Defining the project

A suggestion for a project may come from need, necessity or opportunity. It starts of as an idea once there is substance to the idea it can be called a proposal. When the proposal is accepted it becomes the Project.

The request for the proposal may be in various forms. Formal requests are called R.F.P.'s (Request for Proposals) and are in writing with some details about what the proposed project is about: objectives, what is it supposed to accomplish or do etc. The R.F.P. is similar to or contains some of what we try and define at the first stage of the project. The Definition stage.

A request for a proposal can be informal. e.g. A department head verbally asks for input from the staff for improving a college procedure. The staff may reply with a written proposal.

A group of people may discuss an an idea and if it has merit it can eventfully become a project. One of the group originally 'proposed' the idea. Or, one person may just go ahead and design a project based on an idea.

When a R.F.P. is issued qualified companies respond and submit proposals. The Proposal is a plan of how they would complete the project.

Proposal are evaluated by a committee and the one that best serves the company or is the closest match to the R.F.P. is the winning proposal.

Proposal can be written and presented even there has not been a request for one. e.g. If you had an iea how to get homeless people off the street you could go to the United Way or Toronto City Council with your Proposal and it might be accepted. If it is accepted it becomes a Project.

Therefore, we can Define and Plan a project with various approaches.

We will appply the above next week to a project proposed by the instructor. As indicated by the Stakholder handout, the purpose will be to show the complexity that can develop at the Definition stage. Unless Definition is agreed on by all Stakeholders the project will not result in the objective. All the Stakeholders may have input during the Definition stage. Good management practice would be to build in the opportunity for the various stakeholders to share their input.