SI 501 Final Report - Soma Ray

Team Crusoe: SI 501 Final Report
recommendations as to how CSS can improve and streamline their file sharing and use of the
network drive.
Methodology
Project Scope
Our team’s investigation into the structure of the drive usage at CSS began by meeting with the
Administrative Specialist of CSS. This initial meeting provided our team with information on the
background of CSS, their current educational mission, and the role that our analysis would play
in moving the organization forward. The scope of the project included three interrelated parts:
Assessing the folder structure and document organization of the Shared directory,
Assessing the folder structure and document organization of the Core directory, and
Examining the continued use-life of the research paper file.
As our team interviewed select researchers in the organization, however, our analysis and
recommendations focused more on improving the organization of Shared and Core, to improve
the ability for researchers to not only organize their own research materials, but also to create an
environment where project resources can be easily archived and Shared between researchers and
their students. The paper file was still analyzed and addressed by our recommendations, but to a
lesser extent. Furthermore, after speaking with the Director of CSS in the same meeting, it was
apparent that an assessment of organization of the file servers was top priority. The paper file
analysis became a secondary concern in terms of successfully streamlining the organization’s
research needs.
Data Collection
Our team’s first priority was to gain an inclusive picture of CSS: how the researchers interacted
with each other, their students, how they used and managed their project resources on the Shared,
and Core file servers, and the paper file. We conducted a total of six interviews with researchers
in different stages of their careers at CSS. We interviewed CSS members from a range of
experiences and research interests, with job titles including:
Director
Administrative Specialist
Assistant Professor
Research Specialist
Research Scientist
PhD Candidate
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