Building a WARP

If you are convinced that a WARP can offer real benefits to your community then the next step might be to consider how you can go about building and running your own.
Luckily, there is a wealth of support available to assist you.

Regular WARP events

Attending events like the recent CSIA road-shows or the Annual WARPs Forum can be an excellent introduction to the issues related to building and running a WARP. The Annual WARPs Forum also includes workshops, many of which could be directly relevant to operating WARPs with your particular community. Details of WARP-related events will be announced in the News section on this website and on the WARP Operators Bulletin Board.

Support from existing WARPs

All WARPs sign up to a Code of Practice, which is a commitment to encourage and assist new and existing WARPs wherever possible, and uphold the WARP ethos. Representatives of other WARPs will always be willing to discuss any problems you may have. All operational WARPs are invited to join the WARP Operators Forum which meets regularly, and has its own dedicated Bulletin Board

The WARP Toolbox

The Toolbox has been designed to assist people who want to set up and run a WARP. Using  the Toolbox you will be able to:

• get help in producing a business case for a WARP;
• read guidelines, case studies and reference documents;
• download customisable documents, presentations and spreadsheets;
• download publications and WARP marketing material which you can re-use.

Registration as a potential WARP

Once you have a sound business case, it is advisable to officially register your WARP. This can be done using the WARP Registration Application form in the WARP Toolbox.

This will give you access to:

• exclusive specialist software;
• the WARP and NISCC brands;
• help and advice from other WARPs;
• the WARP Operators Forum.

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The following 5 steps will help you to build a WARP:

1) Identify the right community:

The first aspect when considering a WARP is identifying the right community. The experience so far tends to suggest that regional focus is helpful but this might not always be the case.

For the trust building in WARPs, face to face meetings are vital; members get to know both each other and the operator alike. To begin this trust building process the community has to readily identify itself as having a common interest, then identify the business benefit to participation. As a rough guide the ideal WARP community size would be measured in the tens of members, large enough to benefit from the community yet small enough to be trusting.

The other major issue in identifying a community is to be confident that these organisations would be willing to, or at least that there are benefits for them to work together.

2) Identify a champion:

The next step is to identify a champion on the inside who can both advise you on how to engage the community, as well as help you to understand what the community would gain most from WARP. Having identified a champion and feeling confident in moving forward with developing their WARP, the operator should begin to engage their community.

3) Build a business case that is tailored towards the needs of the community:

If an operator is now committed to developing the WARP for the community they should ensure that funding is secured. This will depend on who the operator is and how they normally find funding for projects, but what others have typically sought is twelve months worth of seed funding being replaced by a member subscription model after that.

4) Introduce WARPs to potential members:

Providing the service for free to members for the first twelve months should give enough carrot for members to buy-in. More importantly it gives a whole twelve month window to build up the experience of operating the WARP, including getting to know the community issues, and chance to build the community up to a sustainable level and progress the trust-building process.

5) Keep the momentum flowing:

With everything in place the operator should invite the trial member group to meet together to consider aspects of the WARP that have priority. An operator needs to get to know the members so these early meeting are important. Giving some status to the meeting such as ‘WARP Development Board’ and having proper minutes and actions, may give out appropriate signals, but this will vary from community to community. If the operator reaches this stage, then they have a WARP – congratulations!

The next step is to visit the WARP Toolbox or if you want to see what software is available to support WARPs then visit the FWA Software page.

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