Hi Paul,
Some may dis-agree, but I'd be wary of over-doing the design yourselves.
I've seen [web] projects fail essentially because the cultural institution
constrained / dictated to the web development company so they ended up
with what they thought they needed rather than what was sensible.
As for tendering, given your size, engaging an independent consultant to
help with the tendering process as Matthew is, I believe, suggesting is
good advice.
Given that the UoO has hundreds(?) of web-sites, it's well worth walking
and talking with their webmasters to get both ideas on what's important
and a feel for any companies that may have been involved.
I'd start with, say, ten companies and run the tender process in two
stages. Ask for mock-ups and ask them to come in and present to you.
Ensure the tendering panel is balanced between the IT-savvy and
curators(!). That's important as things can go wrong if either side gets
their way too much.
Create a list of criteria for scoring both stages of the tender process
(which you're already doing). For the first stage, these should basically
be asking "Can we work together with this supplier?" and "Have they got
pedigree?" etc.
For stage two (having removed five companies from the process), the
scoring criteria needs to become more detailed, technical and specific to
your needs (e.g., can they integrate with your existing systems?).
Given who and where you are, the easy solution is simply to call IBM who
I'm sure would jump at the opportunity to help (/ sponsor?) you ;-)
Just my 2p.
Regards,
James
On Wed, 29 Oct 2008, Paul Groves wrote:
> Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:05:12 +0000
> From: Paul Groves <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: Museums Computer Group <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [MCG] Experience of Tendering Process for Website development?
>
> On Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 2:30 PM, Matthew Cock
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> Hi Paul,
>>
>> Are you talking about Information Architecture, visual design, content
>> management system? Or all of them?
>
> We've already largely established what features and content we require
> and the other major issues that need to be considered, and have also
> been researching and documenting the information architecture required
> for the site in some detail and in a number of ways (diagrams mostly).
> Visual design we've not specified in any great detail, as are somewhat
> flexible in this, but have some general principles we need to adhere
> to - accessibility obviously, but the site also needs to look slick,
> but clear, whilst also being highly usable for a range of users, both
> specialists and the general public, so we think a layered approach is
> required here. We would like to use a Content Management System to
> manage the site, including probably the high-level themes, but
> object-level information will need to be retrieved from out
> collections management system's database. We're also aware of some of
> the potential drawbacks of using a CMS that isn't easily extended
> (e.g. via an API) or that imposes its own constraints over what we can
> do, so we need something quite flexible.
>
> However, my main concern is how to prepare and present this
> information for a formal tender in a way that potential suppliers
> would find useful...
>
>> I would recommend you include Cogapp in any list of suppliers to
>> approach, they did a great job for us of IA and Design.
>
> Thanks, will add them to our list
>
> Paul
>
>>
>> Matthew
>> Head of Web | Department of Learning and Audiences| The British Museum |
>> www.britishmuseum.org
>> t: 020 7323 8169 | m: 07971 433841
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
>> Paul Groves
>> Sent: 29 October 2008 13:11
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Experience of Tendering Process for Website development?
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> I'm managing a substantial digitisation / web project at the Ashmolean
>> Museum, we've recently gone live with a small publicity site about the
>> project and its progress to date (see: http://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org
>> ), but have now come to the point where we're firming up our brief with
>> a view to putting to tender soon for development of the main website for
>> the project (a much larger undertaking).
>> So I would be very interested to hear of other people's experience and
>> tips regarding the process of putting to tender for website development
>> in the cultural heritage sector and also recommendations of potential
>> suppliers to contact. We've been very pleased with the work done by the
>> agency that put together our publicity website (Keepthinking:
>> http://www.keepthinking.it/ ), but obviously need to solicit and compare
>> proposals from other suppliers too. Thanks
>>
>> regards
>>
>> Paul
>>
>> --
>> Paul Groves, Project Manager
>> The Yousef Jameel Online Centre for the Study of Islamic and Eastern Art
>> Dept. of Eastern Art, Ashmolean Museum Beaumont Street, Oxford, OX1 2PH.
>> UK
>> T: +44 (0)1865 278289
>> W: http://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/
>>
>> For disclaimer, see http://www.ashmolean.org/email/
>>
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>> 13 November 2008 – 15 March 2008
>> BOOK NOW
>> +44 (0)20 7323 8181
>> www.britishmuseum.org
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Paul Groves, Project Manager
> The Yousef Jameel Online Centre for the Study of Islamic and Eastern Art
> Dept. of Eastern Art, Ashmolean Museum
> Beaumont Street, Oxford, OX1 2PH. UK
> T: +44 (0)1865 278289
> W: http://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/
>
> For disclaimer, see http://www.ashmolean.org/email/
--
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