Program Solicitation: NSF 97-64
Closing Date: June 12, 1997
SBIR Phase II -- Proposal Cover Page
TOPIC NO.
SUBTOPIC NO. (if any)
TOPIC TITLE
000000-11111- 22222
N/A
Receipt Tracking Assistant
PROPOSAL TITLE Receipt Tracking Assistant SBIR II Proposal
EMPLOYER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER (EIN)
OR TAXPAYER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER
(TIN)
Receipt Tracking Assistant
333-333-3333
ADDRESS (including address of Company Headquarters and zip code plus four digit extension)
NAME OF COMPANY
Receipt Tracking Assistant
Old Dominion University
Computer Science Department
4700 Elkhorn Ave. Suite 3300
Norfolk, VA 23529-0162
REQUESTED AMOUNT
PROPOSED DURATION
$100,000
6 months
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE
Jan, 2005 – July 2005
THE SMALL BUSINESS CERTIFIES THAT:
1. It is a small business as defined in this solicitation (Section 2.12)
2. It qualifies as a socially and economically disadvantaged business as defined in this solicitation. FOR STATISTICAL
PURPOSES ONLY.
3. It qualifies as a woman-owned business as defined in this solicitation. FOR STATISTICAL PURPOSES ONLY.
4. NSF is the only Federal agency that has received this proposal (or an overlapping or equivalent proposal) from the
small business concern. If No, you must disclose overlapping or equivalent proposals and awards as required by this
solicitation. (See Section 3.3.m)
5. A minimum of two-thirds of the research will be performed by this firm in Phase II
6. The primary employment of the principal investigator will be with this firm at the time of award and during the conduct
of the research.
7. It will permit the government to disclose the title and technical abstract page, plus the name, address and telephone
number of a corporate official if the proposal does not result in an award to parties that may be interested in contacting
you for further information or possible investment.
8. It will comply with the provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ( P. L. 88-352) and the regulations pursuant thereto.
9. It has previously submitted proposals to NSF (EXCLUDING PHASE I SBIR).
10. It previously submitted this proposal (which was declined previously) and significant modifications have been made
as described in Section 4.5 of this solicitation.
Y/N
Y
N
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
PRINCIPAL INVESIGATOR / PROJECT DIRECTOR
NAME Carlton Northern
TITLE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
SOCIAL SECURITY NO.
HIGHEST DEGREE / YEAR
E-MAIL ADDRESS
333-33-3333
TELEPHONE NO.
Bachelor of Science/2005
FAX NO.
ed@cs.odu.edu
WEB ADDRESS
555-0000
NAME
Edward Denecke
PRESIDENT'S NAME
555-0001
http://www.cs.odu.edu/~cpi/cpi-2-s2005/rta
COMPANY OFFICER (FOR BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL MATTERS)
TITLE
TELEPHONE NO.
Principal Investigator/ Project Manager
OTHER INFORMATION
YEAR FIRM FOUNDED
555-5555
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES AVERAGE
PREVIOUS 6 MO.: 6
CURRENTLY: 7
Hill Price
1995
PROPRIETARY NOTICE: See Section 5.4 for instructions concerning proprietary information.
(Check Here if proposal contains proprietary information.)
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Certification Page
Certification for Principal Investigators
I certify to the best of my knowledge that:
(1) the statements herein (excluding scientific hypotheses and scientific opinions) are true and complete, and
(2) the text and graphics herein are as well as any accompanying publications or other documents, unless otherwise
indicated, are the original work of the signatories or individuals working under their supervision. I agree to accept
responsibility for the scientific conduct of the project and to provide the required progress reports if an award is made
as a result of this application.
I understand that the willful provision of false information or concealing a material fact in this proposal or any other communication submitted
to NSF is a criminal offense (U.S. Code, Title 18, Section 1001).
PI/PD
Name (Typed)
Edward Denecke
Signature
Date
Mar 4, 2005
Certification for Authorized Organizational Representative or Individual Applicant
By signing and submitting this proposal, the individual applicant or the authorized official of the applicant institution is: (1) certifying that
statements made herein are true and complete to the best of his/her knowledge; and (2) agreeing to accept the obligation to comply with NSF
award terms and conditions if an award is made as a result of this application. Further, the applicant is hereby providing certification regarding
Federal debt status, debarment and suspension, drug free workplace, and lobbying activities (see below), as set forth in the Grant Proposal
Guide (GPG), NSF 95-27. Willful provision of false information in this application and its supporting documents or in reports required under
an ensuring award is a criminal offense (U.S. Code, Title 18, Section 1001).
In addition, if the applicant institution employs more than fifty persons, the authorized official of the applicant institution is certifying that the
institution has implemented a written and enforced conflict of interest policy that is consistent with the provisions of Grant Policy Manual
Section 510; that to the best of his/her knowledge, all financial disclosures required by that conflict of interest policy have been made; and that
all identified conflicts of interest will have conflict of interest policy. Conflicts which cannot be satisfactorily managed, reduced or eliminated
must be disclosed to NSF.
Debt and Debarment Certifications (If answer "yes" to either, please provide explanation.)
Is organization delinquent on any Federal debt?
YES
Is the organization or its principals presently debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, declared
YES
ineligible, or voluntarily excluded from covered transactions by a Federal Department or agency?
NO X
NO X
Certification Regarding Lobbying
This certification is required for an award of a Federal contract, grant or cooperative agreement exceeding $100,000 and for an award of a
Federal loan or a commitment providing for the United States to insure or guarantee a loan exceeding $150,000.
Certification for Contracts, Grants, Loans and Cooperative Agreements
The undersigned certifies, to the best of his or her knowledge and belief, that:
(1) No Federal appropriated funds have been paid or will be paid, by or on behalf of the undersigned, to any person for influencing or
attempting to influence an officer of employee of any agency, a Member of Congress, an officer or employee of Congress, or an employee of a
member of Congress in connection with the awarding of any federal contract, the making of any Federal grant, the making of any Federal loan,
the entering into of any cooperative agreement, and the extension, continuation, renewal, amendment, or modification of any Federal Contract,
grant, loan, or cooperative agreement.
(2) If any funds other than Federal appropriated funds have been paid or will be paid to any person for influencing or attempting to influence an
officer or employee of any agency, a Member of Congress, and officer or employee of Congress, or an employee of a Member of Congress in
connection with this Federal contract, grant, loan, or cooperative agreement, the undersigned shall complete and submit Standard Form-LLL,
"Disclosure of Lobbying Activities," in accordance with its instructions.
(3) The undersigned shall require that the language of this certification be included in the award documents for all sub awards at all tiers
including subcontracts, sub grants, and contracts under grants, loans, and cooperative agreements and that all sub recipients shall certify and
disclose accordingly.
This certification is a material representation of fact upon which reliance was placed when this transaction was made or entered into.
Submission of this certification is a prerequisite for making or entering into this transaction imposed by section 1352, title 31, U.S. Code. Any
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person who fails to file the required certification shall be subject to a civil penalty of not less than $10,000 and not more than $100,000 for each
such failure.
Authorized Organizational Representative
Signature
Date
Name /Title (Typed)
May 4, 2005
Edward Denecke
Telephone Number
Electronic Mail Address
Fax Number
555-0000
ed@cs.odu.edu
555-0001
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National Science Foundation
Small Business Innovation Research Program
Program Solicitation No: NSF 97-64
Project Summary
FOR NSF USE ONLY
NSF PROPOSAL NO.
NAME OF FIRM
Receipt Tracking Assistant
ADDRESS
Engineering & Computational Sciences Bldg.
4700 Elkhorn Ave.
Suite 3300
Norfolk, VA 23529-0162
PRINICPAL INVESTIGATOR (NAME AND TITLE): Edward
Denecke, Project Manager
TITLE OF PROJECT: Receipt Tracking Assistant
TOPIC TITLE
Receipt Tracking Assistant
TOPIC NUMBER AND SUBTOPIC LETTER
000000-11111-22222
PROJECT SUMMARY
(200 words or less)
The Receipt Tracking Assistant (RTA) is a powerful software tool that
allows an organization to manage employee and/or associate expense receipts.
Modern organization associates are traveling at an alarming rate. Americans
make more than 405 million long-distance business trips each year. What are
these business travelers spending their money on? More importantly, how much
of it needs to be reimbursed by the sponsoring organization? Currently, the
expense receipts from these trips aren’t being managed as efficiently as they
could be: 66% of organizations do not use any type of electronic reimbursement
management software at all.
By incorporating a powerful database backend with a user-friendly and
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intuitive user interface, RTA will provide an inexpensive solution for all expense
tracking and management needs. RTA will allow the user to scan expense
receipts quickly and easily. Then, it will extract and parse the data from these
receipts, automatically filling out expense reports. RTA will also allow the creation
of custom expense reports and employee profiles. By our estimates,
organizations will be able to cut the required time for expense management in
half.
Potential Commercial Applications of the Research
System Integration, Financial Records, Standardize Expense Reports, Statistical Data
Key Words to Identify Research or Technology (8 maximum)
Optical Character Recognition, Text Parsing, XML, Excel, Twain_32
NSF Form 1304 (SBIR 12/96)
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Table of Contents
1. Result of the Phase 1 Project …………………………………………….………….7
2. Phase II Technical Objectives, Approach, and Workplan………………….………..9
3. Organizational Information …………………………………………….…………..12
3.1 Personnel ………………………………………………….………………13
3.2 Future Staffing……………………………………………….……………14
4. Consultant and Sub-Award Agreements …………………………….……………..15
5. Equivalent Overlapping Proposals to Other Agency ……………………….……...16
6. Biographical Sketches……………………………………………………………...18
7. Proposal Budget ……………………………………………………………………22
7.1 Salaries and Wages………………………………………………………..22
7.2 Principle Investigator………………………………………………...……25
7.3 Key Personnel……………………………………………………………..26
7.4 Permanent Equipment…………………………………………………….27
7.5 Consultants………………………………………………………………..29
7.6 Sub-Awards……………………………………………………………….30
7.7 Indirect Costs……………………………………………...………………31
8. Payment Schedule and Milestone Chart ……………………………...……………32
9. Commercialization Plan…………………………………………………...………..35
9.1 Introduction of the SBIR Project, Expected Outcomes, and Impact…..….35
9.2 The Company……………………………………………………….....….36
9.3 The Market, Customer and Competition……………………………….…36
9.4 Intellectual Property Protection……………………………………….…..37
9.5 Financing……………………………………………………………….…37
9.6 Revenue Stream……………………………………………………….….38
10. Phase 1 Final Report ……………………………………………………………..39
11. Appendix……………………………………………………………………….…41
11.1 Evaluation Plan……………………………………………………….…41
11.2 Resource Plan………………………………………………………...…43
11.3 Management Plan……………………………………………………….45
11.4 Staffing Plan…………………………………………………………….47
11.5 Risk Assessment ……………………………………………………….49
11.6 Work Breakdown Structure…………………………………………….54
11.7 Budget…………………………………………………………………..56
11.8 Interviews………………………………………………………………58
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1. Result of the Phase 1 Project
This Phase I SBIR research project studied the feasibility of implementing the
Receipt Tracking Assistant. During the course of research and prototype development,
several issues arose, mandating change to the original scope and depth of the prototype
development. Given the time and monetary constraints inherent in a typical Phase 1
study, the RTA was scaled back in design to demonstrate core functionality.
Development of the prototype during Phase I resulted in the elimination of several
original design goals. The most fundamental of these was the elimination of RTA optical
character recognition capabilities. Developing an OCR software system, in and of itself,
is a length endeavor. In the interest of not “reinventing the wheel” RTA focused
primarily on developing a software system that could interface with the native OCR
capabilities found in many modern optical scanners, to produce an efficient and accurate
expense report generation tool.
In addition to the elimination of a custom OCR package, several other minor
functional modules were eliminated, or emulated. Among these were the XML
capabilities and remote expense management abilities of the RTA system. Future
research and funding will focus on developing these modules, as well as their integration
to the core RTA system.
The feasibility study of the RTA system concluded that developing an
organizational expense report tool was possible. The strength of our project
implementation rests in its flexibility to work with any TWAIN32 optical scanner that
comes bundled with an OCR software package. The RTA system successfully
manipulated OCR text output from a scanning device and proved that accurate parsing of
data fields was possible. The RTA team also proved that our implementation had high
levels of reliability, concerning data accuracy rates.
Another conclusion of the Phase I research was that data analysis of current
expenses against historical figures was an efficient mechanism for catching erroneous or
fraudulent expense amounts. This tool proved useful in generating an accurate and fair
expense report.
The RTA system was developed for use on any current version of the Windows
operating system, starting with Win 95 up to Win Professional. System requirements
were fine tuned, and several scanning devices were tested in conjunction with the RTA
system. Additionally, the optical scanner vendor candidates selected for testing by RTA
were Hewlett Packard, Canon and Epson. These manufacturers account for over half of
current market share in the scanning industry, and as such are a reasonable test bed for
RTA compatibility. RTA testing of these devices proved that while OCR error rates
fluctuated between vendors, the RTA system proved robust enough to handle any
discrepancies and variations with minimal impact on expense generation. Primarily, this
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robustness originates with the successful implementation of our image to text comparison
fields, embedded within the expense generation interface of the RTA product. This
comparative ability consists of demonstrating to the user the original image of the
scanned receipt being added to the system, and the resultant OCR text associated with the
image. By visualizing this information side by side, the RTA allows a user to
immediately spot and correct any flaws introduced by faulty OCR algorithms.
Additionally, the RTA team created an initial file manipulation tool that will
allow for quick ramp-up of future XML capabilities. The file generation and organization
logic built into the RTA allows users to store their expense data file and can easily
undergo conversion to XML.
In conclusion, the feasibility of the Receipt Tracking Assistant was demonstrated
through the implementation of robust and flexible code development using Microsoft
Visual Basic and third party OCR software.
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2. Phase II Technical Objectives, Approach, and Workplan
The second phase of the Receipt Tracking Assistant will explore several new
areas of research and development. These innovative objectives will be aimed primarily
at developing a fully functional working production model of the Receipt Tracking
Assistant. In order to complete this project, the core functionality of the RTA prototype
will be augmented and additional services and features added.
Several of the key functional components of the Phase I prototype were simulated
versions of their ultimate form. The ability of the RTA to interface with an OCR software
API, for instance, was discarded in favor of direct file manipulation. Additionally, several
key characteristics of our desired final form were not completed in the interest of time
and monetary constraints. The ability of the RTA to communicate via Hypertext protocol
remotely from traveling employee to business is one such example of a sidelined ability.
It will be during Phase 2 that the full innovative functionality of the Receipt Tracking
Assistant is developed.
One of the first objectives of Phase 2 will be complete augmentation of native
OCR communication to the RTA software system. This will allow the RTA to interface
with the any TWAIN32 compatible API. The purpose of this is to provide RTA with the
ability to call the scanner and directly receive parsed information from a receipt image.
This technology would allow a user to control a second party software system from the
RTA, allowing a more streamlined working process.
The second objective of Phase 2 concerns the creation of a receipt template. This
template is a user selected option that helps RTA eliminate non important data fields
from receipts. The idea is that certain receipt types, such as plane tickets, hotel receipts,
or equipment purchases all follow a general pattern of data grouping, making it possible
to ignore certain areas of the printed surface. By ignoring this data, the RTA can focus on
the important financial information found in critical areas.
Another technical objective for Phase 2 development is the addition of a remote
access manager. This remote manager would allow a business traveler to communicate
with their central business office and exchange travel expense information while away.
Such functionality would greatly speed up travel expense filing, as the office can work on
expense generation before the employee is even back from their trip. Also, if
questionable expenses occur, the office can contact the employee to request confirmation,
and even potentially allow an employee to dispute a charge before leaving. This
technology would use hypertext protocols to communicate and provide a secure shell for
information exchange.
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With remote access, the RTA will concurrently develop XML style formatting for
the purpose of long term data storage and database interfacing. XML is a widely accepted
markup language that is powerful and extremely flexible. This combination will allow
any information transformation to occur very efficiently. XML provides for universal
recognition of data, across platforms and storage systems. Finding a way to integrate this
XML into the RTA package will provide somewhat challenging, but the increased
functionality it provides will be instrumental in wide acceptance.
Along with the previously mentioned objective comes the need for enhanced error
recognition and OCR support. The RTA will need to develop and extensively test a
receipt checking mechanism that will catch any potential errors in monetary information
or other sensitive fields. Due to the nature of parsing receipt data, discrepancies may arise
when a receipt is damaged. OCR systems, although very accurate, are not flawless. The
RTA will employ automatic error highlighting, calling the attention of the user to any
fields that are questionable in nature. This will be accomplished in several ways. The
RTA can maintain a historical database of expenses for certain areas, or items. Any
amount that presents a deviation from historical precedence may raise a flag, allowing the
user to verify or correct. The technology to provide this service reliably and efficiently is
a significant goal during the second phase of development.
The addition of these complex modules will have to be represented in the RTA
graphical user interface. To this end, the existing interface will be expanded and
improved upon. This technical goal is instrumental in maintaining a sleek user interface,
while providing the above powerful tool sets to the RTA. The interface is what the end
user will manipulate, and arranging functionality in a logical and clear manner is
important.
Finally, each and every new system will be validated and tested thoroughly.
Ultimately the goal of the RTA is to provide a reliable and easy to use expense generation
system that will decrease the amount of time required by employees to input appropriate
data. In order to meet this goal, it is crucial that new functional modules are tested for
shortfalls, disconnects, and logical errors. Extensive debugging of code will be conducted
to ensure a stable operating platform. Beta testing of all interfaces will occur to point out
shortcomings in ease of use, and logical flow.
The approach of the RTA team in addressing these goals is to employ a top down
schema, where teams are assigned work as per their unique abilities. As each team
develops a system for integration, extensive testing will occur at each step of the
development process. Analysis, design, implementation and validation will be an iterative
process that occurs throughout the lifespan of each team based project. A framework for
communication between team leaders and project manager will be established to reduce
ambiguity and ensure a product is developed on time and within budget constraints.
Additionally, a work breakdown structure will be used to plan total man hours
necessary, as well as provide a timetable to track progress. A complete work breakdown
can be found in the supplementary section of this document.
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The general work breakdown for Phase 2 can be found in the diagram below:
In Phase Two, the RTA undergoes the critical design process. The very
first step in the critical design process is to update the documentation created in
Phase One. The system design of the entire RTA product is developed with
requirements first and then moving on to coding the functionality of the RTA
product. The functionality of the RTA product includes the following:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
GUI Implementation
Scanner Recognition Implementation
Database Profile Handling Implementation
OCR Usage Implementation
Expense Report Template Creation
Remote RTA Access
Database XML Implementation
Error Checking and Handling
Customizable Report Algorithm
The functionality of the RTA product will all be coding in this critical design
phase of the RTA product design process. Functionality of the RTA product will be
tested thoroughly after it has been implemented. A full system verification process is
involved where the team tests the product as a whole. The starting of the marketing plan
is also in the critical design process.
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3. Organizational Information
The Receipt Tracking Assistant team is composed of several noteworthy
individuals. Most of these principle developers began their association with this project
during Phase 0 of the development cycle and continued on to the present state of RTA
development. The team members listed below are devoted to the continued success of the
Receipt Tracking Assistant, and plan to contribute during Phase 2 of RTA development.
The team is dedicated to further expanding our knowledge of the computer
science field. The objective of our team is to propose a technological innovation to solve
the lack of automated expense reporting. We believe through hard work and dedication,
we can achieve our goals and objectives. It is our duty to uphold our principles of
honesty, truth, and integrity in order to achieve our ultimate goal to make the RTA
solution a reality.
Receipt Tracking Assistant: Team Organization
Hierarchy
General Manager
Gene Price
Project Manager
Ed Denecke
Assistant Manager
Programming Supervisor
Wayne Yee
Programmer:
Andrej Ciric
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Marketing
Manager:
Nick Tschohl
Programmer:
Mike Schaefer
Programmer:
Meriel
Regodon
Old Dominion University Computer Science
Receipt Tracking Assistant
Graphic
Artist:
Philip Ly
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3.1 Personnel Information
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Ed Denecke
Management:
Project Manager,
Web Design
Andrej Ciric
Technical:
Programmer, SBIR
Organization
Mike Schaefer
Technical:
Programmer, SBIR
Organization
Assists in the
development of
RTA system
functionality.
Meriel Regodon
Technical:
Programmer, Risk
Assessment
Manager
Assists in the
development of
RTA system
functionality.
Nick Tschohl
Marketing:
Marketing Director
Plans RTA
marketing
strategies.
Wayne Yee
Management:
Assistant Project
Manager,
Programmer
Assists in the
development of
RTA system
functionality.
Philip Ly
Technical:
Graphic Artist,
Software Analyst
Develops graphics
in conjunction with
the RTA team.
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In charge of
directing RTA
activities, as well as
planning long term
goals.
Assists in the
development of
RTA system
functionality.
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3.2 Future Staffing Plans:
The RTA team will employ several groups of individuals in addition to the core
team presented above, in future staffing. These individuals consist of possible legal
counsel, a software consultant, and intern software developers. Each of these groups will
have either one or multiple members of the core RTA team as advisors, or liaisons.
Coordination of future activities will occur at the appropriate time as outlines in the work
breakdown structure for Phase II.
Additionally, the RTA team will employ certain administrative team members
throughout the development process to handle human resources issues and daily
organization.
Management for the RTA team will be loosely based upon the following
structure:
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4. Consultant and Sub-Award Agreements
Assistance to the Receipt Tracking Team will be provided on an “as needed”
basis in certain circumstances. The following positions will be used for technical
assistance in development of Phase 2 objectives, and as counsel in decision making
processes.
Software Consultant: The software consultant will provide information regarding
the organization and integration of OCR functionality into the RTA prototype.
Estimated Hours: 560
Rate: $58.00
Software Developer I: The developers hired by RTA will conduct coding of
various system modules for integration as directed by the RTA team.
Estimated Hours: 1200 nominal
Rate: $15.00
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5. Equivalent Overlapping Proposals to Other Agency
 N/A
5.1 References
Funding Agencies
National Science Foundation
http://www.nsf.gov
Small Business Administration
http://www.sba.gov/
Competition
Neat Receipts
www.neatreceipts.com
Quicken 2005 Premier Home & Business
www.quicken.com/
Microsoft Money 2005 Small Business
www.microsoft.com/
Hardware
Small Business Server PowerEdge 6650
configure.us.dell.com
HP Officejet 9130 All-in-One (C8144A)
www1.hp.com
USB Cable
www.compusa.com
Developer Software
Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 Enterprise
www.asap.com
Microsoft Office 2003 Pro
www.asap.com
Software/API
SimpleOCR
www.simpleocr.com
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Budget
Bank of America
commercial.fleet.com
Salary Dot Com
www.salary.com
Monster Dot Com
www.monster.com
Statistical
Information taken from Bureau of Transportation Statistics
www.bts.gov
Information taken from Runzheimer Reports on TravelManagement
www.travel.runzheimer.com
Interview
Kimberly Davis,
Fiscal Technician for Old Dominion University CS Department.
Mike Landis,
Technical Support for Neat Receipts.
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6. Biographical Sketches
Wayne Yee
Asst. Project Manager, Financial Analyst, Personnel Coordinator
Wayne has always been interested in the computer science field. He is
now taking courses at Old Dominion University to pursue a career in the
computer science field. He is on track to graduate in Spring of 2006.
Undergraduate Institution
Old Dominion University
Major
Computer Science
Degree / Year
B.S. 2006
Experience / Appointments
Chinatown Restaurant
Old Dominion University
Warwick High School
Location
Newport News, VA
Norfolk, VA
Newport News, VA
Year
Present
Present
2002
Meriel Regodon
Hardware Analyst, Risk Assessment Manager
Meriel is a third year student in the ODU Computer Science program
with a minor in Japanese. His interest in computers has grown since
childhood, which influenced his decision in finding an education and career
in computer science. He plans to start a career in computer game
development when he graduates from ODU in the spring of 2006. He has
had some experience with Assembly, C++, Java, and HTML.
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Undergraduate Institution
Old Dominion University
Major
Computer Science
Degree / Year
B.S. 2006
Experience / Appointments
Old Dominion University
Ocean Lakes High School
Location
Norfolk, VA
Virginia Beach, VA
Year
Present
2002
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Philip Ly
Software Analyst, Assistant Web Master, Graphics Artist
Philip is a senior at Old Dominion University majoring in Computer
Science with a minor in Information Technology. He has been interested in
computers ever since he was thirteen years old. Philip has some basic
experience with C++ and HTML. On his spare time, he attempts to improve
on his computer graphics and designing skills as well as video editing.
Undergraduate Institution
Old Dominion University
Major
Computer Science
Degree / Year
B.S. 2006
Experience / Appointments
Freelance Web Designer
Old Dominion University
High School
Location
Norfolk, VA
Norfolk, VA
Norfolk, VA
Year
Present
Present
2000
Nicholas Tschohl
Main Presenter, Marketing Director, SBIR Specialist
Nick decided to pursue a career in CS after plans to become an Air Force
Pilot were stopped short. An athlete in the sport of diving, black belt martial
artist, and honors college student leave time short, but with a good work
ethic he is still on track to graduate in the Spring of 2006. He is also the
marketing director for the RTA.
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Undergraduate Institution
Old Dominion University
Major
Computer Science
Degree / Year
B.S. 2006
Experience / Appointments
ResNet
Old Dominion University
Hickory High School
Location
Norfolk, VA
Norfolk, VA
Chesapeake, VA
Year
Present
Present
2002
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Edward Denecke
Documentation Manager, Head Web Master
Edward Denecke is a system administrator for the Computer Science
Department at Old Dominion University. Has vast knowledge of Unix and
Windows environment. As of the Summer of 2003 has been maintaining a
64 node cluster running Linux, to learn more on the cluster go here.
Undergraduate Institution
Old Dominion University
Major
Computer Science
Degree / Year
B.S. 2005
Experience / Appointments
CS System Administrator
Old Dominion University
Bayside High School
Location
Norfolk, VA
Norfolk, VA
Virginia Beach, VA
Year
Present
Present
2001
Synergistic Activities
64 Node Cluster Admin
Setup Production Wireless Network
Setup Windows Servers & Clients
Setup Production Solaris Servers
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Location
Norfolk, VA
Norfolk, VA
Norfolk, VA
Norfolk, VA
Old Dominion University Computer Science
Receipt Tracking Assistant
Year
Present
Present
Present
Present
Page 20 of 59
Andrej Ciric
Programmer, SBIR coordinator
Andrej graduated with a B.S. from the University of Arizona in Molecular
and Cellular Biology, and is currently a senior at Old Dominion University
pursuing a second degree in Computer Science. Also, he is currently serving
an internship at General Dynamics, working with simulation programming.
Undergraduate Institution
University of Arizona
Old Dominion University
Major
Molecular Biology
Computer Science
Degree / Year
B.S. 2000
B.S. 2005
Experience / Appointments
Old Dominion University
General Dynamics
Programmer
Location
Norfolk, VA
Suffolk, VA
Year
Present
2004-2005
Mike Schaefer
Programmer
Besides the obvious that I am a Senior CS student at ODU, I am also a
scholarship NROTC Midshipman, set to be commissioned by the Navy in
May 2005, right after graduation. I entered ODU with 33 transfer credits as
a result of dual-enrollment during high school. This helped tremendously in
my efforts to earn my degree in Computer Science in four years. Sometimes
as a result, however, I find myself the youngest and least experienced of the
pack of CS students.
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Undergraduate Institution
Old Dominion University
Major
Computer Science
Degree / Year
B.S. 2005
Experience / Appointments
Old Dominion University
NROTC
Location
Norfolk, VA
Norfolk, VA
Year
Present
Present
Old Dominion University Computer Science
Receipt Tracking Assistant
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7. Proposal Budget
7.1 Salaries and Wages
PHASE 2
PERSONNEL
Staff Members:
Edward (Project Manager)
Wayne (Software Engineer
II)
Mike (Software Engineer II)
Nick (Software Engineer II)
Philip (Software Engineer II)
Andrej (Software Engineer
II)
Meriel (Software Engineer II)
Software Developer #1
(Intern)
Software Developer #2
(Intern)
Software Developer #3
(Intern)
Software Developer #4
(Intern)
Software Developer #5
(Intern)
Software Consultant
Hours Worked
1264
$$ Per Hour
$43.30
Phase 2
Salary
$54,731
1368
1128
824
1136
$31.44
$31.44
$31.44
$31.44
$43,010
$35,464
$25,907
$35,716
1128
1480
$31.44
$31.44
$35,464
$46,531
1368
$15.00
$20,520
824
$15.00
$12,360
1136
$15.00
$17,040
1128
$15.00
$16,920
1480
560
$15.00
$58.08
$22,200
$32,525
Total
Salaries:
40%
Overhead
Total Cost:
$398,388
$159,355
$558,000
PHASE 2 HARD RESOURCES/MISC.
Server (PowerEdge 6650)
Computers/Workstations (5)
MS Office 2003 Pro (5)
MS Visual Studio .NET (5)
Beta Test Contract #1 (Evaluation)
Beta Test Contract #2 (Evaluation)
Misc.
$2,500/unit
$441/unit
$1,178/unit
Total Cost:
$15,000
$12,500
$2,205
$5,890
$50,000
$50,000
$25,000
$161,000
PHASE 2 BUDGET SUMMARY
Total Personnel Cost:
Total Hard Resources/Misc. Cost:
Total Phase 2 Cost:
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Old Dominion University Computer Science
Receipt Tracking Assistant
$508,093
$160,595
$669,000
Page 22 of 59
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Expense Total: $669,000
Employee
Overhead
$146,000
22%
Evaluation
$100,000
54%
15%
Salaries
$363,000
9%
Resources
$61,000
Figure 10.3.5
The phase 2 budget pie chart, showing a simple breakdown.
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7.2 Principle Investigator
Edward Denecke
Documentation Manager, Head Web Master
Edward Denecke is a system administrator for the Computer Science
Department at Old Dominion University. Has vast knowledge of Unix and
Windows environment. As of the Summer of 2003 has been maintaining a
64 node cluster running Linux, to learn more on the cluster go here.
Ed Denecke will be available to the RTA team exclusively pending approval of
Phase II funding. Edward is assigned a total of 1264 hours during the second
phase of RTA development.
Undergraduate Institution
Old Dominion University
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Major
Computer Science
Degree / Year
B.S. 2005
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Receipt Tracking Assistant
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7.3 Key Personnel
The key personnel can be found in the above chart (Personnel).
The key personnel will be our team members:







Edward Denecke - Project Manager
Wayne Yee – Software Engineer
Nick Tschohl – Marketing Analyst
Philip Ly – Graphic Design
Meriel Regodon – Software Engineer
Michael Schaefer – Software Engineer
Andrej Ciric – Software Engineer
Each of these individuals is dedicated to Phase II development of the Receipt Tracking
Assistant, pending approval of funding.
The budget breakdown for the key individuals listed above can be found in the following
figure:
PHASE 2
PERSONNEL
Staff Members:
Edward (Project Manager)
Wayne (Software Engineer
II)
Mike (Software Engineer II)
Nick (Software Engineer II)
Philip (Software Engineer II)
Andrej (Software Engineer
II)
Meriel (Software Engineer II)
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Hours Worked
1264
$$ Per Hour
$43.30
Phase 2
Salary
$54,731
1368
1128
824
1136
$31.44
$31.44
$31.44
$31.44
$43,010
$35,464
$25,907
$35,716
1128
1480
$31.44
$31.44
$35,464
$46,531
Old Dominion University Computer Science
Receipt Tracking Assistant
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7.4 Permanent Equipment
The following are items that will be purchased to accommodate the larger
employee base:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
Computers/Workstations (5)
MS Office Pro (5)
MS Visual Studio .NET (5)
Small Business Server
Some of the budget is allocated to implement the beta testing plan. This will be
allocated and set as an evaluation cost where our software is undergoing field testing.
Each beta test contract will incur $50,000 per contract for two contracts and this will
allow us to setup a contract to beta test our production software to ensure quality of our
RTA software package. After the beta testing is done, extra resources will be used to
debug and work out any errors or issues that come up.
The total beta testing evaluation expenses will total up to $100,000 with $25,000
set aside for other miscellaneous expenses during the critical design phase. Advertising
on the internet will require a web server and $15,000 will be allocated to get the required
resource to implement our plans for future advertising over the internet. All the expenses
in the Phase Two will equal to $669,000, which includes all direct cost of the employee’s
salaries, the evaluation cost of the beta testing plan and other resources to provide the
employees with adequate tools.
The budget breakdown for the equipment listed above can be found in the
following figure:
PHASE 2 HARD RESOURCES/MISC.
Server (PowerEdge 6650)
Computers/Workstations (5)
MS Office 2003 Pro (5)
MS Visual Studio .NET (5)
Beta Test Contract #1 (Evaluation)
Beta Test Contract #2 (Evaluation)
Misc.
$2,500/unit
$441/unit
$1,178/unit
Total Cost:
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Old Dominion University Computer Science
Receipt Tracking Assistant
$15,000
$12,500
$2,205
$5,890
$50,000
$50,000
$25,000
$161,000
Page 27 of 59
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7.5 Consultants
The team believes that the real OCR implementation will require a more
experienced person in software technology to program. A software consultant is added to
the staffing for this particular assignment, to help implement the OCR software with
LEADTOOLS SDK software package. Since majority of the duties of the critical design
phase is programming and coding the RTA production software, a software consultant
will be added to the critical design phase staff.
The software consultant will not move onto the next phase because there is no
indication of programming in the next phase.
The estimated budget for the software consultant can be found in the table below:
PHASE 2
PERSONNEL
Staff Members:
Software Consultant
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Hours Worked
560
$$ Per Hour
$58.08
Old Dominion University Computer Science
Receipt Tracking Assistant
Phase 2
Salary
$32,525
Page 29 of 59
7.6
Subawards
The RTA believes that successful implementation of a working production
model rest in our ability to fully test our product. In order to accomplish this goal,
several beta tests will be conducted. A beta test is an industry standard procedure
that lets groups of beta users to fully test the functionality of a product. This
process is invaluable in uncovering any defects, shortfalls, or disconnects in
program flow or logic.
Proper beta testing allows the RTA team to debug any deficiencies
completely. To reach this goal, we anticipate contracting two separate beta groups
for working production model validation.
Below is a figure with our anticipated budget requirements to subcontract two
beta test groups:
PHASE 2 HARD RESOURCES/MISC.
Beta Test Contract #1 (Evaluation)
Beta Test Contract #2 (Evaluation)
Misc.
Total Cost:
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Old Dominion University Computer Science
Receipt Tracking Assistant
$50,000
$50,000
$25,000
$161,000
Page 30 of 59
7.7 Indirect Costs
We assume a 40% overhead for the amount spent in salaries, plus $250,000 for
marketing in phase III.
Current and Pending Support
Considering that the highest number of hours worked on this project for phase 2
is 1480 (Meriel), and a standard work week is 40 hours, that person will need 37 work
weeks to complete his share of the project. We estimated a phase 2 time of 367 work
days. One week contains 5 work days, so we have allotted about 73 work weeks for phase
2. If Meriel has 73 work weeks to complete 37 work weeks worth of project research, he
will only need about 50% of his work time. With this worst-case scenario in mind we
know that we will have more than enough time available to continue supporting this
project as necessary.
Facilities and Equipment
The hard resources are outlined in the Phase 2 budget chart. We will need one
server, 5 workstations, 5 copies of Microsoft Office 2003 Pro, and 5 copies of Microsoft
Visual Studio .NET. We will assume ODU will continue to provide facilities “in-kind.”
The table below contains the estimated overhead for salaried workers during phase II of
RTA development:
PHASE 2
PERSONNEL
Staff Members:
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Hours Worked
$$ Per Hour
Total
Salaries:
40%
Overhead
Total Cost:
Old Dominion University Computer Science
Receipt Tracking Assistant
Phase 2
Salary
$398,388
$159,355
$558,000
Page 31 of 59
8. Payment Schedule and Milestone Chart
Phase 2 Milestone Chart:
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Phase 2 Work Breakdown Structure:
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9. Commercialization Plan
9.1 Introduction of the SBIR project, Expected Outcomes, and Impact
The Receipt Tracking Assistant is a software product that is meant to speed up and
save money on the expense report filing process. The product uses OCR applications to
parse, sort, and prepare scanned receipts for processing. The problems with the current
method are that it wastes too much time in getting information, sorting, and preparing
them for the fax. While this new process does add in the extra task of scanning the
receipts, the software saves much more time by dramatically cutting down the time it
takes to get the information from the receipts and the time it takes to sort them and get
them ready for a fax machine.
Because of the database, the program is able to compare two or more employees.
This allows the company to see who their best traveling employees are as well as where
they lose money on business trips. This also allows for less paperwork because receipts
can be thrown away after they are digitalized, so if the employee scans the receipts they
can turn in digital copies through e-mail before they even return from the trip. By
automating parts of the process the company saves on average 9.5 minutes per 10 receipts
and $1-$3 on every expense report.
Time Per Method
Current method
New Method
20
20
15
10.5
10
Minutes 10
7.5
7
5
0
3
0
Scanning
receipts
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0.5
Get info
from
receipts
2.5
0
0
0
Sorting
Fax
Print out
receipts preperation receipts
Total time
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9.2 The Company
The RTA Team is a group of seven Senior Computer Science students at Old
Dominion University. We are in the final years of our undergraduate degree plans and are
required to take two project management courses: Computer Productivity Initiative parts
I and II. In the first course we work toward an SBIR Phase I grant proposal. The second
course consists of SBIR Phase I itself.
Our objectives are to follow through with the plans that we came up with,
achieving each milestone in a timely manner. Our team consists of a project manager
with various programmers and researchers and a general manager, who is the course
instructor. RTA plans to achieve success through hard work, dedication, and a great
amount of research.
9.3 The Market, Customer, and Competition
Companies lose many hours of working time dealing with receipts and expense
report processes that could be automated. Automating some of the tasks in processing
expense reports will save the company time and, in saving time, save them money. From
an interview with Kim Davis, Financial Technician of the CS department at ODU, it
takes somewhere between 30 minutes to 90 minutes to complete one expense report
including interruptions. She also stated that the bulk of the time she spends is on sorting
and taping the receipts to paper to be faxed elsewhere.
The marketing segments we are trying to target are businesses with large numbers
of traveling employees. A company with a large number of traveling employees will be
the most liking to purchase our product. There are two ways companies process the
expense reports. The first is that the company has hired a financial technician that takes
the receipts and makes the expense report and processes them for all business trips. In the
second type, the employee does the work and turns it in to be processed. In the first, this
will save time for the financial technician. In the second, this saves time for the
employees and the financial technician. The employees could simply turn in an electronic
version of the expense report, so the financial technician would only have to file the
electronic version and print out a hardcopy to be faxed for processing.
Our best competition lies in a similar product called Neat Receipts. Neat Receipts
can create custom expense report and track long term spending; however, they are geared
more towards a single person. With the RTA we will also provide printouts of all receipts
for faxing and compare the trends of any employees in the company. The others in
competition are: Microsoft Money, Quicken, and Microsoft Excel. Microsoft Money and
Quicken lack OCR technology, receipt management, and the automatic creation of
expense reports. Microsoft Excel can be set up to create custom expense reports;
however, it will not scan or create printouts of the receipts or track employees’ spending.
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9.4 Intellectual Property (IP) Protection
Our team plans to obtain a patent for our software, which includes the ideas it
contains. In addition we will include copyright information on all of our documents. Any
violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
9.5 Financing
Our financing plan for phase III is through the Small Business Association (SBA).
We will apply for the basic loan which will give us the opportunity to receive up to
$700,000. These loans will be repaid over the next seven years at a 2.75% interest rate.
The initial fee of an SBA loan is three percent leaving a $21,000 initial fee. The total
interest is $134,750.
The initial year will cost $798,000 in salaries, new equipment, and part of the loan.
Each following year will then be only $353,000 in salaries because new equipment will
not be purchased each year. Adding in what must be paid back on the loan, the cost for
the 2nd – 7th year with be about $473,000. On the 8th year, after the loan is paid off, the
cost will drop to only the cost of salaries at about $355,000 per year.
Units Sold
Break Even Analysis
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Estimated Units
Break Even
1
2nd - 7th
8th
Year
Note: A loan of $700,000 will be taken out to help cover the expenses of the first year
and is to be paid back through the next seven years.
Cost
Break even
Estimate
1st year
$798,000
3470 units
750 units
2nd - 7th year
$473,000
2057 units
2500 units
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8th year
$355,000
1545 units
2500 units
9.6 Revenue Stream
Our company’s revenue stream will be simple and straightforward. We plan on
selling our software product to as many organizations as possible. This will be our only
source of revenue, but will be sufficient to make profits as shown in the following
diagram:
4500000
4000000
3500000
Dollars
3000000
Total Cost
2500000
Gross Revenue
2000000
Profit
1500000
1000000
500000
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Year
This graph shows the total cost of the project including the loan being used in the first
year and cost for the interest over the next seven.
$120,000
Gross
Revenue
Per Year
$172,500
$52,000
2nd-7th
$473,000
$505,000
$102,000
8th+
$355,000
$505,000
$220,000
Years
Cost
1st
Profit
This shows the cost per year for the cost, gross revenue, and profit.
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10. Phase 1 Final Report
This Phase I SBIR research project studied the feasibility of implementing the
Receipt Tracking Assistant. During the course of research and prototype development,
several issues arose, mandating change to the original scope and depth of the prototype
development. Given the time and monetary constraints inherent in a typical Phase 1
study, the RTA was scaled back in design to demonstrate core functionality.
Development of the prototype during Phase I resulted in the elimination of several
original design goals. The most fundamental of these was the elimination of RTA optical
character recognition capabilities. Developing an OCR software system, in and of itself,
is a length endeavor. In the interest of not “reinventing the wheel” RTA focused
primarily on developing a software system that could interface with the native OCR
capabilities found in many modern optical scanners, to produce an efficient and accurate
expense report generation tool.
In addition to the elimination of a custom OCR package, several other minor
functional modules were eliminated, or emulated. Among these were the XML
capabilities and remote expense management abilities of the RTA system. Future
research and funding will focus on developing these modules, as well as their integration
to the core RTA system. The feasibility study of the RTA system concluded that
developing an organizational expense report tool was possible. The strength of our
project implementation rests in its flexibility to work with any TWAIN32 optical scanner
that comes bundled with an OCR software package. The RTA system successfully
manipulated OCR text output from a scanning device and proved that accurate parsing of
data fields was possible. The RTA team also proved that our implementation had high
levels of reliability, concerning data accuracy rates.
Another conclusion of the Phase I research was that data analysis of current
expenses against historical figures was an efficient mechanism for catching erroneous or
fraudulent expense amounts. This tool proved useful in generating an accurate and fair
expense report.The RTA system was developed for use on any current version of the
Windows operating system, starting with Win 95 up to Win Professional. System
requirements were fine tuned, and several scanning devices were tested in conjunction
with the RTA system. Additionally, the optical scanner vendor candidates selected for
testing by RTA were Hewlett Packard, Canon and Epson. These manufacturers account
for over half of current market share in the scanning industry, and as such are a
reasonable test bed for RTA compatibility. RTA testing of these devices proved that
while OCR error rates fluctuated between vendors, the RTA system proved robust
enough to handle any discrepancies and variations with minimal impact on expense
generation. Primarily, this robustness originates with the successful implementation of
our image to text comparison fields, embedded within the expense generation interface of
the RTA product. This comparative ability consists of demonstrating to the user the
original image of the scanned receipt being added to the system, and the resultant OCR
text associated with the image. By visualizing this information side by side, the RTA
allows a user to immediately spot and correct any flaws introduced by faulty OCR
algorithms.
Old Dominion University Computer Science
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Additionally, the RTA team created an initial file manipulation tool that will
allow for quick ramp-up of future XML capabilities. The file generation and organization
logic built into the RTA allows users to store their expense data file and can easily
undergo conversion to XML. In conclusion, the feasibility of the Receipt Tracking
Assistant was demonstrated through the implementation of robust and flexible code
development using Microsoft Visual Basic and third party OCR software.
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11. Appendix
11.1
Evaluation Plan
The Receipt Tracking Assistant (RTA) team will have an evaluation plan
for each phase of 0 to 3 and this will determine how we will know success for
each phase. One of our goals is to ensure a quality product hits the shelf and
evaluation may be the most important process to ensure that happens. In the big
picture, we will know we succeeded when our product is making the process of
expense reporting easier in the lives of travelers and financial department and
when we are selling enough to turn a profit. Each phase will be considered
successful upon completion of all of the tasks included in each one. Evaluations
will be done on the first of every month for progress made until that point.
ü Successful Development of
prototype
ü Completed documentation
ü SBIR Proposal
ü SBIR Approval
Phase 2
Critical Design
Phase 1
Prototype Development
ü Feasibility
Proven
ü WBS
Completed
ü Peer Evaluation
ü SBIR Proposed
ü SBIR Approved
Evaluation
Plan
ü Successful
development of
software
ü Beta testing with
few errors
ü Initail company
satisified with beta
testing
Phase 3
Out Years
Phase 0
Research and Design
ü Turning a profit
ü Positive/Constructive
feedback from
consumers
Phase Zero
Here is where most of the research and development takes place. By way
of requirements for the course, every four weeks is where we have a large peer
review which include the feasibility, milestone, and SBIR proposal presentations.
Once each presentation is over, immediately afterward suggested changes from
the panel are made to increase the feasibility and marketability of the Receipt
Tracking Assistant. Weekly evaluations in class are also done to ensure we are on
the right track and so that other class members have an opportunity to point out
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something that could be fixed that we couldn’t see. In the research and
development phases there is lots and lots of review.
Phase One
Phase 1 is where the development of the prototype takes place with the
SBIR funding. Evaluation here will be every other week as far as reviewing what
needs to be done for each week and looking over the material from the previous
week. Evaluation of the design plan for each task or group of tasks, review of
their code, and through testing of each task. Biweekly meetings for these
evaluations and reviews will help in the quality development of the prototype of
the Receipt Tracking Assistant. Success shall be acquired when our team has
developed a working prototype that accepts input from a vast array of scanners,
the documentation throughout the phase and for the software is bound, and the
SBIR Phase II grant proposal is accepted.
Phase Two
In this critical design phase, evaluations will be taken the most seriously.
Here is where our team will develop the product that is actually going to be on the
shelf. Peer evaluations are going to be done every where testing comes into play.
Not only does this keep the team focused on creating a good solution, it will also
help to point out errors or problems to be rectified early in the development of the
software. This will save time in debugging down the road. Evaluations will also
be done after the completion of each major programming task to integrate all
tasks up to date and fully test and evaluate them. The evaluation of the programs
structure and how well it will pass given tests will aid in a quality product. The
biggest evaluation of all here will be developing the software and finding a
specific company to do beta testing with. We will define success when the beta
testing company accepts the product as useful and few or insignificant errors are
found.
Phase Three
Now that the RTA has been tested by part of the market, we shall take
their evaluation into consideration and make necessary changes to errors and
problems. Now the goal is getting the RTA product out there and promoting it.
The larger factors to be evaluated here will be the marketing plan, evaluation of
customer satisfaction, and evaluation of the production. Making sure that the
market our team is focusing in on is the correct market and that our approach is
effective. For each client we gain, their evaluation of our product as a whole and
their satisfaction with it is important in the creation of newer and better versions
of the software. Essentially evaluation from the real world is phase 3. We will
know we have succeeded when we are selling enough products to turn a profit and
we are receiving positive and constructive feedback about the RTA from
consumers.
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11.2
Resource Plan
Phase Zero
In the conceptual phase, the RTA team will use minimal resources. Old
Dominion University is the research partner for the RTA team and will provide
the basic necessary tools to complete phase zero. The following resources will be
provided by ODU during the conceptual phase:
I.
II.
III.
Computers/Workstations
Internet Connection
Research Facilities
The team will have access to over 150 workstations within the ODU
campus site. Conference rooms and laboratories are also used during this phase to
adequately do the required research for the development of the RTA software.
ODU will provide internet access to further enhance our researching abilities.
Phase One
In the prototype development phase, the team will purchase the following
equipment to help develop the RTA prototype software:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
Workstations (7)
Additional Office Equipment
Printer/Scanner/Fax Equipment
USB Cable
MS Office 2003 Pro (7)
MS Visual Studio. NET (7)
PC OCR LEADTOOLS
The additional workstations will allow all team members to work
simultaneously on developing the RTA prototype software. Each workstation
will be equipped with Microsoft Office 2003 and Visual Studio .NET for the basic
operations of the prototype development. A printer will be purchase to allow for
developing important documentation and evaluation plans. To accommodate the
added workstations, additional office equipment is required. The OCR SDK
LEADTOOLS will be used to implement the OCR parsing feature of the RTA.
Phase Two
Phase Two is the critical design phase and were most real production
software programming is done. All the previous obtained resources in the
prototype development phase will be used again in this phase. The following
resources will be an addition to the current resources used from the prototype
development phase:
I.
II.
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Workstations (5)
MS Office 2003 Pro (5)
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III.
IV.
Small Business Server
MS Visual Studio. NET (5)
The same amount of the workstations from the prototype development
phase and the additional workstations obtained will be used to program our RTA
production software. The software consultant will use the extra workstation
provided by the team in the prototype development phase and the software
developers will use the recently purchased workstations. The plan for future
advertising over the internet will requires a server to be purchased. Some of the
resources will be allocated to do the beta testing plan. Beta testing contracts will
be made to two different departments to ensure adequate field testing for our
software package. After the beta testing, the team will utilize resources to debug
any bugs/errors from the results of the beta test.
Phase Three
Phase Three is the production of our RTA software. The team will expand
their facilities to accommodate for customer services. These services include the
following:
I.
II.
III.
Customer Support
Technical Support
Contractor Service
The customer support and technical support facilities will be established in
the production phase of the RTA project. The expanded facilities will require
additional office equipment to accommodate for the expanded operations of the
RTA production facilities. The increased employee base will require the
additional resources below to adequately provide the planned customer services:
I.
II.
III.
Workstations (6)
MS Visual Studio. NET (6)
MS Office 2003 Pro (6)
The contractor services will require a lawyer to establish contract
standards and contracts for each individual company. In the production phase of
the RTA project, we will implement our marketing plan and allocate resources to
advertising. Soliciting to large companies and advertising over the internet will
be part of our marketing plan. Traveling expenses will be incurred when
soliciting to large companies for our RTA software package and is based on the
marketing plan set forth in the conceptual phase.
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11.3
Management Plan
Management Overview
The management plan encompasses all of the other plans included in this
SBIR document that breakdown the plans for our project. All of these plans in
essence make up the planning for the future of the project. Such plans include:
Description of figure
The plans shown in figure J.0000 above make up a large portion and
through them give a description of some of the major factors that need to be
planned out. The factors of the management plan shown here include: Funding
Plan, Resource Plan, Marketing Plan, Staffing Plan, Evaluation Plan, and Risk
Management Plan. The funding plan is where we determine by phase who we
will attempt to gain funding from. Phase one we plan on getting SBIR I funding
through National Science Foundation (NSF). This is the same plan for phase two,
only the funding we hope to obtain SBIR II funding through NSF. The resource
plan is a detailed description of what resources we think our team and staff will
need to develop the prototype in phase one, the real software that will be used for
testing and production in phase two, and for the marketing and mass production in
phase three. The marketing plan consists of a detailed analysis like, who our
target market is and why, risks involved with the development of the RTA, and
why we are even pursuing the development of the RTA. The Risk Management
Plan is in the supplementary information where a detailed analysis and description
of the risks is explained and the corresponding mitigations for them.
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Work Breakdown Structure/Gantt
One of the milestone documents produced in phase zero is the RTA’s
work breakdown structure where we lay out all of the tasks we feel are needed to
successfully complete each phase of the project. Along with a listing of these
tasks is a Gantt chart listing them and their respective resources, days it will take
to complete each task and phase, and visual of when they are to take place and be
completed.
This document has task numbers that are assigned to each section and
subsection for a couple of reasons. One reason is to uniquely identify a task so
that when someone is assigned to it, if it is referred to as a task number it will be
much easier to reference. The other reason is to help payroll and tracking of
actual cost on each task. When each task is completed, the hours logged by each
person along with their respective salaries, that actually worked on each task is
logged to track an over all and realistic report of how much time and money was
spent on each task. This is information that will be used in evaluations to
determine if a change in the scheduling and plans needs to take place to aid in the
smooth completion of the project.
This document gives a “breakdown” of budgeted cost versus resources
required to complete each task. Each task is assigned resources such as personnel
and hard resources and it lays them out in a visual manor that can help in the
maximization of usage of these resources versus time. Delegating these resources
can make or break the plans and execution of the project.
Management Approach
The management goal of Team RTA is to have close interaction with our
initial market where we plan to do our testing. We plan to be working hand in
hand with each other throughout the testing of it to make sure we are able to find
the most possible bugs, problems, needed functionality to add, and it’s true
usefulness. We plan to monitor all progress closely throughout each task and
each phase, especially through testing with the initial market.
Program Management Reviews
About every quarter the RTA’s PM will conduct a Program Management
Review with the initial test market. Here is where discussion of programmatic
issues dealing with the development and implementation of the project. Making
sure the progress is on track by reviewing everything done up to the point and
then adjusting the rest of the project plan if need be.
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11.4 Staffing Plan
Phase Zero
The conceptual phase of the RTA solution is determining the feasibility of
the project, and scheduling certain important tasks to accomplish established
goals and objectives. The staffing for this particular phase is just the RTA team
itself and there are no salaries involved with this phase
Phase One
In phase one, the RTA is beginning to develop it’s prototype. Here the
staff will begin developing the prototype and evaluating to prove the concept
works. Everyone will be an intern working in developing the RTA prototype.
Every staff member is involved with coding and testing the software prototype.
After each feature of the RTA is complete, it is required by all staff members to
participate in a testing/evaluation step to ensure that the feature is fully compliant.
The staff for phase one will last for 6 months and will also continue onto phase
two.
Phase Two
The critical design phase of the RTA is the development of the real
production software package. In this phase, the team will proceed to adapt the
prototype software to fit the needs of the real world scenario.
The team believes that the real OCR implementation will require a more
experienced person in software technology to program. A software consultant is
added to the staffing for this particular assignment, to help implement the OCR
software with LEADTOOLS SDK software package. Since majority of the duties
of the critical design phase is programming and coding the RTA production
software, five intern software developers will be an addition to the critical design
phase staff. Each one will be assigned to all senior staff members with the
exception of the project manager. The main role for everyone in the staffing of
this phase is to code the production software package. As part of our evaluation
plan, all members are involved in evaluating the functionality of the developed
software package. Nick’s job will also be to setup contracts for beta testing to
ensure that the developed software is given adequate field testing. After the beta
testing is complete, the team will analyze the results and debug any errors. They
will also modify the code to take in account any issues that were brought up in the
beta test. This particular phase will last around one year or a year and a half, with
only the senior staff moving onto the next phase. The software consultant will not
move onto the next phase because there is no indication of programming in the
next phase. The five software developers will continue to the production phase to
handle the mass production of the software.
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Phase Three
Production and Out Years is the phase where most of the staffing comes
in. When expanding our facilities to include customer’s services, the staffing will
increase. With the growing business structure and the establishment of customer
services, the RTA has decided to gather a few more employees to implement and
maintain those services. The three customer support representatives will help the
team establish and maintain the Customer Support service facilities. Their role is
to take orders for the RTA small business and to provide very basic tech support.
The tech support service facilities will be implemented and maintained by the
three tech support representatives.
The tech support representatives are there to provide in-depth technical
support to any customer who needs it. In addition to the senior staff and the
service representatives, a lawyer will be required to initiate the contractor service
department, where each individual contract for each company will be made. Any
and all patent and copyright protections will also be handled by the lawyer. When
the team believes that the product is ready to be mass produced, they will call
upon the five software developers from the previous phase to help mass produce
the software. The senior staff will set requirements for the positions and ensure
that the employees hired were qualified to do their jobs to minimize mistakes and
loses. This phase also includes the marketing plan, where the team will solicit
large companies into investing in our RTA software package. Advertising over
the internet is also included into the marketing plan, where we can reach a wider
audience.
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11.5 Risk Assessment
The following is a detailed risk assessment for the Receipt Tracking
Assistant (RTA). The risks for this project are divided up into four categories
including customer risks, technical risks, and financial risks. Within each
category, the risks are ordered by level of impact and probability starting with the
highest of each.
RISK ASSESSMENT GRAPH
9
L
I
K
E
L
I
H
O
O
D
2, 5
1
7
8
3, 4, 6
6
CONSEQUENCE
Figure I.
This graph emphasizes the varying levels of severity of our risks. Green signifies low risks, yellow
medium risks, and red high risks. The y-axis represents the likelihood of risks occurring and the x-axis
represents the severity of the consequence should that risk occur.
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RISK ASSESSMENT TABLE
Risk
Exp
Mitigation
Risk Type
5/4
High End User
Cost
20
Minimize cost of
product, excellent
marketing for mass
production
FINA
2
5/3
Limited Financial
Resources
15
Good funding proposal,
find partner company
FINA
3
3/5
Employee
Acceptance
15
User-friendly interface,
saves time on creation
of expense reports
CUST
4
3/5
OCR Errors
15
Manual input and
confirmation screen
TECH
5
5/3
Sensitive Security
Information
15
User password
protection
TECH
6
3/5
Illegible Receipts
15
Manual input
capabilities
TECH
7
4/3
Limited Primary
Market
12
Good marketing
strategy, possible future
release for private use
CUST
8
3/3
System Integration
9
XML Import/Export
Training
TECH
9
5/1
Software Bugs and
Database Errors
5
Extensive testing of
software functions,
database, and
communication
TECH
Likelihood /
Consequence
Risk Title
1
Rank
Figure I.
This table shows a summary of our risks with a short description of the mitigation method we will
use to address each risk.
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Customer Risks
Employee Acceptance
Potential customers may be unwilling to use a new product that would
change the way they do things. Some people may also be hesitant to have all their
financial transactions tracked by a single device.
Impact:
Very High
Probability: Medium
Mitigation: The amount of time spent on organization of receipts and creating
expense reports will be reduced by use of our product, which will make people
more willing to try our product. And as an option users are able to place
passwords (alpha-numeric or fingerprint) on the receipts scanned and documents
made by our software in order to reduce the chance of unwanted viewing and
tampering.
Limited Primary Market
Our targeted customers are businesses and employees of businesses which
require travel. Should some of these companies be unwilling to purchase our
product then we will lose money.
Impact:
Medium
Probability: High
Mitigation: Many companies require at least some traveling for their
employees. Also, our software may be helpful for private users to help them keep
track of their spending habits.
System Integration Conflicts
A potential customer may have integration issues switching to the RTA
system.
Impact:
Medium
Probability: Medium
Mitigation: Use of Import/Export XML functionality, and additional training
as necessary from RTA staff.
Technical Risks
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Errors
Sometimes OCR software can misinterpret images and process them
incorrectly. And any errors dealing with incorrectly processed data can be
damaging to the customer.
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Impact:
Very High
Probability: Medium
Mitigation: While OCR errors can causes severe problems in parsing data from
receipts there is a low chance of this happening. Current OCR technology is very
accurate, especially in the case of most simple text documents, which receipts can
be considered to be. In the case of an OCR error, we have included the ability to
manually input/edit information so any discrepancies can be addressed by the
user.
Illegible receipts
There are several cases in which receipts will not be legible enough to able
to be parsed for data, such as damaged receipts, faded receipts, and handwritten
receipts.
Impact:
Medium
Probability: Very High
Mitigation: To alleviate problems related to this issue, we have included the
ability for users to manually input data, thus helping to ensure the accuracy of the
data on a receipt.
Security Issues
All receipts being stored on a single device may lead to tampering and
abuse should the device be accessed by unwanted individuals.
Impact:
Very High
Probability: Medium
Mitigation: There will be optional alpha-numeric password settings which will
restrict viewing of the digitized documents only to people that know the
password.
Software Bugs and Database Errors
Whenever there is any programming done there will always be a chance
for human errors in the logic and coding of a program, which can cause several
errors in the future.
Impact:
Very Low
Probability: Very High
Mitigation: We will be doing extensive testing on our software before initial
release to help ensure a minimum of bugs and errors. Also, should any occur that
we were unaware of there will be future patches released to deal with the
problems.
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Financial Risks
Limited Financial Resources
The cost of creating a portable scanner along with creating software that
works on multiple platforms will be very high, and may require more funding
than allotted by our chosen funding agency.
Impact:
Medium
Probability: Very High
Mitigation: To reduce development costs, we will consult with experts on the
best methods of development for our software and hardware. We will also
contract out the portable scanner design and the OCR software to other companies
which are already experienced in their respective fields.
High End User Cost
Potential customers may be unwilling to pay high prices just to track
receipts, or they may be unable to afford the product.
Impact:
High
Probability: Very High
Mitigation: Since we anticipated this issue, our company has decided on
several purchasing packages for our solution. These packages will include a full
package with PDA, scanner, and software, partial hardware packages with either a
PDA or scanner with the software, and a software only package. We believe that
the availability of several purchasing options at lower prices will reduce the risks
of customers being put off by the price of our solution.
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11.6 Work Breakdown Structures:
Phase 0:
Phase 1:
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Phase 2:
Phase 3:
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11.7 Budget:
Phase Three
Figure 10.3.6
This table shows the phase 3 costs for personnel, hard resources, and miscellaneous expenses.
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Expense Total: $678,000
Marketing
$250,000
Salaries
$252,000
37%
37%
15%
Employee Overhead
$101,000
11%
Resources
$75,000
Figure 10.3.7
The phase 3 budget pie chart, showing a simple breakdown.
Phase 1
$97,000
7%
Phase 3
$678,000
47%
Expense Total
$1,445,000
46%
Phase 2
$670,000
Figure 10.3.8
This is the all phase pie chart breakdown.
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11.8 Interviews
Kim Davis Computer Science Fiscal Technician
1.) Can you give me an estimate of how many people this company employs?
23-26
2.) Could you give me a percentage of how many employees travel for (this company)?
There are a third of the employees that travel regularly
3.) Average length of the trips?
2-5 days, average 10 receipts per trip
4.) Average number of trips per month?
During the summer, 1-2 times every 2-3 months.
During the school year, 3 times per year
5.) Can you describe the reimbursement process and the approximate time it takes for
each?
The process starts with all the receipts being handed to Kim. Then she puts them
in order by category. Sometimes they come ordered, but usually they do not. Then the
receipts must be checked for its validity and then must be taped to paper for faxing
purposes. After filling out the expense report by hand, a signature must be acquired.
Lastly, the expense report must be filed and put away.
6.) How long does processing a reimbursement request take?
20 minutes (without interruptions); up to 2 hours; average is an hour to an hour
and a half
7.) What requirements must be met for an expense to be reimbursed?
CI Travel looks up quotes first. If it happens to be local then your spending must
be within the allotted amount. For example, $8 for breakfast and $20 for lunch per
person. The State needs approval before you go (travel request).
4.) What kind of receipts are the hardest to validate?
Tolls on highways, payphone calls, taxi rides
5.) How are the receipts organized in the expense report?
By category
6.) How are different currencies handled in the reimbursement process?
She looks up the exchange rates and puts the date and amount on from the receipt.
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7.) Are exchange rates taken from the time of transaction or the time the request is
processed?
Yes, it has to be looked up by the date on the receipt.
8.) Does your company accept digital reproductions of receipts?
Yes
9.) Is there anything you would like to see that could help you in this whole process?
The exchange rates aren’t always great. There needs to be copies made and
mailed or faxed out.
10.) Would your company be interested in a product such as ours?
Yes, I would definitely be interested in this product as it would save me time.
11.) Would you mind if we contacted you again with any further questions?
Yes
12.) Would you mind if we cited you as an expert and/or resource?
No
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