Project Scoping
Understanding your business requirements is the first step in planning for the development of a new website or web application. Many organisations try and ‘fast forward’ through this stage of any project, however it can be the most important of them all. Without a clear understanding of the reason why you are undertaking a project, successful completion of your website cannot be gauged. There are two key steps in ascertaining the needs of a new project.
Strategic Vision
Determining your strategic vision provides a greater perspective on defining user requirements, benchmark projects and staged project deliverables. This process provides you with the confidence that your online project conforms and supports both the short term and long term strategic goals of your organisation.
Some of the solutions that ARES can review when looking at how your online presence marries your strategic vision can include:
- review market and competitor activity
- analyse internal needs
- compile online business plans
- conduct SWOT analysis
- undertake project scoping and business requirement gathering
Understanding Users
Once a broader project perspective is obtained the next stage is to better understand the needs of external and internal users. Whether anecdotally assessed, obtained via survey or drawn from focus groups, planning a project around user requirements is crucial.
Any organisation wishing to launch or redevelop an intranet, extranet, website or online application, will discover that accessibility and useability considerations are playing an increasingly important role in the planning and deployment process and with a clear understanding of usability and why people visit your website, you can ensure that you are meeting the true needs of your customers and clients.