Zapata Data believes in working through a project in phases that are intuitive to both the client and the technical team. Each phase can involve various people including a website/interface designer, a Database Architect, one or more developers and a Project Manager. We like to also establish a Project Lead within your organization that will collaborate with our team directly.
Understanding as much of where your business is today, and where it will be tomorrow, is critical to providing a scalable solution. This phase will include meetings with your organization's Project Lead to understand exactly what exactly your solution requires. We'd also like to view and discuss at least 3 or 4 examples of websites/software you have visited/used that have characteristics you like, dislike or wish to improve. This helps us grasp the market perception you desire and focuses our designers' artistic direction.
Our design team will collaborate with your Project Lead to solidify the details surrounding the project. We'll then provide a simple outline containing all of the pages, navigation, features and system requirements need to make the conversations and details a reality. The document will serve as checklist for our team and yours, and ensures that the project is initiated with the right expectations.
Once the specification is approved and signed, we get to work on your custom software or design. This will let you see what our team has interpreted from previous conversations and is the first real glimpse into what your solution looks like. From then on, the feedback we receive from each iteration ensures your website's design or custom software solution is moving in the right direction and for the right reasons – yours. After a few revisions, your site will be begin to mature and start to feel real.
With an approved design we can start making live pages. Unless otherwise stated or requested, your project will be developed in ASP.NET and may/may not require the use of Microsoft SQL Server. Each page will contain placeholder text for larger paragraphs that will need to be supplied to us for placement. If there is an image gallery, we'd need those images sent on CD or uploaded to an FTP Site. We also strive to ensure our designs look just as good in IE as they do in FireFox or Safari.
By now, our design team has spent several hours working on the website but a fresh set of eyes can always find something we may have overlooked. We'll have someone from your team or ours look for typos, form errors and/or browser compatibility issues that an accustomed eye could miss. After these adjustments, your site will be ready for launch.
At this point, you should be enjoying your website or custom software application. Over time, you may start wondering if you can add more features, pages or photos - you can. With a custom software solution you get exactly what you want and what you need to directly impact your bottom line. And because it's custom you can add as much functionality now and in to the future.