Receiving the Written Request initiating the Project.

What is the written request initiating a project?

Ideally, a request would come to the attention of a department or collection manager clearly marked as “Project Request” outlining exactly what actions will satisfy the request. Sometimes this is true but requests leading up to a project may not always be clear or direct. You will receive requests for estimates in many different ways. I am sure that you already receive requests for time and cost estimates as part of your regular working day. The problem with project requests, requests for managed services, is that the request for a quote or estimate could be one of three types:

1. The requestor has partial information on the larger project that is taking place. They only know to request the packing or movement of the objects and they do so as if they were requesting information for a pickup.
2. The requestor is responsible for the construction or infrastructure side of the project and they only know that they need to figure out how to protect or remove the art objects.
3. The requestor knows the collection and knows that the packing and movement of the art objects will require a coordinated and well-planned effort.

Based on the above, the request would be identified as a project request one third of the time. More importantly, the person receiving it may not recognize the request as a project request.  If someone responsible for the labor or production of the request receives the request, it may be misquoted. The reason for this is the person requesting objects specifically to be packed, crated or moved may not understand the ramifications of their request and contact the person responsible for transportation or crating. There are many reasons for a request. The request may be cost gathering for a quote. The person initiating the request may be following through on a request made to them. They may not understand that they should be asking for a project review and not a pack request.

If your position requires you, receive requests for labor: packing, crating or art movement for example, you expect requests for simple service actions such as a crate request without considering the implications of the request. If you receive such a request and your job is only to fulfill specific task requests, then the request is the only thing you need to consider. For example, if you are a crate shop manager and you receive a request from a gallery or museum registrar to estimate twenty crates you really have no questions to ask other than questions specific to the task. If on the other hand, you are in a position that supervises direct task departments including shops, preparators or free-lance labor, you should be reviewing all requests for ramifications beyond the request.