Page 65 - DMGT521_PROJECT_MANAGEMENT

Project Management

Notes 4.9.1 What makes a Good Proposal?

One attribute is appearance. A strong proposal has an attractive, professional, inviting appearance.
In addition, the information should easy to access.
A second attribute is substance. A strong proposal has a well-organized plan of attack. A strong
proposal also has technical details because technical depth is needed to sell your project.
Remember: A proposal is a persuasive document.

4.9.2 Required Format

One aspect of layout is the incorporation of illustrations. In your proposal, each illustration
should have a name and be formally introduced in the text. Illustrations consist of figures and
tables. Figures include photographs, drawings, diagrams, and graphs. Each figure should have
a stand-alone caption, and the key points and features should be labelled. Tables are arrangement
of words and numbers into rows and columns. Use tables to summarize lists that the audience
will try to find later (the budget, for instance).
Department of Information Technology supports R&D projects in industries (public and private
Sector), academic institutes, research labs in the identified thrust area related to Information
Technology (Hardware/Software), Information and Broadcasting, Industrial Electronics,
Consumer Electronics, Microelectronics and Photonics, Capital Good Development, Strategic
Electronics, Communications, Rural Application, Health and Biotechnology, Components
including microwaves and millimeter waves and Materials.
According to Max Wideman, author of A Management Framework for Project, Program, and Portfolio
Integration, the project portfolio life span consists of the following steps:
1. Identification of needs and opportunities
2. Selection of best combinations of projects (the portfolios)
3. Planning and execution of the projects (project management)
4. Product launch (acceptance and use of deliverables)

5. Realization of benefits
Many organizations focus only on Step 3, which involves the planning and execution of projects.
However, from a project portfolio management point of view, the focus should be placed on the
entire process and not on a single step.
Let’s talk about each step and then discuss how the entire process fits together to deliver the best
value for an organization.
First, ideas, opportunities, and needs are evaluated based on a predetermined screening process.
This screening process starts with the creation of your organization’s mission, vision, strategy,
goals, and objectives. Once the baseline is established, the ideas, opportunities, and needs are
measured against the baseline. Do these new ideas align with corporate strategy? Will solving
a defined need improve the value proposition for your business?
Second, once an idea is validated, it continues through the screening process in order to create
the best combination of projects for the company. Which of the many good ideas should the
organization pursue? Which of all the opportunities will provide the most value for the
organization? In this stage, the ideas, opportunities, and needs identified in Step 1 are put
through an additional filter to select the best projects for the portfolio. This concept phase weeds
out the good projects in order to select the best projects.

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