Ironing out the Project Scope....

On contacting the client representative, this was our correspondence; 

After going over the outcome of our meeting with my supervisor, Dr Biggam, I am glad to inform you that project requirements discussed are agreeable to both of us. Just to recap, the requirements included;

• analysis/usability of the website
• analysis of competitor website based in the United Kingdom
• Need for social media as an effective means of content delivery eg Case Studies, pictures etc.

She replied;

 At first thought I was going to ask you to split item 3 thus:-

-  this is really two separate issues: a) Social media; should it be utilised more, is it relevant to professional services co, are our competitors using it to good effect and b) Case studies, pictures out of date on our website - they need to be updated but this is controlled by web designer how best to update these in house eg one person to be given training etc

However re-reading I  still think it should be split into two as noted above but in terms of point “a)” the case studies, pictures etc should be looked at from the perspective of Social Media  as well as within the area of point “b)”

...............

It will be tedious trying to explain how she's indirectly asking me to do the same thing twice so i decided not to go any further. Will do the split as she requests but will approach it as a single requirement. 

22/06

Houston we have Contact!

Meeting with Doig and Smith

People Present: Lesley-Jean Shaw, Susan Ogden and Michael Alakija

During the meeting held on the Friday 17^th of June, the issues brought up included;

1.      Pre-qualification Questionnaire: Mrs Shaw indicated that this requirement wasn’t in the proposal draft but the company was thinking of having a new website with a different domain name that will handle Pre-qualification Questionnaires (PQQ). These PQQs are documents (pdf format) that clients will be able to download and fill when bidding for a project. She raised security issues with this as she didn’t want other clients altering the document and seeing who else places a bid.

·         I don’t see the relevance to this in my analysis of the website as this PQQ is just in the design stage.

·         The board has to give this a go-ahead and she didn’t give any indication that this idea is ready for implementation.

2.      Analysis of website Competitors: Mrs Shaw wants me focusing on the UK based competitors of Doig and Smith. She also indicated that priority should be given to companies with either the same resources (employees) or bigger.

·         Since a colleague of mine will also be doing her MCP on the competitors on Doig and Smith, Susan, Lesley-jean and I all agreed that it will be best if I liaise with her on this.

3.      Regular Updates of Case Studies/Social Media: The case studies of the company needs regular updating but due to the structure of the company, before anything about the client can be uploaded it’ll have to be reviewed by a director. Also, she was a bit sceptical on the need for social media as she feels it doesn’t fit the purpose of the business.

·         I inquired about who updates the case studies and was informed that a staff on site (although not dedicated to this job) was responsible for doing this.

·         I suggested how social media tools (blogs) can be used to upload this case studies rather than the conventional way it is currently being done.

·         I cited an example of one of their biggest competitor, EC Harris, who uses social media excellently.

·         I also suggested having a designated position for the person responsible for uploading the case studies as that same person can also be used for uploading pictures on the website via the use of flickr/tumblr. Intensive training is required for this and in the long run it cuts out the middle-man (Website Design Company) and saves the company money.

4.      Website Usability/Survey of website visitors: Lesley-Jean indicated a need to evaluate the usability of the website in general.

·         I enquired over the software currently being used for this and she said it was Google analytics.

·         I don’t think I will be given access to the data from this, again the structure of the company might not allow this

·         Also, the website design company keeps all the data from this so she wasn’t too sure on if they will be willing to share this information with me.

5.      Client Intranet: Lesley-Jean mentioned plans of having a client intranet

·         Susan and I mentioned that there will be a need for the clients to be consulted first as to whether or not they will require such a service and what they want from it.

·         Hence, I don’t think there will be need for me to look at this just yet.

6.      Search Engine Optimisation:

·         Susan was quick to mention the enormity of doing this and how it required a professional.

Hence we all agreed and removed this from the requirements.

Surprise! Surprise!

As i was still upset about not hearing from the contact client at Baker Hughes i got a surprise but yet welcome e-mail from one of my module coordinator informing me of an opening for a management consultancy project in evaluating the website of Doig and Smith, whose business model includes project management, Construction Law, Building and Quantity surveying, was formed 75 years ago and its current website is approximately 4 years old.

I immediately responded stating my interest, and as luck would have it i got the part. During the presentation i mentioned this to the project supervisor and she gave me an extra week to submit my proposal (sweet). Now my next step will be to make the initial contact with the client to agree on the project scope. :)

13/06/11

Gutted!!

So i got in touch with my contact at Baker Hughes, He promised he'll get back to me as soon as possible. This was over 3 weeks ago and i'm still yet to hear from him. I've sent numerous emails, text messages and left voice mails. No reply whatsoever. I'm really worried because I've got a project presentation coming up in a week, so if i haven't made contact with the client, what do i present on? Gutted.

Monday 6/6/2011

.....In the beginning

So, its the first week on the 2nd trimester so that means its time for the Management Research and Design Project. Was really looking forward to the class as its just been two weeks after the 1st semester exams, ah well. Basically its either going to be an Academic  or Consultancy based research, I've decided to go for the consultancy based as its seems really cool and will sure look good on the CV. 

I'd have to find a company though, and the only one that comes to mind is Baker Hughes, an American Oil servicing company based here in Scotland. It will be really convenient as they also have branches in Nigeria so it might make things easier for me when i apply for a job. First i'd have to contact the guy i know working there and see how it goes. Fingers crossed.

                                                                                                                                      16^th May 2011