4.Plan the road mapping process (project plan)
An overall project plan should be developed (comprising, among other things, a meeting schedule and timeline for a first draft, review, final draft and launch of the database roadmap to allow the NDWG members to commit to a pre-defined number of meetings/ engagements). Examples of various national roadmaps are available for download or in the documents below:
- MTEC (2017) – Thai national LCI database. National Metal and Materials Technology Center, MTEC
- NREL (2009) – U.S. life cycle inventory database roadmap. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, NREL
- Carlson, R. and A-C. Palsson (1998) – Establishment of CPM’s LCA database – project report. CPM report 1998:3. Chalmers University of Technology. Göteborg, Sweden.
The project plan should define the general structure of the roadmap process, including the method or approach to be used for the consultations and database roadmap formulation. The most suitable set-up depends on the national context and, hence, may vary from one case to another. Different approaches, such as surveys/questionnaires, brainstorming sessions, facilitated workshops or the Delphi method, or a combination thereof, may be used to ensure inclusiveness and establish broad consensus and stakeholder acceptance for the finalized database roadmap.
