1. Communications Plan

2. Table of Contents A4E Communications – Executive Summary
A4E Communications – An Integrated Approach
A4E Communications – Priorities, Tactics and Timeline

3. Executive Summary – Key Facts
Principal Dashboard
General availability to all HISD principals was announced on Dec. 17, Principals who have seen or used it are very positive about it because it is a one stop shop for integrated data from multiple sources. Their daily decision making process is made much easier.
Teacher Dashboard
Made available to all HISD teachers in Dec, 2012, but no announcement was made. IAA presented it at several lead teacher meetings and focus group meetings, which generated a lot of excitement and interest among the audience.
3-Month Usage Trend
IAA continues to gather user feedback, make enhancements and deliver new reports and expanding analytic capabilities. However, user adoption rate of the dashboards remain low.

4. Executive Summary – Identified Issues and Challenges
There is no systematic and effective strategy to inform the user community about capabilities and their value to the users. Some principals think it’s yet another tool to learn.
Lack of effective communication about the current A4E state. Some users think they’re still in pilot mode; most are simply not aware of the existence.
Lack of communication about long term vision, the roadmap and benefits of A4E and EDW.
Complexities in data integration and integrity, challenges in security/access implementation.
Resource shortage and competing priorities led to communication shortfalls.
Lack of strategic partnerships and planning between IAA and key IT partners/source systems.
2011 IDC Directions 4

5. Executive Summary – A4E Communications Plan
Objectives
Increase adoption and awareness by demonstrating the value and a growing set of capabilities of A4E dashboards and reports; strive to make A4E the standard platform for data-driven decision making in HISD.
Promote effective use of IT and other HISD resources by establishing a process for sharing the vision, benefits and planning of A4E and EDW initiatives.
A4E Communication Strategy
Align A4E communications with HISD’s goals and keep HISD leadership well informed of the progress.
Engage school support offices to encourage adoption across all levels from CSO and SSO to principals and teachers.
Leverage existing HISD communications channels and develop additional tactics to drive awareness of A4E releases.
Share the “WOW” moments at focus meetings and propagate the word about A4E dashboards throughout the school district to effectively reach, engage and influence various audiences and stakeholders.
Continuously seek user input, regularly communicate value and impact on deliverables back to users.
Assess the effectiveness of the Communication plan and make adjustments as needed.

6. A4E Communications – Recommend An Integrated Approach
Maximize the Reach of A4E Messaging to the User Community
Leverage Academic Services to disseminate information about major releases with highlights that can appeal to a wide audience and send alerts about assessment test results.
Leverage Employee eNews as needed to highlight key value and capabilities and reinforce the awareness of A4E.
Assess the effectiveness of each communication by tracking and reporting open and click-through rate.
Make A4E Accessible Anywhere Anytime
 Publish A4E link under HISD Application Links in Employee portal.
 Publish A4E link to VPN.houstonisd.org.
Engage Users, Generate Excitement and Promote Adoption
Present A4E dashboards at focus group meetings; generate excitement about A4E by demonstrating its value and benefits to the users with success stories told by early adopters.
Follow up with surveys and seek testimonials; monitor adoption rate via usage reports and tell results at CSO/SSO meetings.
Present A4E dashboards to CSO/SSOs periodically to build interest and enlist them to encourage principals to become adopters.
Cultivate a user group that will serve as an A4E Center of Excellence to share success stories, promote best practices among peers.
Enable and Empower through Training and User Guides
Use multi-media such as video, online guides, eLearning and formal training to address different levels of user needs.
Integrate A4E training with new principal/teacher on-boarding process.
Inform and Collaborate with IT Partners
Share A4E/EDW vision, roadmap and benefits as well as sharing project status regularly with IT partners through brochure, SharePoint and status meetings.

7. A4E Communications Mix Demo/Training/Feedback/etc
Major Release Announcements
New Link in Employee Portal
Engage & Participate
Maximum Reach of Audiences
Anytime & Anywhere
New Link in VPN

8. Communications Priorities and Tactics – User Community
Timeline
Contents & Tactics
Purpose
Audience
Owner
4/16/2013
Launch A4E link & New Message on HISD Employee Portal
Allow users to access A4E any time & anywhere
All principals & teachers, CSO/SSOs
IAA & IMS
Publish A4E link to VPN.houstonisd.org
IAA
5/27/2013 & as needed
Publish A4E info/features/tips etc. via Academic Services & eNews; track open & click through rate
Build awareness & increase adoption
April - August, 2013 & on-going as needed
Send alert about assessment results to targeted audiences – ES/MS/HS principals; enable open rate tracking
Build awareness, generate excitement, & increase adoption rate
Targeted principals based on content
IAA, AS & IMS
May - June 2013
Video & online user guides
Enable & empower users
Target audiences
IAA, PD
June 18-20, 2013
Demo dashboards at Leadership Institute at Reliant Center
Build awareness, generate excitement & increase adoption.
School leadership team
IAA, PD, identified advocates
August 2013 & monthly as needed
Announce CSO/SSO dashboard via ; demo & engage at CSO/SSO meeting; report adoption rate
Build awareness & encourage adoption.
CSO/SSOs
8/12-8/23/2013
Pre-service week & Show & Tell of Teacher Dashboard at campus meetings; distribute A4E brochure
Increase awareness and promote adoption
All principals & teachers
Principals & PD
July & August 2013 & monthly
Demo Teacher Dashboard at New Leadership Institute, New Teacher Academy & monthly On-boarding events;
Build awareness & promote immediate adoption
New principals & teachers
IAA, CSOs, OOD and PSD
Monthly as needed
Demo dashboards & survey at focus group meetings; communicate value and impact of user input; report teacher adoption rate.
Build awareness, generate excitement, & encourage participation & adoption
Lead teachers & TDS
IAA & PSD?
On-going (end of May, June, & August 2013)
Track open rate of memos & eNews; monitor A4E usage, report results to leadership & school officers
Assess effectiveness & show adoption rate
CSO/SSOs, CTIO

9. Communications Priorities and Tactics – IT Internal
Date
Contents & Tactics
Purpose
Audience
Owner(s)
April 2013
Presentation of EDW/A4E current state & future releases – accessible from IAA Project Plan
Articulate EDW/A4E vision and roadmap, clear misconceptions
IT leadership team
IAA
May-June 2013
Brochure
May 2013 & on-going
Set up bi-weekly IAA IT business partner managers meetings
Improve internal communication and collaboration
IT managers
May 2013
on-going
Publish EDW/A4E project plan on SharePoint – accessible from IAA Project Plan IT

10. Communication Program Overview
Principals
Teachers
CSO/SSO & School Leadership
HISD Senior Leadership
Power Users
IT Partners
Public
Dashboards & Reports
Dashboard & Reports
Reports & Ad Hoc
Road Map & Proj. Plan
Reports
Academic Service/
eNews/ s:
Disseminate info on A4E releases
Increase adoption
Enhancements
Assessment results
Alerts & reminders
Release
Features
Availability
User Guides:
Enable
Build confidence & onsistancy
Vision & roadmap
Online
Video
Brochure
Focus Group Meetings:
Awareness
Excitement
Adoption.
Best practice & self service
Presentation
Feedback & follow-up
Best practice
Tips & techniques
Training:
Ease of use & self service
Adoption
Leadership Institute
eLearning
Coaching
On-boarding
Classroom
WBT
Status Meeting:
Inform status
Improve collaboration
Project status
Data requirements & timeline
Source system changes & impact
Content
Media & Obj
Quarterly or as needed
On-Going as Needed
Monthly & as Needed
On-Going
Bi-Weekly

11. 2013 Milestones at-a-Glance
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Alerts
Alerts, Teacher Dashboard, Enhancements
Alerts
Alerts
CSO/SSO
Dashboard , Enhancement, alerts
Emp Portal & VPN
ETI , TDS
CSO/SSO
Lead teacher meetings
Lead teacher
Lead teacher
Lead teacher meetings
Video & eLearn
Video & eLearn Production
Leadership Institute
Pre-Service Week
Video & eLearn
New Teacher Academy
New Leadership Institute
Monthly On-boarding
Survey Follow-up Usage & Open Rate
Survey/
Survey/
Survey/ /Feedback Follow-up/Usage & Open Rate
A4E Center of Excellence Qtrly: User Testimonials & best practice
Bi-Weekly Intra-Departmental Manager Meeting
Release/Alerts
Focus group meetings
Training
Feedback & Evaluation
New Link
A4E Center of Excellence
Status Meeting