Approach

Business Briefing

As business people we know that it is bad business to invest in technology for technology's sake. A technology has to be mandated by a business need that ultimately adds value to the business itself.

This is why we begin all of our engagements with a Business Briefing.

The most fundamental criterion for success in any business technology project is a sound business driver that is clearly understood and kept in view at all times. You may want to establish a credible Internet presence as a means of attracting new customers through the greater availability of information about your products and services. Perhaps you are interested in reducing operational costs within your organisation through the leveraging of Intranet technology. In the end, the success of the project from your perspective is going to be measured by only one criterion - did it benefit my business? If it doesn't result in tangible business benefit then we've failed.

The Business Briefing an opportunity for the mutual exchange of knowledge and information that will allow us to clearly identify the business drivers for the project and to move onto the next step, Strategy Documentation.

Making a Proposal

The e-Business Strategy Document is the first formal deliverable for the project. It documents what was learned in the business briefing, and articulates a vision of what we are mutually trying to achieve and how our success will be measured. The document is mutually agreed to, and is in a sense the lighthouse for the project.

With the e-Business Strategy Document agreed, a Statement of Work is developed. The Statement of Work refines and elaborates on the Strategy document. It is a practical document, and is in essence a proposal. It includes high-level costs, timelines, deliverables and constraints of the project. This document is contractual for both parties.

Designing a Solution

It is of the utmost importance that you and we both understand what it is that we are creating together. We've already established a strategic direction and agreed on broad parameters, but as they say, the devil is in the details.

That is why we place particular emphasis on the design phase of the project. In the design phase we thorough describe the end deliverable using 3 principle techniques:

• Information Architecture - a high level mapping of the relationships that exist between content and functional elements on a web site, or within an application.
• User Interaction Design - a more granular depiction at the user experience of the site or application described in the Information Architecture.
• User Interface Design - addresses the actual layout and appearance of the site and it's pages.

Development

The development process is something that the client is largely insulated from. This is the realisation of what has been agreed in the previous steps through programming.
We have the ability to use a variety of different technologies for this purpose, and most often will build on an Apache / MySQL / PHP architecture. This triage is the most frequently used platform for delivering dynamic web applications in use on the Internet today. What's more all of the packages are Open Source, which means that there are no licensing costs for you to pay.

The development process can take anything from weeks to months depending on the nature of the project. When development is complete, we move into User Acceptance Testing.

User Acceptance Testing

This is the client's opportunity to test the site or system to ensure that it meets the requirements initially agreed in the Strategy Document and the Statement of Work. Depending on the nature of the project we may at this point involve 3rd parties in the testing of the Site.

If there are changes required that fall within the original scope of the project we revert to the design and/or development phases, make the changes, and then enter into User Acceptance Testing once again. Once the Site has passed User Acceptance Testing we move onto Implementation.

Implementation

This phase varies depending on the scope of the project. Literally it means putting the site 'live' - moving it from a development environment to a 'production' environment where it is readily accessible to the intended audience.

We may at this point engage in specific launch related promotional activities such as the listing of the site with popular search engines or indices, or the promotion of the site through online vehicles such as banner advertising or email campaigns if that is within the scope of the project.