Is there a formal method for commissioning a project?

[andieroid]

Hi

I am working for a large not-for-profit organization and my role includes reviewing elements of our IT and web-strategy.  I am pushing for adoption of a more Open Source approach with our overall strategy, and how this could be achieved in a safe and robust way for our organization (who would have to rely on the outcome!)

I am familiar with installing Mambo and Joomla!, but not with developing in PHP/MySQL to any useful level.

I am aiming to steer my organisation to use an open source CMS (probably Joomla!) for its main website.  However, other elements of our strategy need to be compatible with the platform, now and in the future.

In particular, my organization needs to develop a method for storing and delivering content as web-pages, printed text, possibly later as e-books, SMS-text etc.  So essentially, a more detailed approach to the current web-creation and delivery process that Joomla! offers - but with more options for scaling content and generating PDFs etc.  We would be happy (of course) to share the outcome of the development with the community as a whole, if this were developed as a package.

We will have a budget for this (not quite sure how much, but enough for a small team of developers for three-four months I imagine - possibly longer if the strategy is accepted fully).

I can't see a forum specifically for commissioning work, so I am hoping that I've not broken any protocols here?

Any ideas how I could go about this - since I am not a developer myself?

Andrew

[cozimek]

Andrew,

Thanks for joining us here!  I think that you're absolutely right that key to larger organization's adoption of open source is a clear path of development, security issues addressed, and total cost of ownership taken into account.

With respect to open source adoption in general, I highly recommend reading the Non-Profit Open Source Initiative's Open Source Primer, at http://www.nosi.net.  That should get you in the right direction to learn more about the benefits and drawbacks of open source.

Regarding the commissioning of work, I believe you can use the forums to reach out to potential developers that can help you here, so you're not breaking any protocols.  The Request for Proposal process can be rough, so it's good for larger organizations to take their time in building their RFP and building relationships with established developer teams before starting on a large scale project like this.

Good luck!

Best,
Ryan

[brian]

thanks for the link Ryan I hadnt seeen that one before and it looks a good read. Downloading the manual right now

[DesignGuy]

Did you hire anyone yet?  Love to know how it turned out. We're launching a rather bulky site ourselves. I think the biggest challenge we're looking at is a consistent training program for folks adding content to the site. Maybe you were able to tackle this?

[andieroid]

Hi

we are now further down the line for adopting an open source philosophy within the organisation; certainly the OS Primer that Ryan linked me to was very persuasive (and accessible) to the decision makers here.

One of our main concerns are the accessibility programmes of OS developers; as we receive government funding (indirectly) and we have a strong belief (and responsibility) in accessibility for all - which has been built in to our current website approach (in terms of for screen reader use etc) - we are looking closely at those technologies that are currently addressing accessibility - or at least have plans to in the near future.

I shall certainly keep this forum posted as to how we progress, it appears we will be making a decision in the next month or two.

By the way - apologies for not publically responding to your response here Ryan - probably appeared to many as a bit rude!

Thanks for all your advise.

Andrew

[cozimek]

Andrew,

Thanks for the heads up, and definitely keep us informed.  I appreciate hearing your progress.

Best,
Ryan

[mohan]

It is good to find NPO joining Joomla because it will help them in long term as well.

[DesignGuy]

Pardon my ignorance...NPO? Sorry, please advise.  Also, am doing some in-depth research, and finding a few very good sources which I'll share in the near term.

[brad]

None Profit Organization

[DesignGuy]

BRADMAN COMES THROUGH. Well ya...NPO...Here I'm an executive director and all.  Damn lingo.

ANYhoo, NP's, it seems to me, have the MOST to gain via Joomla.  We've got folks like http://www.Blackbaud.com and http://www.Kintera.com out there, and damn they're good companies, but so FEW NPOs (I can now use that term with a shred of confidence, ty Brad-o-rinni) can AFFORD the features of Blackbaud and/or Kintera (or others--not playing favorites here, just pointing out the Benz models.