Web Design/Development Project Approach

OrangeWiz Studios follows the well-adopted Customer/User Centered "4D Process" as part of its Project Management methodology, which includes Discovery, Design, Development, and Delivery phases. The length and depth of these phases will be tailored based on the complexity of the project.

Discovery Phase

An informal but thorough approach will be used to gather initial requirements from key stakeholders and users. Initial meetings/interviews will be conducted to determine Project Scope, Goals, and Vision. Competitve Analysis can be conducted during this phase as well. Priority of Customer versus User needs is determined.

Sample key tasks during the Discovery phase:

• Conduct a preliminary session to discuss the goals, critical success factors, timeline, participation, etc.
• Define and document preliminary user and functional requirements.
  
  
  Perform Competivive Analysis.
• Provide preliminary analysis for potential designs.
• Conduct follow-up sessions if necessary based on customer input.
• Prepare Professional Services Agreement (PSA) and Schedules/Statement(s) of Work (SOW)

Sample Deliverables:    

• OrangeWiz: PSA and any necessary SOW's (signed by both parties)

Design Phase

An iterative design approach (including customer/user interviews) will be used for all design activities as well as to further refine the requirements for each deliverable.  Comprehensive Renderings (or Comps) or Technical/Functional Specifications are provided for each deliverable, and customer/user feedback is used to refine potential designs and select a final design. Customer will review and provide feedback/approval on all deliverables as agreed upon in relevent PSA. Delays in responding may impact scope, schedule, and cost. Third party Stock Art, Photographs, or Fonts will only be included at this phase if its owner provides “Comp” licensing or Customer approves the purchase of necessary licensing.

Sample key Design tasks:

• Interview Customer and identified key Users regarding usability needs.
• Provide Comps of possible designs.
• Refine selected Comp(s) based on customer/user feedback.
• Obtain customer approval for final design

Sample Deliverables:

• OrangeWiz: Preliminary and Final design Comps.
• Customer: Approval Form (signed) for Design Phase.  Change Request Form needed to obtain license for any Stock Art.

Development Phase

During the Development phase, the approved specifications defined in the Discovery and Design Phases are made operational, including:

• Licensing, attainment and integration in final form of any Stock Art.
• Refinement of all graphics to their final form.
• Conversion of all graphics to individual Web Pages.
• Iterative Customer/User Testing to identify and fix browser/content/usability issues.
• Customer approval before final Delivery of finished design.

Sample Deliverables:

• A Change Request Form to obtain license for any Stock Art.
• OrangeWiz: Operational deliverables for Review by Customer.
• Customer: Approval Form (signed) for Development Phase.

Delivery Phase

During the Delivery phase, the final Deliverables are delivered to the Customer in one of the following methods:

• Direct upload to Customer’s Web Hosting Service. If the Customer chooses this method, Customer will authorize OrangeWiz to access this account to update contents for Customer's web site.  The Customer will provide OrangeWiz with the appropriate username and password to access this account.
• DVD or CD-ROM delivered in person, or mailed as agreed upon in contract.
• Email (for small files only)

Sample Deliverables:

• Final delivery of finished Deliverables to Customer.

Web Site Testing Approach

Three discrete testing methodologies will be employed during various phases of this project. If key users are identified by Customer, User Interviewing/Testing will occur at various phases during the project. At the conclusion of the Development Phase, OrangeWiz will conduct a System Test and the Customer will do User Acceptance Testing.

User Interviewing/Testing

When agreed upon in the SOW/PSA, if key users are identified by the Customer, OrangeWiz will perform various interviews and testing throughout the phases of the project. This can include informational interviews during Discovery and Design, as well as iterative testing/observation (Contextual Inquiry) of the usability of mockups/prototypes/deliverables during both the Design and Development phases of the project.

System Test

System Testing will be performed by OrangeWiz, and includes testing functionality of all aspects of the website prior to User Acceptance Testing.

System Testing validates that the individual web pages meet the original functional requirements.  For this project, this includes link testing and Browser Compatibility testing with the latest versions (at least within 3 months of testing) of Internet Explorer (PC), Safari (Mac), and Mozilla Firefox (PC and Mac). Earlier versions or additional browsers can be tested if agreed up on in the PSA or SOW (and if those versions are still available).

User Acceptance Test

User Acceptance Testing is performed at the conclusion of the Development Phase to determine if the agreed upon design and requirements have been met. For this project, final User Acceptance Testing will be conducted by the Customer to ensure proper user-experience. This should include determining that the web site meets the original objectives, usability testing, and spell checking of all text. Any defects will be identified, tracked, and fixed using a Change Request Form. Once defects have been fixed, the customer is asked to re-test and approve the new functionality. Additional functional requirements (enhancement suggestions) can also be captured for future phases.

Customer will test and provide feedback on all deliverables as agreed upon in the relevent PSA or Schedule/SOW. Delays in responding may impact scope, schedule, and cost.