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ChaPter 3 • ProjeCt management 89

What to Include in a Systems Proposal
A written systems proposal has 10 main sections. Each section has a particular function, and
eventually the proposal should be arranged in the following order:
1. Cover letter
2. Title page of project
3. Table of contents
4. Executive summary (including recommendations)
5. Outline of systems study with appropriate documentation
6. Detailed results of the systems study
7. Systems alternatives (three or four possible solutions)
8. Systems analysts’ recommendations
9. Proposal summary
10. Appendices (assorted documentation, summary of phases, correspondence, and so on)
A cover letter to managers and the IT task force should accompany the systems proposal.
It should list the people who did the study and summarize the objectives of the study. Keep the
cover letter concise and friendly.
Include on the title page the name of the project, the names of the systems analysis team
members, and the date the proposal is submitted. The proposal title must accurately express the
content of the proposal, but it can also exhibit some imagination. The table of contents can be
useful to readers of long proposals. If the proposal is less than 10 pages long, omit the table of
contents.
The executive summary, in 250 to 375 words, provides the who, what, when, where, why,
and how of the proposal, just as would the first paragraph in a news story. It should also include
the recommendations of the systems analysts and desired management action because some
people will only have time to read the summary. It should be written last, after the rest of the
proposal is complete.
The outline of the systems study provides information about all the methods used in the
study and who or what was studied. Any questionnaires, interviews, sampling of archival data,
observation, or prototyping used in the systems study should be discussed in this section.
This detailed results section describes what the systems analyst has found out about human
and systems needs through all the methods described in the preceding section. Conclusions about
problems workers experience when interacting with technologies and systems that have come to
the fore through the study should be noted here. This section should list the problems or suggest
opportunities that call forth the alternatives presented in the next section.
In the systems alternatives section of the proposal, present two or three alternative solu-
tions that directly address the aforementioned problems. The alternatives you present should
include one that recommends keeping the system the same. Each alternative should be explored
separately. Describe the costs and benefits of each situation. Because there are usually trade-offs
involved in any solution, be sure to include the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Each alternative must clearly indicate what users and managers must do to implement it.
The wording should be as clear as possible, such as, “Buy notebook computers for all middle
managers,” “Purchase packaged software to support users in managing inventory,” or “Modify
the existing system through funding in-house programming efforts.”
After the systems analysis team has weighed the alternatives, it will have a definite profes-
sional opinion about which solution is most workable. The systems analysts’ recommendations
section expresses the recommended solution. Include the reasons supporting the team’s recom-
mendation so that it is easy to understand why it is being made. The recommendation should
flow logically from the preceding analysis of alternative solutions, and it should clearly relate the
human–computer interaction findings to the choice offered.
The proposal summary is a brief statement that mirrors the content of the executive sum-
mary. It gives the objectives of the study and the recommended solution. You should once more
stress the project’s importance and feasibility, along with the value of the recommendations for
reaching the users’ goals and improving the business. Conclude the proposal on a positive note.
The appendices are the last part of the systems proposal, and they can include any informa-
tion that you feel may be of interest to specific individuals but that is not essential for understand-
ing the systems study and what is being proposed.