At the successful completion of this lesson, you should be able to:
Please refer to Canvas for lesson deliverables, including specific timeframes and due dates.
If you have any questions about course mechanics, where to do something, or how to do something, feel free to send us a message in Canvas at any time.
A non-profit humanitarian based organization called Healing the Health of Humanity International (H3I) has recently been awarded a very large grant. The dictates of the grant state that the funds must be allocated to serving the interests of individuals around the world who have experienced COVID-19. In order to meet the requirements of the grant on how best to meet the needs of those who have experienced COVID-19, H3I realizes that a considerable amount of data collection, processing, and analysis will be required. H3I also recognizes that this project will involve a considerable amount of geospatial data. Various methods (e.g., geospatial analytics) will be required to help visualize patterns, trends, and relationships in COVID-19 geospatial data. H3I also acknowledges that they do not employ staff that have expertise in geovisual analytics. That’s where your business plays a role.
For this week you will be engaged in two tasks.
First, develop a business that focuses on geospatial solutions to COVId-19 data sets. This business plan will include the business name, logo, and staff. In addition, the plan will also include statements regarding expertise and previous completed projects. The specifics of developing this business are listed below.
Second, begin to draft a proposal that responds to H3I’s request. Note that a complete proposal will not be delivered until the end of the course. Over the next several weeks, you are tasked with developing and refining parts of the proposal. For now, this week will introduce you to the proposal idea from H3I and get you started on thinking how your group will respond to the request. The challenge is based on a COVID-19 data set of your choosing. Your group is one of several “clients” that are developing a proposal that presents a geographic visualization solution to a COVID-19 data set. As mentioned, H3I was recently awarded a grant that is directed to the betterment of individuals who have experienced COIVD-19, a topic of which is at its core mission. The challenge is to extract meaningful information from the COVID-19 data set of your choosing and make recommendations to H3I on how best to allocate its grant monies.
Specifically, for this project, H3I is interested in understanding some of the following characteristics about the COVID-19 data:
Image Credit: ha11ok [1] from Pixabay [2]
The following is an example of the type of proposal that you will be developing:
Request for Proposal (RFP)
RFP#: 1024
This RFP has four (4) sections. In order to be considered for this project each submitting agency must complete all parts. Instructions on how to complete each section is provided under each section’s header.
This forward must be completed and presented on a separate page.
The Project Proposal Application for Funding Form has four sections:
This section should describe the overall results that the project is expected to accomplish.
The discussion should indicate in quantitative terms, to the extent possible, what the project will produce through its planned activities.
This section should describe how each immediate project objective will be carried out in terms of planned activities.
a. Detail the development timeline of the project. The details could include, but are not limited to, significant milestones that you consider to be achievable within the proposed timeline.
b. The budget for this proposal should be prepared in U.S. dollars. The budget should include, but is not limited to, a description of each budget line item. The budget should include, but it not limited to, development time, software/hardware, training, consulting, contracting services, and usability studies.
This section should discuss proposed mechanisms and procedures for monitoring of project operations to ensure that activities occur as planned, that they remain directed towards stated objectives, and that appropriate corrective action is taken if required.
Specifically, the discussion should indicate who will be responsible for preparing periodic project progress and final technical reports and for the accounting of expenditures.
Wrike is one project management tool that you can use. Your group can discuss whether or not you would like to utilize this tool as you collaborate on your project. Whether you use Wrike, the group space in Canvas, or some other system, finding a way to communicate with your group members and keep track of all of the moving pieces of your project will be crucial. In order to use Wrike with your group, one group member should visit this URL and start an account [3]. You will then be able to add the rest of your group members. Contact us if you have questions.
See Canvas for assignment details that focus on completion of Section II. Please refer to Survey and Section I (Executive Summary) from the H3I RFP [4] example for specific section requirements.
Links
[1] https://pixabay.com/users/ha11ok-1785462/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=4239772
[2] https://pixabay.com//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=4239772
[3] https://www.wrike.com/blog/wrike-collaboration-tools-for-students/
[4] https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geog597g/node/241