ERK Consulting Case Studies

Four municipal public libraries required a structure to expedite their joint development of an integrated network serving over 300,000 residents. Major challenges included sharing responsibilities and resources across separate municipal and funding sources and building the content database for the network to cataloguing standards.

ERK Consulting provided the structure and framework for expediting cooperation, and acted as spokesperson to municipal politicians on behalf of the network to advance the vision and partnership. We assisted and expedited the content database by identifying the best processes and sourcing of records that met the desired standard for the new network. We supported the selection process and contract negotiations for the systems required. Our credibility enabled the boards to work together and build their relationship, which continues today.

The province of Ontario wanted to amalgamate a number of regional library boards reducing them from fourteen to five. Our role was to integrate the resources of five existing boards and do so with minimal disruption of service and sensitivity to regional and municipal politics. We built the interim structure to expedite the new region while the existing board delivered the services and created and expedited the vision and strategic plan. The vision galvanized support and buy-in from regional boards and county and municipal councils, resulting in minimal disruption. The expectation was that it would require three years to accomplish this process. In one year the new region was operational and delivering on the vision and plan.

A large Caribbean country required a national information plan. Funded by CIDA out of Ottawa, we developed and led the process, bringing together disparate and opposing agencies, and helping them to identify the vision and direction and to buy in to new roles. The National Information Plan we coordinated embraced a national archives, as well as special, national and public libraries, and engaged over 150 participants. The Plan continues to be the foundation of library development in this country today.

A major charitable organization based in Toronto with nationwide services wanted to modernize its library, bringing it into accepted library standards and transforming its aging technology. We engaged two major strategic plans in two separate exercises. The first restructured the library into three distinct areas of operation and introduced a customized Library Management System. We also rebuilt the collections to include other media and information sources and created first-in-kind services that established the library’s worldwide reputation and won three prestigious awards. The second exercise transformed the library’s aging technology to state-of-the-art digital technology, which further strengthened its international reputation and transformed the way information was accessed by its clients.

A U.S. library based in Ohio wanted to refresh its strategy and operations. We enabled the process, engaging the stakeholders and developing the report and plan for future direction and implementation. This report became the foundation for the library’s transformation into a modern operation with new services for clients.

The province of Ontario wanted an automation plan to establish the role of technology in providing effective library services for Ontarians. In the process of building the direction and strategy, we worked with several hundred professionals across the province and the Ontario Library Association. The broad level of engagement resulted in a comprehensive direction and plan that sustained the government’s strategy in library technology, networks and information.

A major charitable organization employing over 1,100 people and located in more than 50 offices across Canada wanted to develop its key performance indicators and a performance accountability framework. The goal was to ensure integration of management performance with corporate goals. The exercise began with refining some existing key performance indicators to improve the consistency and reliability of the information to form the basis of performance measurement. For the first time the charity had data that could provide analysis and comparative information across its divisions for future decision-making and action. Rare for not-for-profits, a basic, customized version of a balanced score card was introduced to create a performance accountability framework. The project was cognizant of the differences between a for-profit operation and an NFP.

A major charitable rehabilitation organization employing 400 staff delivering service to clients in the home, over the telephone or in its offices nationwide required a system that could double service capacity, provide accurate management of information and build a database of health conditions. Additionally, the system had to reflect the organization’s rehabilitation capacity and resources as an integrated whole, as well as separately as a geographic and demographic response to service delivery and design on the ground.

This organization had a highly specialized business. We were able to save substantial costs on acquiring knowledge in the North American marketplace about service trends and technologies by building on a partnership with a comparable U.S.-based agency’s capitalization and research for a similar project. We recommended a made-in-Canada solution for the configuration of a nationwide contact centre that would integrate disparate and isolated or duplicated activities in gathering and recording client data and reducing the wait time for service. The system could track individual clients, patterns of service and response. It also was the basis for a comprehensive database of health and rehabilitation conditions for ongoing research and providing outcome data for setting

Three Australian agencies required a strategy for building a partnership and an integrated library service as part of their overall service to clients. One potential partner was not on board and had not been included in the consulting exercise initially. The objective was to build a vision and outline a purpose and mission for a new, integrated operation funded by all three partners. Our strategy engaged key staff in all agencies, facilitating discussion of their overall vision and the vision for a new entity. The steps for enabling action were addressed and existing services with unique potential were identified. We directly engaged the reluctant partner on a one-to-one basis, breaking perceived differences into opportunities and isolating similarities in a structured way, successfully leading to that organization’s full participation in the partnership.