Developing Successful Internet Request for Proposals: A Guide Through The Business Process and Technology Maze

Mitch Reed

Format ISBN Price   Paperback (6x9) 9781410732880 £ 13.75   Dust Jacket Hardcover (6x9) 9781410739063 £ 21.50

Does your company need to develop an Internet/Extranet/Intranet?
          What’s the difference?
                    How do you go about selecting a qualified vendor?
                              What information do they need to give you the best possible price?
                                        How do you get started?

Requests for Proposal are expensive to generate, distribute, evaluate and track. Developing Successful Internet Request for Proposals offers a proven approach to producing an effective Internet project RFP. This book will guide you on how to coordinate the entire RFP process, including planning, developing, writing, and executing.

In addition to the RFP process, this book provides the reader details about:

• What information needs to be established before you even begin the RFP effort
• How to develop the content to present your business need to qualified vendors
• Detail how the RFP process and the RFP itself will impact the overall development process
• What deliverables you should expect from the vendor or, at the very least, require as a result of the of the overall project and why you need to know this before sending out the RFP

Mitch Reed has over 15 years of experience in project management and technical communications for several top U.S. and international corporations. During his professional career, he developed planning and development methodologies and worked directly with client development groups during engagements to support the discovery, design and implementation of Internet projects.

The purpose of the RFP process is to act as a general guide in developing and sending RFPs, then receiving and reviewing proposals. The process consists of the following major steps. Each step is discussed in detail later in this book. The RFP Process steps include:

Step 1 – Plan the RFP Project and Form a Team - Identify the basic requirements to launch the RFP effort, identify affected departments, assemble the RFP team, and layout the basic outline of the RFP document.

Step 2 – Define Business Needs, Scope & Objectives - Conduct a competitive analysis, develop a mission statement, identify affected business processes, define desired outcomes, identify critical success and risk factor, and develop an initial scope or statement of work.

Step 3 – Develop Technical Requirements - Identify specific information systems technical requirements, current systems configurations (software and hardware), and performance standards.

Step 4 – Establish a Preliminary Budget - Establish a budget for the planned Internet project and a revenue model if required, and begin the effort to develop the associated ROI (Return on Investment) models.

Step 5 – Develop Potential Vendors List - Research, initiate contact, and eliminate potential vendors leading to a final list of qualified vendors for your Internet project.

Step 6 – Write the RFP - Pull together all the RFP components into a final document.

Step 7 – Send the RFP - Provide the RFP package to your vendors.

Step 8 – Proposal Review Process - Review responses from the vendors with the goal of eliminating all but the top contenders.

Step 9 – Select The Final Vendor and Negotiate A Contract - Select the final vendor and negotiate a contract.

Step 10 – Post RFP Project Process Review - Review the RFP teams performance to identify how to conduct future RFP efforts more effectively.

Why follow this RFP process or any other process?
The benefits of following a clearly defined process include:

Reduced time/cost to generate RFPs – A clear path or framework is defined for all stakeholders from the start of the RFP process to its completion.

Reduced overall project cost – Most companies follow a methodology that begins with a discovery process. That process is often used to define business/technical objectives and to generate a clear project scope of effort. A clearly defined RFP will dramatically reduce the time and cost of the vendors’ effort to understand your company’s business and the specific goals of a web project. It acts as an aid to prevent scope creep as deviations from the approved scope become more obvious.

Reduced risk – All aspects critical to any projects’ success are reviewed before development efforts begin.

Predictable outcomes – With clearly defined objectives, there is a better chance to ensure a complete and successful outcome.

Repeatable and effective process – A repeatable process promotes learning and allows continual refinement.

Flexibility – Adjustments to project goals early on in the process will minimize the resulting cost impact.

Management buy-in – When management clearly understands the benefits to customers and to shareholders/stakeholders of a well-defined project with credible goals, outcomes, and cost, then buy-in is more easily achieved.