One reason I'm sending this message is so that you all have my email address. Also, Lee, I noted your last name as "Etherton", but I might well have misheard a consonant or two; let me know.
I was thinking after we talked that it might be good in the short term to try to get a high-level description of what will need to be done, in, say, the first year (in part to make sure that the $200K figure which we discussed is roughly correct), and to understand if there will be any critical schedule issues (e.g. "infrastructure deliverables") that would lead us to prioritize our approach.
For example, I could imagine that secure web-based interaction might be desired at 5 sites. This might require 5 machines (say $5K per as a rough estimate), with appropriate software (say $2K/machine for off-the-shelf https, logging, Virtual Private Network, hardware firewalls, etc.). That's $35K off the top; with travel, setup, and support (Lee should jump in here) that might rise to $50K. I'm not trying to inflate it, but there are connectivity issues to be thought out, a security policy should be established (however informally), there should be some planning for ongoing user support, and there are the traditional system issues (e.g. regular backups).
Of the remaining $150K, there will be some for travel, some for incidental expenses, which basically leaves less than a (fully burdened) man-year over a calendar year. Is that enough to do what we'll need to do?
I think the best way to answer it is to be as specific as possible about what might need to be done. Ideally, we might start to jointly work on a specification document, starting with the high level goals, with notations on levels of effort and likely hardware/software purchases required. This could be just a few pages; but it would be great if it covered what we're going to do (even if in general terms), and if we all agreed on it.
(It may be that in some areas we can't be very specific; but I think the exercise of trying will both clarify our uncertainties and give us a ballpark of resources required.)
Perhaps Roice could start this by giving us a few bulleted points as to what will need to be available as far as infrastructure at the end of the first year. We can then go back and forth with questions, and successively refine our thinking.
Bryan
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