TASK 3B: WHITE PAPER PROPOSAL (DUE Thursday, 02/10/2005)
LGH
Objective: With this task, students will gain the ability to prepare formal documentation,
such as a full project proposal in the near future.
The “white paper” or “pre-proposal” is probably the most common way that contracts are
made. Industrial ventures are often based on the white paper alone, rendered into a
“contract” with deliverables, time tables and costs. Government agencies will usually
solicit white papers as a predecessor to a full proposal. Many times the “deal” is made at
the white paper level and what follows is simply formality.
In this task, you are to write a brief “white paper” about the senior design project you
intend to do this semester. The pre-proposal should be limited to two pages (including
tables and charts, except images) and be turned in by email (to: dswoon0@uky.edu) as
word document or preferably, in portable document format (pdf). The task outline below
should provide you with enough information to get started.
Pre-Proposal Outline
1. Simple title page which contains:
• Name of project
• Names of team members
• Contact information, e.g., e-mail address, etc of just one of the members.
• Senior Design Advisor
• Date
2. Summarized introduction of the senior design project, including:
• What problem your group is planning to solve and how you are going to
resolve the problem, i.e., explain the gist of your design project. In other
words, what is the rationale behind the proposed project?
NOTE: At this point, try to describe the project at a level that other people
with no engineering background can understand. You may include a scenario
or example to aid the explanation.
•
•
•
The significance of your project and if applicable, why is it innovative?
Short discussion on the potential drawbacks or limitations of the proposed
project, if any. For this part, you may relate to the impact statement, such
as no marketability, not environmental-friendly, too costly to produce, etc.
System diagram and/or conceptual diagram of the prototype with some
concise explanation of the attached figure(s).
3. Project budget:
•
Here, you need to include the expenses spent on the project, e.g.,
electronic components, hardware such as robot wheels, motor gears, etc.
Do estimate if the precise amount is yet to be determined.
4. Project timeline
• For this part, you need to use a basic Gantt chart to represent the timeline
for your project. Indicate milestones, or key events in your project.
• Also, you need to organize it by weekly basis and remember to include the
team member who is responsible for each milestone, if applicable. Below
is a simplified example of a project timeline using Gantt chart:
Milestones
Form teams
Explore
market
Decide on
project
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Chris
Mark
Jeff
Jeff
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Mark
Tyler
Jeff
Chris
Mark
Tyler
Design project
Find parts
Tyler
Tyler
Mark
Chris
Jeff
Tyler
Mark
Chris
Development
Register for
competition
Jeff
Tyler
Mark
Chris
Jeff
Testing
Mark
Tyler
Chris
Jeff
Demo
Mark
Chris
Tyler
Jeff
Chart 1: Tentative Project Timeline