Sunday, January 20, 2008

Feasibility Document

As I was working on a pre-design analysis of a project for an 'x' company, I realized that I need to organize all the thoughts into a document which will have all the possible information related to the client, their needs for developing an application or product, targeted users & their needs, branding, possible outcomes of this project, etc. I generally named this document as "feasibility study" as it gives us a preview-kind-of-thing to the possible development & outcomes as well.

Below, I have given the structure of the document I started using wherever possible, to have a concrete information in place for referring it across the product development.

Kindly comment on it, to help improve this document as well as myself.

Feasibility Study:

Abstract / Executive Summary:
This will be a brief summarizing statement, usually between 75 and 150 words long, providing the reader a synopsis of the problem, method, results, and conclusions of your document.

This should ideally consist:
  • Problems: Identify the key topic or problems in the client’s website, if any or suggest viable ways to design new web application / product by demonstrating the problem in other websites / products.
  • Method: Specify main approach to solving the mentioned problems
  • Results: Describe possible outcomes for the methods applied.
  • Conclusion: Detail the conclusion you derive from the overall effort.
Contents:
  • The target market / audience
    • purpose of the organization
    • short and long-term goals of the site
    • Intended audiences
    • Why will people come to your site?
    • Business goals
    • Competitive websites / references

  • Problems in the existing website
    • The existing business processes (wherever applicable)
    • Processes which can be refined or redesigned
    • The brand identity issues (lack of powerful branding)

  • New design strategy
    • New Information Design
    • Information Architecture & wire-frame designs
    • Usability & Accessibility Strategy
    • Visual Design strategy

  • Application Development
    • New front-end development
    • Optimized for User-ease
    • More accessible & usable

  • Feasibility Conclusions
    • How new website will help rebranding
    • How it is more usable than the existing website (Usability & Accessibility issues)
    • How it is technically better (in terms of loading time, frontend & database design, etc.)
    • How it is better for search engineso How it more “Usable & accessible”

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