Customization and user involvement strategy for the OptFor-EU Decision Support System (DSS)

This report discusses the adoption and customization strategy and its implementation, following a design thinking logic. The adoption and customization strategy aims to make the Decision Support System (DSS) ready to be adopted by the target groups. In the context of the OptFor-EU project, D.4.1 defines Decision Support Systems (DSS) as computer-based tools which provide support to solve ill-structured decision problems by integrating database management systems with analytical and operational research models, graphic display, tabular reporting capabilities, and the expert knowledge of scientists, managers, and decision makers to assist in specific decision-making activities. This task supports the customization of the DSS to cover different needs and regional differences identified by forest managers from the Case study area (CSA, see deliverable 3.1). Using a Lean Startup approach we address requirements from a variety of forests, including managed, unmanaged, forest types, climate, production, etc. These requirements will provide input for the design and development of the DSS (WP4), in the form of a set of scenario templates. The forest managers will co-create these templates in cooperation with WP4. Lean Startup relies on the early involvement of users, in this case, forest managers. This report is divided into two main parts after the introduction. In sections two and three, we present relevant background and theoretical approaches to user-centered systems development processes and an overview of adoption models and theories for systems development. The purpose of section two is partly to present project partners with background on the issue of systems adoption, and partly to present relevant theory for later scientific publications from WPs 3, 4 and 5. There is a close connection between stakeholders (WP3), DSS design and development (WP4) and adoption/user involvement (WP5), and as such there is a need for a common set of theoretical approaches which we contribute towards here. In section four we present a strategy with activities for user-involvement and evaluation of adoption in the different stages of the DSS development process. Co-creation is central to OptFor-EU (see D3.1 stakeholder engagement plan), and the activities in the userinvolvement strategy are designed to address co-creation issues in the design and development of the DSS’ front-end (dashboard visual interface, T4.4), and also builds on D4.1 (systems architecture and technical specifications). The activities in section 4 are to be conducted during stakeholder workshops and after a working prototype of the DSS is completed and tested by stakeholders.