approaches to managing the effectiveness of investment and construction activities in general and, in particular, to the development and justification of design solutions for construction. The key aspect of the implementation of the developed algorithm is the analysis of processes, for the methodological support of which it is proposed to use the unified form “Card determinant of the technological solution”. Practical application of the results obtained in the framework of the research can be carried out in a number of areas within the processes and procedures of investment and construction design, development of project documentation, construction consulting, technological engineering, financial and technical supervision and audit

Moment Work: Tectonic Theater Project's Process of Devising Theater by Moisés Kaufman and Barbara Pitts McAdams et al.

Moment Work: Tectonic Theater Project's Process of Devising Theater by Moisés Kaufman and Barbara Pitts McAdams et al.

Capacity Development in an Undergraduate Nursing Program in Vietnam.

Background: Nurses are an essential human resource to ensure a healthy population and support the socio-economic development. However, little research has focused on the capacity development of nurses.Objective: The performance of a capacity development project for an undergraduate nursing program in Vietnam was reviewed to share lessons.Design: A descriptive case report.Setting: A baccalaureate nursing program in Vietnam from June 2014 to June 2016.Methods: A case report was analyzed in terms of the project's process, and the outcomes of 2 years' activities were evaluated.Results: Practice-based curriculum redesign and two basic nursing subjects were developed after five rounds of curriculum workshops. To improve application efficiency, two nursing experts were dispatched to provide instructions regarding the application of the new subjects. Three candidates were invited to complete their master's and doctoral studies in Korea. An advanced nursing education environment was supported with simulation labs equipped within a ubiquitous network. The result of experts' evaluation was excellent by every criterion of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development—Development Assistance Committee.Conclusions: The capacity development of a nursing program was possible through ownership, accountability, and results-based management. Gradual improvement in nursing academic and clinical capacity building based on research evidence can empower partner countries' nursing leadership. Introduction.

Making Formative Assessment Feasible: A Collaborative Approach Supporting Grant Funded Projects

Formative assessment is a means of unlocking the ‘black box’ of an intervention to explore and understand cause and effect, and is, therefore, vital for improvements that lead to success. However, most funders focus on summative evaluation, and projects with limited resources struggle to meet that requirement, leaving formative investigations ideal, but infeasible. Yet, formative assessment is essential when conducting an intervention that must create results with a small budget. This paper discusses the Formative Assessment Systems for Advanced Technological Education (FAS4ATE) project, which used a high level, theory based participatory approach to address these issues in small grant funded projects. FAS4ATE brought the leaders and evaluators from a variety of small projects together with experts in formative assessment and evaluation in two webinars and a workshop. Logic models were the core activity and teaching tool used to identify formative assessment needs throughout the life cycle of individual projects. The logic models were then analysed across projects to provide specifications for the development of tools and resources to support formative assessment. The paper describes the project's process, key strategy, products and recommendations. It will be particularly valuable for those who are interested in evaluation capacity building, both in terms of individual learning and creating evaluation systems.

Intervenciones a escala cotidiana: Chocolatería en Santiago poniente

At present, do-it-yourself housing expansions are entropic features of Santiago's urban landscape. Such living spaces/compartments prevail in the larger areas of the consolidated peripheral territory. Their development is totally decoupled from effective urban planning tools. This architectural exercise faces the endeavors of this urban phenomenon proposing -through design- the cooperation between architects and users, who take part early on in the project's process and then, in the construction, jointly address housing spatial modification demands.

Cooks, Recipes and Ingredients

AbstractTo make a meal, you need ingredients and a recipe. A recipe defines sequencing, quantities, timing etc. This is analogous to a project's processes (ingredients) and life‐cycle (recipe).For a project, the attributes of cost, schedule and quality are properties that emerge from the recipes and ingredients. But how important is the recipe? This paper has found instances where a project's recipe had a 16‐fold cost difference using the exact same ingredients. This suggests that a good cook can make a great meal almost regardless of the ingredients.Many Project Managers inadvertently become chiefs of their projects and create new recipes in their attempt to recover their project. However, few managers are aware of the outcome of the recipes they create. When things turn out unexpectedly, generally badly, they blame the ingredients and not the recipe.This paper shows how a business can characterize a recipe to meet business goals, define it in a structured way (a reference model) and then use that definition to plan and monitor a project. The method has been used at Rolls‐Royce since 2002 and has been shown to improve project success, halving the level of scrap and rework whilst holding schedule. In one case, this method brought a 45% cost reduction to a project with only a small increase to schedule.The concepts behind this paper are not new, but the notation used made it easy to define the ideal recipe, plan projects and to track them against the ideal recipe. This paper describes the background, benefits and methods to develop your own project recipes.This paper is aimed at project managers, process architects and systems engineers. It defines a unified language to bridge all three needs in a language that can be understood by all.

Researching Student Learning in a Two-Tiered General Education Program

ABSTRACT Despite the desire of employers to hire those with the critical-thinking and communication skills a general education (GE) program can offer, the value of GE programs is often questioned due to concerns about four-year graduation rates, perceived low immediate economic payoff, and a dearth of evidence to support their efficacy. This article describes the two phases of a recent GE project at San Diego State University, a large urban university in California, that was undertaken to address these challenges. In Phase 1, spring 2013, we brought together twenty faculty (one from each of our programs in the College of Arts and Letters) to create and pilot rubrics for three of the five areas of our GE program. Phase 2, in Academic Year 2013–14, included an extensive collection of high-stakes student work (nearly two thousand samples), and each sample was double-read by trained faculty raters. Preliminary results—including the effectiveness of the collaborative process and the rubrics it produced, the improved interrater reliability achieved, and the distribution of proficiency levels in meeting the GE goals in the lower- to upper-level GE courses—demonstrate the success and efficacy of the project's process and product.

SVM-Based Techniques for Predicting Cross-Functional Team Performance: Using Team Trust as a Predictor

Due to the characteristics of cross-functional teams, trust is crucial for cross-functional teams to enhance performance. However, as a significant factor, trust had been neglected in previous team performance models. In this paper, we investigate whether trust can be used as a predictor of cross-functional team performance by proposing a prediction model. The inputs of the model are both team structural and contextual (SC) factors, and project process (PP) factors, which are two major sources that form team trust. The output of the model is different levels of team performance, which consists of internal performance and external performance. The support vector machine techniques are used to establish the model. Results show that prediction accuracy is high (84.95%) when using both SC and PP factors as inputs, while PP factors have better prediction accuracy than SC factors on team performance and internal performance. It is suggested that team trust can be used as a good predictor of cross-functional team performance. In practice, this paper presents a better understanding of the relationship between trust and performance in cross-functional teams, and thus, enhances practitioners’ managerial skills. It also gives reference for managers to dynamically control and predict team performance during project period.

Adults with learning disabilities known to local authorities in Scotland: a national dataset

Purpose – Learning Disability Statistics Scotland collects information on adults with learning disabilities who are known to local authorities in Scotland and the services they use. The data collection supports national and local government policy making and is focused on monitoring the implementation of learning disability policy. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Individual level data are requested from all 32 local authorities on adults aged 16-17 who are not in full-time education and those aged 18 and over. Annual data guidance is developed in conjunction with local authorities prior to the collection and is issued to standardise the process and manage avoidable error. The collated data are extracted from local authority administrative data and records are provided on each adult regardless of whether they are currently receiving a service. Anonymisation takes place prior to upload and strict guidelines are followed to ensure it is not possible to identify individuals. Findings – The paper provides insights to the project's processes, uses, challenges and future plans. It details the position of the data outputs within a policy context and the role these might play within a broader research agenda. Research limitations/implications – This data includes only adults known to local authority services. Originality/value – The value of the project lies in its strength as a national social care data set comprised of individual level data. This methodology increases the analytical potential of the data set. This paper will be of interest to those interested in data on learning disability and those with an interest in the analytical potential of an individual level national data set.

Ten Simple Rules for Cultivating Open Science and Collaborative R&D

How can we address the complexity and cost of applying science to societal challenges? Open science and collaborative R&D may help [1]–[3]. Open science has been described as “a research accelerator” [4]. Open science implies open access [5] but goes beyond it: “Imagine a connected online web of scientific knowledge that integrates and connects data, computer code, chains of scientific reasoning, descriptions of open problems, and beyond …. tightly integrated with a scientific social web that directs scientists' attention where it is most valuable, releasing enormous collaborative potential.” [1]. Open science and collaborative approaches are often described as open source, by analogy with open-source software such as the operating system Linux which powers Google and Amazon—collaboratively created software which is free to use and adapt, and popular for Internet infrastructure and scientific research [6], [7]. However, this use of “open source” is unclear. Some people use “open source” when a project's results are free to use, others when a project's process is highly collaborative [4]. It is clearer to classify open source and open science within a broader class of collaborative R&D, which can be defined as scalable collaboration (usually enabled by information technology) across organizational boundaries to solve R&D challenges [8]. Many approaches to open science and collaborative R&D have been tried [1], [9]. The Gene Wiki has created over 10,000 Wikipedia articles, and aims to provide one for every notable human gene [10]. The crowdsourcing platform InnoCentive has reportedly facilitated solutions to roughly half of the thousands of technical problems posed on the site, including many in life sciences such as the $1 million ALS Biomarker Prize [11]. Other examples include prizes (X-Prize [12]), scientific games (FoldIt [13]), and licensing schemes inspired by open-source software (BIOS [14]). Collaborative R&D approaches vary in openness [15]. In some approaches, the R&D process and outputs are open to all—for example, open-science projects like the Gene Wiki described above. In other approaches which demonstrate what might be called controlled collaboration, there are strong controls on who contributes and benefits—for example, computational platforms like Collaborative Drug Discovery or InnoCentive that support both commercial and nonprofit research [9], [11]. Collaborative approaches can unleash innovation from unforeseen sources, as with crowdsourcing health technologies [11]–[13], [16]. They may help in global challenges like drug development [17], as with India's OSDD (Open Source Drug Discovery) project that recruited over 7,000 volunteers [16] and an open-source drug synthesis project that improved an existing drug without increasing its cost [18]. If you want to apply open science and collaborative R&D, what principles are useful? We suggest Ten Simple Rules for Cultivating Open Science and Collaborative R&D. We also offer eight conversational interviews exploring life experiences that led to these rules (Box 1). Box 1. Conversations on Open Science and Collaborative R&D Many commentators have considered challenges in translating open science and collaborative methods to biomedical research [2]–[4], [9], [17], [20], [24], [26], [28], [29]. How can protecting intellectual property be balanced with freeing researchers to build on previous knowledge? If R&D results are collaboratively created and freely available, who will take responsibility for costly clinical trials and quality control? What will be the Linux of open-source R&D? To explore such challenges and convey life experiences in biomedical open science and collaborative R&D, we offer eight conversational interviews by the first author of this article as supplementary material. The conversations were done on behalf of the Results for Development Institute and are with: Alph Bingham, cofounder of InnoCentive (Text S1) Barry Bunin, CEO of Collaborative Drug Discovery (Text S2) Leslie Chan, open access pioneer and director of Bioline International (Text S3) Aled Edwards, director of the Structural Genomics Consortium (Text S4) Benjamin Good, coleader of the Gene Wiki initiative (Text S5) Bernard Munos, pharmaceutical innovation thought leader (Text S6) Zakir Thomas, director of India's Open Source Drug Discovery (OSDD) project (Text S7) Matt Todd, open science and drug development pioneer (Text S8)

Antecedents and Results of Emotional Capability in Software Development Project Teams*

Emotional capability is considered an emerging phenomenon in the group behavior literature. However, little attention is given to the role of emotional capability in heterogeneous work groups in general and cross‐functional product development teams in particular in an empirical context. In this study, the antecedents and results of the emotional capability in software development project teams using Huy's (1999) dynamics of encouragement, displaying freedom, playfulness, experiencing, reconciliation, and identification constructs were investigated. By studying 95 software development project teams in the IT departments of 52 firms, it was found, on the basis of using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method, that the dynamics of encouragement is positively related to the speed‐to‐market, and the dynamics of encouragement and experiencing is positively related to the market success of new software products. In addition, it was demonstrated that team autonomy has a positive influence on the dynamics of encouragement; collaboration among team members has a positive impact on the dynamics of encouragement and experiencing; and team experience has a positive effect on the dynamics of experiencing. This study has several theoretical and managerial implications. In terms of theoretical implications, this study enhances the empathy concept by operationalizing it at the team level, i.e., collective empathy, and tests its impact on the project performance. This study also highlights the roles of collective hope, joy, and enthusiasm in a project's performance by empirically demonstrating the benefits of working in a fun environment. Further, this study empirically shows that team emotional capability mediates the relationship between collaboration among team members and market success of the software products, indicating that management and regulation of the emotions acts as a platform to actualize the joint behavior toward some goal of common interest for the successful products. In terms of managerial implications, this study suggests that managers should enhance the team's emotional capability to enhance the project performance. In particular, managers should promote courage, joy, and hope, and increase communication among people to develop collective empathy and the “liking” of one party for the other. Managers should also promote collaboration and mutual interaction among team members; give autonomy to project team members to make important decisions about the software product; keep control of the project's process to some level; and encourage people to use their previous experience during the projects to increase the team's emotional capability.

Tsunami height poles and disaster awareness

PurposeThis paper seeks to demonstrate a unique project with tsunami height poles and disaster education to maintain disaster awareness for several decades in the area where the Indian Ocean tsunami caused significant damage in 2004.Design/methodology/approachA case study approach is utilized combined with field observation, participatory observation and a general literature review of relevant studies and secondary sources.FindingsThe major finding is that the unique device of 85 tsunami height poles was brought from the outside to Banda Aceh city so that people may remember the impact of the tsunami over a longer period of time when awareness is likely to reduce. As local people gradually understood the significance of the poles, the number of local cooperators increased and the project's impact improved significantly.Research limitations/implicationsThe long‐term impact of the disaster resilience is yet to be verified in Banda Aceh city. The field research results of the project's process and impact immediately connected with grassroots practice with people to maintain disaster awareness and resilence for the city. The practice to which the Hyogo Framework for Action gives priority connects with building understanding of tsunami risk and disaster awareness with local knowledge, assimilated by preserving disaster records and visualizing disaster.Practical implicationsThe paper describes a field‐based project in Banda Aceh city and the suburb, Indonesia, which was implemented in cooperation with local communities, local non‐government organizations, local school boards and specialists from Kyoto University, Japan. Thus, the study findings are directly related to its practical implications.Originality/valueThe paper highlights how the device of 85 tsunami height poles which were built in order to visualize disaster and maintain disaster awareness under the concept, blended an expert's unique idea with old Japanese knowledge in Banda Aceh city by the local community in Indonesia in June 2007. The paper shows that local ideas maintain living knowledge and lessons with sustainable development in the local place after the project had finished and recommendations can apply to the other tsunami affected areas.

Complex Adaptive Strategy to Produce Capacity-Driven Financial Improvement

Managing capacity in hospitals and emergency departments (EDs) is a global problem. This article demonstrates an efficiency model applied to an acute care hospital facing a budget shortfall as a result of capacity constraints that negatively affected admissions and increased ED diversions. Operating on the hypothesis that reducing inpatient length of stay would allow patients access through all service points and would return the admissions growth rate to budget, a turnaround team was quickly assembled and charged by the chief executive officer to fix the primary cause of financial underperformance--the creeping length of stay--within 60 days. This case study is generalizable to all organizations, regardless of size. Deploying an efficiency model based on the complex adaptive systems approach of "swarmware," the hospital's rapid turnaround efforts produced the results necessary to achieve two established goals: (1) length of stay was decreased to 0.1 days below budget in the 60-day time frame, and (2) all admissions and potential admissions were accepted (saying "yes" to patients) through key points of access in the hospital. Transfer Center denials were reduced to 0 in 19 days, and monthly ED diversions decreased from 110 hours to 20 hours in 60 days. By using a swarmware approach, the hospital created additional bed capacity, allowing for community demand to be accommodated, budgeted admissions target to be exceeded, and market share to be stabilized. This article describes this project's processes and outcomes and the lessons learned and applied, which will assist healthcare leaders who are facing capacity issues in their own organization.

Techbits: Efficiency Improvements for Facilities Focus of Workshop

Techbits Innovations aimed at improving efficiencies in surface facilities were the focus of an SPE Applied Technology Workshop (ATW) titled "Surface Facilities: Improving Efficiencies in Production, Energy Conservation, CO2 Reduction, and Waste Management" held in Dubai. More than 50 attendees from 25 companies and 16 countries reviewed the challenges of oil/water/gas separation, conservation, emission, and waste management in the backdrop of increasingly stringent regulatory requirements. Abbas Ahmed Yousef, field manager for Adco's Bab field, opened the ATW with a keynote address focusing on the means to improve surface-facility efficiency, emphasizing the need for operators to adopt more enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques to improve production efficiencies. He also touched on the importance of energy conservation and emissions and waste management, particularly as producing fields mature. Oil/Water/Gas Separation and Handling In the ATW's first session, Ahmed Abdulmajeed of Saudi Aramco discussed process enhancements in gas/oil separation plants within his company. He reviewed how a new mixing valve for wash water going to desalters was able to reduce wash water consumption from 50 to 30 gallons per minute, resulting in more than 10 million gallons of water savings over one year. He also discussed how the implementation of a smokeless, high-pressure air-assisted flare system, which employs a new flare-tip design and additional flare-tip shield, provides for better gas combustion. Saudi Aramco is also testing an in-line water separator that promises to remove approximately 70–80% of water without the need to treat in a gas/oil separation plant and with quality in the range of 22–35 ppm of oil in water. Alexander de Kruijf of Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) discussed the pitfalls of improper oil and gas sampling and made predictions on future process-equipment design. Inaccurate measurement of H2S in one PDO application led to deteriorating sales gas quality, with H2S concentrations reaching 5 ppm. The result was 4 months of deferment equivalent to approximately 100,000 BOPD. To prevent acid corrosion in equipment, de Kruijf stressed the importance of routinely measuring for organic acid, using corrosion-resistant alloys with increased corrosion allowances, and implementing organic pH neutralizers. In general, he advised that production chemistry programs should be an integral part of a project's process. Oliver Garnier of Total reviewed a strategy to maintain production from his company's mature Abu Al-Bukhoosh field. The field has been producing since 1974, and present production is 15,000 BOPD with an average basic sediment and water (BS&W) of 86%. By implementing improvements, including increasing the impeller size in the gas recovery compressor, closing wells with too high a BS&W, optimizing well productivity by using multiphase flowmeters, and implementing de-emulsifier injection with gas lift, Total has managed to level the oil production potential to above 16,000 BOPD since 2007.

Uncertainty management in a process environment

Software systems are developed by software projects. A software project generally associates with a process (software development process). A software project's process can be managed by process‐centered software engineering environments (PSEEs). In other words, PSEEs facilitate monitoring software projects. When a software project is being executed, many details may be uncertain in the early phases of the project. Therefore, managing uncertainty of a project's process becomes necessary. We identified existing approaches that can manage process uncertainty. Nevertheless, existing approaches suffer from drawbacks such as resource wasting. We thus propose two new approaches, which are pre‐defined semantics and incremental process program development. The former approach prevents duplicating the same code in a process program and the latter handles both predictable and unpredictable process uncertainty. This paper primarily presents the new approaches.

Project Program Development and Implementation

This article presents the project's processes and activities by describing the steps that were taken in its development and implementation. The first step was the planning and conceptualization of the program. The second step was carrying out the planned program. This has been repeated four times. Thus, the third step was examining each trial, modifying the program based on this examination, and conducting subsequent trials.

Background\-\-The Origins of the Care System Assessment Demonstration Project

The Care System Assessment Demonstration Project was designed to assist community planning bodies in determining barriers to care for people living with HIV (PLWH) in selected underserved minority populations and generating recommendations for care system enhancement that would lower those barriers. This paper describes the selection of three sites to participate in the project and sketches the two primary tools used in implementing the project: Rapid Assessment, Response and Evaluation (RARE) techniques initially developed to assess community HIV prevention needs, and a system assessment model created to help communities conduct systematic evaluations of their HIV care systems. The paper also provides an overview of the remaining chapters of the supplement, detailing how the project was implemented at the national level and the three participating sites and evaluating both the project's process and its local impact.