Blink Designworks Project Profiler

Almost all of the sites that we create begin with a project profiler. On one level it's basically just a questionnaire. On another it provides us with a valuable window into your world. It gives us insights into your vision for your company. It leads us to questions that we might not have otherwise thought to ask. While it's pointless to reproduce the whole thing here, we thought we'd outline the highlights to give you an idea of the kinds of questions that your developer should be asking...

Organization

Tell us about your organization and the types of products or services that you offer.

Who are the key people from your organization who will be working on the project and what are their roles? (Defining the team will help to establish lines of authority and assign responsibilities. We give examples of team members from "typical projects, such as the project direct director, team leader, technical coordinator, etc.)

Who else will be contracting on this project?

Project Goals

What is the mission or summary statement for this Project?
What are the basic goals? (branding/identity reinforcement, establishing additional communication or sales channels, etc.)
What outcome would make the project successful in your mind and how will you measure it?
What are you long term plans for the site?

Competitors

Who are your competitors. Are they on the Web? How would you rate the job that they're doing in the market?

Budget

What is the budget or budget range for this project?

Audience

Who is your audience? Do you have any data on them? Is there an audience that you'd like to reach that you're not reaching now? Who are they and how will you reach them?

Content

Who will provide content? Will it be created specifically for the site or re-purposed? Has the outline been developed?

Functionality

What types of functionality do your want to provide to your visitors. Search features? Real-time dynamic product or service recommendations? Database access? On-line payments? Account services? Are there any extraordinary security issues?

Metrics and Data Mining

What site metrics will you need to manage the site? Is there additional demographic data that you''d like to collect from your visitors? Do you presently use data mining techniques to assist you in making business decisions? If so. how?

Privacy

Will you be collecting any sensitive information about your users? If so, how will it be used? What is your privacy policy?

Technical and User Support

Do you plan to provide on-line tech support to your customers? If so, how?

Legal

Are there any policies or disclaimers that you need to make available to your customers?

Promotion

How will the site be promoted? Is the site part of a larger campaign?

Hosting and Maintenance

Who will host and maintain the site? What other servers will serve the site?

As you can see, developing a comprehensive profile for your project can be a daunting task, but trying to work without the information it contains is asking for trouble. If you're starting a project and you'd like a copy of our complete Project Profiler, call us at 773.508.0436.