Website Development Tasks — Activity Definition

by · May 30, 2010

Following development of the Website Development Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), the project manager will need to define all of the project deliverables. The PMBOK refers to this as the Activity Definition process, which identifies all of the “deliverables at the lowest level in the work breakdown structure (WBS), which is called the work package” (PMBOK Guide, 3rd edition, p. 127). These work packages are further decomposed into activities that provide the basis for project scheduling, cost estimating and managing the project.

The following project activity list is derived from business requirements section 1.2.1 of the Website Development Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The activities listed below are only a partial list of the work packages required to properly plan a website development project. These example activities are based on the following project assumptions:

  1. The company undertaking the project has an existing customer base and well established product line. The company has a physical commercial storefront presence, but no online presence.

  2. The company has an existing accounting, customer relationship management and inventory control system which will require some modifications to support online sales, support and internal management reporting.

  3. The goal of the website development project is to expand retail sales into the online environment.

Website development project activity definition (WBS 1.2 Business requirements)

Domain name

  • Domain name research
  • Domain name selection
  • Domain name registration

Marketing

Process – Customer Ordering

  • Document order workflow

Process – eCommerce

  • Research payment clearinghouses
  • Research merchant account requirements
  • Select payment clearinghouse
  • Setup merchant accounts
  • Define management reporting requirements

Process – Order fulfillment

  • Review staffing / HR requirements
  • Review and enhance existing Customer Service policies
  • Review product warehouse / J.I.T. manufacturer delivery requirements
  • Document fulfillment workflow
  • Document product return workflow

Process – Existing Systems Integration

  • Identify dependent systems
  • Developers to review API(s) for existing applications
  • Document application interconnect requirements

Regulatory Requirements

  • Advice on interstate/international sales restrictions
  • Review applicable telecommunications laws and ensure product compliance

Legal Requirements

  • Advice on customer data collection and retention
  • Draft data collection, retention and security policies
  • Advice on liabilities
  • Insurance updates

Operations Management / Site Maintenance requirements

  • Define site maintenance requirements
  • Review staffing / HR requirements

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