The following is a general overview of the entire process for how Project Owners find, hire, manage and pay engineers online using InnoEngineer. Innoengineer provides three customized tools - Engineering Project Bidding Tool, Project Management Tool, Professional Networking Tool - so project owners and engineers can colobrate on projects of any size from anywhere from start to finish.
A complete guide for usign Innoengineer's tools can be downloaded here.
Step 0: Formulate and Validate Idea
Reach out to the crowd of engineers and project owners using the Professional Networking Tool to get ideas and formulate projects to accomplish your goals.
Step 1: Finding Engineeers and Posting a Project
To find the right engineer for any project, the project owner can either post a public project and begin receiving proposals or search for specific talent sets and privately invite them to submit a proposal to you.
Once the project is posted, engineers will submit request for proposals with details on what they will deliver, by when and for how much.
Step 2: Reviewing Proposals and Choosing the right engineer
Once proposals have been received, project owners will have the opportunity to review proposals and evaluate candidates via InnoEngineer.
As soon as the qualified engineer is determined, InnoEngineer’s Project Management Tool will help guide the process moving forward. All communications from the proposal review phase are transferred over automatically. This includes files, status reports, and milestones will be managed from within the Project Management Tool.
Step 3: Defining the 'Business Terms'
Terms of Service are agreed upon from the beginning by both parties. These terms are set by InnoEngineer and cannot be altered.
Step 4: Managing the Work
Engineers and their clients (Project Owners) use the Project Management Tool to communicate & collaborate, share files and file comments. All communications are stored to ensure that both parties can review all comments at any time.
If there are changes during the course of a project, at any time either the projet owner or the engineer can update the Terms. Milestones can be added, deleted, or edited. Once any changes are submitted, the other party can choose to accept, modify or decline the updates.
Engineers are encouraged to submit Status Reports outlining what was accomplished that week, how much time was spent, and tracking progress toward establish milestones.
Step 5: Receiving Results and Releasing Payment
As milestones are met, the engineer will submit their work for review and approval. Once approved, the funded milestone is released and funds are transferred to the engineer's account. At this point, the next milestone gets funded, and work continues.
Step 6: Leave Feedback
Once the project is complete and the final milestone payment is released, both the project owner and the engineer can leave feedback about their experience. This helps build a track record for both parties.