Project Planning

Mind maps are a great way to represent business information in a visually meaningful way.

What It Means

Defining business needs and goals for business growth and enhancement
Evaluating current business processes, technologies or infrastructure
Recommending options for online and offline business promotion
Recommending software and management options for inventory, staff, customers or orders
Developing scope-of-work documentation with detailed project specifications and short and long term milestones
Establishing timeline and budget guidelines

Where It Begins

Whether you know exactly where you want to take your web strategy or aren't sure where to start, our planning and consulting services can help outline your web needs, define marketing goals and determine an effective way to make it all work.

Every successful project begins with an invaluable planning phase that lays the foundation for goals, requirements and expectations. The only way to be sure you're getting what you want is to follow the old cliché...

A site map illustrates web site pages in visual format. Site maps should detail interactions with other technologies such as e-mail and databases.

Measure Twice, Cut Once

The primary goal of our project planning service is to avoid the harrowing omissions, miscommunications or differences in expectations that can derail a project. Before you invest a single cent in developing a web site, designing a database or selling your products online, we will clearly define and document your business requirements to ensure that your project stays on track, on budget, and meets or exceeds your expectations and objectives. During the planning phase, we will...

Set goals. What has to be done immediately, and what can wait? If Rome wasn't built in a day, your web infrastructure doesn't have to be either. It's important to prioritize steps toward achieving your goals and meeting your budget requirements.
Establish expectations. Are you in synch with your development team? If you decide on "blue" as your primary site color, make sure your designer knows whether it's azure or aquamarine.
Establish technology requirements and limitations. Is it feasible to run high-speed lines into your restored hundred-year-old Victorian office? Before you invest in technology, you should know the benefits, limitations and options.
Analyze existing materials or infrastructure. Can your current database be repurposed for your ecommerce site? Sometimes you can use existing applications, and sometimes you can't. It's important to know the options and limitations.
Define business rules and requirements. Do you need to calculate sales tax? Include a shipping table? Manage the price and color options of products? Offer discounts? Planning will define the rules down to the smallest detail.
Develop sitemaps, wifreframes and flowcharts. What will your site look like and how will it work? Your project should be clearly laid out on paper before a single line of code gets written.
Develop a complete scope-of-work. "What am I getting and how much does it cost?" By the end of any planning phase, you will have those answers.

Project planning provides a detailed scope of work before development begins. A good plan streamlines the production process, resulting in lower costs and shorter production time.

How Does Project Planning And Consulting Work?

Think of planning as the coffee-and-donuts phase. Much of what happens is conceptual and requires meetings, phone calls or e-mails as we learn more about your business and get closer to defining a clear set of objectives.

Depending on your business and the scope of your project, planning can take as little as a few hours or as long as a few months. With your feedback, we will refine project specifications until all diagrams, schema, wireframes, business rules and functionality are outlined and documented in precise detail.

The Bottom Line: Is It Free With The Purchase Of The Donuts?

After our initial consultation, we will recommend a budget for planning and executing your web project, from conceptualization right through hosting and maintenance, and you can help stick to that budget by participating in the process and focusing on the outcome. The result will be a project plan you can sink your teeth into - and one that will keep your investment on track. The cost of any project will depend on its complexity and on the time invested in both planning and production.

Related Service: CMS

Successful business owners are always thinking ahead. As you plan your web site, it's important to think ahead to those eventual updates, whether you need to change product information, revamp a service line, add a new staff bio or remove a past event. If you plan for those updates now, it will save you time and money later, and a content management system may be the solution.

Learn about content management...

Our Full Service Line

We can manage your project from conception through launch, planning through maintenance and provide your business with a one-stop resource for all your web and technology needs.

Web Tip: Page Redirects

Try this: open a browser and type the name of your web site into the address bar, like this: mywebsite.com. Watch the address bar as the site loads and make a note of what happens. Does the address redirect to http://www.mywebsite.com? If not, you may be losing valuable search engine exposure or setting yourself up for negative results. A 301 redirect is a simple remedy that ensures your site routes properly, so make sure it's part of your hosting plan.

How can our hosting service help...?

Rahvalor Interactive, Inc. Phone: 732.615.0842 Fax: 732.210.0416 Contact Us