Help me make a proposal for contract work!

[HorizonXP]

Hey guys,

Question:
I want develop an application for the Blackberry that addresses all of the issues mentioned below, for the company I'm doing part-time work for. The employee would carry the device, walk room to room, check off the appropriate boxes, and type the required notes. We can also track customer information so it's there for the next day. That way, we know when their service expires so we can ask if they want to renew.

I know I can develop this application. What I need help with is how to propose this to my manager. I need to have a solid proposal so it makes it easy for them to say yes. However, I get paid $13/hr to do my job. I don't feel that it's appropriate for the $13/hr I make to cover the development of said software, especially when I'm developing it on my time. I'd like to come up with a contract for them to agree to. I have no idea where to start though. Should I incorporate myself first or something? I've done business plans before, should I write one up first, or do what I can to capitalize on this opportunity?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

Context, so the above makes sense:
So I graduated from electrical engineering. I guess with the economy the way it is, I've run into difficulty finding a full-time gig, so I've picked up a part-time job at my local hospital. It's a new hospital, so they just recently started installing IPTVs in each room. Each one is a Siemens-built medical LCD touchscreen, with a keyboard, so patients can watch TV, access Internet, or listen to the radio. To access any of the services, there is a fee structure, which is what my company handles.

My job is to go room to room, ask patients if would like to activate the service. I walk around with a set of 10 pages, which is a printout of an Excel spreadsheet that lists every room in the hospital that has our TVs installed. I can check off any of the following boxes:
Basic, Premium, Kids, Internet, Empty

I check off whichever services they have. If the bed's empty, I check that box off. If they don't want services, I write NO. If there are any issues, like a broken TV or such, I write a note in a little box provided. I fill these pages out everyday. It gets to be very tedious.

Now, as an engineer, I saw several issues here. One, there's no way to see old data. That is, it's completely blank when I get the print out in the morning. I think it would be nice to have that old data there, so that I know who has what services, so I can serve them better when I go to see them again to check if everything's ok.

There's also several rooms missing. And there's no indication of which rooms have broken TVs, so I shouldn't bother visiting. It's a pain in the butt to keep flipping pages. And finally, my manager goes through these sheets every night and inputs them into an Excel file, and e-mails them to her boss. So it's tedious for her too.

We carry a Blackberry, to receive notifications from our call centre to tell us to visit specific patients. We also call out to our call centre to activate the televisions (why we can't just do it ourselves, or e-mail, is a different issue right now).

If you need more details, I can provide it. BTW, I'm located in Canada.

[matdwyer]

It is a good idea if it will streamline things, although if you tell it to the wrong person (i.e. your boss) then they might can it as it may jeopardize their job (i.e. monitoring you if everything can be done by BB)

Just be clear in the compensation you'd like, when you would be done, and what is included. Don't let them bully you because you are an employee. I don't see any benefit to incorporating, although one of the more financial minded members may bring something up.

Also, I would do a demo up online that you can show them how it would all work, etc. The entire thing doesn't seem overly difficult, you should be able to get it done fairly quickly depending on how the data is processed.

On a side note, the fact that an EE grad is working part time for $13 scares me

[slavka012]

I guess in your position it would be tough. See it this way: if my 13/hr worker comes up to me with a really good proposal, what do I do? I still need him to do the job he is assigned to do now. Take him off it, and find another one to do his current job, and let him to do his project? What if he actually can't do it? That would be a tough call.

You see, any disruption of the process is not desired.

Now, you also need to think of the economy of the change. How much time you are going to save your boss, how much is she paid, and how much is your application going to cost? How soon is it going to pay off? Improvement of customer experience is not really that important, especially since you can easily make your printouts to contain all relevant info.

And you manager is obviously NOT the person to talk to about your proposal. If she were, she would develop the appy herself.

[slavka012]

Here we go again.

The guy makes 13/hr, part time, and you referring him to a lawyer to speak about a trivial application with no potential of being patented.

You seriously believe any VC would be interested in a little thingy that can be done in couple weeks, by pretty much anybody? Then you are simply delusional.

[HorizonXP]

Here we go again.

The guy makes 13/hr, part time, and you referring him to a lawyer to speak about a trivial application with no potential of being patented.

You seriously believe any VC would be interested in a little thingy that can be done in couple weeks, by pretty much anybody? Then you are simply delusional.

Yeah, I wasn't sure why I'd need to Lawyer and VC up quite yet. I'm looking for an idea where I might need to do that, but I don't think this idea is quite it.

Also, I'm not expecting to come off of my normal position. This would be done on my own time. And it would save a lot of tedious time for them, it terms of data entry and records management.

I was also hoping to propose a couple of other stages of development after this initial application that would help increase the value of the product. But I wanted to do this part first, see how it goes, before I jumped the gun on other features. This application shouldn't be jeopardizing anyone's job, it's removing a tedious task from a number of positions. And, it should help with better customer service, thus increasing its value beyond the initial pen-paper method.

What I'm wondering is, how do I go about doing this? Should I come up with some kind of proposal and presentation? I'm planning on developing a mock application, and showing that alongside the proposal and presentation. What would be the next step? Writing a contract? What should I be charging?

[adeel]

Yeah, I wasn't sure why I'd need to Lawyer and VC up quite yet. I'm looking for an idea where I might need to do that, but I don't think this idea is quite it.

Also, I'm not expecting to come off of my normal position. This would be done on my own time. And it would save a lot of tedious time for them, it terms of data entry and records management.

I was also hoping to propose a couple of other stages of development after this initial application that would help increase the value of the product. But I wanted to do this part first, see how it goes, before I jumped the gun on other features. This application shouldn't be jeopardizing anyone's job, it's removing a tedious task from a number of positions. And, it should help with better customer service, thus increasing its value beyond the initial pen-paper method.

What I'm wondering is, how do I go about doing this? Should I come up with some kind of proposal and presentation? I'm planning on developing a mock application, and showing that alongside the proposal and presentation. What would be the next step? Writing a contract? What should I be charging?

Perhaps your organization has some literature around making suggestions (classic suggestion box). Maybe you could speak to someone in your organization, telling them that you have an idea for improvement, but that before you explain your idea, you want to know what kind of benefits/ownership you get out of it. Failing that, if you are able to, try going to someone a few level's above you (not your direct superior, so they dont try and take your idea and pass it off as their own) and discussing your idea with them.

[slavka012]

What I'm wondering is, how do I go about doing this? Should I come up with some kind of proposal and presentation? I'm planning on developing a mock application, and showing that alongside the proposal and presentation. What would be the next step? Writing a contract? What should I be charging?

Mock application or even semi-working prototype would be a good thing. It will increase your credibility as actually being able to fulfill the project. You can charge anything you want, just try to not be greedy. I'd ask for how many hours you work on this time a decent hourly rate. Say, 50/hr or perhaps even less. In other words don't worry about POTENTIAL cost of the application. You are just starting your career and you need to gain a lot of experience first.

Build a good rapport with one of the decision makers in your company who you think might give a green light to your project. Ask him theoretically, if you were to come up with a small idea of how to improve their processes (even if it is not in your job description) would they even entertain it?

Contract can be a good thing, but it can bite you in the ass too because of feature creep. Amount is fixed, but customer demands more features which are sort of within the scope of project. All depends on this company.