Step 1. Project Setup
WebDesk Solution Responsibility:
- As soon as the client accepts the proposal and receives the first deposit, we will start the project. WebDesk Solution will set up a project in our project management system Podio.com. WebDesk Solution will assign a project manager who will take care of the project.
- We highly recommend using Podio for communication, updates, the status of the project, estimates, and other requests because WebDesk Solution facilitates the communication between their team Project manager, Design, Delivery head, and the client team.
- Podio keeps each communication organized and easy to find out any past communication. We avoid emails as they may get lost in a lot of emails and it can be possible that someone from our team can miss the emails.
- As soon as the client accepts the Podio invitation, we will send them two things
- Design questionnaire
- Kick off meeting request
- We will walk through the whole project process, introduce the team, and how to use Podio, and discuss any questions on the Design questionnaire.
Client Responsibility:
- As soon as WebDesk Solution shares a design questionnaire with you, the client needs to fill out the design questionnaire form. The design questionnaire form is really important for our process, without a design questionnaire, we can’t produce the desired result of client expectations.
- This design questionnaire form will help us to produce the desired results and we can deliver the first draft of the mockup as per the client’s requirements. With the help of this form, we can deliver quality, we can reduce a lot of back and forth for design, we can save your round of revisions, and keep the project progressing within the estimated timeline.
- The second step within the project setup is to Kick off the call. We will schedule a kick-off call and review the whole design questionnaire with the client if we have any questions on client requirements, referenced website, branding guides, logos anything, we will discuss and we can iron out our questions within this kick-off meeting of the project.
- As soon as WebDesk Solution finishes Kicking off the call, WebDesk Solution will start an internal process within Podio as well as within the design & development teams. The project manager will kick off the whole project with the design team, business analyst team & development team to explain the scope of work & flow of the projects.
- In order to keep the project within the timeline, we have the Deliverables app within the Podio workspace. The project manager will divide the project into multiple pieces using the AGILE methodology that focus on driving real business value, not just building features.
- Agile methodologies also place more value on outcomes than outputs, meaning that our team’s goal will always be to find the most efficient and simplest way to achieve the client’s business goals.
- The project manager will create a lot of deliverables into the Deliverables App within Podio using the AGILE methodology. These tasks maybe not be exactly the scope of work, however, they will show the exact process of the project and keep everything aligned & transparent.
- The deliverables will be updated weekly/twice a month and this helps teams to keep track of what’s completed, what needs work, and when each task is expected to be done.
Step 2. Design & Mockup
As soon as we finish the kick-off meeting & deliverables creation within Podio, our design team will start working on the first mockup of the project. We start with a homepage and it will take 5-7 business days to deliver the first mockup. Our mockup reflects your requirements, referenced websites’ touch, suggestions, creativity, and platform limitations.
WebDesk Solution uses the Istock.com essential package and we allow our clients to choose 2-3 images from istock.com if they don’t have any pictures of their products. We are limited to 2-3 images per project because we are also running multiple projects using the same essential collection. We also have to use the photos for other projects.
You received the mockup through Adobe XD & Invision apps. These apps are prototype apps. These prototype apps will allow you to see some of the effects that are going to be implemented during the development of this design.
Examples of effects will be hover effects, zoom effects, menu dropdown, sticky header when scrolling through to the bottom, etc. This mockup will only show the desktop version of the design, if the scope of work has an advanced responsive development(Mobile mockup design) then we can definitely provide the mobile mockup after we get the approval on the desktop mockup. These prototype apps will allow the clients to leave the comments on mockup itself.
Your comments will be directly shared with our team as soon as you leave. So there will be a very fast workaround in the process. Each mockup will get a round of revisions as mentioned in the scope of work.
As soon as we get the approval on the homepage after all the revisions given by the client, we will move into the same process for the internal design page if those pages are within the scope of work. When we say internal design pages then it will be a category page & product page.
We will follow the same process for these internal pages, share the mockup in the prototype app, receive feedback from the client and do the round of revisions as per the scope of work and get the final approval. These internal pages reflect the output based on the scope of work, client requirements, platform limitations, and creativity.
In case, if the scope consists of any custom design pages then we will follow the process as mentioned above.
We need both teams to anticipate this process fully so that it does not disturb the timeline of the project. For any round of revision, it will take 1-2 business after leaving the comments to the client. We need faster feedback and approval from the client so that we don’t bounce the deadline of the whole project.
In case there are any new items added or the client purchases any additional round of revision or additional mockup during the design process then the timeline of the project will be extended accordingly.
As per our years of experience with this industry, sometimes it happens that the client needs to add new functionality into the design during the design process and most of the time these functions are out of scope.
In this type of case, we highly recommend the client share exact requirements with the project manager, and he/she will address the requirements properly, and provide an estimate once you approve, we will open a change order and the design will revisit the mockup and add this piece of functionality into the mockup.
Step 3. Development
We will start the development as soon as we get the approval on the homepage design. We will code the homepage as per the approved mockup and the scope of work. We always work on the WebDesk Solution sandbox, we never work on the live project. We never disturb the live website of the client. We build all the functionality as per the scope of work on our sandbox.
The development of the internal pages will be as per the scope of work. If the client has selected the full design package then all the internal pages will be coded as per the approved design. If the client has selected only the homepage to revamp the package then internal pages will be developed as per the platform default and the internal pages will be styled as per the homepage mockup’s font family, style, color combination, look and feel.
The client will have direct access to communicate with project managers through Podio and the client can ask any questions or updates on the project through Podio to our project managers.
If the scope of work has data migration then it will have different processes. WebDesk Solution will start the data migration process as below:
- When we have a platform migration & data migration project. We request the client to provide us existing platform access and destination platform access.
- As soon as we have the access, we will start building the API between two platforms to migrate the data. Building the API for these two platforms takes around 2-3 weeks.
- Once we finish the API development, WebDesk Solution presents the sample data before we start bulk migration of the data.
- We will send the sample data for approval to the client through podio and as soon as we get the approval, we will start the bulk data migration.
- We do the two data migrations initially, we migrate all the data that your existing website has. The second time data migration will be performed once we are ready to go live. So that we can cover up all the latest data of order and customers as well as product updates to your destination platform. This way you don’t lose any single data during the platform switch.
- Once we finish initial data migration, we don’t share the update until we finish the design integration with the platform. If we share the data migration update then it will only show the data, it does not show the functionality that we are supposed to build on the website because we are working on our sandbox for theme integration and the data migration will be performed on the client’s destination platform box.
There are two releases in our normal design, integration & data migration projects.
- Desktop or Dekstop & Data migration Update Release
- Responsive Development Update Release
Let’s read them in detailed:
- Desktop or Desktop & Data Migration Update Release:
- If we have only redesign projects on the existing website/platform or new platform then we will release desktop updates within our sandbox.If we have only redesign projects on the existing website/platform or new platform then we will release desktop updates within our sandbox.
- What is a desktop update?
- The desktop update is the first development update as per our scope of work. The desktop update will have all the approved designs now functional design into the web.
- You will be able to test all the approved designs into Desktop like Computers and laptops.
- The desktop update will have all the customization updates as well. So you will be able to see all the customization that is within the scope of work.
- The project manager will walk through the desktop update once it is delivered to you.
- If we have the project including design, development and data migration then we will perform the following steps:
- We will migrate our developed designs into the client’s destination box from our WebDesk Solution box.
- We will migrate the theme over to the client box because WebDesk Solution has migrated the data to the client destination box.
- WebDesk Solution will get the ability to test the whole website including data in the desktop version.
- We will perform internal QA of both developed theme & Data migration on the same box, so that you will get a real view of your approved design, data and customization.
- As soon as we verify everything, we will release the desktop & data migration update to the client.
- Responsive Development Update Release:
- Once we get the full approval on first release Desktop or Desktop & Data Migration. We will move to responsive development.
- REsponsive development consists of mobile version and tablet version development and we will make sure that the website adopts all the latest mobiles and tablets responsively.
- If we have advanced responsive development and then we will follow the approved mockup for the responsive development. We have a normal responsive then we will follow platform standards and w3c standards for the responsive development.
- As soon as we finish the development, we will release the second update of the project. The client will be able to test the website with different mobile devices like android and IOS and share the feedback with us.
- We will figure all the feedback and move forward to the next stage.
Step 4. QA / Testing
The QA & Testing phase starts once the development ends and updates are released to the client. Some of the projects have multiple QA & Testing processes.
As soon as we finish the development phases and release the updates to the client, we will share an official document. This document consists of all the sandbox links and includes all the customization, so that you can test each item of the scope of work. During this phase, we’ll try our best to find and fix any bugs or mistakes before sending your update. We ask our clients to also check, as we can’t catch everything. Let us know about any bugs that we may have missed.
In order to get bug addresses, we highly recommend using the podio workspace. There is an app Testing & QA within our podio workspace. The client needs to create bug tickets within that app, so that it will keep everything organized and you will get frequent updates on each ticket. The project manager will pass all these QA bugs to our development team and the team will fix them ASAP. The project manager will also respond to each QA bug ticket within the podio Testing & QA app.
As soon as we finish all the QA bugs and get approval from the client, we will send the final balance invoice of this project and get ready for the delivery of this project.
Step 5. Delivery
Delivery is the final stage of the project. As soon as you are ready to go live, we will start the delivery process.
Our Project manager will share the available dates to make the website live. We are delivering a lot of eCommerce and non eCommerce websites every month, so we have a standard migration/Go Live process and avoid multiple websites going live at the same time and avoid messing up between multiple websites and other issues.
As per our standard policy we go live only between Mon-Wed of any week because we want to support all the bugs & hiccups during live or after going live. If we go live during Thursday or Friday then during the weekend, it will be very difficult to provide you support for all the different types of issues. Obviously our team is always available for any emergency support.
We will send you the Go live form and the client needs to fill out that form. That form will have a few questions which will help us to transfer everything smoothly on live.
As soon as you submit the form, we will build a Go Live Playbook and we will share with you. So that you can confirm each event during the live process. The Go Live Playbook will have all the steps and events that we are going to perform during the live process. This Go Live Playbook will be signed by the client and agree to the process that WebDesk Solution has figured out. WebDesk Solution will find out the best process to go live for all the clients.
There are multiple types of Go live Delivery process, this varies based on the projects and projects scope of work.
If the project is just for redesign and customization on the existing platform then the Go Live process is 1-2 business days.
If the project is Design Integration including platform migration (Data migration) then we will have to start the process from the second sync of data migration. In this type of projects, we will share the days and timeline we required for the Go.
During this process the client has to provide us all the necessary access to our development team to make all the migration process smooth.
Once we deliver the website/project, we will share an official update to the client. We will mark the 30 days free support from the date we go live to the next 30 days.
Step 6. Retainer & Support
After 30 days of free support, the project is officially closed. However, most of our clients choose us for the maintenance support. If the client is interested then your account manager will contact you and send you retainer agreement of the maintenance support and will open a new project within our podio workspace.
We highly recommend using our retainer maintenance support because the platform is constantly updating their software and these updates can create a problem/issues on the delivered website. Sometimes it does not create the problem or issues but it is required to update the Platform software update which will give us more features and stability on the platform.
