Lessons learned and recommendations from the CYRUS project

The goal of the CYRUS project was to deliver large-scale training activities and raise awareness for the need for cybersecurity. During the project implementation, several challenges emerged that required adjustments to the original plan.

These experiences hold valuable lessons for the design and management of future projects, particularly those involving large partnerships, ambitious key performance indicators (KPIs) and digital learning components.

This leaflet clusters learnings according to target audiences; this article give more detail and provides seven tipps at the end.

Need to adjust target audiences

The project originally planned to target larger organisations as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with trainings tailored to specific job role needs. In the first year of the project, it became clear that larger organisations are particularly difficult to onboard.

Large organisations often have their own training providers or specific platforms they use to train their staff. CYRUS was a new brand in the training sector – even though the trainings came for free, big players such as Coursera or LinkedIn, which have built their reputations over years, must be considererd as competitors for the projects’ trainings.

As a result, the consortium decided to focus more heavily on SMEs, which implied that a lot more companies needed to be contacted to reach the ambitious KPIs.

Ambitious KPIs

The project aimed to train 5,000 people – a KPI that the project’s success would be measured against. While the ambition aligned with the project’s impact objectives, the implementation phase revealed a gap between expectations and goal and the struggle to close this gap.

Although all partners mobilised their networks, which proved solid assets, and went beyond their networks in promoting trainings, e.g., by advertising locally, all efforts proved insufficient to close this gap completely.

In addition to the efforts each partner went to, the consortium took strategic steps to mitigate this issue. They revised training strategy, adjusting the approach to better align with market demand and applied for a four-month project extension to allow additional time for outreach and training delivery.

Adapting the training delivery model

Originally, the CYRUS project planned to deliver primarily in-person training sessions, with only a few offers of online trainings. However, the pilot phase revealed that participants favoured flexible e-learning formats that allowed them to learn at their own pace.

Based on this insight, the consortium adjusted the training strategy. This change required an update to the Description of Action and a reallocation of partner budgets.

The revised strategy included:
1. Transition from in-person training to e-learning delivery: Project partners shifted their activities from organising in-person training sessions to promoting the online courses, including participation in events and outreach campaigns
2. Revision of the training catalogue: The training portfolio was redesigned to focus mainly on introductory e-learning courses, targeting beginners and organisations with limited prior knowledge of cybersecurity
3. Expansion of the target audience: The initial focus on the transport and manufacturing sectors was broadened to include a wider range of organisations
These changes helped increase the relevance and accessibility of the training offer.

Implementing e-learning on a dedicated platform

In the pilot phase, the CYRUS website served as a jump-off point for the different courses and as a delivery platform for some. For the user experience, this was not ideal.

Shifting towards e-learning created the need to develop and operate a dedicated e-learning platform. Therefore, CYRUS implemented its own platform using LearnDash. While this was an improvement for the learners, it was a challenge for the consortium, especially because the project KPIs required a complex setup.

The collection of participant data for project reporting, including registration information, pre-training assessments as well as post-training assessments was crucial. As a result, the platform required a multi-step registration and data collection process, which increased technical complexity.

Improvements to the platform, which became necessary from mitigation measures, required additional budget shifts for development and maintenance, as such systems involve licensing, technical maintenance and ongoing management.

At the same time, the platform offered clear benefits, both for learners and project partners. Learners had centralised and structured access to training materials, and an appealing and easy-to-navigate course catalogue with filtering options. Automatic certification for participants completing the courses enables learners to post the certificates on LinkedIn, thereby giving CYRUS additional visibility. For the project, the platform meant that all learner’s data were available from one source, which facilitated a better reporting process.

Sustainability and platform strategy

Developing and maintaining a proprietary e-learning platform requires significant technical and financial resources the need of which may extend beyond the project’s lifetime.
With the custom platform came the challenge of long-term sustainability. After the end of the project, the courses and the platform require continuous maintenance, updates and hosting. Maintaining a dedicated platform beyond the project duration can be difficult if no organisation assumes long-term ownership or allocates funding.

Local language approach

Localising both trainings and their promotion proved a gamechanger. While webinars, e-learning and in-person events in English generated few registrations, even when supported by paid advertising, local languages made a difference. Trainings, communication and advertising in local languages was needed, especially to reach SME staff that would be interested in creating a cybersecurity culture in their organisations.

Challenges in large-scale training assessment

The CYRUS project envisaged assessing progress in knowledge and skills as well as participants’ level of satisfaction. However, Digital Europe Programme indicators needed to be taken into account. Therefore, the consortium needed to choose a methodology that would enable measuring the impact of the trainings in line with those indicators.

It became obvious that even basic evaluation of large-scale training programmes – such as measuring participant satisfaction or progress in knowledge and skills – required significant operational effort in terms of data collection, analysis and participant engagement.

Conducting more advanced impact assessments, particularly those measuring changes in participants’ professional situation, was methodologically complex, time-consuming and resource-intensive, especially in projects training several thousand participants.

Last, but not least: consortium stability

The 50% co-funding requirement proved one of the major challenges of the CYRUS project. The hefty percentage contributed to partner and staff changes during the project lifetime. Some partners faced financial or organisational constraints that made it difficult to sustain their participation over the full project duration.
These changes created instability in the consortium and bound additional resources due to the required continuous coordination, off- and onboarding of partners and redistribution of tasks.
As a mitigation measure, the project was extended by four months, allowing partners to recover lost time and complete key activities.

What do we take from this?

Flexibility and adaptability are the key factors to make a project resilient and successful.

The CYRUS project is a good example of flexibility and adaptability at work in large collaborative initiatives – not only from the consortium side, but also from the funding authority.

Key lessons include the need to carefully assess co-funding structures, set realistic KPIs, adapt training delivery methods to user preferences and carefully evaluate the technical and financial implications of developing new digital platforms.

By incorporating these lessons, future projects can improve their resilience, increase participation rates and ensure that training initiatives remain sustainable and impactful beyond the project lifecycle.

In a nutshell – seven tipps

1. Every proposal requires certain assumptions. If all of them are right – great. But some might still prove inaccurate.
What you can do about it
Be prepared to adjust if you see an assumption cannot be upheld. Be honest from the beginning to have enough time to adjust.

2. Pilot phases reveal important insights about user preferences that differ significantly from the initial project design.
What you can do about it
Be prepared to assess the assumptions of the project plan: Include structured pilot phases and build flexibility into the project to adapt training formats based on user feedback.

3. Ambitious KPIs motivate strong performance. Yet, they may become unrealistic if conditions beyond the consortium’s control change.
What you can do about it
Include flexible impact pathways and regularly review KPIs to ensure they remain achievable under evolving conditions. If they are not, consider alternative routes.

4. There is no off-the-shelf solution for learning platforms which will accommodate the complexities of projects such as CYRUS.
What you can do about it
Consider using existing training platforms or learning management systems rather than developing your own infrastructure. This can reduce technical risks, lower costs and improve sustainability.

5. Once someone has registered for a course, influence on their completing the course is limited – people still need to take the trainings themselves.
What you can do about it
Avoid entry barriers and lengthy enrollment processes which may dowse enthusiasm for the classes. Take care that your KPIs reflect both registrations and completion of courses.

6. English is a universal language for collaboration. But offering training in local language and supporting the promotion of the offer with paid advertisement in local languages was a game changer.
What you can do about it
Plan training courses in local languages, including English. Foresee paid promotion campaigns in local languages. Take care they are supported by dedicated budget and staff resources.

7. High co-funding rates can unintentionally increase the risk of partner withdrawal.
What you can do about it
Build contingency plans into your project management structures to deal with potential partner changes.