Briefing
Through our initial meetings, we formulate
an understanding of your business, your goals and the
scope of the project.
Based on our discussions, a brief for the project is
determined. We then respond to your brief by developing
a proposal outlining our design approach and the areas
of content and functionality we envisage.
A project costing is included with the proposal, consisting
of two components - a quote for the scoping phase of
the project, and an estimate for the building and testing
phases.
 
Scoping
Once the proposal is signed-off, the scoping phase
begins and this is the most critical stage. It is during
this period that all business requirements are determined.
A MassMedia Studios consultant visits your company to
gain a better understanding of the business workflow,
allowing us to develop the best solution for your needs.
A project plan (functional specification) is then created
based on the consultant's findings.
The functional specification outlines what is to appear
on each page of the site and the functionality that
will be incorporated. This is complemented with a technical
specification document detailing the technical aspects
of the project such as database design, hosting platform
and programming used.
The information architecture and usability design is
also considered in this phase, resulting in a definition
of all the sites' templates. From these templates, initial
look and feel (design) is defined as the style for the
site. You will also be presented with final site architecture
and quote for the remainder of the project based on
all deliverables outlined above.
At the end of the scoping phase you will be asked to
review all documents and templates to make any amendments
prior to the commencement of the production phase. This
is considered to be first-round changes.
To complete most of these tasks, it is advisable to
supply as much content as possible. This ensures all
your requirements are considered and minimises changes
during the production phase which could affect the projected
scope and budget of the project.
Building
Once all deliverables from the scoping
phase are approved, we then move into full-scale production.
This involves:
* Initial functionality and usability testing
* Design of all pages within the site
* Content supply cut-off
* Programming pages
* Database design and creation
* Database integration
At certain stages of the development, the site is uploaded
to a staging environment for your approval. You then
have the opportunity to make second and final round
changes. Any changes that are outside the scope of the
project will result in a review of the quote, which
will be adjusted accordingly.
Testing
Testing commences once the site is approved in staging.
The range of testing depends on what is agreed to in
the functional specification, but would generally involve
viewing the site under different circumstances. Such
as:
* Different version browsers
* Varied modem speeds
* Varied computer platforms and speed
This phase could also include usability and focus group
testing to ensure the site is user friendly and achieves
the goals set out at the beginning. At the completion
of testing, required amendments are made and a document
detailing what has been tested, and under what conditions,
will be supplied. This document serves as our notification
that we believe that the site is ready to go live.
Launching
After testing and final approval, the site switches
to a live environment, hosted on the server of your
choice, at which time becomes accessible by the public.
Post Launch
Once your new website is live, our relationship doesn't
have to end there. We offer a number of post launch
services to ensure you're getting the most out of your
new investment. Some of these services include site
maintenance, assessment and search engine optimisation.
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