Analysis Proposal

When all of these previous documents are supplied, the vendor will come back and deliver a document.  These documents may be a refinement of your prior supply of documents.  The refinement would help both side understand the terms, requirements and deliverables. Normally there are some compromises and trade-offs made at this stage so that the final delivery meets with your expectation in all aspects. Also the vendor is clear of the scope and terms. 

• The scope of the project
• Cost and time estimates
• A basic project plan
• A definition of deliverables
• Acceptance criteria
• Any terms and conditions required
• Any assumptions used to make the proposal

The scope of the Project:

The scope explains the exact understanding of the vendor based on your requirement elicitation.

This document would help you assess the vendors understanding of your requirements. In some cases, you will be able to improve upon your requirement or limit the same, based on the vendor's advice, capabilities and other constraints such as time for launch of the software and your business objectives.

Cost and Time estimates:

When it comes to cost and time estimates, there are three approaches with off shore projects.

• The vendor will bill you for the amount of development man-hours spent on the project
• The vendor and the client agree on a bulk payment for the completion of the entire project
• The vendor and client agree to payments at various deliverables stages

In any case, before commencement of the project all parties must estimate the time for completion of the project. However, if the definition of the user requirement or the vendors understanding of the scope of the project is not clear, then there is always room for delay in the implementation of the project. It is important to remember that the software development process is entirely a human effort involving many people no matter where it is done. Communication plays a major role, as it ensures documentations, discussions and clarification sessions. Although these sessions and processes may be long and tiresome, it is better to ensure that all parties are clear of their needs. Otherwise, delays and risks will come into play in the development process.

A Basic Project Plan:

The software development team will work based on a project plan to minimize risk and ensure that the promises made are fulfilled. There are some sophisticated development tools and project management systems available. Each vendor follows his own system of project management which suites them best. In any case they will have a project plan for the project. You can insist on a project plan, which would indicate possible details such as the number of people required for the project and their skill sets, estimated time of arrival to milestones, the sequence of activities to be completed, the critical tasks and the role and responsibilities of the client. A good project plan with specific milestones will help the client make sure that the project is being executed on time.

With out such a plan the uncertainty will only increase and corrective actions will become difficult to implement. A seasoned software project manager can understand and estimate the project complexity and judge the capabilities of the team based on the project plan. Although it is not very easy to predict the development time accurately, it is important to have one for the purpose of the management of the project.

Terms and Conditions as Agreed by the Vendor:

This section of the document will ensure that both the vendor and client agree to the terms and conditions in order to start the work with a clear understanding. The client's expectation, according to the request for proposal, sometimes may not be fully agreed upon by the vendor, or, there may be exceptions to some of the clauses. 

 

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