Proposals

The TCO 341 Proposal assignment is a group project in which you will prepare a persuasive proposal, twenty pages maximum, that recommends a plan to solve a selected problem.

Not only will your write a proposal document, but you will prepare and delivery a presentation of your team's solution and present it to the class. You will also evaluate your team members based on your perceptions of their contributions to the proposal effort.

To begin, read the 2013 Request for Proposals. Each group should choose one of the projects explained on the last two pages.

2013 TCO 341 RFP

Grading rubrics for the proposal, the presentation, and the team assessment are listed below.

Proposal Contents

Proposals have 5 required sections with an optional appendix.

1. Executive Summary -- a one-page overview of the entire document
2. Introduction -- a one or two page introduction to the document which provides a road map to its contents
3. Technical Approach -- five to seven pages about the process of solving the problem
4. Management Approach -- five to seven pages about managing the solution, including a timeline of events/milestones
5. Conclusion -- a half page or one page summary
6. Appendices (optional) -- can include any related graphs, diagrams, images, or additional content segments

Storyboards

Storyboards are simply "planning documents" used to sketch out portions of the proposal. They're used for brainstorming in groups to gather ideas for use in each section of the proposal. In the storyboard, you think of your key discriminators, section themes, illustrations, and here you're able to rough out the proposal contents without fear of being edited (...yet).

Here's the storyboard template we'll use in class:

1. Storyboard Template (will download as a Word doc)

Each section of the proposal will be due separately and then as a peer review draft and final document. See the schedule or the sidebar for proposal due dates.