Starting the project A well run project is a little like a referee at a football match: if he (or she) is doing a good job you probably won’t notice him. If a project is successful you probably won’t hear about it either. These next couple of lessons will look at stakeholders, what a project proposal is, how to write a project proposal and presenting a project proposal.

Stakeholders Roles (otherwise known as Stakeholders) During the lifetime of the project the project manager will have to liaise with a number of interested parties to ensure that the project runs smoothly. Anyone associated in any way with the project is called a stakeholder. Stakeholders come in many forms and each has different roles in the project.

Project manager The project manager’s job is to manage the project, this may include: – Planning at the outset how the project will be brought into fruition – Assigning and managing tasks and resources (human and material) – Tracking and managing budgets – Ensuring that deadlines are met

– Planning for contingencies – Liaising with all stakeholders – The project manager may not be involved with the nitty gritty of the product; he or she may assign tasks to other members of the team.

Customer/Client Normally this will be the person or people for whom you are doing the job. The customer may or may not be the person who will use your product directly; often the job will be commissioned by management for use by someone else. It is important that the views of the client are taken into account, as in the end it is they who are going to pay you.

Senior management There are two forms of senior management. Firstly, if you work for a consultancy firm your senior management will have to approve your plans as they are committing resources to the project. It is also possible that your client may have senior management: they too will have to approve your plans.

User The user or users are the people who will actually use the product on a daily basis. Their requirements will therefore concern the nitty gritty of the product. They should therefore be consulted very closely about what they need it to do for them.

Suppliers Throughout the project various equipment and supplies will be needed. Obviously you will need the physical equipment on which your product will be run, but also you will need supplies of consumables such as paper and CDs. The project manager has to ensure these supplies are available when needed and will have to negotiate with the suppliers to make this happen.

The late delivery of supplies can cause projects to miss deadlines, so good project management skills are needed to deal with suppliers.

Team member If you are lucky you will have team members to undertake project tasks for you. The project manager will assign tasks to them. Each team member will have specialist skills, so you need to know their abilities before you assign the tasks. In every project there are some tasks that no one will want to do. Someone has to do them, however, so you will need considerable diplomacy.

Peer reviewer Whenever you are undertaking a task professionally, it is always helpful to have someone to go to who will give you their opinion on what you are doing and tell you how they think it can be improved. Examination boards call such a person a ‘peer reviewer’.

Giving constructive criticism is actually a very difficult skill. You need to find someone whose opinions you trust and who will provide you with the feedback you require.

Activity List all the stakeholders in your project and describe what their roles might be

Project proposal So, we have identified the problem and those who are involved – what’s next? – Getting together a project proposal involves further research to get an overall picture of the problem and its potential solution including how it will be organised. – A key point to stress here is that your proposal must be written in layman’s terms – not everyone you are presenting your proposal to will be an expert in Computers! Keep it simple (but not patronising!).

– The purpose of the project proposal is to elicit, from the people in charge (your client and your management), permission to proceed with the project. You will be describing in general terms, what your project will achieve and how it will be accomplished. By giving you the go ahead you management are agreeing that this is what they want the project to achieve.

Writing the project proposal Things to include: – What the project is about – What it will deliver – What the benefits and potential risks are – What the impact will be on personnel and practices – What the functional requirements are – Who will use the products/services that are produced

– How long it will take – When the deadline for completion is – What resources are available/will be needed – Who else will be involved – What ways there are of tackling the project including recommendations

Structure of your project proposal Your project proposal should have a basic structure to include the following headings: – Introduction – Problem – Summary (i.e. a statement of intent)

– Details Hardware and software Use of the product Resources Costs Implementation Deliverables Timeline – Conclusion

Each part in more detail… Introduction (sometimes referred to as Terms of Reference), this is where you start off with a sentence explaining why, and to a lesser extent how, you became involved with the project. For instance “I have been approached by.... of.... to see if I can supply a solution to an issue he/she has with their..... “ etc.

The introduction should then in a couple of sentences summarise what both the problem and your proposed solution are. These will be expanded in the ‘problem’ and the ‘details’ sections, so a couple of sentences is all you need here.

Problem is where you need to write in more detail about what the problem is. Describe how your client became aware of the problem and when and why the problem occurs. How do things work at the moment and what steps have been made to try to solve the problem already?

Activity Describe the problem

Summary is where we give a statement of intent. This should be a short statement of how you intend to solve the problem. What is it your solution is going to achieve and how you are going to approach the solution? You will also need to include a description of the functions the product will have to perform, who will perform them and what the connections are between these functions.

Activity Summarise your solution

Details – here we have a number of sub sections to include, remember that depending on your project not all will be needed. – Hardware and Software – you need to state which application software or combinations of software you are going to create your solution in. You may like to detail some alternatives but make a recommendation of your final choice and reasons for it.

—Also state any hardware you may need. Be aware of the environment the hardware has to work in and suggest products based on that. If the product will run on hardware and software the client already has you need to state this.

– Use of the product – describe the different users of the product and what they will have to do to make it work. How will the system appear to them and what actions will they take? How will they use it in the environments within which they work? What benefits will it bring to the users and are there any potential problems? What constraints would using the product place on the users and what changes to working practices will this require? Remember you will different types of user so you will have to supply this detail for both.

– Resources – in this section you need to describe the resources you need to undertake the project. These can be human resources as well as physical resources. Remember this is the project proposal and we are really only looking for estimates at the present time.

– Costs – if your project is going to incur some costs then you must give your client an idea of what these may be. At this stage you may not know them all, but a reasonably well thought out estimate is essential if you want your client to make a decision about whether to go ahead.

– Implementation – it is unwise suddenly to change from one system to another overnight. Generally, implementation is a gradual process which is done over a period of time. There are a number of reasons for this. No matter how good your testing, and for your project it will have to be very good, you never really know how effective a product is until you try to use it live. You therefore need a fall-back position in case anything goes wrong.

—The users will also have to get used to the system and may need training. You need to think about all of these things when you describe how you are going to implement the system.

– Deliverables – what is the project going to deliver exactly? You are going to have to develop a user guide; you may need to supply training. Remember you need to be very clear about what you are delivering. This section will be open to negotiation depending on what your client wants.

– Timeline – you will be setting deadlines later on in the project but for now you need to look at rough estimates. You must say how long the project will take and when it must be completed. Try to be realistic. Split your project into stages and give an estimated completion date for each stage. This is quite a complex area of the project so ensure that you are not talking gobbledegook! Keep it simple. Use diagrams wherever you can.

– Conclusion – You need to wrap the section up by describing the main details of the project. This gives you another opportunity to sell your project.

Activity Describe your solution! Write the details of your solution in the ‘details’ section and write your conclusion in the ‘conclusion’ section

Activity Presenting your proposal – You will now have to present your project proposal to your teacher. – Create a presentation to present your project to your teacher (imagine they are the client).

Conclusion The project plan is an important phase as it can be the defining moment of how the project will develop over the coming weeks/months. If in presenting your proposal you can get everyone behind you in the most convincing way possible, you will not only get the go ahead but will also ensure that management buys into the project psychologically.

This can be vital during the development process, since one thing you can be sure about is that there will be glitches along the way. If your client and management believe in the project and are enthusiastic about it, negotiations to resolve these problems will be much easier. However, if they are not fully behind the project it will be very easy for them to take an ‘I told you so’ attitude.

Your proposal needs to be detailed enough so that all parties can see that its targets are reasonable and that it has many benefits.