1. Demonstration of Interest:
In this first step, an individual or organization interested in a web development contacts IAM Webs and briefly outlines his/her/their intentions, needs, and goals. Typically, they will fill out a preliminary web development application that briefly outlines the work they are considering to have done. Once IAM receives this, a Discovery meeting is set up.
2. Discovery (Initial Consultation):
In a meeting of about 1 hour, a project consultant from IAM meets with the client to learn as much as possible about the individual or organization as possible: What is the business? Who are their clients? What do they do? How do they do it? Who are the stakeholders? Where are the markets? How long have they been established? How big is the business? What colors are important? What kind of person is the owner/stakeholder? These first questions and inquiries are broad and help IAM to establish a profile of the client.
3. Profiler:
From the initial meeting, the client takes away a form-the Project Profiler-in which s/he can detail his or her intentions with as much clarity as possible. This form delves deeply into the purpose, content, design, and functionality of the proposed site. The Profiler is typically returned to IAM within 1 week, during which time the IAM Project Consultant and development team will research the project as well. Once the Profiler is returned, the research conducted by IAM is incorporated to establish the project specifications in as much detail as possible. With the modified Profiler, IAM also presents a cost estimate and a development timeline. The timeline will be a realistic period in which both the client and the developers agree they can meet the objectives of the project.
4. 2nd Client Meeting:
During this meeting, the modified Profiler and Costs are reviewed and finalized. The client agrees or disagrees to continue with the Project. A small non-refundable commitment fee of $200.00 is paid at this point that is put towards the total cost of the site.
5. Sitemap and Mockups:
During this stage, IAM Webs puts together a model of the site structure - the sitemap (see attached document) based on the Profiler. Also, IAM Webs designers creates mockup designs for the look and feel of the site. These are image representations of the homepage and content pages. These are put online or emailed to the client for review and comment.
6. 3rd Client Meeting:
During this meeting, the client selects his/her preferred design, and works together with the Project Consultant to finalize the Sitemap. The client can choose at this point to halt the process. Otherwise, once the design and structure have been agreed upon, the client pays an additional amount, which, included with the commitment fee, equals 50% of the development fee-the total cost of the site.
7. Development and Content Submission:
It is the client's responsibility at this stage to provide all of the content (text, images, and other media) s/he wishes to be included in the development. The timeline for the site development will depend entirely on the timeliness of these submissions. If the client cannot submit all of the content within the time allotted (see point 3 above), the developers will use dummy text and images in their lieu. Incorporating that content after the deadline specified by the timeline will incur additional cost under a revised contract (see attached rates sheet).
8. Pre-Completion Meeting:
Once the site has been developed to 95%, the client will be invited in to review the project from top to bottom. At this point, no changes can be made to the overall look and feel of the site, but modifications may be made to text and non-graphical image content. The overall functionality of the site will be confirmed to work according to the original specifications as detailed within the Profiler. All other changes will be considered to fall outside of the scope of the project and will incur additional costs (see attached rates sheet).
9. Final Presentation and Sign-off:
This is the final meeting involved in the development of the project. All of the modifications requested in the Pre-Completion Meeting are accounted for, and site is reviewed in full once again to make sure that the functionality is sound. The final 50% of the Project cost is paid and the site is provided to the client on CD. Alternately, it can also be uploaded to the hosting URL.
10. Debugging and Additional Modifications:
In the following 2 week period, the client is advised to test the site as thoroughly as possible to uncover and problems or errors. If there are problems with the functionality that fell under the original scope of the contract, they will be repaired at no cost. However, and modifications falling outside of that are deemed out of scope and will fall under an additional contract.
11. Post-Development Options:
IAM Webs offers many services to clients that they may wish to take advantage of. These include Website Hosting, Search Engine Optimization, and Site Management. The costs of each of these are detailed on the rates sheet.
