Thank Peter, all useful stuff...
P.
On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 12:41 PM, Rauxloh, Peter
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi Paul
> I would agree with the advice you have had so far with a couple of additions:
>
> 1. It is never too early to get you project governance sorted out. There is ample opportunity in such projects for unbridled democracy to run riot and for members of project teams to argue on the basis of opinion, gut feeling and what they think would be best for their area of responsibility. So adding to what James wrote, I would suggest that the tendering board, is also your first draft of the actual project team, and that it includes someone at a sufficient managerial altitude too occasionally say. "Thanks for your input, we are going to do this." At the risk of sounding too PRINCE 2 verse 7, I would also suggest that such points are identified as products within the project, and treated as signed off decisions.
>
> 2. Ensure that a learning/audience advocate is party to the process, if not part of the project team, and that it is made clear to the suppliers that audience testing with user groups will be part of the work. Moreover, that they'll be required to accommodate iterative changes from the same, as the approved results of such interactions are made available. Ask for evidence of working in such a régime before.
>
> 3. Scenario based usability testing of site taxonomy can save time, clear up misunderstanding and challenge pre-conceptions - do you need "Jobs" on the top level of your site if the navigational choice of 19 out of 20 people who were asked was to go straight to a single "About Us" tab? So suggest asking how much of this sort of testing your companies have done, if they do it themselves or contract out etc.
>
> 4. Finally if you are considering design for CMS delivered content, and doing part of the development work in house, ensure that they are clear about the products they are expected to deliver; template design, style sheet and guidance, HTML framework? As a sub-species of this, if you have not used the CMS or indeed any CMS before then you as need to get familiar with it first. You'll have to give guidance to the supplier on how different areas of the templates are feed, or at the interview stage, at least an idea of the degree of dynamic and static content you are imagining. This of course relates back to the resources you'll have to keep it dynamic when it is finished.
>
>
> Design wise I would recommend Tape London http://www.tapelondon.co.uk and Mr. Ronny Elefsen therein, and we were pleased with the work on accessibility and usability carried out by Amanda Cano http://www.amandacano.co.uk/
>
> All the best
> Pete
>
>
>
> Dr. Peter Rauxloh
> Head of IT
> Museum of London
> 46 Eagle Wharf Road
> London. N1 7ED
> Tel: 020 7410 2205
> Fax: 020 7600 1058
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> www.museumoflondon.org.uk
> Museum of London is changing. Visit www.museumoflondon.org.uk to find out more.
> Explore how the Great Fire shaped the city www.museumoflondon.org.uk/londonsburning
> Jack the Ripper and the East End a major new exhibition at Museum of London Docklands, opens 15 May
> Before printing, please think about the environment
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of J Martin
> Sent: 30 October 2008 10:51
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Experience of Tendering Process for Website development?
>
> 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/
>>>
>>> **************************************************
>>> For mcg information and to manage your subscription to the list,
>>> visit the website at http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk
>>> **************************************************
>>>
>>> BABYLON: MYTH AND REALITY
>>> 13 November 2008 - 15 March 2008
>>> BOOK NOW
>>> +44 (0)20 7323 8181
>>> www.britishmuseum.org
>>>
>>> **************************************************
>>> For mcg information and to manage your subscription to the list,
>>> visit the website at http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk
>>> **************************************************
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> 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/
>
> --
>
> Your object is to save the world, while still leading a pleasant life.
>
> [log in to unmask] SDF-EU Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf-eu.org
>
> **************************************************
> For mcg information and to manage your subscription to the list, visit the website at http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk
> **************************************************
>
> **************************************************
> For mcg information and to manage your subscription to the list, visit the website at http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk
> **************************************************
>
--
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/
|