Well-run projects generally have effective communications occurring among project participants. This is even more critical when the Recipient is a consortium consisting of multiple members and different teams from academia, industry, and government.  One such complex Recipient is utilizing a web-based communications tool that identifies ongoing research, development, demonstration, and deployment activities in order to communicate with its various members as well as the interested public. 

The website was primarily developed for consortium members, but it also serves as a source of publicly available information to others. That is, by providing both technical and general information on a freely available website (in addition to an internal site for consortium members) the Recipient is communicating its activities to its members and to the larger world. This enhances project awareness and facilitates improved project management.

The website features abstracts of relevant scientific and technical articles, links to other external databases and tools, and information on upcoming conferences. It also contains an overview of basic project objectives and planned outcomes, a detailed mission statement, and a news section that includes  press releases discussing relevant activities and happenings in the field.

By being an informative and multi-use tool for Recipient members, it keeps them engaged and informed of other members’ activities and thus the overall progress on the multi-pronged project. In addition, the public nature of the disseminated information creates an opportunity to share information and possible findings as the project progresses as opposed to providing this full information at the end of a project. In short, the website helps the Recipient improve overall project management through enhanced communication that keeps consortium members and the interested public engaged in project success.