Producing Online Heritage Projects

1. Project Planning

1.5 Project Plan and Requirements

Your Project Plan or Proposal Document

Writing up your project plan will likely prove to be a beneficial exercise that helps you chart all activities required to successfully complete your online heritage project.

What to specify in a project planning document:

• concept
• objectives/goals
• language(s)
• audience(s)
• computer system technical requirements (platform, memory, hardware/software)
• technical components of the Web product
• functions and features (e.g., animation)
• content organization
• branding (logo) and marketing aspects
• milestones or deliverables
• any other special circumstances, unique features or considerations affecting your project

As the basis for a proposal, your Project Plan document can be included in a funding application, as part of the early planning process. Later, as you and your team progress through the design, development and launch of the Web product, your plan can serve as a useful checklist, guiding you each step along the way. It can be updated as necessary, and in the future will provide a record of the procedures and methods you employed—a template for future projects.

Project Requirements Document

Along with the development of the concept, budget and project plan, an important step is to create a document defining the project requirements to ensure that the team's expectations are met throughout the development phase. Decisions you reach at this stage eventually determine how you will convey the concept to your audience(s) and whether all your project goals will be met. The project requirements document defines the production process. It should include everything you expect to find in your final product from navigation to databases to interactive elements. Important development steps to consider while developing requirements can be found in section 2.1, Production Process.