Project life cycle

You will find that each project you work on will vary slightly. Authors and partners have their own ways of working and different needs, and Corporate & Commercial try to adapt to meet these needs. However, there is a general flow to the stages of a project and this is illustrated in Figure 1.

In this you will look at who does what, starting with an overview of the whole process which we will then break down into detail. As mentioned above, each project is individual so be ready for some flexibility in the process.

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Figure 1 Production process for an OpenLearn Create course

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A flowchart displaying the process for each project. Stage 1 is Review handover. DDE: Review handover, prepare briefs. DPA: Add content to portal, request acks. Stage 2 is Video and audio. V&A Producer: Produce assets. DPA: Arrange transcripts, stills, assets. Stage 3 is Graphic and interactive. GMD: Handover graphics. IMD: Handover interactive assets. Stage 4 is Structural/first edit. DDE: Structurally edit in Word. Author: Review and feedback. Stage 5 is Second edit. DDE: Review feedback and amends. Author: Review changes. Stage 6 is Content tagging/proofread. DDE: Review feedback and amends. Author: Review changes. PE: Check/proof content including transcripts. DPA: Tag content, embed asset and interactives and build quizzes. Stage 7 is Final review. Author: Final review (whole site). DPA: Final amendments and add Acks. DDE: Final amends and checks. Author: Sign off with PM and go live.

Production process for an OpenLearn Create course

The flow chart in Figure 1 shows the main stages of a project. Depending on the project’s needs, there will either be a Digital Development Editor (DDE) or an Assistant Editor (AE), and they will carry out the first stage. If your project has a DDE, you will find they coordinate a lot of the work on the project. It is important to be aware of when you will be needed on a project, so you can help your Editor most efficiently.

Figure 1 gives the overview of the process from handover to the site going live. It implies a linear process, but in practice this is not the case, as some things can happen in tandem and others happen throughout the process.

Now, let's move on and start looking at the detail.

Video via dog

Download this video clip.Video player: fifa_codes_of_conduct_english.mp4

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Transcript

Dear FIFA Learners, congratulations on reaching the end of the FIFA Guardians Safeguarding in Sport Diploma. I really applaud your dedication and professionalism in making it to this point. I realise you struggled a lot with workloads and multiple responsibilities every day, and this is what makes your achievements even more important.

Thank you so much for your efforts in helping make football safer. This is a really complex area of work that needs people like you for it to succeed. For us at FIFA, this is only the start of a process where we seek to professionalise the role of Safeguarding Officers with our 211 Member Associations.

This is why we hope that you leave this course full of knowledge and energised. Every organisation will be at a different point in its safeguarding journey. But I wanted to highlight a few examples of the main themes you have covered.

You've come so far already. You started by understanding why code of conducts are so important, then developed your own versions with input from external experts. And as the course progressed, you learned how to embed these behaviours to move from compliance to culture.

You also learned how to identify and mitigate risks within football and in your organisation as a powerful tool to help prevent harm. And of course, we discussed how to receive and respond to safeguarding concerns, while always keeping the wellbeing of victims in mind. These are some of the many topics we touched upon.

So, what's next? At FIFA, we believe what is important is to continually improve and make progress by learning from experience and from the work of other Member Associations' colleagues globally. The courses may have raised additional questions or learning needs. This is a good sign that you are curious about learning more, and we would like to continue to help you with this.

All your efforts are valuable. Please do celebrate successes and never forget to make sure you look after your own welfare while taking care of others.

End transcript

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Video via YouTube

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Transcript

NARRATION:

If you could change one thing in the system… what would it be?

SPEAKER 1:

I would choose the people who are working with us... asylum seekers, young people. I would train them more. Probably they are trained as a detector, as someone who gets some information and exchange with the Home Office. They are not trained to be kind and to listen to you. I would train them to be true.

Why don't you just, you know, give me a chance, and let's go outside together. Let's go to McDonald's, get a cheeseburger, and then talk. And then you will understand me.

I would give every refugee their document, their status, because they are all waiting for that stuff. I would say to Home Office, listen to the people, what they are saying. And don't close their folder. And don't shout, don't be rude!

SPEAKER 2:

If someone asked me that question, I would say I would want it to be equal for everyone. Equality. Simple respect would be but enough to not make a difference, say, between asylum or a British person or a refugee. Because if you just respect this person, that's it. That's enough.

SPEAKER 3:

While waiting for status, young people need access to education, vocational courses, fundings for things they enjoy doing, things they are interested in, learning English, and their rights. I feel like maybe the Home Office should do maybe a little more. You know, keeping people busy trying to make you forget whatever it is.

SPEAKER 4

I think, like, being somewhere where you won't be beaten, where you won't be killed, it doesn't necessarily mean that you're safe, you know? Because I believe also your mind has to be safe.

SPEAKER 5:

The way they treat young people, that is what I will change. I think they need to take care of young people more seriously. They go, "oh, we look after our young people," but then actually don't give the young people a chance to talk. They go, "oh, we don't want young people to have stress." But then you look at it. They're the ones kind of giving me stress more than anything else.

They need to have more action because they will be like, "oh yeah, you're going to do this, we are going to do that," but it's never done. They need more actions.

NARRATION:

To all unaccompanied young people: We are doing this research because we care about you. You are not alone.

(Y)our stories in this video show the impact of the UK’s hostile environment. There are clear signs that it will get worse with the 2021 ‘New Plan for Immigration’.

The injustices of ‘the system’ need to be challenged.

Thank you to all the young people who have spoken to us as part of the research. Your insights inspire us.

End transcript

 

Liam interactive

Tick the items that you think our young people mentioned to us.

Storyline interactive

Once the author has completed their part, they will hand over the content in a Word document to the DDE/AE. At this stage, the DDE/AE will most likely supply you with any content that needs adding to the Production Portal. You won’t need to tag anything in oXygen until later down the line. Further information on other documents that will be part of the Editor’s handover to you, the DPA, are given in the sub-section 1.1.7 'Documents – what to expect'.

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Figure 2 Review handover stage

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A graphic showing the steps to be taken at Stage 1 Review handover. DDE: Review handover, prepare briefs. DPA: Add content to portal, request acks.

Review handover stage

The DDE will also prepare briefs for the GMD and IMD. These briefing documents will be cross-referenced with the asset register so that each asset is clearly identified and you can add it to the portal for appropriate Rights clearances.

Note that the asset register is a working document and changes to assets, as well as additions and possibly deletions, are likely throughout the production process. You need to ensure that the asset register is kept up to date, and the DDE will make sure any additional images or interactives are briefed to the GMD and IMD.

Make sure all the information is clear about where the image has come from and who owns the copyright of the image. More about that in the next section.

When the DPA is given the asset register, double check to see if you have all the information you need before uploading the images onto the Production Portal. The basic information you need is:

• copyright owner
• location of image (website URL where the original image sits)
• a copy of the image.

Of course, the more detail that we can provide to the Licencing team the better, and the quicker you will get your assets to clear. More about this can be found in ‘The Production Portal: a guide for ‘Projects’ users’ and ‘Examples of portal listings and checklist’.

Once you have uploaded all the assets, go back to the asset register and compare it to the course content. This is to check you have captured all the assets needed.

Images will need to be resized appropriately, depending on what they are going to be used for:

If the assets are not yet ready, then you should add a placeholder in the appropriate spot. For example, if there is an image that is in the process of image research, the DPA can insert this placeholder image:

Figure 3 A placeholder image

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A black background with some shapes and the words 'Image coming soon' written in the middle.

A placeholder image

Placeholder image download

If an asset is a stock image then you can insert a watermarked, low-resolution version of the image which will then be replaced by a high-resolution image when it has been cleared by Rights. Another way of showing that we are waiting for clearance to use an image is by using an editor comment.

This stage may have started prior to handover, as producing the video and audio assets can take some time.

If the project requires creation of new video and audio assets, the PM will get the Video and Audio (V&A) team involved. The V&A Producer will liaise with the Project Manager to confirm that all is running to schedule, as soon as possible in the production process. Once the assets have been created by the V&A team, they are ready to be uploaded onto the portal. The DPA shouldn’t be uploading V&A’s work onto the portal, as the V&A team will upload the assets they have created themselves. V&A upload their assets to the Commissions side of the portal, which will be a different space to where you upload your assets. You will still need to upload other third-party AV assets such as YouTube videos or other audio. Once V&A assets have been cleared and handed over, make sure to store them appropriately for the tagging stage.

Accessibility

As part of keeping the materials accessible, video and audio assets need transcripts, and videos also require closed captions (sometimes referred to as ‘subtitles’). These are produced by a company called 3Play Media and we can access their portal directly once the files have been created. You can read more about this in the section on 3Play Media. The transcript file needs checking, as sometimes there are words marked as 'inaudible' or an incorrect spelling is picked up. This will be done by an Editor, so make sure to tell them it’s ready. Some Editors have access to 3Play Media and will edit the files directly on the site. Others do not, and will need you to download the transcript first. Make sure to check this with your Editor.

Once the files have been checked by the DDE/AE and any changes have been made on the 3Play Media site, you will need to download the transcript and closed caption files and keep them in a folder, ready to go in the relevant places in the XML. This process is for only video and audio files that the client requires transcription for. For YouTube videos that we link and embed to, we do not traditionally go and get the transcription for this. If the client requires a transcription for a YouTube video, they will alert the DDE and the DPA will organise this.

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Figure 5 Graphics and interactives stage

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A graphic showing the steps to be taken at Stage 3 Graphics and interactives. GMD: Handover graphics. IMD: Handover interactive assets.

Graphics and interactives stage

As you’ve read previously, the DDE will have identified where there is a need for interactives in the course. Most often, these are created by an IMD using HTML5.

However, Corporate & Commercial are increasingly making use of Articulate 360 – particularly its application ‘Storyline 360’ – to create more basic interactives.

You will learn more about Storyline 360  in the section on Articulate 360, but for now its important to know that you may be asked to use this at some point.

Now that all of these elements have come together, it’s time to tag!

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Figure 6 Content tagging stage

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A graphic showing the steps to be taken at Stage 6 Content tagging/proofread. DDE: Review feedback and amends. Author: Review changes. PE: Check/proof content including transcripts. DPA: Tag content, embed asset and interactives and build quizzes.

Content tagging stage

The DDE/AE has been working hard with the client on getting the content edited and, now they have a clean document (or as clean as possible), they will ‘mark it up’ as described in the next section 'Mark up and oXygen'. This document will then be passed to the you (the DPA) who will create the XML file and render to the website.

You will use the marked-up Word file to create the XML file in oXygen and then render it to the website. The word ‘render’ is used to define the process by which the XML file is fed into the website and displayed. If any of the assets discussed previously are ready, you will need to include these in the XML. When we say ‘ready’, we mean, for example, that the image has been cleared, a high-resolution version has been provided and you have made sure the image is the correct size. Likewise, AV assets are ‘ready’ when they have cleared.

Comments and queries

Whilst tagging the document, the Editor might ask you to leave an ‘editor comment’. This is to flag any issues or queries for the client. You can also add your own editor comments for issues that you may have. Do try to flag your issues with the Editor and get them resolved before it goes back to the client, but if you do need to leave a comment in the XML, make sure to add you initials to it so it’s clear it’s from you. Editor comments will show up on the website and must all be resolved prior to the site going live.

[Editor: This is an editor comment.]

As you can see above, an editor comment displays in pink. Note in the contents on the left of the screen, there is clear indication that editor comments are present, so it is easy to check if they are all sorted. Figure 7 shows this, the number one in brackets (1) after 'Project life cycle' indicates one editor comment overall and the next one in brackets (under '1.1.5 Content tagging') shows where the comment is.

Figure 7 How an editor comment displays in the contents on OLC

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A screenshot of the contents menu that appears on the left-hand side of the screen on a course on OpenLearn Create. (1) appears in pink font and italics next to the main content heading 'Project life cycle' and again below next to '1.1.5 Content tagging'.

How an editor comment displays in the contents on OLC

Editor comments can be used for a number of reasons; these include (but are not limited to):

• Unresolved query for the author.
• Acting as a placeholder for images or other assets.
• Query from the DPA that has cropped up during tagging (again, if your query is for the Editor, try to bring this up with them directly rather than through an editor comment).

The DDE will refer to the website version (known as the render) and should resolve as many of these queries as they can. Once resolved, the Editor may ask you to update the file. Once the DDE is satisfied with the render, they will pass it onto the Assistant Editor with a brief for them to carry out the proofread. Normally, this stage is done when the whole website has been completed. However, for larger projects, this might be done in stages. The AE has complete autonomy here and will make any changes they feel are needed.

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Figure 8 Author review stage

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A graphic showing the steps to be taken at Stage 7 Final review. Author: Final review (whole site). DPA: Final amends. DDE: Final amends and checks. Author: Sign off with PM and go live.

Author review stage

At Step 7 – Final Review, the DPA might be asked to make amendments. These look like but not limited to:

• editing the text
• editing the quiz and or quiz questions
• adding more images
• taking away images.

These amendments will come from your Editor.

The last stage of production is the proofread. This is generally done by an Assistant Editor and is a thorough check of the work to make sure no typos have slipped through and that all commas are in the right place!

As a DPA, you won’t be asked to carry out a proofread, but do make sure you’ve done the final checks mentioned in the previous section. If you want to, you can look out for inconsistencies in section or activity numbering – but this should generally have been picked up by an Editor.

Once the Assistant Editor has completed the proofread, the author will review the whole site and flag any last-minute issues. You will make any changes you can and then the DDE will give the site the final check before handing back to the Project Manager and author for sign off and to go live. In this final DPA check, look out for the following:

• All assets are correct. No more placeholders and double check the assets have been put onto the portal and cleared correctly.
• All links work. Including Olinks and Cross Ref links (more about them later on).
• Check there are no more editor comments and they have been all resolved.
• Check any quizzes.

Once all the above has been actioned, your course is ready to go live!

Creating courses is very much a team effort. As a result, it is very important to ensure that everything is clearly recorded and saved in a communal location. This is where the dog server is used. All documents are saved in a folder on the dog server (\\dog\PrintLive\Corporate). Note that ‘dog’ is just a name used to identify this particular server – no actual canines are involved! Your Project Manager will ensure that you know which folder on dog to use and the correct folder structure has been put in place.

Tip

It can be hard to remember where a folder is on dog. You can pin folders in File Explorer to Quick Access. Here’s how to do so:

1. Open File Explorer (folder icon on the taskbar).
2. Navigate to the folder that you want to pin to Quick Access.
3. Select that folder by clicking on it.
4. Click the ‘Home’ tab.
5. Click the ‘Pin to Quick Access’ button. The selected folder is now listed in Quick Access.
6. You can also pin a folder by right-clicking it and selecting 'Pin to Quick Access' in the right-click menu.

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Figure 9 Pinning a folder to Quick Access

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A screenshot showing how to pin a folder to quick access.

Pinning a folder to Quick Access

The table below shows the documents you are likely to receive or create for a course.

As noted previously, all projects are slightly different so the above list may vary, but these are the main documents to give all the information needed to be able to create a course.