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SLA Alignment Toolkit

Tool #1 – Examples of value added reports and deliverables: how to package

deliverables for maximum impact

December 31, 2010

Developed by Cindy Shamel, Shamel Information Services

Value Added Reports and Deliverables

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What is a value added deliverable? Pile of Ingredients Meal ready to eat

Flickr – Dave Winer, scriptingnews

VS

Flickr – Food Thinkers

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How do value added deliverables look?The Final Report

Flickr – Bibliography by gadl

The Research Findings

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To Do or Not to Do

•Trained not to

•Lack confidence

•Not mandated

•Too busy

Why do we not do this? Why info pros are well suited to the task

•Detail oriented

•Thorough

•Inquisitive

•Able to see patterns

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What does it look like?

That depends.

Use a format, functions, and communication devices that will surface the information your requester needs.

Devices

TableMapChartGraphPhotosScreen shots

Format

SlidedeckWritten reportSpreadsheetMemo

Functions

Table of ContentsExecutive SummaryHeadings and Subheadings

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How do you do it?

1. Understand the business need.

2. Be clear on the decision your client seeks to make or the question he/she seeks to answer.

3. Approach each request as though your job depended on it.

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Sample Value-Add Templates

Word 2007 Document

Click the Word 2007 Document icon to open a sample report template. The template contains additional information on formatting reports.

Click the Word Template icon to open a table designed to deliver company by company competitor intelligence.

Microsoft Office Word Template

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Recommended ReadingKangiser, Angela. “What Value-Added Deliverables Means Today,” Online January/February 2011, p 20+.

Information professionals are being exhorted on all sides to add value if they intend to survive and thrive in today's challenging economic environment. This probably resonates most strongly with independent researchers and corporate librarians. Value-add means whatever clients say it means -- to them and to their organization. In addition, value-add means incorporating new technologies and social media research when time and budget allows.

Kangiser, Angela. “ Delivering Competitive Intelligence Visually,” Competitive Intelligence Magazine, v6 n5 September-October 2003, p 20-23.Visualization technology and the importance of conveying data using graphics and illustrations continues to be on the forefront of many CI practitioners’ minds. This article discusses the value of the Microsoft suite of software, Photoshop, web capture tools like SnagIt, and a plug-in for Excel that facilitates data analysis.

Kangiser, Angela. “After the Research: Information Professionals’ Secrets for Delivering Results,” Online January/February 2003, p 26-32.Based on a series of interviews with information professionals, Kangiser provides best practices and supplies models for developing value-added deliverables.

Kassel, Amelia. “Value-Added Deliverables: Rungs on the Info Pro’s Ladder to Success,” Searcher November/December 2002, p 42.In this article Kassel describes the importance of adding value to the deliverable and gives several examples and checklists for company reports, industry profiles, and customized executive reports.

Ramey, Judith. “What Technical Communicators Think About Measuring Value Added: Report on a Questionnaire,” Technical Communication. Society for Technical Communication. 1995. HighBeam Research. 14 Sep. 2010 <http://www.highbeam.com>.

Shamel, Cindy. “I’ll Have the Lasagna Please,” SLA Future Ready 365 January 19, 2011.

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SLA Learning Aids and ResourcesTutorials

For tutorials on using software to create value added deliverables, go to Atomic Learning http://www.sla.org/innovate/atomic.cfm. Software tutorials and workshops cover dozens of programs for PC and Apple including Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint along with Acrobat, EndNote, OpenOffice, Paint, Windows Movie Maker, and much more.

Using these tutorials you can learn to create charts, graphs, style sheets, tables of contents, and more features for value added deliverables.

Atomic Learning Tutorials are free to SLA members. The SLA login is username – slastudent and password – slastudent.