SharePoint Website Let’s nail down this process… so we all know what we are building and why.

The SharePoint Web Site Design and Development Process

1.  Information Gathering / Strategy

2.  Planning / Timeline

3.  Design / Share Point Requirements

4.  Development

5.  Testing and Go-Live

6.  Maintenance / Training

Phase One: Information Gathering / Strategy

This first step is actually the most important one, as it involves having a solid understanding of your audience—and what you are trying to accomplish.

•  Purpose — What is the purpose of the site?

•  Goals — What do you hope to accomplish by building this web site?

•  Target Audience — Who is the specific group of people you need to reach? How do they find their information? What are the potential barriers of reaching your audience?

•  Content — What kind of information will the audience be looking for on your site? How can you keep it fresh and interactive?

Phase Two: Planning / Timeline

Using the information gathered from Phase One, it is time to put together a plan for your web site.

•  Develop Site Map – a list of all main topic areas of the site, as well as sub-topics; this serves as a guide to what content will be on the site, and is essential to developing a consistent, easy to understand navigation system.

•  Content Plan – a listing of all site information and content (e.g. key messages, announcements, documents, videos, lists, libraries, etc.); this will help guide the overall site structure.

Phase Three: Design / SharePoint Requirements

Drawing from the information gathered up to this point, it’s time to determine the look and functionality of your site.

•  Design Preview – includes all Graphic Enhancements, so that we can collect team feedback to finalize the site look and feel.

•  SharePoint Prototype – after the design preview is approved, we develop a SharePoint Prototype for review; this Prototype considers all SharePoint platform rules regarding content upload; we will tweak the Prototype with all team feedback before building the live site in SharePoint.

Phase Four: Development

The developmental stage is the point where the website is actually created.

•  Homepage Build and Interior “Shell” – the Homepage sets the tone for the site, and the interior “shell” page serves as a template for the content pages of your site; we also develop the main navigational structure for the site at this point.

•  Content Upload – once the Homepage and Interior “Shell” are approved, we build all interior pages and upload all content. (NOTE: As we build the site, you will be able to view its progress on “unpublished” pages, and modifications can be made throughout the process.)

Phase Five: Testing and Go-Live

The site is tested for functionality of all images, links, content and scripts.

•  Go-Live – after final approval, it is easy to make the site live, and can be completed within a day. (NOTE: before we make the site live for all, we have the option to share the preview with only a select group, so that we can make any final tweaks needed.)

Phase Six: Maintenance / Training

The development of your web site is never over, and we recommend keeping the site updated as regularly as possible.

•  Strategy for Fresh Content – the best way to ensure repeat visitors is to offer new content on a regular basis; there are several options for our assistance post Go-Live:

•  Ongoing Updates – we can make any updates needed, as developed by your team.

•  Content Generation – we have extensive Communications abilities, and are happy to provide suggestions for keeping the site updated, and can help your team develop new content, from rotating banners to feature articles.

Phase Six: Maintenance / Training

•  Team Training – if you have team members identified who would like to assume responsibilities for updating the site, we can provide SharePoint training, so that your team can update and announce basic content quickly.

Questions? Ready to start hammering those nails?