Extending the Site
Before development commenced, we knew that we would have to address workflow as a
part of Stage 2. During the testing and content population phases, other improvements
were identified that would also form a part of Stage 2. We advised the client that we
should note down all these requests to review after the site had gone live. In previous
implementations, we found that what we thought should be added as a priority in Stage 2
hasn't always turned out to be the case. What we think we need and what proves to be
valuable aren't always the same.
Three months after the site went live, we met with the client to review how things were
going with the management of the site and how the public were reacting. What we found
was the design and structure of the site was received well and didn't need any revision.
We also found that the functionality was more than adequate.
Workflow
Although it was seen as important early on in the project, the need for workflow wasn't
that important. The creation and review of content was being handled well as a manual
system. The cost and effort for implementing workflow outweighed the benefits that it
would bring.
Archiving
Before the site went live, we had identified that the way the sub-navigation was displayed
would become unwieldy if there was a lot of content. We discussed possible solutions,
the main one being the ability to put content into an archive so only the most recent or
most important content would be displayed as a part of the sub-navigation in the section
pages. It was agreed that an archive facility would be added as part of Stage 2.
Integration with CRM
What wasn't important earlier but became a priority was the ability to automate the
registration for newsletters from the site into the CRM software used by the client. This
project is to be scoped out in more depth soon.