Site Development and Deployment Options
Typical choices:
- Build it yourself and maintain it.
- Hire someone and you maintain it.
- Hire someone and they/others maintain it.
Emphasis must be on who maintains it!
Build it yourself and you maintain it...
 | Develop a plan...identify resources (people and money) and determine a
schedule. |
| Acquire resources...development hardware (production and testing
computers, scanners, cameras, etc.), tools (editors, graphics tools), staff
training. |
| Define requirements. |
| Assemble content. |
| Author/edit content. |
| Design and write code. |
| Test. |
| Deploy. |
| Establish a process for maintaining the site (personnel, resources,
schedule). |
| Monitor the site. |
Hire Someone and you maintain it...
| Develop a plan...identify resources (people and money) and determine a
schedule. |
| Identify candidate developers...
 | Prior experience with similar projects and customer like
yourself. |
| May have technology preference (Unix v. NT, Java v. ASP, etc.)--does
this matter to you. |
| Get references, look at past projects. |
| |
|
| Bid the project. |
| Select contractor. |
| Establish operational guidelines early. |
| Manage the effort. |
| Develop a transition plan to train your people to maintain the site. |
| Train/acquire people to maintain the site. |
| Phase the transition. |
Hire Someone and they/others maintain it...
| Develop a plan...identify resources (people and money) and determine a
schedule. |
| Identify candidate developers...
| Prior experience with similar projects and customer like
yourself. |
| May have technology preference (Unix v. NT, Java v. ASP,
etc.)--does this matter to you. |
| Get references, look at past projects. |
| |
|
| Bid the project. |
| Select contractor. |
| Establish operational guidelines early. |
| Manage the effort. |
| Establish internal responsibilities and communications paths with the
vendor. |
| Renew contract (based on rebid) on periodic basis. |
Keys to Success...
| Document the site thoroughly... |
| Requirements, design, test procedures, and maintenance plans. |
| Establish a process that you follow for managing content and site
applications. |
| Establish and follow a configuration management plan. |
|