Gencia provide many and varied bespoke creative and technical solutions to suit the unique requirements of each of our clients. This post outlines the logical step-by-step process that we use to define the scope of a small to medium size development project.

At the beginning of the  process the client usually has one or more objectives in mind and a specific requirement, such as the development of a website. At this point the detail of the project has not yet been defined but, naturally the client wants to know what the solution will cost before they commit to the work. This creates a dilemma because it is usually not possible to accurately price the work without first completing a large proportion of it – namely the technical specification – which is the part of the project that informs the man hours and costs for development.

Therefore, Gencia include a preliminary step in the process that, while it cannot provide a fully accurate costing down to the hour, does provide an estimate of budget required to complete the work based on the instincts of Gencia creatives and developers with many years combined experience . It should be emphasised that this is only an estimate based on our initial assessment of the requirements and not a quotation.

The Gencia process is split into phases.

Although this is a linear approach, we do take an iterative approach with larger projects, repeating phases 2 and 3, or phases 2, 3 and 4 as many times as appropriate for the specific requirements of the project.  This enables a much quicker initial release (together with lower initial costs) – and usually results in a lower overall cost to the client.
 

Phase 1 – Scoping:

Objective:

• To gather enough information to enable us to estimate the budget requirements for the project

Activity:

• Fact Find:
• We use a standardised document to ascertain the outline creative and technical requirements of the project.
• This document is usually completed by Gencia in a 2-4 hour meeting with the client.
   
• Produce Overview and Budget Estimate:
• Gencia will use the information collected in the Fact Find to produce a project  overview document, together with an estimated budget for the work required.
• If we feel that this project should be split into multiple phases, this will be identified within this document.

Deliverables:

• Overview and Budget Estimate:
• This document will contain an overview of the project, together with an estimated budget, and an exact cost for production of the technical specification.

Cost:

• This initial phase is undertaken at no cost to the client.

Progression: 

• If the proposed budget meets with the client’s expectations, the project can progress to the Discovery phase.

Phase 2 - Discovery:

Objective:

• To provide the client with a detailed picture of exactly what is required to complete the project along with a comprehensive breakdown of costs (including any from third parties) and production timescales.

Activity:

• Further liaison with the client and other third parties
• Production of the Technical Specification document.

Deliverables:

• Technical Specification document containing:
• A detailed specification of the functional requirements of the project.
• ‘Wireframes’ of the key user interface pages.
• A comprehensive breakdown of costs (including any from third parties) and production timescales
• Any ongoing costs, such as hosting, support or maintenance.
• There may be some steps required to refine this document but on approval it forms the basis of project development.

Cost:

• The cost of production of the technical specification document and full costing  will have been identified during Phase 1.
• This will be invoiced prior to production of the technical specification.

Progression:

• Once the client has signed off the technical specification, the project can progress to the Production phase
• The client can, of course, defer or cancel the project and retain the technical specification

Production

Objective: 

• To develop the solution as documented within the Technical Specification document.

Activity:

• Creative Design – We usually provide creative visuals early in this phase for any graphic design work that is required. For projects that require a substantial amount of creative development, this may be split into a separate phase.
• Development – This step involves the actual software development in line with the approved technical specification.  This step may be split out into multiple phases for larger projects based on the scope of the project.
• Internal Testing – The application will be tested progressively as it is developed and in its entirety after development is complete.

Deliverables:

• Creative visuals
• A working application, deployed to a Staging Environment, hosted by Gencia.

Cost:

• The costs for development will have been identified within the technical specification document.
• Costs for this phase will normally amount to 90% of the implementation cost.
• Costs for this phase are normally invoiced 50% before commencement, and 50% on completion (dependant on the size of the project and on existing customer relationship)

Progression:

• The project will progress to the prelaunch phase when the working application has been deployed to the staging environment and tested by Gencia.

Prelaunch

Objective:

•  To ensure that the application is ready to launch

Activity:

• Client:
• Test the application and:
• Verify that the working application meets the specification documented within the Technical Specification document.
• Identify any issues to be resolved prior to launch.
• Request minor changes to functionality.
   
•  Gencia:
• Fix any issues identified by the client.
• Implement minor changes to functionality requested by the client.  This is at Gencia’s discretion – and will not exceed 10% of the total development work for the project unless agreed with the client.

Deliverables:

• Launch of the solution

Cost:

• The costs for development will have been identified within the technical specification document.
• Costs for this phase will normally amount to 10% of the implementation cost.
• If a requirement to allow scope for additional changes has been identified prior to development commencing, this can be factored in to the costs, which will result in a higher proportion of the total costs for the project to be charged during this phase.
• If the scope of any requested amends exceeds the allocated budget for this phase, Gencia will produce an addendum specification document detailing the required work and associated costs.

Progression: 

• Once the client has approved the solution, it will be deployed to the live environment.