When selecting your two potential clients, keep in mind that the ultimate success of your team's project is inextricably tied to the appropriateness of your potential clients. Also, remember that the clients' needs should be serviceable within the time and resource constraints of the project: that is, you should not commit to creating a web page from scratch for your client. Rather, your target document will be a recommendation report which comments upon the feasibility of either the construction and maintenance of a web page or revisions to an already existing page.

As a team, you should beginning contacting potential clients on T, 2/22 , and have a firm commitment from two potential clients by R, 3/2. Your team will collect preliminary information about your two potential clients (i.e. contact person, location, hours of operation, type of organization or business, clientele served by the organization or business, etc). Your team will use this information to compose an email message to me outlining the feasibility of each client.

beginning to choose potential clients

Because this project asks you to work as a consultant, you will need to choose a client that complements the project's goals. The following general criteria should help you to begin selecting a client, but you also should consult the client criteria section below.

organizational concerns

Potential clients should be. . .

non-profit organizations or small businesses.

able to administer and maintain a website.

interested in our services.

accessibility concerns

Potential clients should be. . .

willing to be interviewed and observed as part of your team's research.

in locations accessible to all team members.

amenable to continuous communication with your team for the duration of the project.

client criteria

In addition to meeting the general criteria listed above, a potential client should:

be an organization that does not already have web consultants on staff.

be an organization large enough to support the project (i.e. larger than just one or two employees).

be very accessible--in terms of both time and location--so that you can become familiar with the context and maintain communication throughout the project.

be in either Lafayette or West Lafayette.

be potentially interesting to all team members.

not be a relative or close friend.