Technology requirements collection in the process of designing the site

Introduction

Collecting requirements is one of the most important steps in creating information systems and Internet sites in particular. On how accurately and fully all the wishes of the customer will be taken into account during the site design process, the final result will depend on whether we get the site for a tick or whether it will be an effective business tool that will bring profit to its owner.
The proposed method of collecting requirements is used in our company in the development of simple client sites, implemented by the cascade model (Waterfall). The technique allows the sales manager to organize an effective collection of requirements and write on its basis a “Technical Task”, according to which the developer will create a website .
I note that nothing prevents the use of this method of collecting requirements in Agile – development, in particular, to create a primary backlog.
In this article, I focused precisely on the substantive part of the collection of requirements, and not on the issues of introducing the collection of requirements into the company's business processes or how to build a dialogue with a client - this is a topic for another conversation.

Requirements classification

Our company has adopted the following terminology for requirements:

1. Business requirements
   The requirements of the highest level, which define the purpose of creating the site and the tasks that must be performed to achieve the goal. Business requirements are determined by the following metaphor: “Website as a business tool, as part of it. The site is like the face of a company, as a tool for sales and business development. ”
2. Requirements of project participants
   Requirements that determine how representatives of the customer company will interact with the site, what they need from the site. Metaphor: “Website as an integral part of business processes in a company. Site as an assistant staff.
3. External user requirements
   Requirements that determine how external users will interact with the site, and what they may need as resource visitors and potential customers of the company. Metaphor: "Website as a tool for sales of goods and services of the company through the Internet."

Business process to create a client site

The basic business process for creating a client site in our company is as follows:

1. After receiving the application for the development of the site, the manager contacts the client, specifies his price expectations and, if they match ours, makes an appointment.
2. Before the meeting, the manager prepares to collect business requirements: reads information about the customer’s company, analyzes the existing website (if it exists), analyzes the websites of competitors; It creates a rough idea of ​​what site can be offered to the client.
3. This is followed by an in-person meeting with the client, at which the manager collects the business requirements and requirements of the project participants. At this stage, the main task of the manager is to ask the client about the business processes within the company in as much detail as possible, to understand their essence, and then to offer such functionality on the website that would allow to increase the efficiency of the client’s company's employees.
4. After an in-person meeting with the client, the manager assesses the collected requirements for completeness and consistency.
5. The assessment is done, and the manager transforms the requirements into a description of the site’s approximate functionality as a combination of a number of modules: “Product Catalog”, “Basket”, “Forum”, etc.
6. The functionality of the future site is agreed with the client both in content and cost. There are options when the client chooses to implement only part of the functionality.
7. If a preliminary agreement on the functionality of the future site has been reached, the manager proceeds to the description of the target groups of visitors and the description of scenarios for the use of the site by visitors. This description is also agreed with the client.
8. Based on the agreed use scenarios of the site and the functional modules, the manager creates a technical task in which the developer adds technical information (hosting requirements, for example).
9. The technical task is signed by the two parties, is attached to the contract, the contract is paid for, and work begins.

Schematically, the business process is as follows:


Now let's take a closer look at how to collect requirements at all stages of work.

Business requirements

When collecting business requirements, the site environment is determined (see figure) and it is analyzed how this environment can use the site and, accordingly, what functionality and information should be presented on the site.
For example, the customer’s business is large and investors are constantly attracted to finance projects. Accordingly, there should be a section on the website with information about the company's projects, about the format of the possible participation of investors, etc.
Case of life. During the collection of business requirements for the site of a beauty clinic, we thought about what the authorities need from the site. The answer did not take long to wait - it was necessary to place licenses for the services provided on the site.
Note that the requirements of the company's employees to the site are the requirements of the project participants; they will be discussed in a separate chapter.

When designing with the business requirements:

• The customer begins to focus on important issues relating to the goals and objectives of the site, and not on "what’s on the site will be in the left menu." Increased motivation and desire to make a good product.
• Most of the important requirements that do not lie on the surface, are identified during the sequential passage through the external environment of the future site. For example: “... yes, it would be good for partners to provide a personal account ...”, “... then the site will be promoted and SEO specialists need the following ...”, “... the company is large and needs a good section with vacancies ...”, etc.

Requirements of project participants

- These are the requirements of the company's employees to the site.
After collecting business requirements, you need to spend time analyzing the requirements of the company's employees to the site. If the client is already at the meeting can provide a list of such requirements - this is great, but do not dwell on it. It is important to continue the dialogue and ask the client to talk about the business processes within the organization we make the site.
It is important at the meeting not so much to come up with all the options for using the site by employees, but rather to understand and remember the business processes, as well as the functional responsibilities of employees, so that later in the office, in a relaxed atmosphere, to reflect on how the site can help employees.
The main point that should be studied in more detail at the meeting is the interaction of the sales manager with the client and what role the site should play in this interaction. Consider some options for the practical use of the site manager:

1. The site can help the manager in direct communication with the client - for example, the manager from a computer screen shows the client products or services of the company.
2. The manager “constructs” something on the site, for example, chooses a tour to Turkey for a client or calculates the cost of a CTP policy. A particular example is the “kitchen designer” on the Ikea website.
3. The manager often travels to a meeting with a client in the field and from a tablet computer demonstrates the products presented on the site - (for ourselves, we immediately make a note that the mobile version of the site and the interface for working with touchscreen devices will be important).
4. The site serves to accompany customers in the process of selling goods and after. These are such actions as: all sorts of consultations, tracking the status of the application for the purchase of goods, file sharing, technical support.
5. In many cases, the manager has to give detailed advice to clients, in which case a site can come to the rescue, where you can place reference information in a special section. A special case: the FAQ section, where you can see the answers to basic questions and ask your own.

In general, there are a lot of options for using the site by a sales manager - after all, the goods and services that these managers implement are also very many and in each case are their own features of the sale process. Therefore, as mentioned above, at a meeting with a client, it is very important to obtain detailed information about the functions performed by employees and how they interact with each other and - most importantly - with the company's clients.
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An example from life.
Our company has been approached by a client who is engaged in the wholesale of furniture components: nuts, couplers, screws, etc. As a rule, an ordinary person does not understand all the specifics of this type of business. Therefore, during the dialogue, our manager asked the client to describe the process of selling goods in more detail.
As it turned out, this process is very simple: first, a potential buyer selects, through electronic catalogs in the .pdf format, the goods of the desired article and in a certain amount. Then he calls the company and voices his order manager. The manager accepts the application and looks for the desired product from suppliers. After an agreement has been reached with the suppliers, the manager contacts the customer and voices the total cost of the order. As a rule, bargaining and final cost approval follow.
In this situation, as we see, the main work lies with the manager and his actions cannot be replaced by any functionality on the site. In connection with these, a simple decision was made: a product showcase is organized on the site (all goods are transferred from electronic catalogs to the site), the buyer selects the required goods, specifies their parameters (dimensions, coating material, color) and quantity and then simply sends a button click application manager.
The conclusion from this example is quite simple: do not think of it as a client, but simply ask him to tell in detail about his work.

In the event that a client at a meeting is at a loss or simply does not want to describe in detail the business processes in a company, you can try to talk to him by offering these or other solutions on the site that will be useful to employees.
For example, you can look at the site through the eyes of an accountant and put forward the following requirement: "The functionality of automatic invoicing for payment is required."

Variants of potential requirements on the part of participants may be as follows:

1. HR Director Requirements:
   a. "The management of vacancies on the site to do by analogy with the site SuperJob."
   b. "Create an internal corporate portal and knowledge base."
   c. "Create personal pages of employees."
   d. "Create the possibility of conducting webinars for employees through the site."
   
2. Requirements advertising director, marketer:
   a. "Create a convenient management of the banner system - both for displaying your banners and others."
   b. "To make it possible to upload data about goods and services."
   c. "Create a functionality for conducting surveys through the site."
   d. "Create the ability to comment and discuss the goods on the site."
   e. "Organize cross-posting material in social networks."
   f. "Create product ratings."
   
3. Site Admin Requirements:
   a. "To create the possibility of simultaneous work of several people in the administrative section."
   b. "Create functionality for automatic archiving site."
   c. "To create the possibility of differentiation of access rights for editors of the site."
   
4. PR manager:
   a. "It is necessary to use the corporate style in design, to emphasize the brand."
   b. "Create a functional" mailing "," forum ", place social networking widgets."
   c. "Create certain promotional pages, promotional blocks, audio-video, flash."
   
5. Business analyst:
   “To carry out a special adjustment of the process of forming and sending an order in order to be able to evaluate the conversion of visitors into buyers.”
6. Lawyer:
   “To create a section for the publication of documents requiring public announcement.”
7. Logistics representative:
   "Create a section with detailed warehouse maps."

Definition of target groups of visitors and usage scenarios

After the business requirements and requirements of the project participants have been defined, starting with the basic ones: “As a business owner, I want to start selling goods and services through the Internet” and ending with minor ones, the manager of our company organizes all the information and forms a description of the main functional modules of the future site.
After agreeing with the client site functionality and project budget, the manager determines the target groups of site visitors.
Typical target groups are:

1. Buyers
   a. Primary.
   b. Secondary.
   c. Undecided.
   d. Permanent.
   
2. Job seekers.
3. MASS MEDIA.
4. Partners.
5. Investors.

Further, scenarios for site use by visitors are determined. These scenarios can be:

1. For buyers:
   a. For primary: purchase of goods, familiarization with prices, comparison of goods, receiving advice.
   b. For secondary: re-order goods, receive discounts.
   c. For undecided: product search, participation in promotions, communication with the company.
   d. For regulars: buying the same goods, using discounts, technical support.
   
2. Job seekers: search for jobs, sending resumes.
3. Media: import news, import graphic information.
4. Partners: authorization on the site, download price list, chat with a personal manager.
5. Investors: information about the company's shares, quotes charts.

Each of these baseline scenarios is detailed and further negotiated with the client. For example, the “Sending Resume” scenario in an expanded form looks as follows:
“In order to submit a resume, the applicant must fill in the form located on the page with the vacancy, and attach the resume file to it. The description of the form fields is given in the technical assignment ".
Even such seemingly banal things need to be described, so that later there would be no complaints from the client: “And I thought you would place this form on all pages of the site on the right ...”.

Technical task

The terms of reference is the final document in the process of signing a contract to create a website. It consists of two blocks: a description of the external part (design, functionality, options for using the site including its functionality) and internal (scenarios for using the administrative part of the site).

The technical task consists of the following blocks:

1. Detailed usage scenarios on the part of the customer (how customer representatives interact with the site, for example, how the manager services requests through the site, how the personnel manager publishes vacancies, etc.).
2. Description of the structure of elements and a set of fields in the administrative part of the site.
3. The structure of the site and navigation on it (sections of the site, the order of the elements on typical pages).
4. Scenarios for using the main functionality (how the user can send a request, what will be received in response, how the user uses site search, etc.).
5. Functional description of the main modules
6. Layout of elements, design (describes all the requirements for design)
7. Description of the work of individual services (for example, using the OSAGO calculator)

I will not dwell on the writing of the technical specifications, but I will give an example of how the customer’s requirement was eventually reflected in the technical specifications.

1. A client representative voiced the following requirement: “I want a convenient system for publishing and submitting vacancies on the site, so that it is convenient to create new vacancies, retrieve from the archive and activate old ones.”
2. After talking with the client, among other things, the manager singled out the functionality of “Jobs”, which he took into account when assessing the total cost of creating the site.
3. Next, the manager identified the target groups: “Job seekers” - from the site visitors and “HR-manager” from the project participants.
4. In the final terms of reference, the original requirement took the following form:
   a. In the administrative section of the site it is possible to create new vacancies on the basis of templates containing the following set of fields: position / requirements / duties / salary / ...
   b. The site administrator has the ability to change the basic template or create a new one. Accordingly, when publishing a vacancy, it is possible to select the appropriate template from the existing ones and create a vacancy on its basis.
   c. Section "Jobs" is located in the main section "About the Company."
   d. The list of vacancies on the page "Jobs" has a tabular view. The following fields are used: "Position", "Salary".
   e. When switching to a specific job, the user sees the following (see the design sketch).
   f. On the page of a specific job, a user can send a resume, which will be sent to a specific e-mail address, as well as saved in a database.
   g. The resume form has the following form ...
   

Conclusion

After the managers of our company were trained to collect requirements for this technology, the effectiveness of the sites implemented in the company became higher. Sites began to bring more benefits both to employees of the client’s company and to visitors.
And everything from the fact that we ourselves began to better understand the customer, we began to build more meaningful dialogues with him and more fully collect the requirements and take them into account when designing the site.
Previously, the manager basically only listened to the customer’s confused speech about how he sees the main page of the site, and that “you need to show the rating of the goods with asterisks”. Now the manager deliberately discusses with the client all aspects of creating the site, starting with the purpose for which the site is being created, and ending with the description of the site’s use by potential visitors as well as company employees.
I hope this material will help you in the process of working with the customer in the development of the site.