Title: 2
Author: Ion Ivan
Company: ASE

2. THE STAGES OF A RESEARCH

	2.1. The Beneficiary

	The beneficiary is a company, a group of persons or only one person. The beneficiary has to tackle a problem. He knows what the problem is, what the needs are. He knows what he wants. He knows what he offers. He does not have the solution, but he knows what would be his advantages if he had it.
    	First, the beneficiary has the problem. Second, the beneficiary has the money to finance the research that tackles the problem. Third, the beneficiary knows how to state the problem and the themes. Fourth, the beneficiary resorts to someone outside his company to tackle the problem. He makes a demand for an offer.

	2.2. The Offer For Solving The Problem

	First there has to be a manager of the virtual group.
	The manager makes the offer, action that consists of defining and/or estimating:
•	the problem 
•	the results
•	the steps in performing the project
•	the human resources and materials required
•	the duration of the project
•	the implementing conditions
•	the provided assistance 
•	the project cost

The project manager can perform this operation for the parts in the field of the problem that is to solve where he is a specialist. The offer requires knowledge of the job market in scientific research field but also of competition and its research potential. Receiving financial funds takes the research workers will to participate in a project contest.
	Only a percentage of 10-15% of the projects receives the funds. Quality oriented selection criteria are taken into account. The receiver is he who can win the jobs. The jobs are not given to him. Only in special occasions he is invited to perform a research study. Usually, when a research team achieves remarkable results, it is asked to write a book to synthesize these results. Or, a new theme that continues another research of the same team could be suggested, based on the previous results that ensure high quality outcomes.

	2.3. Project Management

	After having obtained the financing funds, the project manager makes the work group. The work group members' solution developing is based on:
•	project management qualities
•	research scientists expertise
•	previous results 
•	offer attractiveness
•	available resources

From all the information on the project, the work group receives the part it is interested in, according to the specific activity that it has to accomplish.
The P project manager develops the activities perform graph and the interdependencies. He sets the inputs Ik, and Ek, of each activity Ak (figure 1.).

A2

A1

A4

A3

A5

A6

		     I21

			  					E4
		          I22       	E22	        I4
I1	 E11					  	     I61		        E6
		      					         I62
		             E12		        I52			  I63

			       I3		E3	 I51		E5

Figure 1.  Inputs and outputs of the research project activities.

Persons and activities are correlated:

Table 1.          Correlating persons and activities

| A1 | A2 | A3 | A4 | A5 | A6
P1 | * | | | | * | *
P2 | | * | | | | *
P3 | | | * | | * |
P4 | | | | * | | *

The manager's art consists in:
•	choosing the team members
•	assigning probability tasks
•	controlling
•	building, within the group, a relation system stimulating the project making activities 

The issue of developing an appropriate project management is essential. Climate, coordination, information receiving, incentive are only a few of the elements with catalyzing role for the specialists in the work group.

2.4. Solution Evaluation

The beneficiary performs the evaluation of the project when the financing is decided. Solution evaluation takes place after the research process has been finished. The continuous communication with the beneficiary determines permanent corrections and probation of the outcome ideas. In addition to this, the original outcomes are compared to the existent solutions or to elements from connected fields.
The solution evaluation is an important activity for both the beneficiaries end the research team. The existence of marks to compare to makes the evaluation of the offered solution quality possible.
   	The research has a definite target and a specific evaluation method. The first test is about the positive effects. Without giving up presenting the negative effects, the evaluation aims to measure how much the new solution meets the beneficiary stated criteria.
	The evaluation is a complex process and within it a lot of subjective elements come up. If the project manager succeeds in creating a strict system of hypothesis on which the evaluation would be based, then the results approval will take place directly and without any problems.

	2.5. The Results Exploatation

	The research results can be exploited in various ways.
	First, research reports containing all the details of the procedures, algorithms and patterns are made in such a manner, so they could be entirely copied after reading them once.		
	The research reports are detailed scientific studies with scientific features.
The articles published, together with the thesis presented within the scientific meetings are means of announcing the most interesting achievements in a synthetic form. The articles are not longer than 2-10 journal pages. The classic structure of an article: a summary, key words and the introduction, which consists of the goals and the study presentation. The article is to have 3-5 parts for describing the models, the algorithms, the experiments and comparisons for evaluation needs.
	The article must end with conclusions. It can also have enclosed bibliographical data.
	The presentations delivered in the scientific seminars are work methods, as the public is a small scientific community that is directly interested in an exchange of opinions.
	The communication between specialists can be verbal, or made through modern ways of information transfer.
                                                     
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      The research steps are very much alike the industrial processes. The scientific research is afield where the risk factors are under control. Unlike other areas, where a certain quantity (volume or number) of the inputs is used in scientific research knowledge, methods and techniques are the main work material. The newer they are, the most valuable the research results are.
	The step from the solitary way of research (which is likely to achieve results, but with a higher risk involved) to the team work using modern techniques and the latest methods of investigation, simulation, and experimentation is the fundamental element of the modern production, which is based on the latter.