6/30/2013

Project Management & Construction Practice

Chapter 2

Needs Identifications
Dr Mohamad Syazli Fathi
UTM RAZAK School of Engineering & Advanced Technology UTM International Campus Tel: 03-2615 4211 Mobile Number: 013-3557207 Email: syazli@ic.utm.my Blog: http://dda3033.wordpress.com

June 30, 2013

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

6/30/2013

Real World Example

Vignette: Successful Messaging Services in Poland
Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa (PTC) is Poland Polands s leading wireless services provider, and maintains Era, the largest mobile network in Poland. Powered by Sun Internet Mail Services (SIMS), PTC introduced Eranet, a messaging system designed to notify mobile subscribers by cell phone text messages when they have new e-mail. They expanded offerings to customers by delivering two-way SMS services. A detailed needs assessment was a key to this successful initiative. Sun Services helped to map out all of the requirements for the Eranet project from the beginning and remained involved at every stage. They developed an implementation plan, first determining needs and then designing effective solutions solutions. Project was completed in just 12 months 50 percent earlier than anticipated. With the implementation of the new Sun e-mail software, PTC was able to grow its subscriber base by approximately 80 percent in one year, with the anticipation of further growth.

Real World Example

Vignette: Red Light, Green Light
Catherine Aczel Boivie joined Pacific Blue Cross in 2003 as VP of Information Technology. She and the CEO agreed on two principles: (1) Technology has no value alone, and (2) technology management needs to focus on enabling business as opposed to operations. Pacific Blue Cross created a Balanced Scorecard - that displays and measures the organizations performance from six perspectives: qualitative, quantitative, infrastructure, clients, people, and communityg related goals. Boivie then introduced the project management office (PMO) function. A report she called the Traffic Light was implemented to allow the PMO to regularly report project status. During Boivies second year at Pacific Blue Cross, she introduced a gating process to govern her projects. Boivie is confident that the project management processes she put in place will help ensure advancing business goals, on time and within budget.

6/30/2013

Needs Identification
It is the initial phase of the project lifecycle
Starts with recognition of a need, problem, or opportunity Ends with the issuance of a request for proposal (RFP)

Customer identifies a need, a problem, or an opportunity for a better way of doing something
Sees benefit in undertaking a project to result in improvement

Needs Identification (Cont.)

Prior to preparing an RFP:
Recognize a need, need problem, problem or opportunity Clearly define the problem or need Quantify the problem Determine the budget Select the project(s) with the greatest benefit for the cost expended

6/30/2013

Project Selection
Involves evaluating various needs or opportunities, and then deciding which of these should move forward as a project to be implemented Steps in project selection:
Develop a set of criteria against which each opportunity will be evaluated List Li the h assumptions i Gather data and information for each opportunity Evaluate each opportunity against the criteria

Project Selection (Cont.)

Group consensus lead to better quality decision and higher acceptance of the decision Effective approach selection committee to develop a set of evaluation criteria In most cases selection based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative evaluation

6/30/2013

Preparing a Request for Proposal

1. State, comprehensively and in detail, what is required, from the customers point of view 2. Enable contractors or a project team to understand what the customer expects so that they can prepare a thorough proposal 3. The need may be communicated informallyand sometimes only orally

Preparing a Request for Proposal (Cont.)

Guidelines for drafting a formal RFP to external contractors: t t
Statement of work (SOW) Customer requirements Deliverables Customer-supplied items Approvals required by the customer Type of contract

6/30/2013

Preparing a Request for Proposal (Cont.)

The payment terms The Th required i d schedule h d l for f completion l i 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

Soliciting Proposals
Methods:
1. Identify a selected group of contractors in advance and send each an RFP 2. Advertise in certain business newspapers 3. Process considered a competitive situation

6/30/2013

Soliciting Proposals (Cont.)

4 Dont 4. Don t provide information that is not provided to all contractors 5. May hold a bidders meeting to explain the RFP and answer questions 6. Not all use RFP