Sample Guide for Writing Website Development Proposal

Sample Guide for Writing Website &
Mobile Application Development
Proposal
Prepared By: Patrick Ogbuitepu
MAYBEACH TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED

News Website & Mobile App Development Proposal
Page 1Maybeach Technology Limited
Table of Contents
1. Our Understanding ...............................................................................................................................3
2. System Overview...................................................................................................................................5
User Description............................................................................................................................5
Use Case........................................................................................................................................6
Core Functions / Features.............................................................................................................7
2.3.1 Mobile Responsive Design ....................................................................................................7
2.3.2 Information Dissemination Module......................................................................................7
2.3.3 Photo Gallery ........................................................................................................................7
2.3.4 Video Gallery.........................................................................................................................8
2.3.5 Branded Social Media Pages.................................................................................................8
2.3.6 Search Engine Optimized Content / Website Map ...............................................................8
2.3.7 Mobile Application Development.........................................................................................8
2.3.8 Content Management Module .............................................................................................8
2.3.9 Email Newsletter Distribution Module .................................................................................9
2.3.1 Analytics / System Monitoring Module ................................................................................9
2.3.1 Role Based Access Control....................................................................................................9
2.3.2 Audit Trail..............................................................................................................................9
Training & Support........................................................................................................................9
2.4.1 Training Approach.................................................................................................................9
2.4.2 Support Processes...............................................................................................................10
3. Costing ................................................................................................................................................12
4. Aim, Objectives, Scope & Execution Methodology.............................................................................15
3.1 Project Aim..............................................................................................................................15
3.2 Project Objectives ...................................................................................................................15
3.3 Project Scope ..........................................................................................................................15
3.4 Project Execution Approach....................................................................................................15
3.5 Our System Development Methodology ................................................................................18
5. Estimated Project Schedule ................................................................................................................20
4.1 Fox Chart.................................................................................................................................20
4.2 Project Team...........................................................................................................................21
6. Choice of Technologies .......................................................................................................................23

7. Clients..................................................................................................................................................26
8. Notable Projects Executed..................................................................................................................26
9. Contact Officers ..................................................................................................................................26

1. Our Understanding
The role of the internet as a news source will continue to grow at a rapid rate as the
technological community continuously strives for high performance cost effective ways of
improving the use of information technology in day-to-day activities.
The internet is now a significant source of information and news for people, and this role will
continue to grow as the availability of broadband internet connections and computing gadgets
increases, thus transforming the internet to the primary source of information and news as
evidenced by the growing use of the internet in daily activities.
The internet’s character as a news source provides unique advantages over traditional news
media, in the sense that it may allow people to filter out information that they would prefer not
to see, while at the same time suggesting information that supports their existing points of view.
XYZ News Agency a mass media company aimed at publicizing news reports to the general
public is desirous of extending its utilization of Information Communication Technology, by
delivering news in digital format over the internet through the development of a website and
mobile application for the sole purpose of information dissemination to a wider audience and at
a reduced cost.
The proposed website design would focus on ease-of-use as this is a vital factor that would
determine whether or not visitors will return to your website after their first visit. Beside an
intuitive and easy-to-use interface the website will facilitate information dissemination inform
of text, images and videos that would be optimized for indexing by search engines. Also the
design will be such that it would react to mobile devices screen widths.
In addition to the website, a mobile application that would help increase XYZ News Agency
accessibility and reinforce her brand presence would be developed and available for download
and installation on android and iOS devices. The mobile application will allow users immediate
access to summaries of news and it would suggest news headlines based on the users
preference and previous activities.
Finally, a central control panel that would allow authorized users easily manage the content of
the website and the mobile application will form the final part of the deliverables.
As part of the technological community, we have positioned ourselves to provide our clients
with the required expertise to help them.
At Maybeach Technologies Limited, we continuously strive for high performance cost effective
ways of improving the use of information technology in all aspects of life. Thus, we have
positioned ourselves to provide our clients with the required expertise to help them set-up /
manage their Information Communication Technology Systems.

Our services cut across helping our clients identify all possible alternatives to an existing
problem, we advise our clients on the pros, cons and cost implication each alternative and
finally move on to design, develop and deploy a solution that effectively addresses the clients’
business challenges.
We employ the use of open source technologies like PHP, JAVASCRIPT, JQUERY, HTML 5, CSS
and MySQL SERVER as the database during development. This is based on the superior
performance, reliability and availability of qualified developers to support the system for the
long run, and its ability to be accessed from any computing device with a web browser.

2. System Overview
User Description
Shown below are the broad categories of user groups that would have access to the XYZ website
and mobile application
INCI Production Website / Mobile
Application System Actors
Website Visitor
INCI Production
Employee
Mobile Application
User
Figure 1: XYZ News Agency Website / Mobile Application System Actors
Website Visitor: This user is a member of the general public that is responsible for visiting the XYZ
News Agency website to source for news / information.
Mobile Application User: This user is a member of the general public that has successfully
downloaded and installed the XYZ News Agency Mobile Application on his/her mobile device and
has access to news summaries.
XYZ News Agency Employee: This user is an employee of XYZ News Agency that is responsible for
updating / managing the content of the website. He/she will also be responsible for creating other
user accounts, creating roles, assigning roles to users, monitoring application performance, resolving
usability issues, generating reports, performing data back-up and any other function.

Use Case
INCI Production Website / Mobile Application - Use Case
Website Visitor
XYZ News Agency
Employee
Manage Website Content,
Generate Reports,
Send Email Notifications
Create Roles / User Accounts
Monitor System Performance
Perform Back-up
Resolve Usability Issues
Read / Watch News from XYZ News
Agency Website,
Subscribe to XYZ News Agency
Newsletters Service
Mobile Application User
Download Mobile Application,
Read News Summaries,
Set News Preferences
Figure 2: Use Case Diagram of XYZ News Agency Website / Mobile Application

Core Functions / Features
The proposed XYZ Website / Mobile Application would consist of the following main
functionalities / features:
o Mobile Responsive Design
o Information Dissemination Module
o Photo Gallery
o Video Gallery
o Branded Social Media Pages
o Search Engine Optimized Content / Website Map
o Mobile Application Development
o Content Management Module
o Email Newsletter Distribution Module
o Analytics / System Monitoring Module
o Role Based Access Control
o Audit trail
2.3.1 Mobile Responsive Design
With the rapid increase in smartphones and tablets adoption, responsive web design becomes
the optimum way of providing great user-experience across many devices and screen sizes. This
is an important characteristic, since it is impossible to anticipate all the devices and screen sizes
visitors will use to access your site.
Thus, the proposed website will be designed to work well regardless of device and screen size,
and will provide a better and more consistent user-experience than a separate mobile site that
is designed for a specific device and screen size.
2.3.2 Information Dissemination Module
This feature of the website will be responsible for performing information retrieval,
transformation and display on the website. It will serve as an interface between the data (text,
images, and videos) stored on the webservers and the website user interface.
2.3.3 Photo Gallery
“A picture is worth a thousand words” is a popular saying that emphasizes the importance of
photography in communication, thus a website designed for the sole purpose of news reporting
should consist of an image gallery that would be facilitate the information transmittal process.

2.3.4 Video Gallery
In a similar manner if a picture is actually worth a thousand words then a video is worth trillions
of pictures, thus a video gallery that would enable users with high speed internet connection
watch news highlights will go a long way in improving overall user experience.
2.3.5 Branded Social Media Pages
With social media outfits like Facebook, Google + and Twitter boasting of millions of active
monthly users, the social media has become an effective means of improving brand awareness,
audience reach and influence. Thus, its imperative that XYZ News Agency establish its presence
on these platforms in such a way that reflects her company’s brand.
2.3.6 Search Engine Optimized Content / Website Map
A vital aspect of Search Engine Optimization is making your website easy for both users and
search engine robots to understand. Search Engine Optimization is the most effective means of
building constantly growing traffic on your website that translates into credibility and trust from
visitors. Thus, the website content and structure will be such that it would be easily indexed by
search engine robots / crawlers and as a result influence the webpages ranking in search results.
2.3.7 Mobile Application Development
As the popularity of handheld computing gadgets continues increase, so does the dependence
on them for information also increases, thus emphasizing the need of a mobile application that
would relay news summaries to users. Mobile application will consists of the following activities:
 Design of the Mobile Application
 Design Implementation / Coding for both android / iOS devices
 Quality Assurance
 Functional / Non-functional Testing
 Deployment of the Mobile Application on Apple App Store / Google Play Store for
subsequent download
2.3.8 Content Management Module
This feature of the website / mobile application will provide authorised users with an easy-to-
use tool to centrally manage the content of the website and the mobile application. With this
feature users would be able to update news articles, images and videos using a GUI (graphical
user interface) tool.

2.3.9 Email Newsletter Distribution Module
This feature of the system will allow visitors subscribe of periodic newsletters by simply
providing their email addresses, it would also consists of a control panel that would be used to
create and send out newsletters by an authorised user.
2.3.1 Analytics / System Monitoring Module
This feature of the system will allow authorised users track and analyse how visitors use /
interact with the website by providing reports on numbers of page views, locations where pages
were viewed, and how each visitor interacted with the website such as mouse clicks.
2.3.1 Role Based Access Control
This feature of the system will allow authorised users create roles that would consist of group of
tasks that can be executed, and these roles would be assigned to Users. Thus, users would only
be able to view and perform tasks that they are privileged to perform.
2.3.2 Audit Trail
This feature of the system will keep track of all actions performed by users and the time and
date such action was performed for audit and reference purposes.
Training & Support
2.4.1 Training Approach
We adopt a 4-step training approach to ensure our clients satisfaction.

Figure 3: Training Approach
Need Analysis: We conduct client-specific needs analysis instead of offering a generic
programme. Meeting client's needs and expectation is paramount in our consideration.
Design: All our courses are designed with the client's needs and audience in mind to ensure
effectiveness.
Delivery: All our trainings and workshops are delivered by professional consultants.
Evaluation and Follow-up: We measure all our workshops to ensure that they meet the clients'
needs and add value to the client’s organization in terms of competency as well as return on
investments.
2.4.2 Support Processes
Our Customer Contact Centre will be the focal point for every type of request relating to the use
and support for the Electronic Property Management System. Additional types of support will
include remote support and on-site support.
Support Plan Features Duration
Remote Support Business days (9am to 5pm Local Time)
Online Resources 24/7
On-site support 24/7
System Backup(Local Storage) 1 day per Month

3. Costing
COST SUMMARY
One-off Task Amount (N)
Website Design, Development and Hosting
Mobile Application Development and Deployment
Training
Total One-off Fee
VAT (5%)
Total One-off Fee Including VAT
DETAILED PRICING BREAKDOWN
One-off Task Amount (N)
Website Design, Development and Hosting
Mobile Responsive Design
Information Dissemination Module
Photo Gallery
Video Gallery
Branded Social Media Pages
Search Engine Optimized Content / Website Map
Content Management Module
Email Newsletter Distribution Module
Analytics / System Monitoring Module
Role Based Access Control
Audit trail

Mobile Application Development and Deployment
Design of the Mobile Application
Design Implementation / Coding for both android / iOS devices
Quality Assurance
Functional / Non-functional Testing
Deployment of the Mobile Application on Apple App Store / Google Play Store
for subsequent download
Training
User Guides / Training Manual
Training per 2 users
Total One-off Fee
VAT (5%)
Total One-off Fee Including VAT
Presented below is a list of optional recurrent task
Recurrent Task Amount (N)
Support
Remote Support per month
Online Resources
On-site support per month
System Backup(Local Storage) per month
NOTE: 3 months warranty will be provided during this period remote support
would be free

NOTE: Please feel free to request for addition / removal of features.

4. Aim, Objectives, Scope & Execution Methodology
3.1 Project Aim
The main aim of the project is to design, develop and host a website / mobile application for the
purpose of information dissemination.
3.2 Project Objectives
The objective of this project includes the following:
o Needs Assessment
o Requirements Specifications & Analysis
o Design & Development of a fully functional Website / Mobile Application
o Functional, User Acceptance, Performance, Security and Compatibility Testing
o Hosting of fully functional system
o Training / Support
3.3 Project Scope
The project would cover the following areas:
o Project Management
o Requirement Analysis
o Application Design
o Application Development
o Testing
o Hosting and Configuration
o Training / Support
3.4 Project Execution Approach
We believe in a phased approach, allowing us to first evaluate and document the exact needs of
a project in the abstract, and then future phases of implementation.

The requirement analysis phase of the project will focus on gaining a thorough understanding of
the full scope of the project, based on consistent two-way communication (written and
verbal). During this first phase, we will need a great deal of input from the client. The
deliverables for this phase of the project are thorough requirements and technical
specifications, contract agreement and a project plan that details the breakdown of deliverables
in distinct sub phases, timelines and milestones. These deliverables help ensure project success
and help facilitate clear communication by all stakeholders before implementation begins.
Upon approval of this roadmap, we would proceed to implement each sub phase using standard
engineering, design and project management techniques.
Depending on the availability of your internal team members, we feel that we can complete our
initial phase within two weeks and the full project within nine weeks. There are many decisions
to be made during any project that can affect the timeline and hours that are required for the
project. We will advise you of the benefits, and drawbacks for each option and allow you to
make the ultimate decision.
Project Phases Estimated
Duration
Activities Expected Deliverable

Project Initiation 1 week 1. Formal Definition of Project Scope
2. Define High Level Functional
Requirements and Expected
Deliverables
3. Preparation of legal contract
4. Review and Signing of contract
Core System
Specifications, Terms
of Reference and
Contract
Requirement
Analysis
2 weeks 1. Assess human resources
2. Identify Users and user needs
3. Investigate business process
4. Business Process Modelling
5. Specify functional / non-functional
requirements, and system
boundaries and constraints
6. Produce Project Plan
7. Client Review and Evaluation
Project Plan and Full
System Specification
Document
Design 4 weeks 1. Application Design
2. Data Modelling
3. Database Design
4. Interface Design
Application
Architecture /
Blueprint
Development 6 weeks 1. Interface design implementation
2. Coding
3. Testing
Fully Functional
Application, Testing
Protocols and Test
Case
Deployment and
Documentation
4 weeks 1. Set-up and Configuration of Servers
2. Domain registration
3. Hosting of the developed system
5. Preparation of user manual
6. Administrators Training
Accessible System and
user manual
Project
Termination
1 week 1. Complete System Handover
2. Task technical staff to change
authentication information
3. Signing of Project Completion
document
4. Optional signing of support contract

Support Bug fixes and minor
adjustment
Note: depending on the availability of your resources some of these stages of the project can
run concurrently.
3.5 Our System Development Methodology
For each stage of the development process we employ the Adaptive Project Framework (APF)
which is “an iterative and adaptive five-phase approach designed to deliver maximum business
values to clients within the limits of their time and cost constraints”. This method first presented
by Wysocki in his book, Effective Project Management 3rd Edition, explains that treating scope
as a variable is the fundamental concept underlying APF.
With the APF we aim to maximize business value by adjusting the scope at each iteration within
specific time and cost constraints. Planning is done just-in-time with APF to eliminate all the
non-value-added work time that is wasted on planning activities that are never performed. As
more knowledge about the specific business situation is gained, APF continuously adapts to the
new conditions. It is client-focused and client-driven, and is grounded in a set of undisputable
core values. The clients become the central figure during the each iteration, who decides on
what is valued the most and can choose to change the direction of the project based on new
information gained from the previous iterations. Change is embraced and not avoided to
constantly correct the course of the project. The APF core values are as follows:
 Client-Focused
 Client Driven
 Incremental Results Early and Often
 Continuous Questioning and Introspection
 Change Is Progress to a Better Solution
 Don`t Speculate on the Future
Thus we use the Entry-Task-Validation-Exit (ETVX) Model (as shown below) for all the major
development activities.

Entry
Criteria
Tasks Exit
Criteria
Validations
Review +
Acceptance
Entry
Criteria
A checklist of conditions that must be satisfied before the phase
commencement of a phase
Tasks A set of activities that need to be carried out for the successful completion of
the phase
Verification A list of validation tasks to verify the quality of work items produced by the
activity
Exit Criteria A checklist of conditions that must be satisfied before the activity is completed

5. Estimated Project Schedule
4.1 Fox Chart
Show below is a table that is used to track all the project milestones and events. It serves as
a visual representation of when certain tasks and events are to occur or be delivered,
allowing the project to move on successively
Table A: Fox Chart showing Project Milestones and Anticipated Delivery Time in Weeks
Milestone
Timeline (Weeks)
Week
1
Week
2
Week
3
Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week
9
Week
10
Project Kick off Start
&
Finish
Requirements
Gathering
Start Finish
System Design Start Progress Progress Finish
Application
Development
Start Progress Progress Progress Progress Finish
Testing Start Progress Progress Progress Progress Finish
Deployment Start Finish
Post
Implementation
Activities
Start

4.2 Project Team
This project is to have the following standard roles for people involved:
 Project Manager (1)
 System Analyst (1)
 Software Developer (1)
 Interface Designer (1)
 Quality Assurance Analyst (1)
Table B: Job roles, description and delegated team member
Role Job Description Delegate
Project
Manager
Understand the project triple Constraint - Cost, Time, Scope &
Quality.
Define task, assign task, and set deadlines, as well as to
estimate hours for tasks, all while keeping a careful watch on
the overall impact those decisions will have on the project
schedule and on individual team members' workloads.
`
System
Analyst
Analyse the Clients business process, identify project
stakeholders and define the required system specifications,
boundaries and limitations
Software
Developer
Application design, coding, testing, documentation and
implementation of the solution
Interface
Designer
Users Need Analysis and Interface Design
Quality
Assurance
Analyst
Ensure that each task is executed in accordance with the best
practices, and meets minimum industry requirements
NOTE: Even though this project may appear schedule intensive, adding additional personnel in
order to speed up the process should be avoided. In system development, adding more

personnel can potentially lengthen the project duration as the need for coordination increases
exponentially, implying that developers and designers will spend less time actually working on
the project.

6. Choice of Technologies
This solution would be designed using the cloud-computing architecture which is a variation
of the client-server architecture. Cloud computing refers to the delivery of computing and
storage capacity as a service to a heterogeneous community of end users. Application
resources would be transferred via the internet, and cloud clients would include any
terminal such as PC, Tablets or Smart Phones that is connected to the internet and has a
web browser. The Web and Application Server would serve as the cloud provider.
Thus, since the application would be a web application, one of the common tasks of any
web application would be to access and query the database and output the result to the
web server and then to the browser. So on this common scenario, all the programming
language is doing is communicating / interfacing with the database server and web server.
On this common scenario, the speed of the programming language has almost no effect on
this process; the speed of this process relies on the database server, web server, client's
web browser / computer and bandwidth.
Thus when it comes to choosing a database server, the main and common database servers,
MySQL (now owned by Oracle), PostgreSQL, MSSQL and Oracle are all fighting for speed and
performance. MySQL is used by Google, Facebook, YouTube, Yahoo and for the last FIFA
World Cup which received a huge audience around the World. So the capability of the
MySQL database server is no longer questionable thus will be used for this project.
Another common task of any web application would be to access the file system, find an
image and send it to the web server. In this case, it is the Operating System and the file
system that has the burden of communicating with the programming language. Most Linux
/ Unix servers are run very lean without any extra un-needed packages or GUI interfaces
and therefore the OS uses a lot less CPU and RAM which provides more allocation to the
database and web server. While windows servers run clunky and with many un-needed
packages and GUI which will be using much more CPU and RAM.
Since LAMP is open source, there is a vast amount of dedicated and friendly developers
around the world who continuously make improvements and updates, and provide support
for the platform. Additionally, there are more support resources and developers available
for PHP and LAMP Platforms. Open Source developers who contribute to the Open Source
community are doing so not for financial gain. On the other hand ASP.net relies on an
available number of developers at Microsoft for making improvements and updates. There
are less support contributors available to solve ASP.net challenges.
PHP, MySQL server, PostgreSQL server, Apache server, and Linux OS are all free and
upgrades are also free. In addition, there is no additional licensing cost for having another

hot standby server as a backup, or needing to run multiple servers for load balancing or
server clustering.
LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) is also much more popular among hosting
companies, and its popularity results in a lower monthly hosting cost for LAMP hosting
compared to Windows hosting. Whereas ASP.net and IIS are free if you purchase Windows
OS. There is a substantial licensing cost for a Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft SQL
Server and future upgrades. For example, Microsoft Server 2008 R2 Standard - 64-bit cost is
about $1029 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition For Small Business cost
approximately $1038.
The above licensing costs for Microsoft can substantially increase if the site becomes
popular and there is a need to run the site on multiple servers or requires server features
such as load balancing, server clustering or hot standby.
Additionally, PHP is interpreted at the server, so when changing a functionality, no
additional steps are required to see the changes. On the other hand, ASP.net needs to be
compiled each time the code is modified. Again, the development process is more time-
consuming when using ASP.net as opposed to PHP.
The following table lists the top, popular sites and the platform and languages they use.
Site Up Since Server
Platform
Programming
Language
Google.com November
1998
Linux C, Java, C++,
PHP &
MySQL
Facebook.com February
2004
Linux PHP, MySQL
and C++
YouTube.com February
2005
Linux C, Java and
MySQL
Yahoo.com August
1995
Linux C++, C, Java,
PHP &
MySQL
MSN.com (owned
by Microsoft)
August
1995
Windows ASP.net

Live.com (owned
by Microsoft)
August
2008
Windows ASP.net
Wikipedia January
2001
Linux PHP &
MySQL
Amazon.com October
1995
Linux &
Solaris
C++, Java,
J2EE
WordPress.com November
2005
Linux PHP &
MySQL
On a final note, since PHP is platform independent and can run on any platform — Linux,
Unix, Mac OS X, Windows. Obviously, a LAMP platform will have an advantage over the
ASP.net platform because it will have more available resources.

7. Clients
8. Notable Projects Executed
Start Date Project Description Direct Client
9. Contact Officers
Patrick XYZ
Business Developer
+234 805 XXX YYYY
Maybeach Technology Limited
No. 42 Lobito Crescent,
Wuse 2, Abuja.

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