OUR PROCESS

Infusing core technolgies with business analysis and creative energy is a process that seemlessly grows from an idea to a solution.

Good planning from the beginning to the end is imperative to the overall success of a project, whether it be large or small-scale. Pursuing a synergistic process that integrates business thinking, creative energy, and technological capabilities allows IONA to produce effective solutions. We pride ourselves in the ability to help our clients not only follow a specific process which leads to deadlines being met, but allows us to focus our energies on improving the product we are delivering.

The following lists the framework which IONA has developed to allow our clients, IONA members, and strategic partners to implement the solution’s strategy, creative, technology and experience practices synergistically. The end result is a product that is scalable and supercedes the client's and users' expectations.

Vision and Strategy Development

In creating a vision and direction for the project we write a project mission statement that identifies objectives, users, project scope, and technical requirements. This will be expanded to produce the creative brief. The creative brief is the core definition we work from to create the look and feel of the sites. It is imperative that we understand our client’s business, where it’s headed, goals, business strategies, opportunities, the industry, competition, customers, prospects, strengths and weaknesses.

This information will allow us to design a strategy and solution that will convey the image and positioning our clients seek and provide value to the site visitor.

Creative Development

Once the project has been sufficiently defined and both the client and the creative team have approved the creative brief, we can begin the initial design process that will create the most effective user interface design.

We create at least three designs to be presented to the client for consideration. Once a design has been selected, the client then requests any desired changes. When a look and feel has been agreed upon and signed off by the client, we build the remainder of the site and submit it for revisions prior to final sign off of the look and feel. It is important to note that the process must be adhered to in order to meet our deadlines and remain within budget.

Production

During this phase of the project we will be converting the page prototypes into functional HTML format that will be ready to accept any content. Most of the HTML pages will be hard coded, which lends itself to a more stable site. This is a ‘working’ phase that allows our programmers to complete the project and begin to put together a test plan that will alert us to any bugs. Once the content has been integrated, all testing has taken place, and the client has signed off on the success of content, design, and functionality integration, IONA will move into database integration. This production time allows our programmers to convert static html pages into a database format, providing the most efficient format for updates and expendability. This production phase also typically requires the development of customized administration pages, which allow the client to make content changes to specific areas of the site.

Testing

We will complete all internal testing on the site in order to determine and fix any bugs that occur. Once all bugs have been reported and fixed, the site is ready to go live and can be transferred from the working server to the hosting server. IONA allows 30 days after the date of deployment to provide additional alterations and technical support.