Website Development Project Outline

Timeline and related steps

Summary

This is a basic website project plan for a website, with steps followed by the responsible party. Stages have an indicative time attached to them; this obviously depends on the responsiveness of our clients. Consider these times the amount of time we need to work on these items, assuming no delay from waiting on images/logos and things like that.


Stage 1: Project Setup

Indicative length: 3-6 weeks - The purpose here is to get as much information from clients as they have. Things like existing assets (images, content) and logos are setup. These steps aren’t generally done in order, but all steps will be complete before moving on.

Template and Logo Selection

(New Front Door and Client) 1. Generally, New Front Door will provide some guidance on templates that a client can choose. Churches/ministries can choose any template they like, but it often works better to provide them with options to show what’s possible, and also to showcase our existing work. 2. While we generally work with existing pre-fabricated templates, if churches have a graphic designer, either in-house or contracted, we are also able to work with them to produce the website look and feel.

Domain Selection, if necessary

(Client) 1. New Front Door will offer suggestions, but the choice is ultimately up to the church/ministry. New Front Door can help with determining what names are available.

Domain Registration, if necessary

(New Front Door) 1. This could involve registering a new domain to add to our existing portfolio, or handing over management of an existing domain to Vision 100, if that is the church’s preference.

Website Setup

(New Front Door) 1. Vision 100 will set up a placeholder website which will either become the placeholder page, or become the new website once it is fully developed. Usually, the address of the website is something like new.churchname.org (ie. new.crckingston.org.au) to allow the existing website to work uninterrupted.

Placeholder Page, if necessary

(New Front Door) 1. This step is only necessary for churches/ministries that do not have an existing website, or whose existing websites are unsuitable for that church/ministry. The aim is to give our churches/ministries something functional as early as possible, allow them to start uploading sermons and entering events. 2. Vision 100 have a mock-up of this placeholder page, but it will contain: Church Logo New website message, including some form of “We’re working on it” message and expected date for new website Latest Sermon (download, stream from site) What’s on (list of next x number of events, usually 3 to 5) Where We Are (including embedded Google map) Footer with church logo and New Front Door logo

Stage 2: Iterative Website Implementation

Indicative Length: 8-16 weeks - Website implementation of New Front Door websites involves simultaneous implementation of the look and feel (as determined by logo and template selection from Stage 1), and implementing and customising our standard website features, as well as any other new features required by a church’s website.

1. Website Look and Feel

(New Front Door and Client) 1. This is a back and forth process, often between New Front Door and graphic designer or church/ministry leader. 2. We aim to make all progress visible to the client, so that we can get feedback regularly on how the website is looking. 3. During this process, we often require things like images/sermon series banners/sample sermons so we can test how things look with real website data. 4. We will also work to make the website responsive (work well on desktops as well as phones/tablets) during this process, which often means getting new images/adjusting quality of your current ones.

2. Website Features

  1. Our approach to developing websites is to implement each feature one at a time. Initially, we’ll implement the solution that we’ve developed as best practice with our other churches. This means you’ll get a mature implementation of the feature to begin with, with subsequent refinement, either in features or in the way things look, in due course.
  2. Our features/modules, as of April 2016, are:

    • Sermons

      1. Covers uploading sermons, presenting them in sermon series, inclusion of study notes, showing latest sermon and sermon series on the front page, podcasting to iTunes or other subscription services, and can include linking to video recordings of those sermons using services like YouTube or Vimeo.
    • Events

      1. Includes maintaining a website calendar, but also an approach to a “What’s On” page that recognises the difference between what newcomers need when they visit church websites, and what visitors need to know.
      2. Also can include things like church management system integration for services and community events if a church is running a system like Church Community Builder (CCB) or Elvanto.
      3. Handles “What’s coming up” on the front page, as well as iCal integration to allow users to add the church calendar to their phone/calendar application.
    • Event Registration

      1. Usually developed on an as needs basis for things like Camp/Conference Registration.
      2. Includes options to pay via Paypal/Direct Deposit
      3. Automatic confirmation emails sent to registrants
      4. New Front Door charges a nominal fee per event with a hard limit each year.
    • About and Contact Us Pages
    • Published Documents

      1. Covers things like newsletters, rosters and other documents that churches often need published on their website.
    • Basic Elvanto integration

      1. Includes directing users to Elvanto login from website login.
      2. A web form so current members can update their contact details, or new members can provide their details online.
      3. Elvanto calendar integrated to the Events module (for a single 'source of truth')

Stage 3: Website Content Addition and Launch

Indicative Length: 4-8 weeks - This stage involves setting up a process to migrate content from existing websites, or for church users to add information to ensure the website is populated with content when it is launched.

Migrating data from existing website

(New Front Door)

  • Where available, New Front Door can migrate existing sermons and events from the previous website, if one existed.
  • Generally, it’s only necessary to migrate this data.

Fleshing out website content

(Client)

  • With our guidance, we’ll ensure that all necessary information has been filled out to make the launch a success.

Launch plan

(New Front Door and Client)

  • New Front Door will assist with this to make sure that the site launch is handled in a way that ensures that all relevant users are notified, and provide guidelines to ensure the website content is kept up to date and feels “alive”.