New Client Guide HOW WEB DEVELOPMENT WORKS AT nGEN WORKS The more you know about how nGen Works builds websites, the better your experience and your website will be. This guide discusses the process, roles and responsibilities involved in each phase, with tips for keeping your project on track and within budget.
904.399.4411
www.ngenworks.com
1807 HENDRICKS AVENUE, JACKSONVILLE, FL 32207
nGEN WORKS CLIENT GUIDE
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THE MOVING PARTS Effective web development requires several distinct skill sets, so there may be changes in who is leading the project from one phase to the next. Rest assured, we always have the best person at the wheel throughout these phases: The Scoping Phase The Client Survey
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The Proposal
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Features Overview
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Assumptions & Understandings
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Special Needs
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Billing Terms
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Basecamp
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The Kickoff Meeting
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The Define & Design Phase Content Documents
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Look & Feel Development
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Content Development
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The Production Phase The Pre-Production Meeting
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Production
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Content Management System (CMS)
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Quality Assurance Nitpick
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Training Content Management System & Analytics Training
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THE SCOPING PHASE
The Client Survey
RESPONSIBILITIES
Timeframe: two to three business days to complete
Ours: To ask the right
To understand you and your clients’ needs, we start with the Client Survey. This helps us articulate those needs and agree on goals. It also addresses your message, audience and content, and the site’s look, feel and functionality. Key decision-makers should complete his or her own survey with brief, but thorough information.
questions. Yours: To answer questions as completely as possible.
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Depending on the project, we may conduct an interview with you in lieu of the Client Survey. Once we have a clear definition of what needs to be accomplished, nGen Works will prepare an anticipated budget range for the project.
The more complete the information you provide, the more accurate the proposal. Tell us about your unique circumstances
The Proposal
or special requirements,
Timeframe: three to five business days to complete
such as internal hosting,
Features Overview This overview includes standard features of your project; any custom features will be discussed when we review the proposal with you. It’s our shared responsibility to ensure you have a complete understanding before we begin, because this is the best way to reach your goals and stay on budget. Goals Definition: We work with you to define what we are going to accomplish during the project. Perception Definition: Together we define the perception the site needs to create. Content Documents: We’ll outline all of the pages, their goals, types of content and content hierarchy for the site. Sitemap: This is the high-level view of your website and how the pages relate to each other. Content Development: Using the Content Documents, Sitemap and your input our copywriter creates the content for your site. Look & Feel Development: This is the visual design of your site.
third-party tools, branding guidelines, approval processes or the extent of your content.
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THE SCOPING PHASE
The Proposal continued Features Overview continued
TIP
Because we often speak a technical language, please
Programming Utilizing CSS: To ensure your site is functional and future-proof, we build websites that adhere to the W3C Web Standards and Section 508 accessibility guidelines. If that doesn’t make sense to you, just know we build websites the right way. Content Management System: That’s right — every site we build comes with the ability for you to edit text and even add pages. We’ll go into detail on this when we talk about Production. Hosting Setup: We will prepare the server for your website at Rackspace, a world-class host. Rackspace gives us the tools we need, and helps you get the most from your investment. Statistics Setup: We install Google Analytics for each client because it’s one of the easiest and most comprehensive statistics packages out there — and it’s free. Training: We’ll walk through the content management system and the statistics package so you’ll know how to use everything before your site goes live. Assumptions and Understandings We make sure everyone understands what is and, perhaps more importantly, what is not covered by the estimated development costs. The following are typically not included in our estimate: Integration with Third-party Tools or Databases. This is not covered within the scope of the estimate on most projects. Photography, Documents or Multimedia. We need this content provided by you in a digital format or it will be estimated separately. The estimate covers the time to create the project, but not the materials. If the materials are not supplied electronically, additional time and costs will be incurred.
feel free to ask questions about terms or phrases you don’t understand.
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THE SCOPING PHASE
The Proposal continued
RESPONSIBILITIES
Ours: Present a
Assumptions and Understandings continued Hosting and Maintenance Costs. Although these costs aren’t included in the estimate, most hosting for our clients is reasonably priced at $50 a month. The exception is when you have special needs, such as heightened security or heavy traffic levels. Because you will have the ability to update content, you may have no maintenance costs at all. Email Setup or Migration. This is not covered within the scope of the estimate on most projects. If you have special email needs please provide us with the name of a technical contact who can explain your current setup and the desired outcome. Special Needs If your website has to be hosted internally, or your IT department has specific requirements for how the site is built or external applications the site has to work with, we will need to know these “special needs” during the estimating process. Otherwise, significant costs may be overlooked until the project is underway. Billing Terms We will present you with a budget range based on costs for similar projects and requirements. To get started we’ll need a small deposit. For most projects the deposit is $5,000 or less. Once we receive the deposit your project is assigned a job number and enters our system. Every week an email will be sent with a detail of work completed, where we are against the anticipated budget and an invoice based on hours incurred at $185/hour. If, at any time, we feel this project is in danger of exceeding this budget range, we will notify you immediately via email of the situation that could cause the overage and a recommendation to correct it. The initial deposit will be applied to the final payment(s) on the project and is included in the budget range.
comprehensive overview of project features and requirements; calculate the cost and time needed to develop the project. Yours: Review the proposal to ensure it covers everything we’ve discussed; ask questions about the overall process; provide a deposit to get the project started; provide all technical information such as secured URLs.
nGEN WORKS CLIENT GUIDE
THE SCOPING PHASE
The Proposal continued Billing Terms continued In the event that you request the addition of new features or revise the scope of this project after work has begun, nGen Works will provide a revision to the budget range in writing for the change. Upon your approval, the new features will be scheduled. The Pause Clause If a client deliverable, such as input, approvals or payment is late more than 10 business days the project will be considered “on hold.” Once the deliverable is received and the project is re-activated the project will be rescheduled based on nGen Works’ current workload and availability. Just to say it loud and clear, it could be a month or more to get you back in the system if the project is put on hold. Transfer of Ownership You own all the original work created for you by nGen Works as soon as you’ve paid for it. So if you stay up-to-speed on your payments then you own all the work. Project Cancelation In the event of the project being canceled, you own all of the original work created for you by nGen Works that you’ve paid for. If you decide to start a project back up after canceling a new deposit will be required.
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THE SCOPING PHASE
Basecamp
RESPONSIBILITIES
Timeframe: one hour to setup
Ours: Provide the entire
Basecamp is a web-based project-management tool we use to help keep your project organized. It gives you and us a single place to communicate, post and access files, and track progress. It’s easy to use and simple to get started. Before the Kickoff Meeting, we’ll email you an invitation to your project’s secure Basecamp site and you’ll be on your way.
The Kickoff Meeting
team a thorough overview of information captured in the Scoping Phase; ask any final questions and request clarifications before starting the Define & Design Phase. Yours: Make sure we understand all special
Timeframe: one to two hours
considerations; supply in
This is the first time the entire team meets to review the project. As the final step in the Scoping Phase, it’s critical that we’ve identified everything we want to accomplish and discussed any special requirements, such as:
digital format all material, including photography, that may be applicable to the project; provide a company overview,
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Being unable to transfer the site to an approved nGen Works host. The need for Email setup or migration support. Branding guidelines to which we need to adhere. Special technology requirements, such as the need to use specific programming languages. This normally involves using ASP or .NET. If you’re unfamiliar with these terms, we can talk with your IT department.
Considerations such as these have a great impact on how we develop the site. That’s why it’s so important to identify them before we start development. We’ll also need you to provide us with a company overview, explain the competitive environment and answer questions from the team. It’s best if you have all of the content materials in a digital format at the meeting. That way we’ll be ready to go with no delays. After the Kickoff Meeting we’ll post the meeting notes to Basecamp and ask for you to approve them or provide revisions. Once we have approval to proceed we will start the Define & Design Phase.
explain the competitive environment and answer questions from the team.
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If you provide everything we need for the project at the Kickoff Meeting, it will save hours in the long run.
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THE DEFINE & DESIGN PHASE
Content Documents
RESPONSIBILITIES
Timeframe: seven to 10 business days to complete
Ours: Translate the
The information gathered at the Kickoff Meeting is used to create Content Documents which define the direction for your site’s development. These include:
findings of the Scoping Phase and Content Documents into an effective experiential
• Perception Definition: We’ll work with you to define the perception the site needs to create. • Content Brief: These are the details of the pages and types of content for the site. • Sitemap: The sitemap lays out the site’s overall flow and information architecture.
design that reflects your
Once we receive approval from you on the Content Documents we’ll be able to start Look & Feel development.
design; provide keywords
Look & Feel Development Timeframe for First Round: seven to 10 business days to complete Timeframe for Subsequent Rounds: five to seven business days to complete Once we receive your approval to proceed, we develop designs that meet the requirements of the Scoping Phase and Content Documents. We encourage you to share your gut reaction when you first see the designs, but keep in mind the goals we have for the user. Throughout the design process, you may ask for certain things that we advise against. Please understand that we don’t do that to be difficult — we just want to make sure nothing gets in the way of your users.
brand and accomplishes your goals. Yours: Provide copy points for all content; approve the look and feel of the for search engines.
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THE DEFINE & DESIGN PHASE
Content Development
TIP
Timeframe: custom based on the size and scope of your project
The Design Phase offers
Content Development and Look & Feel Development are closely linked because content is the largest part of the user experience. Finding answers to questions and tools that help users with tasks are what makes a site successful. Content will also include development of keywords for search engines. (Don’t worry — we have a simple worksheet to help with these.) Designs must be approved and all content, including pictures and videos, must be approved and delivered before moving on to the Production Phase.
several opportunities for overages to occur. To stay on target, we need to look at designs and content from the perspective of how easy and effective it is for users. Our average project has two rounds of design, so that’s what we include in our estimate. Overages occur when there are additional rounds of design.
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THE PRODUCTION PHASE
The Pre-Production Meeting
RESPONSIBILITIES
Timeframe: one to two hours
Ours: Provide a complete
The Pre-production Meeting may be internal or with you, depending upon the needs of your project. In either case, the meeting is led by the nGeneer most qualified, based on the needs of the job. We’ll review the complete list of elements and steps needed to produce the job, and the original scope to see if there were any changes during the Define & Design Phase that require re-estimating.
Production
list of needs for production to begin; compare the current scope of the project to the original scope to see if reestimating is needed due to significant changes. Yours: Authorize or reject changes in scope
Timeframe: custom, based on the size and scope of your project
and/or cost.
Most of the activity in this phase is on our side. Depending upon the size of your project, the production timeframe can be weeks or months. As always, we’ll send you a weekly update on our progress to keep you informed.
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The best way to stay on schedule is to have all
A note about how we build your site: Every site we build is handcrafted. We don’t use off-the-shelf products because they can’t achieve the same level of professionalism and effectiveness. By using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), we provide our clients with more flexible, standardscompliant web solutions.
elements needed for
The key to CSS is separating content from design. Benefits of standards-compliant sites include:
missing pieces or getting
production ready when we start. Valuable hours can be spent over the course of production tracking down new elements approved. It’s also important to
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One version works with all types of browsers. Content is presented differently based on the output device. A new design can be applied in days rather than weeks. Compliant sites load much faster than traditional sites. Higher visibility, accessibility and portability.
We also adhere to accessibility guidelines because it’s the right thing to do.
make sure special needs haven’t changed since the project began. If they have, identifying these prior to starting production can save a lot of overages.
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THE PRODUCTION PHASE
Content Management System (CMS)
RESPONSIBILITIES
Timeframe: custom, based on the size and scope of your project
Ours: Build the website
Most of the projects we develop utilize ExpressionEngine, a CMS that allows you to edit text and other designated content on your site. There are some limitations, such as adding new sections.
so it adheres to web standards; ensure the site represents the recommended experience
From managing calendars and galleries to custom content and eCommerce, ExpressionEngine’s true power lies in it’s simplicity and flexibility.
approved in the Define &
It’s true there are many CMS products available, but most do a poor job of keeping the site’s code clean. ExpressionEngine keeps the site in compliance with web standards.
questions that arise during
We know this can be confusing, but trust us — with more than 150 projects under our belt, we know which products work. nGen Works is proud to have been designated a member of the ExpressionEngine Pro Network. This recognition indicates our ability to make ExpressionEngine do what we need it to in accomplishing your project’s goals.
Design Phase. Yours: Answer any production.
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QUALITY ASSURANCE
Nitpick
RESPONSIBILITIES
Timeframe: three to five business days to complete
Ours: Review the entire site for issues; fix found
It’s time to take out the fine-toothed comb and look for things that just aren’t right.
issues.
The Nitpick reveals everything from typos to broken links to browser issues. It’s a critical part of ensuring we keep the trust of the user when they come to the new site for the first time.
site for issues; provide
We’ll handle this process internally, then present the finished site to you. At that point, it’s your turn to kick the tires and see if you find any functional flaws or content errors. If you do, just make a complete list of issues for us, which we’ll review with you and address in a timely manner.
Yours: Review the entire a complete list of those found issues.
TIP
Make sure Nitpick changes are based on the previously agreed-upon scope and experience. Otherwise, new costs can
TRAINING
Content Management System & Analytics Training Timeframe: two to three hours We sit down with you to make sure you understand how to use ExpressionEngine and Google Analytics. These two tools will allow you to be in charge of keeping your site fresh and informed on what your users are doing.
IN CLOSING We’re always looking for ways to improve your experience as we’re working to improve your customer’s experience. If you have any feedback or comments on this guide, please let us know. Thanks for your consideration.
be incurred.