Chapter 2 Needs Identification

1
Chapter 2Needs Identification
2
Learning Objectives

• Review the project life cycle
• identifying needs
• proposing a solution
• performing the project
• terminating the project
• Focus on needs identification
• Identify needs and select projects
• Develop RFPs
• The proposal solicitation process

2
3
Real World Example

• Vignette The Hippodrome Theatre Project
• The Hippodrome Theater in Baltimore Maryland
  opened in 1914 as a stop for vaudeville shows. It
  closed in 1980 due to lack of business
• The Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC) presented a
  plan to rebuild the theater and provide services
  to the surrounding neighborhood
• GBC won financial support from the state, city,
  an adjacent county, financial institutions, and
  private foundations
• The 60 million dollar renovation began in June
  2002
• Construction was completed on time. The Producers
  opened on February 10, 2004

3
4
Real World Example

• Vignette Hospital Goes Wireless
• El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, California
  began offering high-speed wireless Internet
  access to patients and visitors in June 2004
  because of long term dialysis treatments
• Three years ago, the hospital lost 13 million.
  In their revised strategic plan, they decided
  technology should become a major focus
• New technology at El Camino Hospital includes
  PCs and PDAs for entering orders for patient
  care, voice over IP for all phones, two levels of
  security for the hospitals internal database,
  new prescription drug order entry systems, and
  new inventory systems
• In addition to cost savings, new IT
  infrastructure improves efficiency of patient
  care and increased productivity

4
5
Identifying Needs, Problems, or Opportunities

• Recognize a need, problem, or opportunity
• Clearly define the problem or need
• Quantify the problem
• Determine the budget
• Prepare a request for proposal

5
6
Project Selection

• Select the project(s) with the greatest benefit
  for the cost expended
• Develop a set of criteria against which each
  opportunity will be evaluated
• List the assumptions
• Gather data and information for each opportunity
• Evaluate each opportunity against the criteria

7
Preparing a Request for Proposal

• State, comprehensively and in detail, what is
  required, from the customers point of view
• Enable contractors or a project team to
  understand what the customer expects so that they
  can prepare a thorough proposal
• The need may be communicated informallyand
  sometimes only orally

6
8
Preparing a Request for Proposal (Cont.)

• Guidelines for drafting a formal RFP to external
  contractors
• statement of work (SOW)
• customer requirements
• deliverables
• customer-supplied items
• approvals required by the customer
• type of contract

7
9
Preparing a Request for Proposal (Cont.)

• the payment terms
• the required schedule for completion
• instructions for the format and content of the
  contractor proposals
• due date for proposals
• evaluation criteria
• occasionally will indicate the funds the customer
  has available

8
10
Soliciting Proposals

• Methods
• Identify a selected group of contractors in
  advance and sending each an RFP
• Advertise in certain business newspapers
• Process considered a competitive situation

9
11
Soliciting Proposals (Cont.)

• Dont provide information that is not provided to
  all contractors
• May hold a bidders meeting to explain the RFP
  and answer questions
• Not all use RFP

10