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Home | Advice Brokering
Advice Brokering Service
The following sections describe the stages required to develop, provide and operate the WARP Advice Brokering service. An introduction to the service is also provided together with a description of the infrastructure required. Select a section from the following table to proceed:
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Introduction
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Service development
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Service operation
1. Introduction
The Advice Brokering service provides the WARP members with the ability to set up a dialogue amongst themselves, in a secure environment. Members are able to ask each other for advice on information security issues or offer good practice guidelines based on their own experiences. One way of facilitating dialogue could be to use an on-line bulletin board. The bulletin board would be monitored by the WARP operator, who could be proactive in furthering discussions and summarising any topics of interest. After removing anything sensitive, summaries could then be issued as news items through the Filtered Warnings Service or suitable training organised to help give the WARP that ‘personal touch’. This can also trigger the WARP operator to identify and research topics of common concern, and locate sources of solutions.
The Advice Brokering service allows members to offer their experience or skills to other members, possibly on a barter basis, where one has done work in area that another is contemplating.
Regular meetings between members can be organised to facilitate Advice Brokering. The WARP operator would facilitate these meetings, although it is preferred that a WARP member takes the chairmanship to ensure that the agenda best meets the needs of the WARP community.
This service delivers the 'Advice' part of the Warning, Advice and Reporting Point.
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2. Service development
The Advice Brokering service can be implemented a number of ways. It may be the case that regular face-to-face meetings are the main source of skills exchange for a community. Alternatively instant messaging may be used to gain real-time interaction between members at a moments notice. Perhaps a directory of telephone contact details could be created, with members agreeing to be contactable to discuss subjects on which they specialise.
Most WARPs have found that an on-line bulletin board is a very useful tool to support the Advice Brokering service. The document below summarises the key features of three bulletin board packages that have been used by current WARPs.
 Bulletin Board Review for the WARP Advice Brokering Service (V1.0 September 2006)
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3. Service operation
The Advice Brokering Service is an information exchange, and with all such activities it will not get used unless the WARP members can see an active benefit. The systems used to support this service may vary widely, from e-mail to bulletin board, but in all cases it is a good idea for the WARP operator to facilitate discussion to maintain interest.
One good way to achieve active discussions is to use local knowledge of the interests of the WARP membership, and seek out discussion material related to these areas. Local knowledge can also be used to drive the content provided in a knowledge repository on the website.
A good time to discuss the kind of topics a WARP should address in the Advice Brokering Service is during a periodic face-to-face meeting with WARP members.
A case study on how the London Connects WARP member forums, together with MS Sharepoint, have created an effective Advice Brokering service for LCWARP is described below:
Case study - London Connects Advice Brokering (V1.1 November 2006)
Next step - Trusted Sharing Service describes the third WARP core service.
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