Requirements Diligence: The Cornerstone to Ecommerce Project Success

Editor's Notes

• #4: FFC was founded to help ecommerce businesses figure out what ecommerce features and technology are needed and where to buy them. We are addressing a need in the market right now where many retailers are asking our help to form an ecommerce grown strategy, define and document detailed requirements –making sure all stones are turned over, manage an RFP process and help select the ‘best fit’ technology or provider We are also assisting some e-retailers with their implementations, and for others we are helping to strengthen their eMarketing strategies in conjunction with leveraging technology. To get a sense of the webinar audience, we’d like to do a quick poll to find out how many of you are going to make a technology selection decision in the next 6 months? POLL: “Do you need to make an ecommerce technology selection decision in the next 6 months?” YES or NO
• #7: Though there are many ways of going about this, the important take-away is that you follow a rigorous process that is unlike the diligence you would perform if you were investing in a stock, choosing a school or career, or even choosing a mate. The SCIENCE is in following a pre-planned method, the ART is in being flexible and adjusting along the way Whatever process you follow, it will involve ‘due diligence’ I like think of this in two buckets: Requirements Diligence means knowing what you need and want and making sure that you’ve done considerable homework and detailed work Selection Diligence means knowing what’s out there and making sure you are selecting the best choice for your business We’ll be discussing these in stages in this webinar, and I encourage you to ask questions at any time – and that includes you, too, Jason! The process of choosing ecommerce technology should apply in principle to all technology decisions – whether you are making an in-house decision, choosing a point solution for a certain portion of your ecommerce business, or even re-platforming. I will probably use more examples of choosing a new ecommerce platform because that can be the most complex and time-consuming decision, but by all means think of how this applies to the decision you need to make in the next few months. BTW, I spared everyone from cheesey clipart, but I couldn’t resist the stock photos, so hopefully with some good humor I’m going to subject all of you to my stock photos!
• #8: Clarify business, operational and organizational drivers Assess yourself, take a hard look at your own business Map out your operations including business flows, system context diagram List out pain points, points of failures, SWOT Agree on your business objectives Include vision, metrics, competitive advantages Take the opportunity to re-engineer your business Improve your processes Re-evaluate your products/services Better define your target customers Think about a redesign Set concrete, measurable objectives for your eCommerce business Understand your people and your culture Involve your company’s key stakeholders Document and socialize! Understand your organization Who are the players? Who are the stake-holders? Who are the decision-makers? Who is going to do the work? Who is going to review the work? Does the organization support the objectives? Do you have enough in-house resources? Are external or on-demand resources available? Do you have the right expertise? Technical, e-marketing, e-merchandising, creative design, IA/content design, customer support, fulfillment, etc. Have you allocated enough time? Are there conflicting projects or objectives? Who is the project team? Is everyone clear on roles and responsibilities? How much time from each person or function is needed at each stage? Who is the project lead and do they have the right authority and accountability? Clarify business, operational and organizational drivers Assess yourself, take a hard look at your own business Map out your operations including business flows, system context diagram List out pain points, points of failures, SWOT Agree on your business objectives Include vision, metrics, competitive advantages Take the opportunity to re-engineer your business Improve your processes Re-evaluate your products/services Better define your target customers Think about a redesign Set concrete, measurable objectives for your eCommerce business Understand your people and your culture Involve your company’s key stakeholders Document and socialize!
• #20: Determine and prioritize your requirements Define them at a detailed, feature-by-feature level Create use cases and user personas Include systems, data and processes your eCommerce system will integrate with Create workflow designs, screen mockups to show how your site will operate Include requirements for managing the site How products are loaded and manipulated How pages are changed How promotions are managed How orders are managed, fulfilled How customers are handled Prioritize your requirements Rank them in numerical order Rate them as nice-to-have and must-have Use ‘use cases’ to describe ‘how’ it should work