Apologetically Idiosyncratic
E-Commerce Website
Project Workbook
Project Manager: Nancy Bogaard Project Team: Nancy
Mark Shelly Prepared by: Nancy Bogaard MSD-279-10635 March 15, 2014
Apologetically Idiosyncratic Website Project Definition
Project Need Statement
Since the business has no brick and mortar store, Apologetically Idiosyncratic needs to build an ecommerce website to sell its apparel 24/7, to foster brand loyalty, and to build a sense of community for its customers.
Project Description
The team will build a website that will feature an online store, a blog, the story of the company, and let everyone know when where and when they will have booths at events. Website training will cover order processing and content management.
Project Objectives
1) To have employees trained in managing content and processing orders by March 19, 2014. 2) To have a fully-functional ecommerce website up and running by April 15, 2014.
Project Scope
Inclusions:1) The website that will include six pages: Home, The Apologetically Idiosyncratic Blog (news, advice series, guest bloggers, upcoming bazaars, design contests), Online store, Come See Us (list of dates at Saturday Market, Comic Cons, bazaars, etc.), About, Contact 2) The project will include training for employees to manage the website content to add blog
posts, new products, update calendars, etc.
3) The project will include training for employees to process online orders and to provide customer service for online customers
Exclusions:
1) At this time, no landing pages for specific marketing purposes will be included.
2)
Beyond using best practices, SEO optimization and analytics will not be included.Project Assumptions
1) Apologetically Idiosyncratic will provide photography and the copy to be used on most pages. When there is a gap in asset availability or quality, the web designer will charge $50 per hour for content creation services.
2) Apologetically Idiosyncratic will provide their own:
Computers, laser printer to print order paperwork and shopping labels, postal scale, etc.
Internet connection--preferably through a cable provider
Domain name registration
POS inventory tracking hardware and software
Virtual server running firewall software, displaying SSL certificate, having a unique IP address, with a guaranteed uptime of 99%, variable bandwidth, etc.
Storage area for products with adequate shelving to keep SKUS and sizes organized
Shipping area
iPad for demoing website and taking online orders for unavailable sizes at events
Website Project Stakeholder Index
Stakeholders Effect of project on the stakeholder Involvement
Owner Return on investments, security I, K, S, C Employees Ease of use, makes it easier rather than more difficult to do
their jobs, more hours due to website success
I, K, T, S, O, C
Content Creators
Employees who will write copy, provide photos, write blogs, community outreach activities
I, K, W, P, T, O, C
Web Designer Creates e-commerce site and trains workforce I, K, W, P, S, T, C
Customers Ease of use, great experience offering more than just a shopping cart, great quality and value, fast delivery, testimonials
I
Geek Community
Website gives back by promoting activities I, O Bloggers Like to share cool products and content with others O Search engines To provide relevant content for web searches O Hosting
provider
Keep site up and running O
Suppliers May have specific rules for use of their logos, etc. I
Project Costs
Cash Outflow
The team will build an ecommerce website using WordPress with WooCommerce for the shopping cart system. The yearly licensing fees for the premium plugins to be used total $400, and the estimate for the labor needed to customize the theme, set up the product database, setup the pages, and train the staff is approximately $2,100. The additional costs incurred by AI for hosting, domain registration, SSL certificates, etc. will average approximately $1,200 a year.
Cash Inflow
Owner’s Plan for Online and Market SalesApril: Introduce new website at a Hard Launch Event Online sales: $2,000
May: Continue promoting website and recruiting more organizations into the marketing cooperative. Host a family friendly rather than 21 and older geek trivia evening and give Apologetically Idiosyncratic gear as prizes.
Online sales target: $4,000 June:
Online sales target: $6,000 July:
Online sales target: $8,000
August: Big back to school clothing promotions Online sales target: $9,000
September: Big back to school and Rose-City Comic-Con promotions Online sales target: $8,000
October: Possible Halloween or zombie theme shirt Online sales target: $8,000
November: Big holiday gift promotions. Online sales target: $10,000
December: Big holiday gift promotions. Online sales target: $16,000
Project Risks and Alternatives to the Website Project
Technical/Quality Risk
There are possibilities that some of the plugins may require additional compatibility testing. We need to do extensive testing of the shopping cart system and make sure that the users will feel secure in every step they take on the site.
Budget Risk
If the schedule slips, the labor costs may increase.If we abandon WooCommerce and the WooCommerce specific plugins, we will not get a refund for the licensing fees.
Schedule Risk
The possibilities for the project lagging may be related to getting all of the necessary assets from the client, fixing glitches, making necessary changes found in testing, etc.
Alternatives
Current Status – Do NothingHaving no website will impair the growth of the company, and they will lose potential sales. Setting Up a Static Site Without a Shopping Cart:
Having a static website would be good for marketing purposes, but they will lose potential sales.
Use Shopify (with Drupal as CMS) Instead of WooCommerce (with WordPress as CMS)
The owner had received a couple of recommendations for the Shopify shopping cart system with Drupal as CMS, so she had expressed interest in setting up a shopping cart using Shopify. One benefit of Shopify would be increased POS functionality for managing inventory. Shopify offers so many services that the owner could consolidate hosting, etc.
Website Project Team Ground Rules
1) Remember the shared goal(s) of the meeting
2) Have an agenda (distributed in advance if possible) with clear, relevant topics 3) Have all needed participants present - and no one else
4) Start and end on time
5) Listen carefully and respectfully
6) Voice any disagreement with the process immediately 7) Stay on topic
8) Speak openly
9) Challenge ideas, not people 10) Allow every voice to be heard
11) Use the last 15 minutes to summarize, recap, conclude, assign follow-up tasks and, if necessary, schedule follow-up meetings
12) Attribute conclusions and decisions to the group, not to a person 13) Agree to support the decisions of the group (agree to disagree) 14) Send out meeting minutes within 24 hours
Website Project Task Plan
Task Deliverables
1.0 Research/Information Gathering 1.1 Identify target audience and needs 1.2 Identify major tasks
1.3 Review competitors’ websites
1.4 Review websites with similar functionality 1.5 Identify functional specifications
1.6 Identify technical specifications 1.7 Identify assets needed for the website 1.8 Identify best CMS for the website 1.9 Design the navigation
1.10 Create site map
1.11 Build inventory of content 1.12 Obtain team signoff
Site Definition
2.0 Design overall look and feel 2.1 Develop a style guide
2.2 Create wireframes/mockups for each page 2.3 Choose a theme for the CMS chosen 2.4 Make production-ready design assets
2.5 Obtain team signoff on style guide and theme
Style Guide Mockups
3.0 Develop the website
3.1 Set up development/test environment 3.2 Install CMS
3.3 Install theme 3.4 Install shopping cart 3.5 Load content 3.6 Customize the CSS
3.7 Create forms and make them work 3.8 Establish domain email accounts 3.9 Implement security features 3.10 Implement Google Analytics
Make a functioning site
4.0 Testing
4.1 Debug Database 4.2 Browser Testing
4.3 Complete Plug-In Compatibility Testing 4.4 Conduct Usability Testing
4.5 Fine Tuning
4.6 Obtain pre-launch approval (repeat 4.5 & 4.6 as necessary)
Detailed checklist and issue log
5.0 Training
5.1 Conduct training (order processing and CMS)
Training materials Scheduled sessions 6.0 Launch
6.1 Migrate site
6.2 Check functionality using go live checklist
Go live checklist
7.0 Post-Implementation Evaluation
7.1 Verify performance and obtain acceptance/approval 7.2 Identify follow-on activities
7.3 Documents lessons learned 7.4 Have a wrap-up party
Lessons Learned Document Final Invoice
Maintenance Agreement Party
Task Assignments
Task Responsibility N anc y Shel ly Ma rk 1.0 Research K S S 2.0 Designing S K S 3.0 Development K S S 4.0 Testing K S S 5.0 Training S S K 6.0 Launch K S S 7.0 Evaluation S S KWebsite Project Reporting Plan
Report Recipients Author Frequency
Project Proposal AI Owner Nancy K
Weekly Status Updates Project Team Nancy W Executive Status Updates AI Owner Nancy M, AN Launch Readiness Plan AI Owner, employees,
and web team
Nancy AN
Post Launch Assessment AI Owner, employees, and web team
Mark & Nancy
C
Project Signoff AI Owner Nancy C
Legend: K=Kickoff, W=Weekly, M=Monthly, AN=As Needed, C=Close
Website Project Close-Out Task Plan
1) The project is complete: the website is up and meeting all original objectives 2) Review plan vs. actuals of schedule, budget, Google Analytics
3) Evaluate and commend team members
4) Archive project files, documentation, and artifacts 5) Document the tangible benefits and costs of the project
6) Identify follow on tasks and create new Statements of Work as needed 7) Get final sign off on the project
8) Perform post-mortem lessons learned and get team members’ t-shirt sizes 9) Celebrate
Status Report
To: Project Approval Board
From: Nancy Bogaard and the Website Team Date: 2/22/14
Subject: Week Six Status Report: Apologetically Idiosyncratic Website Project
As the project progresses, the work is coming along smoothly. As you can see in the attached project notebook, we have made it through the Research and Design Phases on time. The changes that were requested in the Design approval stage have been incorporated to the plan. They didn’t truly change the project scope—just a change in design choices-- they should add no additional costs nor lengthen the schedule. Now we have begun the actual site development. I have set up the development/test environment on the server and installed WordPress. We have purchased and installed the agreed upon theme and the Woo Commerce e-commerce plug-in. In the next couple of days, I will create the pages. As soon as that is complete, Shelly will help load in all of the content, and I will begin working on the shopping cart. By the end of Week Nine, we will conduct some early usability testing and starting customizing the style sheets to get the look and feel we want.
I want to thank everyone for participating in the Research and Design Phases, especially everyone who helped by writing copy, providing photos, writing blog entries, and sharing the calendar of community outreach activities. Thanks to you helping gather all of these assets, we may not need the float that was built in the development phase.
To: Website Team, Project Sponsor From: Nancy Bogaard
Date: 3/27/14 Time: 3:00 pm Location: AI HQ
Subject: Apologetically Idiosyncratic Website Project Close-Out Meeting
Reminder: Please make sure to return your Lessons Learned Questionnaire by March 22, 2014.
AGENDA
3:00 pm – 3:10 pm Meeting Opening
Review meeting objectives and the agenda
PM
3:10 pm – 3:50 pm Review Project Highlights
Review project scope, deliverables and accomplishments Share planned vs actual schedule
PM
3:50 pm – 4:10 pm Follow-on Suggestions
Discuss fine-tuning and follow-on activities on the project
PM / All
4:10 pm – 4:40 pm Lessons Learned
Develop best practices for future projects What worked well? What could be improved?
All
4:40 pm – 4:50 pm Team Recognition
Recognizing team’s successes and accomplishments
Project Sponsor /All
4:50 pm – 5:00 pm Meeting Close
Review Project summary, Outstanding action items, Lessons Learned
PM / All
5:25 pm – 6:40 pm Dinner
Meet Bill Schonely at the Pyramid Taproom
PM / All
6:50 pm – 9:30 pm Blazers Game
AI thanks you for all of your hard work!
