Introduction
Surgical experience is one of the hardest to obtain in an academic or a hospital setting due to the high costs of performing practice on real human corpses and high risks of allowing an undertrained surgeon to operate on a living patient. The lack of effective and available means of practical surgeon education is affecting healthcare efforts worldwide. The lack of experienced surgeons significantly increases the costs for even the simplest of surgeries, while at the same time making the price of a mistake committed by a novice surgeon too high (Talmon 2010).
The Center for Digital Innovation, established in 2013, has the purpose of promoting and encouraging the use of advanced technology to improve healthcare and promote an increased quality of life. This is especially true in the case of medical education as it has a direct connection to either of these goals. The purpose of the proposed project is to supply the medical students at the University of Sharjah with a practical VI software to simulate real operations and situations to improve the level and quality of surgeon graduates leaving the university.
This pilot project is aimed to create experimental software for simulated appendectomy surgery for the students at the University of Sharjah. The simulation is expected to have high levels of realism, meaning that the experience should not be different than of a realistic operation. The benefit of having such a program would include the possibility of repeating performance time and again, enabling the students to perfect their decision-making and mechanical surgery skills. Also, the simulation is expected to accommodate up to 15 people within the same VR construct, meaning that students would learn not only the basics of operations but also the duties of the supporting personnel.
Due to the expensiveness and complexity of the project, the Center of Digital Innovation would require participating in a tender to involve the best outsourcing companies that would take part in the project and provide the best possible expertise for the optimal price. The purpose of this RFT is to outline the demands, requirements, processes, financing, handover procedures, and other important parts of the proposal, which would enable potential candidates to assess the complexity of the project in regards to their capabilities and ensure the product is up to the standards and expectations of the customer.
Handover Procedures
Handover procedures are defined as coordinated activities that involve the transfer of a software product from the software development team towards the post-delivery software maintenance and support team, as well as the overall transfer of the product and all related materials to the client (Khan 2013). In this procedure, the development team has the task of transferring the software, hardware, documentation, and systems knowledge, while the maintenance team receives these materials and uses them to deliver future maintenance support to the client.
Project Scope
- Project Name: Appendectomy Surgical VR Training Software
- Project Description: Medical VR training module with the potential of supporting up to 15 individual practitioners in separate or singular settings. Intended for replicating the conditions of a surgical environment during an appendectomy in a realistic setting. Intended capabilities include realistic bodily responses to medical and surgical treatment, realistic replication of surgical tools and effects on the tissues of the body, and a smooth transition between senses and provided images to provide a tangible and realistic operating experience (Priklandnicki & Audy 2010).
- Project Documentation: Expenditure reports, instructional manuals, legal documents and contracts, copyright claims, finished software as well as all intermediate development materials, technical support documentation.
- Transition Goals: The goal of the handover procedure is to successfully transfer all important materials and documentation to the customer and technical support teams, thus allowing full independence and relinquishing any materials related to the project.
Handover Strategy
For the handover procedure to be successful, it is required for the handover activities that were planned and detailed during the earlier project stages to be undertaken. All stakeholders involved in the handover process have to be involved in the project stages. All handover costs associated with monitoring and reporting of the procedures have to be maintained. Any certifications required for the completion of the project is to be obtained from all external agencies and outsource software developers involved in the project (Verner & Abdullah 2012).
Transition Schedule, Tasks, and Activities
The following schedule for the handover process involves a phased approach, with every phase being conducted after the other. This allows for a methodical and precise transition approach, ensuring a smooth transition of all related material to the customer (Kerzner 2013).
Transition Resources
This section lists the specific resources needed to complete the handover phase of the project. These resources include software, hardware, facilities, personnel, and special resources available for the project (Richardson et al. 2012).
Post-Implementation Activities
After the VR program is tested, all related documentation and all steps mentioned in the previous parts of the handover plan are completed, the contractor will be expected to involve themselves in several supporting post-implementation activities, which include (Kerzner 2013):
- Providing FAQs and relative information in regards to the use and application of the developed software.
- Monitoring and tracking of helpdesk tickets to ensure any operational issues are answered and resolved on time.
- Conduct semi-annual follow-up meetings with the clients on the matters of software updating and maintenance.
Document Approval
The following signatures acknowledge the approval of the handover plan as being as complete and accurate as possible and confirm its understanding and willingness to proceed with the handover phase of the project. Any alterations to this plan would have to be made with the full agreement of the signed parties.
Reference List
Kerzner, H 2013, Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling, 11th edn, Wiley, New York, NY.
Khan, AS 2013, A framework for software system handover, Web.
Priklandnicki, R & Audy JLN 2010, ‘Process models in the practice of distributed software development: A systematic review of the literature’, Information and Software Technology, vol. 52, no. 8, pp. 779-771.
Richardson, I, Casey, V, McCaffery, F, Burton, J & Beecham, S 2012, ‘A process framework for global software engineering teams’, Information and Software Technology, vol. 54, no. 11, pp. 1175-1191.
Talmon, G 2010, ‘The use of autopsy in preclinical medical education: a survey of pathology educators’, Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, vol. 134, no. 7, pp. 1047-1053.
Verner, JM, & Abdullah, LM 2012, ‘Exploratory case study research: outsourced project failure’, Information and Software Technology, vol. 54, no.8, pp. 866-886.