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This article covers step 2 of your web project. In step 1 we’ve talked about your project selection based on different criteria such as business priorities, needs, time period and accomplishment of your preliminary study.

So now you have all the elements to go to the second phase of your web project, which is its design. These are the foundations upon which the project will be based. The project design stage will allow to measure all the perimeters of the project and to monitor its progress, from the initial vision to the final version, while controlling the costs incurred.

Right moment to ask yourself: what will happen during the “design phase” of our web project and what should we be based on to succeed in further phases?

In the preliminary studies, you have already identified your niche market (= customers or users and competition). You have established the needs of your target as well as all your objectives and sub goals. Now you have to put all this on paper to begin designing the project. The project design is based on several aspects such as planning, communication between the different actors of the project, a deeper cost estimation and risk management.

No worries, we are about to dive into good practices and tips to know about the success of your web project.

Project Manager, aka, The Key Player

The project manager has a very important role. He must know the whole strategy on the tips of his fingers and have sufficient powers to put it in place. He must also know the entire information system (site, business application …) and he will be responsible for completing the project. He will focus on the summary of 1^st phase of web project to establish key phases of project development.

Key features in line with objectives

The main objectives should clearly indicate the direction of the project. In order to illustrate our point, let’s take the example of Bright Owl a HR web application (matching experts with available jobs in life science industry), developed by Xorlogics.

The vision is to facilitate hiring process. The main objective is to offer professionals a clear view of available jobs on the market, and companies the ability to select the best talents available.

The objectives and outcomes of the project will be

• Management / Commercial – decrease of recruitment cost …
• Marketing – ex: increase job offers / prospect companies, improve segmentation market …
• Communication – ex: Focus on Bright Owl presentation
• Sales / Marketing – Ex: Advertising / Advantage for companies and experts…
• Web Marketing – ex: reaching a traffic base of 70,000 visits at 6 months … SEO, SEM, Social Networks, buzz, viral campaign etc.

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(The objectives and figures are given as an indication and they will depend on your studies)

The objectives serves to coordinate the key phases of the action plan. On the basis of these objectives, the project manager will prepare a synthesis of the overall strategy. The sub-objectives will assert themselves as the project proceeds. It is of course relatively difficult to set targets on a project from scratch, but they have the advantage of giving direction to your project. They can be reviewed and corrected later on if necessary.

Intern-extern company communication as an important factor for success

The project manager must interact with each member of the company and future service providers. Only then he can plan his needs/demands for each service. These internal exchanges of information make it possible to understand the needs and difficulties of each party. The crucial point is to receive the information at the right time. The key is therefore to communicate with each person in charge and to have all the useful information to the project, so one must give a dead line to each person in charge.

Not only internal but the Project manager must maintain a good relationship with different external providers, in order to give easily his instructions and have the best possible solution. On the other hand, several providers (might be) working together on the project or some part of the project. The project manager must then ensure that these providers communicate easily so that the interactions between the different trades are effective and comprehensible by each. It would be a shame and huge waste of time + resource if a part of project were replicated or reconsidered and rebuilt several times.

Estimations and cost calculation

In order to anticipate the investment, the project manager must have knowledge of the state of the art. That is to say that he will contact the different providers. He can make an initial estimate of the company’s external costs and make a choice. In addition to that, the project manager must know the standard internal costs and integrate them into its cost forecast.

How to make the right choice of providers?

Several points to remember:

• The most expensive is not necessarily the best: Price is an unreliable indicator. An expensive provider is not synonymous of quality.
• The cheapest is often not the right solution: An aggressive trade policy on costs (tariffs) is often synonymous with poor quality. It is not absolute but we must be aware. Several problems can subsequently arise for the sustainability and management of the project.
• Your usual provider is not necessarily the best: You are used to working with a provider. It gives you complete satisfaction. Very well, continue to work with him, but do not hesitate to meet other providers. Some may be cheaper to equal quality or they will have other skills you did not know exist.
• Offshoring isn’t dangerous at all! I can literally write down a list of outsourced projects very well conducted by Xorlogics. Relocation can be very interesting to cut labor, management and equipment cost and taxes.

To understand the establishment of a web project, the project must be seen in its broadest sense. The web strategy should be thought as a pyramid. Let’s start with the basics, build solid foundations and do not burn the steps. Burning the steps, going in the wrong direction or not communicating well can put the project at risk.

Be pragmatic: you have a lot of ideas for your project, that’s normal. Start by setting up the heart of your business. The functionalities that will make your customers adhere to your product and which will bring you what to develop the rest, will be your priorities.

And last tip: do not sink into the fashion effect. Don’t get fool by the “trend”. Ask yourself if your application really need to interact with the latest social network? Is this a real need for your users? Even though social networks are very popular lately, they are not yet an obligation for all web applications. If you have to integrate them, then you have to know how to make the right network choice and know when to use them.

To finish, it is often common sense, listening and creativity that will be the best guide in designing a web application.

Next week we’ll talk about the preparation and risk management. So let’s meet next Sunday 😉