Planning

The technical specification facilitates communication between all team members and documents decisions about technical issues. It ensures that any assumptions are clearly stated and approved by both the client and RealDecoy. The quality assurance plan is defined based on these specifications.

Use cases define the logical flow of information through the system and identify the actors, inputs, processes, decision points and outputs. From this we’re able to clearly understand how the system will work for the various users.

It is vital for any new site that a realistic understanding of its hardware requirements are known and planned for.  This process impacts not only how the system will be built, but also the hosting requirements. This will ensure that your site will run smoothly and that your customers are not left waiting for your system.

The system architecture ensures that we have an accurate understanding of the actual physical and software components that make up the system and how they interrelate. This eliminates assumptions and highlights any outstanding issues.

A current architecture allows us to define the scope of a site and determine what features or functionality currently exists. This ensures that all existing content and features are accommodated for during the requirements definition phase of a redevelopment project.

When dealing with sites or applications with complex interactions of content and other dependencies, it is important to document and define how the site will work in advance of development. By establishing the flow of users and information through the system, we ensure that the site or application functions logically and as intended.

Card sorting provides insight into user expectations of organization as well as feedback and guidance on the nomenclature and taxonomy of the navigation labels within a system.

Personas allow us to better understand the users of the site or application and how they carry out tasks in specific situations. They provide examples of usage as an input to design and provide a basis for subsequent usability testing.

The process of creating a test plan helps to define the requirements of the system and provides a benchmark for establishing quality. The test plan is used by the QA/QC team to develop additional test documentation and in turn manages and guides the quality control process.

The sitemap structures the overall project, organizing and labelling content taking into account issues such as usability, findability, scalability and user-centric organization.

Taking stock of the current site content allows us to better understand the scope of the site and its existing content and identify ROT (redundant, outdated and trivial) content that should be removed.

The wireframe allows us to think through and demonstrate how the navigation, features and functionality of the site or application will operate. Interaction designs help guide the visual design of the site ensuring that the look and feel supports the underlying functionality. In addition, wireframes can be used to test for usability and user experience during a paper prototyping exercise.

It allows us to identify potential stumbling blocks and direct modifications and improvements to the usability of the system.