TO DO 1: RELATE SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENTS AND AMENDMENTS TO THE GOALS AND AMBITIONS
of the city administration and other relevant stakeholders in the quadruple helix
The last TO DO of the CHECK stage explored potential solutions to the problem, or non-conformity, observed. Here, these suggestions for solving the problem are interpreted, and related to the final objectives and overall ambitions of the city administration and other relevant stakeholders in the quadruple helix. Suggestions the project team has in mind, might have consequences for chosen methods or technologies, role and task divisions, mandates and responsibilities, and these should be realised and dealt with. This means that the impact of proposed changes on other projects must be taken into account.
Basically, there are three ways to improve:
● To change the actions or measures when the targets are not met;
● To adjust the targets because they were not realistic;
● In case the “design” of the action plan or project contained some flaws, it is recommended to go
back to the PLAN stage and redesign parts of the action plan or project. Many smart city and low energy district projects and action plans need to make amendments or work with a plan B due to their high ambitions, the complex urban setting and their sometimes rather experimental character. When these experiences and lessons learned are shared, for example, on a platform as SCIS, a solid learning environment is created which benefits other cities.
WHY?
This TO DO ensures that the suggestions for improvements, adjustments and amendments are in line with the higher aims of the project or action plan as laid down in the objectives during the VISION stage. It also ensures that good collaboration between implementation team and the wider group of stakeholders is continued.
TO DO 2: SELECT AND AGREE UPON THE MOST SUITABLE IMPROVEMENTS AND AMENDMENTS
based on the recommendations of the implementation team, in consultation with the quadruple helix
Following, the most appropriate and effective suggestions for improvements, adjustments and amendments must be selected and agreed upon. Usually, this selection is based on short-listed recommendations of the implementation team, in consultation with all other relevant partners in the quadruple helix. However, before making a selection, the extent and seriousness of the problem must be clear. For this reason, the implementation team must check the cause(s) of the non-conformity, in order that it does not reoccur or resurface elsewhere, for example in other projects. This should be done by reviewing the non-conformity, determining its cause(s), and check if similar non-conformities exist, or could potentially occur.
WHY?
All stakeholders need to agree on the proposed improvements, adjustments and amendments to ensure they are adequately implemented. Besides, the extent of the problem or non-conformity must be clear to determine how it can be solved in the best way.
TO DO 3: IMPLEMENT PROPOSED CHANGES
by city administration and relevant stakeholders
Evidently, the next TO DO is to implement the action(s) needed, as seems fit. The city administration or the respective stakeholder responsible for this, ensures the mitigating or corrective measure is taken. Parts of the DO stage might be applicable here as well, as this TO DO is basically a “mini” implementation. For example, changes in the team or role division, re-allocation of resources, adjustment of the monitoring process, and knowledge sharing through the platform.
WHY?
The observed problem(s) will not be solved if the mitigating or corrective actions are not implemented.
TO DO 4: REGULAR REPORTING
by the project team to the city management team
Subsequently, the effectiveness of any corrective action taken must be reviewed on a regular basis. For that reason, the next TO DO is that the project or action plan implementation team reports regularly to the city management team about this, and if needed, to the most relevant other stakeholders. To do this properly, the team must keep documented information as evidence of the nature of the non-conformities and any subsequent actions taken, and the results of any corrective action. This documentation should provide information on topics such as information on conformity, details of the non-conformity, corrective and preventive measures taken, and consequences for targets and indicator values.
WHY?
This TO DO prevents new problems being created when the effectiveness of the implemented improvements, adjustments or amendments is unclear.
TO DO 5: IDENTIFY CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
for the project related to the context of the project
To prepare for further replication and scaling up of successfully implemented actions in the future, for example, within the cities’ territory, the next TO DO is to identify the critical success factors for the project or action plan related to its context. Based on this information, changes can be made to the original action plan or project for smart sustainable development in communities in future, if necessary.
EXAMPLE: PROCESS LEARNING AS ONE OF THE MOST CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS OF SCC-01 PROJECTS
Recently, Triangulum, one of the first SCC-01 projects, hosted the Triangulum Monitoring and Assessment Exchange meeting, which was attended by four other SCC-01 projects. At this meeting, process learning was identified by Lighthouse City partners as the most important and lasting outcome of their participation in SCC-01 projects. Due to their experiences, the involved cities profoundly changed the ways in which they work. Most prominently, the city administrations learned how to form deeper partnerships across public, private, academic and charity sectors. Apart from that, the city administrations changed their structures and processes, for instance by establishing new entities or data exchange platforms to facilitate both cross-domain and quadruple helix collaboration, or by development of new competences to improve procedures, for instance with respect to procurement. And lastly, city administrations learned how to do more effective stakeholder management and use more robust methodologies for capturing social impacts. It is thought that novel KPIs and value capture techniques for process learning should be identified or developed, which reflect these crucial “soft” impacts much better. What is more, these experienced Lighthouse Cities believe that the uptake of smart city solutions can be vastly accelerated if city administrations know in advance, how they should prepare their processes and structures for adoption of smart city solutions, both internally and externally (Evans, 2019).
WHY?
By checking this TO DO, valuable experiences and lessons learned are not lost, and the PLAN stage for the new projects or action plans can be done more efficiently, because it builds upon earlier experiences. Again, this is closely related to further development of the SCIS and EIP-SCC Marketplace as platforms for urban innovation and transition, where experiences are consolidated and shared, and the contribution of individual projects and action plans to creating a learning environment (SCIS, 2019).
TO DO 6: ADAPTATION AND FINE-TUNING
of specific operations based on evaluation in permanent improvement loop
The last TO DO at the ACT stage is the continuous adaptation and fine-tuning of specific operations based on evaluation. This permanent improvement loop ensures that the implemented actions stay tuned towards new political, societal or technological developments.
WHY?
For several reasons, small adjustments might be needed during the implementation phase of the project. The principle of a permanent improvement loop guarantees that eventually the agreed targets are met in the best way.