The Cochrane IMS Team

The IMS team consists of two working parties: IMS Development and IMS Support. The six IMS Development team members (a total of 5.5 FTE) are all based at the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen. The four IMS Support team members (a total of 1.68 FTE) are based in Australia, Denmark, England and the USA.

The IMS Director, Monica Kjeldstrøm (1 FTE) oversees the work of both teams and is based at the Nordic Cochrane Centre. The full IMS team amounts to 8.18 FTE.

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Tasks and duties performed by the IMS Development team include:

• Developing, operating (including hosting) and maintaining Archie.
• Developing and maintaining RevMan.
• Producing software specifications for new features.
• Monitoring feature requests and bugs.
• Liaising and planning development work with The Cochrane Library publishers.
• Acting as advisors on central IT issues for Groups within The Cochrane Collaboration.
• Providing data and reports extracted from reviews and other data held in Archie.
• Managing rollout of changes to the IMS throughout the Collaboration.
• Operating and maintaining the IMS website.
• Developing and maintaining web services that feed updated information automatically to www.cochrane.org and other websites (e.g. review titles, synopses and abstracts, contact details for entities and membership of Cochrane groups).
• Preparing material for and presenting work at meetings of the RAG, EMAG and IMSG.
• Preparing and maintaining technical documentation (including technical guides for Archie and RevMan).
• Preparing and maintaining user documentation.
• Providing feedback to end users of recent system changes.
• Encouraging end users to provide feedback on system changes.
• Maintaining a flexible yet professional and friendly approach when assessing and responding to requests from end users.
• Providing technical support to users of the IMS and the IMS Support team.
• Providing user support to staff at Centres, Fields, Networks and Methods Groups.
• Organising and contributing to training workshops for Cochrane entities and trainers of review authors at regional Cochrane meetings and Cochrane Colloquia.

Tasks and duties performed by the IMS Support team include:

• Training new Managing Editors in the use of Archie and RevMan as part of their induction training. This involves a two-day site visit.
• Training of the editorial base staff of all Collaborative Review Groups (CRGs) in the use of Archie and RevMan as required by new developments or on request.
• Training staff at CRG satellites in the use of Archie and RevMan as requested and funded by ‘parent’ CRGs.
• Advising CRG and satellite staff on the optimal use of the IMS in relation to their Group’s particular requirements.
• Providing ongoing support (by telephone and email) to staff at CRG editorial bases and satellites.
• Keeping CRG editorial base and satellite staff up to date on the latest plans for, and improvements to, the IMS by preparing and regularly circulating information (via email and the IMS website) via regular IMS Bulletins.
• Planning and presenting training workshops on Archie and RevMan at regional Cochrane meetings and Cochrane Colloquia.
• Developing and maintaining training programmes and materials; collaborating with other entities involved in training, to minimize duplication of effort.
• Assisting in the development of clear and useful documentation for users of the IMS, including those whose primary language is not English.
• Testing new software features before they go on general release.
• Maintaining logs of training workshops attended by CRG staff, Fields, Networks and Centres.
• Participating in an advisory capacity on the Editorial Management Advisory Group and the CRG Procedures Collection Working Group.

Tasks and duties performed by the IMS Director include:

• Managing IMS staff (including coaching and individual supervision, annual appraisals, recruiting new staff, and conflict resolution).
• Managing and supervising the work of the two IMS teams.
• Project managing IT projects.
• Communicating and managing requests and changes through many communication channels, with people from both inside and outside The Cochrane Collaboration.
• Having close and regular co-operation with several Cochrane groups, in particular the Cochrane Information Management System Group and its advisory groups, the Editors of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, the Publishing Policy Group, the Steering Group, the Collaboration’s publishing partner, Wiley-Blackwell, and the Cochrane Web Team at the German Cochrane Centre.
• Managing the budget for the IMS Development team (including securing and managing the contribution from The Cochrane Collaboration).
• Securing and managing the budget for the IMS Support team, provided by The Cochrane Collaboration; renewing the team members' contracts.
• Negotiating contracts (licences and services) with third parties.
• Managing the Licence Agreement between Rigshospitalet and The Cochrane Collaboration.
• Managing sales of Review Manager and other parts of the IMS to third parties.
• Developing standards for supporting users of the IMS in consultation with the two IMS teams.
• Coordinating the development and dissemination of training courses and material.
• Investigating and implementing strategies to minimise the environmental impact of the IMS.