Writing an E-learning Rfp - Simplified


by Vishwanath Shankar - Date: 2007-01-08 - Word Count: 959 Share This!

The procurement of a product or a service for an organization typically starts with a Request For Proposal. A document that is floated in the market or to an approved list of vendors and suppliers, RFP invites bidders to bid for providing a specific product or service. The document usually requires the following details from the bidder.

The total cost of the product or the project

Information about and the history of the bidder's company

The company's financial standing in the market,

The company's technical expertise

The details of the offered product or service

Expected period of completion of the project or the time of delivery of the product and

A list of patrons to determine the company's credibility.

An e learning RFP

Though writing an RFP seems to be easy on the face of it, the inability to develop a good one clearly specifying the needs of your organization can jeopardize the project. This holds true for an e learning RFP all the more, because of the complexity, variety and multi layered nature of e learning softwares. The fact that these models need to be integrated with the existing IT framework of your organization makes it a Herculean task. Its not that companies cannot put a finger on their exact needs in regard of an e learning model, but the most difficult part is communicating your needs specifically without leaving a loophole.

A vague RFP is likely to receive equally vague proposals, which cost the company a fortune in terms of the time devoted in designing the RFP, selecting vendors and distributing the RFP, without any tangible results whatsoever. While developing a well-written RFP requires time and planning, a to-the-point RFP will attract proposals that can be easily compared before settling down upon a particular vendor.

Before starting to write an RFP

Thoroughly analyze your learning needs and jot them down clearly before beginning to work on the RFP document. A separate document analyzing your exact requirements and sketching a rough skeleton of what you expect the program to be is a good idea. Many organizations prefer employing a separate vendor for coming up with such an analysis-document, after which RFPs are distributed to different vendors including the one who developed the assessment and research document. This spadework on the part of the client guarantees maximum returns in the form of on time delivery of an on-the-mark e learning program that does not burn a hole in the company's pocket. 

Getting down to actual writing

The key to developing a well written, specific and comprehensive RFP is communication. How effectively you communicate your needs to the vendors help them design proposals that match your needs. In general a good e learning RFP must address the following points.

Involve colleagues and superiors in your attempt

Since an RFP will dwell on the needs of the company on a whole, it is advisable to have a review of your work by somebody in your organization - be it a colleague or a senior. An e learning RFP can be tediously long and complicated involving flags, annexures, and documents. Hence, asking prospective vendors to suggest improvements in the RFP can also make the effort worthwhile.

Write about your company

Vendors will be able to assess your needs better if they know the purview of your field of operations. Apart from that write about all those departments of your office that will possibly get involved in the learning process.

Include details about delivery technology and types of media

Be clear abut the delivery technology that you want the e learning program to use - be it CD ROM or web based. Similarly, ask the vendors to mention what types of media the e learning program will use so as to check whether these media are an integral part of your infrastructure.

Categorize learners

Group learners who need to learn different tasks, into factions. Like a technical group of learners might need a different learning solution as compared to a sales faction or a human resources group. This will give prospective vendors a clear idea of how these applications can be integrated in a single solution or with your company's infrastructure. Also provide an estimate of the number of students that the program will target.

Be clear about the learning time

Mention the estimated learning time that the program will cover so that the vendors stick to this time limit, while delivering the required features. Fix the total learning time as per the scope, objective and the budget of your program. While learning time can be divided into the time spent in a classroom, interaction time, time spent online, etc, see to it that you get students to learn as much as possible in as little time away from work as possible.

Ask for details of the bidders

Details such as cost of the project, information about the bidder's company, their client list, technical expertise, financial standing, information on the project, and a compliance statement that lists the vendor's compliance to all the desired aspects of the program go a long way in assessing the overall credibility of the bidder. These criteria put together decide whether a bidder will deliver the promised goodies as per the contract agreement.

Format and include submission details

Providing a specific format for all bidders to fill up will allow you to measure the proposal of one versus the other. Also do not forget to inform bidders about the strategy of vendor selection and the opening process of the proposals, so that vendors have an idea as to why their proposals were rejected. Date, mode and venue of the submission must be clearly stated in your RFP apart from the date of opening of proposals.

Conclusion

All the above mentioned points only reiterate the underlying message of proper communication being the key to developing an effectual RFP.


Related Tags: elearning, online education

Viswanath Shankar has been managing and maintaining various e-learning softwares for the past decade and a half. A storehouse of knowledge about LMS (Learning Management Systems), He has been working in close co-ordination with web development experts to develop user friendly distance learning programs. It takes a professional like him to declare the big time arrival of e learning as a worthy substitute to conventional learning techniques.

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