Web Application Planning

Plans and Discovery for Developing Web Applications

by Bernard Kohan

1. E-Business Discovery and Planning

This phase is an important part of the process. Most people start their Web Application Project with a general idea, but they do not have a clear direction outlined and do not dedicate much or any effort to the important business marketing and project specification detail and discovery.

Since this area of the project requires a different type of specialty and experience, I'll break this area down into five areas of discovery:

• E-business Direction and Goal Discovery
• Branding and Marketing Discovery
• E-business Method and Process Specification Discovery
• Functional Specification Discovery
• Technical Selection Discovery

E-business Direction and Goal Discovery in any Web Application Project will require knowledge and experinece in the area of e-business and marketing.

Branding and Marketing Discovery in any Web Application Project will require knowledge and experinece in the areas of branding, marketing, SEO, SEM and web technology.

E-business Method and Process Specification Discovery in any Web Application Project will require knowledge and experinece in the areas of e-business, user experience (UX) and web technology.

Functionality Specification Discovery in any Web Application Project will require knowledge and experinece in the areas of web technology, user experience, design, and development.

Technical Selection Discovery in any Web Application Project will require knowledge and experinece in the areas of web development, hosting and server technology.

Business Direction and Goal Discovery
Business Direction and Goal Discovery entails brainstorming and making decisions on the business goals, finances and direction.

For example, how the business will make a profit, how it would secure finances and any business plans and direction.

Branding and Marketing Discovery
Branding and Marketing Discovery entails research and discovery of the market landscape and demand for the products or services that are offerred by the website.

This step may also include defining the site's products or services or making changes to the project roadmap or strategy to in order to reach the goal and success for the website or the business.

For example, identifying the audience or clients and selecting a design theme that best suits the audience.

Business Specification Discovery
Business Specification Discovery entails brainstorming and making decisions about the business behaivors as they relate to the web application.

For example, if the Web Application is a paid subscription type website, selecting a process type, such as one of the examples below would be necessary:
a. Free 30 days trial offer with collecting credit card information at sign up
b. Free 30 days trial offer without collecting credit card information at sign up
c. No free trial offer - start the subscription at the signup

Functionality Specification Discovery
Functionality Specification Discovery entails brainstorming, learning and making decisions on the feature details, functionalities, user interaction flows, priority and flow of navigational system, interface elements and content, usability and required user experience items as they relate to the project, etc..

For example, if the Web Application is a paid subscription type website, and the sign up process requires several pages of questionnaires, how-to-organize, categorize, prioritize and present the questionnaires.

Technical Selection Discovery
Technical Selection Discovery would entail selecting the development platform and framework, server or cloud hosting, SSL, Trust Marks, Security Software and many other technical side of a project.

For example, selecting PHP MVC as the platform of choice, LAMP managed hosting, Trustwave SSL, Trustwave PCI Compliance Scan, etc..

Comentum has over 26+ years of experience in many web application projects and can provides consultation for your Web Application Discovery.

2. Internet Strategy

Following Discovery, Internet Strategy will help with strategizing and planning the marketing roadmap and direction.

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• How to Hire a Good Web Application Development Company
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• Guide to Web Application Development
• Web Application Development Services
• Custom Web Application Development