Development of Heavily Branded Informational Site - Assignment Example

Executive Brief When the organisation entered the World Wide Web, the effort first aimed to post information of the school to extend its reach among prospective students, parents and students. However, as the internet continue to offer rich opportunities for organisations, a website no longer serves as a luxury but an important communication and business tool. For most businesses and organisations, the internet's power in reaching out and enhancing the brand image of an organisation is realization that must be addressed and sought. Apart from this, the school eventually experienced several difficulties in its approach and strategy of the use of the web: unmanageable contents, easing the core departments with the burden of updating and administering web contents, among others. Thus, the proposal to redesign the website of the school is right on time viewing the importance of cost-efficiencies, competitiveness and enriching the brand experience of customers or users of our current website. The Name-of-Your-Proposed-School Redesign Project proposes to implement heavy branding along with a look and feel that brings the public image and online presence more in line with the level of quality the school strives to present. Improvements to navigation, usability and content delivery will be made to make school information and web services more accessible to stakeholders, while allowing for simple updates and routine maintenance of the content through administrative areas and content management. To begin with the project, the proponents set out several key objectives and goals that will guide the development of the website of the school. These are – 1. Revamping the visual design and look of the website by ensuring that it is user-centred and implements heavy branding to adhere to the branding systems that the institution implement among other communication tools it uses. 2. The development of the content management system that will set the stage for content authors from the different school departments to take charge in ensuring accuracy and relevance of contents. The CMS is geared toward a more efficient collaboration between and among school departments. 3. Redesigning the website of the school to increase the delivery of services via the cyberspace. There are few criteria that are deem helpful for the successful execution and implementation of this proposed project, namely - 1. The redesign project, which contemplates the implementation of heavy branding, must meet the branding guidelines adopted by the school unless a rebranding effort will be staged. 2. The school website must be intuitive, user-friendly, and sport a consistent and user-centred design. 3. The content must be accessible, meeting standards setforth by the organisation. 4. Users (prospective students, parents, teachers, students) are able to easily find or locate information they seek. 5. Use of online applications increases. 6. Content authors are able to publish and manage content more easily. Over all, implementing the proposal to redesign the website of our school is necessary in building the foundation for the organisation's vision of transforming it into effective eLearning institution. Background Like most educational institutions, Name-of-Your-Proposed-School humbly entered the World Wide Web with the creation of its website and posting of school information such as history, admission policies, employment opportunities and others. After realizing the power of the Internet as a communication tool, the school finally decided then to enter the cyberspace. Several years later, we have experienced what it means to have unmanageable volume and diversity of web content and the threat of competitions among other schools. Likewise, our school experienced a number of hardships with regard to the following – Our website users complain about the difficulty of locating or finding the information they seek. It cannot be denied that as years pass by, more and more people are becoming very sophisticated in web surfing, hence, expectations are high for contents that are not only appealing, dynamic and relevant. More than ever, users are expecting richer media content, user-friendly online services, and search facilities. The uncompleted content management system only makes the updating of contents and information slower because the website is currently made up of static pages. In turn, updating is manually made so it takes much labor time and delay in updates of contents when the techncal personnel involved are out of the office or absent. There is the incessant complain about duplicated efforts due to diffused content oversight, aggravated by the inconsistent look and feel, and missed opportunities for collaboration and knowledge sharing. In sum, it should be realized that our stakeholders – from prospective students to employees of the school – need to be updated with contents and information and want to easily access some information relevant to their use of our website. However, such effort is an expensive and time-consuming task. It is in this regard that proposing to redesign our school’s website become timely and critical to ensuring these requirements and expecations by our users are met. The redesign project can help our institution achieve the following: a. consistent look and feel; b. client-centred than school-centred website; c. Site integrated with a content management facility; and, d. new web services in addition to the services we currently provide students and employees of Name-of-Your-Proposed-School. Overall aim and purpose and scope With this redesign, the proponents hope to achieve the following: 1. To redesign the Name-of-Your-Proposed-School Web site by implementing heavy branding that is visually and thematically coherent with the institution’s other communication tools in different media, and by using unified approach to achieve a more user-centred site. 2. To develop a content management facility that will enable authors from the different departments in the school to administer or take responsibility in ensuring accuracy and relevance of contents. The content management system will help tighten and encourage efficient collavoration between and among departments in the school. 3. To increase the delivery of services through the Internet. Project Scope In Scope Out of Scope The new web site will sport a design that aims to unify the different features and services that stakeholders want to get an access easily. Navigation will be made uniform and user-centred Information will be presented based on user’s needs Branding and Identity development (logotype, identity) unless otherwise noted by client. Develop a content management system (CMS) Content management will be extensible, user-centred, and meets the needs of the school. Trainings will be provided to users or authors. Map out the foundation for increased web devlivery of the school. More than 2 homepage design mockup and secondary pages for client selection During the pre-production phase, we will scope the project to include only the following: Design, conceptualization, and information architecture of Web Site Design Content Creation and Development Inventory of Contents Copywriting Implementation of Contents into Design Conceptualization of creative design Images blending into design Conversion to HTML Photography, research, or web search for images During the production phase, the following are part of the scope of the project – Integration of the completed site in HTML to backend. Design, conceptualization and development of Content Management System Design, conceptualization, development and setup of features requested by the school Changes to the list of image elements developed once the web design is completed. Integration of the Content Management System More than 3 cycles, or 3 weeks, of design review and refinement; extensive design changes Documentation and style guide regarding the graphical design elements of the Web site. In view of accessibility concerns and legal ramifications, subscription services and personalization will not be offered at this stage. However, the capability to add these modules at a later date is desirable. Outcomes With the redesign project for our institution, specific stakeholders (prospective students, parents, students, and school staff) will reap the following benefits: a. Benefits for the Users 1. The user-centred web design and integrated search facility, will give users of the website have a better experience, accessing information and services. The new look and design of the website with heavy branding implemented will give the impression that the customer or users are given higher preference by the institution and will have a consistent impression of what Name-of-Your-Proposed-School does. 2. The former non-standardized, unmanageable contents will be replaced by a more manageable, accessible, dynamic and user-centred content. b. Benefits for the School 1. The enhanced content management facility and the structure of the website will benefit the organisation through cost-effective and enhanced operations, in turn saving on operational costs in the long-term. 2. Content authors will be empowered to replenish website contents with updates and information since the redesign will help trim down repetitive tasks and bureaucratic approaches in updating previously done by a centralized staff. 3. The redesign will benefit the school by building a stronger brand identity amogn the people. 4. Through the content management facility, content authors will be able to update and administer the website with ease and efficiency because management of contents can be done quickly and easily. 5. The CMS can act as a technical arm in managing tasks and provide electronic mail notifications and alerts to all concerned. Collaboration will also be encouraged among content developers. 6. The redesign will empower the public to use anytime, anywhere the website and voice their sentiments, grievances and suggestions, at the fastest amount of time, hence helping in the improvement of the school’s operational efficiencies and reduction of cost. c. Deliverables 1. A redesigned website, integrated, user-centred web design. a. Visual Comps b. Prototype Components i. Templates ii. Calendar (events) iii. Newsletter (w/ archive) iv. Photo Gallery v. Contact Form 2. An flexible, user-friendly content management system 3. Increased use of web technology to deliver academic services and corporate functions such as admissions, etc. 4. BETA Site 5. Final Site / Launch 6. Training for institution staff who will be in charge with system maintenance and technical support. 7. Training for content authors and approvers on the publishing, approval of documents, as well as document management process. d. Milestones Key phases in the project will be: Proposal Structure / Planning Document Wireframe Visual Mockups Database Prototype Testing Training Launch Approach and methodology a. Production Schedule The following is our projected production schedule for the project. Proposal acceptance: June 27th Assign project team: COMPLETE All school supplied materials due: June 29th Start project: June 29th Project planning complete: June 29th Structure complete: July 8th Mockups complete: July 15th Prototype Complete: August 5th Software Implementation: August 22nd Site development and CMS customization: August 27 Content Complete: August 30th Project Beta completion: September 10th Project Beta testing completion: September 15th Project Final completion: September 25th School board approval on final release: September 26th Installation: September 27th Final testing completion: September 29 Training completion: TBD (2 days) Enter maintenance phase: October 1st (bold items are typically considered “milestones” that require approval prior to proceeding) b. Personnel Management – Shane Matthews Technical – Matt Bigelow Creative – Joe Satriani Administrative – Donna Mcbeal Resources Shane Matthews (Project Manager) will coordinate the project with Name-of-Your-Proposed-School via a weekly review. All development team tasks will be approved by Project Manager and the school, with real time availability of progress and requests on our web based project portal. Risk a. Risk Inherent in most projects that involve the utilisation of technology and those entering the new media realms will experience the following: Technology is advancing and changing rapidly and this may affect how we will implement or adopt a CMS. If we are to obtain third-party CMS, there is risk that the ones previously thought viable and feasible may be outdated by new vendors who are offering their products. We can expect some resistance and delays in the implementation of a new system since we have experienced before what transpired during the development of the current website. Many individual departments have expended time, resources and energy to complete the current site. b. Contingency measures A well-laid out communication plan will be most essential in bridging the different participants in developing the project. On the user perspective, it will be essential to request feedback and comments which will be gathered and used for effective planning and implementation of the project. The support from different departments of the school and administrators must be secured. School departments must be encouraged to participate in several planning and implementation phases of the redesign project. Gather user responses and reactions for evaluation of the new design of the website, the visual aesthetic look and feel, the layout of the navigation, the search facility and even the use of graphics, among others. To show that feedback from users are important, design should be modified based on the results. Recommendation/Conclusion In sum, the project entails the development of heavily branded informational site to promote the message of the school, its staff, students, activities, and its foray into the eLearning initiatives. The need for this project becomes imminent as the current website no longer live up to what it can offer several years ago when the school's website was initiated. The proposal to redesign the school's website may be met by skepticisms and hesitations since most concerned will remember the invested time, effort and resources to come up with the current website. However, this project can help convince and encorage these parties to participate, in turn, support and become the prime movers in pushing this project to its realization. While this project will be created incrementally or by phase, however, for the specified timeline, the general goals are, namely: 1. to redesign the site with heavy branding and more user-centered design considerations; 2. to develop and integrate content management facility or system; and 3. to increase the web services that client will use in their visit to the website. Appendices A. Project WorkFlow Read More