Project description

Date Version Contributors

Version 1.0 based on the commented internal Karoliina Luoto /
23.3.2010
project plan Sitra
Arttu Kataja /
22.2.2010 Version 0.2
Avarko

This document contains the project description for the web service renewal
project of Sitra the Finnish Innovation Fund. The purpose of the document is to
provide the implementing team and other interested parties with a description of
the Sitra.fi web service development project as it has been deemed at the
preliminary survey stage of the project. This document is not, however, intended
to set any strict limitations for the implementation of the project.

1. Basic idea: an open and learning project

We wish to carry out the Sitra website project as a learning and open project in
order to use the latest solutions and best practices to achieve the best possible
outcome. We hope that the project will react to the change that will take place in
the world during the course of the project.

The aim is to give the team who is carrying out the project sufficient latitude to
understand the goals of the project and to find the best possible solutions from
their own vantage point. We want that the team is able to utilise the
understanding emerging during the projects and to approach the needs of an
organisation website from a new perspective.

We also want to involve a group of model users in the project and to remain
sensitive and react to their feedback.

Best practices are communicated to others

The upper-level goal of the project is to maintain a discussion about what kinds of
processes and best practices result in the best possible organisation websites.
According to their willingness, other organisations may utilise the project's results
in their respective online projects.

We are aiming for a transparent project that discusses questions and the
solutions to them through, for example, social media. At the same time, external
developers can participate in searching for and finding the best solutions. We
want to make this website project a showcase which could add value to the web
business. At its best, the project will be an inspiring collaboration which both the
participants and the parties following it can learn from.

Open development

The goal in creating and maintaining Sitra website is to remain as transparent as

possible. Our aim is that new developers or technical maintainers can join in at
any time during the website life cycle. This requires that the process of making
the site is continuously and clearly documented.
In practice, this may mean that, for example, the code created in the project is
openly licensed and stored on an open platform, such as SourceForge, and that
there is active involvement in the online discussion emerging around the project.

2. Project implementation
The project has been tentatively planned to be staggered according to the table
below.

Phase Content
• vision (=goals of the service)
1. Preliminary • expected outcomes (=minimum requirements)
survey • survival plan for the project (=this document)
• integration (=technical appendix)
• selection criteria for the supplier
2. Competitive • the web coverage of the project
tendering • user research
• SLAs in contract negotiations
with the development team (3-4 team members)
• sprints 1 and 2 (e.g. 2 weeks each): conceptualisation,
interface design and product backlog
3. Implementation • sprints 3-10: implementation
in Sitra (with extra help)
• producing contents according to the basic concept
• planning the future content production processes

3. How to make the project a success

The factors included in the table below are the critical success factors for the Sitra
website renewal project:
Critical success factor
Finding and appointing a Finding a top-notch team with the required competence
suitable implementation team for the project
The customer's daily
participation so that the
implementation adheres to
the goals
User-centredness and
prioritisation of multiple
needs
Extensively enabling the
success of the
implementation team
Managing an open
atmosphere
Managing the correct
direction
Complete replacement of the
current Sitra.fi website
Description
A customer representative will be fully involved in the
project team by contributing daily to the project.
User-centredness pro organisation-centredness and
prioritisation of needs so that the concept is not
compromised by consensus, but all user groups are
taken into account
Ensuring that the work done by the implementation
team is not hindered by organisational, technical,
political or similar issues
Leadership that establishes an open atmosphere in the
work process. Problems are not hidden, but taken care
of before they escalate and reach a crisis level.
Leadership ensuring the correct direction and goal-
orientation for the work throughout the project
The website created in the project will replace the
current sitra.fi website in its entirety and the
maintenance tool must have the same properties as the
current one.

The success of the project will be measured using the subjective values provided
in the appendix, an image survey, an external usability survey and technical
measuring. An initial indicator set is appended in full as "Indicators of the Sitra.fi
website and the renewal project".

The following indicators have been identifiend as being the most central:
# Indicator Scale Measuring
On average, it is easy for users to tell what
Yes, external
content is firm basic fact, what is changing
7 In most cases, usability
content flow, what is online 'buzz', and
No survey
what is innovation.
external
Is it easy for inexperienced maintainers to Yes,
13 usability
add pictures and videos? No
survey
How large a share of social media Excellent 90–100%,
19 discussion directly related to Sitra's Moderate 70–90%, subjective
operations is shown on the Sitra.fi website? Poor 0–70%
Is a discussion picked up from the social Yes,
20 media shown along with the relevant In most cases, subjective
Sitra.fi content? No
Are the code, working methods or ideas In many cases,
26 created in the Sitra.fi project used in In some, subjective
Finnish online projects? No
3. Project organisation

3.1 Implementing team

The selected supplier will be a motivated top-notch team that is committed to
achieving the highest quality in their work and whose competencies cover at a
minimum the areas specified in the table.

In addition to these competence requirements, the nature of the project requires

that the team members must also be prepared to present their ideas on the Web
using their own names and faces.

3.1. Resources at Sitra

Sitra is willing to participate in the daily running of the project at least for the
part of the key members of its own project team (1–2 persons). The task of
Sitra’s internal project team is to ensure that the daily running of the project is
smooth and to carry out practical tasks related to the implementation of the
project.

In addition, the project will be appointed a steering committee, the task of which
is to support the project owner in critical success factors (the prioritisation of
various needs, extensive facilitation of the success of the implementing team,
managing an open atmosphere and the correct direction).

3.3 External consulting parties

Resources have been allocated for external consultants to assist the implementing
team in its work. The idea is that additional competencies may be purchased to
be utilised in the project whenever the need for this arises. This will improve the
progress of the project and the quality of the outcomes.

It has been planned that the customer and supplier could jointly decide on the
budget for using external consultants. The only limitation would be that this
budget may not be used for purchasing additional work from the supplier without
express approval from the steering committee. It will also be allowed to use the
budget for external consultants for crowdsourcing awards and similar.

4. Supplier selection
In the preliminary survey phase, no detailed specifications have been drawn up
for the competitive tendering, procurement or supplier selection criteria. In this
section we have listed a number of aspects and ideas to be considered in the
tendering process.

Finding and appointing a suitable supplier team is one of the critical success
factors in the Sitra.fi renewal. The intention is to have a national-level top-notch
team for the project. For the competitive tender process regarding the
implementation, the aim is to obtain tenders from both international and Finnish
teams.

Since the Sitra.fi project is governed by goals rather than features, the
candidates will be left substantial latitude to conceptualise a solution that best
meets these goals. The request for tender will ask for an initial concept plan to be
attached to the tender. This request should be clarified by a few illustrative draft
concepts. In terms of concept proposals, the request for tender is similar to
architectural competitions for public buildings in which the participating architects
will deliver fairly well-developed plans already at the tendering stage. It has also
been considered in the preliminary survey phase whether the competitive tender
process should be carried out in two stages. In the first round, a certain simple
set of criteria would be used for creating a shortlist of candidates for the second
round. Only the shortlisted candidates would be requested to provide preliminary
concept designs.

The requirement for attaching an initial concept plan to the tender may exclude
some tenderers from the competitive tender process as it is time-consuming.
However, we believe that motivated top-notch teams are ready to use a certain
amount of time for conceptualisation already at the tendering phase. An incentive
is also included in the request for a quotation, where the five best unselected
concepts will each receive a reward of EUR 1,000. A further condition for
participating in the competitive tender process is that the concept ideas are made
available to the project team and the community around the project, even though
direct copying of the visual aspect is, of course, not allowed.

The initial outline for the supplier selection criteria include:

(1) the evaluation of the preliminary concept plan in relation to the goals,
indicators and model personalities of Sitra.fi

(2) team competence in relation to the project requirements

(3) previous projects carried out by the team (evaluated for the key areas, such
as open source technology, fresh visuals, good usability, search engine
optimisation and clear content concept)

(4) implementation plan

(5) charge per hour (low priority)

(6) quality assurance methods

6. Crisis situations
In a crisis situation, the primary response is to reconsider the goals, the
qualitative and quantitative reassessment of the resources and the improvement
of methods. In an exceptional situation, for example, a team member may need
to be replaced. The ultimate risk management method in an agile project is to
either temporarily or permanently suspend the project. Even though nobody
wants to do this, the project customer and supplier must be ready to take a
timeout for the project in serious problem situations, since in an agile project, the
customer cannot appeal to a signed requirement specification in case of problem
situations. If, for some reason, the project is suspended, it is possible to continue
the work later from the point where the suspension took place. Sitra's right of
temporarily or permanently suspending the project must be taken into account as
part of the competitive tender process and agreement negotiations concerning
the implementation project. The responsibility for the resolution of crisis
situations rests ultimately with the project steering committee.

The aim is to avoid crisis situations by addressing problems early. In fact, one of
the first tasks in the implementation project is to find and agree on the methods
of avoiding problems and resolving them. The starting point for the project is that
crisis situations are avoided by encouraging discussion, instead of creating control
mechanisms in the project. During the preliminary survey, a weekly indicator was
outlined as a method for promoting discussion. In the indicator, the customer's
and the supplier's people in charge of the project assess the project situation
each week by answering jointly agreed status questions, such as "Does the
project adhere to the goals?" and "How effectively is the project progressing?".
Tiedostonimi: Project description, public
Hakemisto: D:\TYÖFILET\Sitra.fi-uudistus
Malli: C:\kameleon\mallit\Normal.dotm
Otsikko: Osia projektisuunnitelmasta v.0.2
Aihe:
Tekijä: Karoliina Luoto
Avainsanat:
Kommentit:
Luontipäivä: 8.6.2010 18:02:00
Version numero: 3
Viimeksi tallennettu: 8.6.2010 18:05:00
Viimeksi tallentanut: Karoliina Luoto
Kokonaismuokkausaika: 4 minuuttia
Viimeksi tulostettu: 8.6.2010 18:05:00
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