Project Management

A good project manager is priceless on a project such as this - and a sloppy one will cost both you and suppliers time and money.

The project manager's first task is to set up a timeline in which determination of technical specifications, examination of offers and choice of supplier are important posts. This timeline must suit the project as a whole; there are most likely a number of strategic, corporate political and communications-based considerations that will have to be considered underway.

Here you will find a tutorial that describes an overall process model:

 Overall process model for web development - free tutorial (PowerPoint)

This model is a complete look at the process; where you choose to place technical specification or choice of supplier depends upon how comprehensive your process will be. In a simple process, technical specifications can be determined in phase 1 and choice of supplier could become part of the decisions of phase 2. For a more extensive process, the entire model can be devoted to establishing a list of technical specifications, which then leads to another process for gathering offers from suppliers.