This deck summarizes the approach to project lifecycle methodology used by typical consumer goods or brand site launch initiative. It also includes a recommended process for incremental feature release process. It can be used as a guide for managing projects within this context. I would encourage an operations team to adapt it to your organizational structure and stakeholder's teams.

1. Project Management Methodology
For Site Launches

2. Goals for Managing Site Launches
● Create & adopt a project lifecycle methodology
● Ensure consistency and repeatability in operations
○ Major Projects & Site Launches
○ Roadmap Incremental Feature Releases
● Set clear expectations for stakeholders, business owners and vendors
● Establish toolsets for project management and communications
● Define expected timelines for project duration
● Define status reporting structure

3. Recommended Project Methodology
● Hybrid approach with multi-phase project lifecycle. Clearly identified
phases, deliverables and expectations
● Standardized documentation to simplify knowledge transfer
● Weekly meetings to provide communication transparency
● Clear escalation process to prevent roadblocks

4. Common Tools & Documentation
● Project Timeline Planning (MS Project, Gantter, Smartsheets) - plan project timeline
and milestones against a timeline
● Task Management (Asana, Trello, JIRA) - track individual PM tasks and their status
● Requirements Capture (JIRA) - capture business and user requirements
● Scope Management (Excel, Google Sheets) - manage overall scope for site launch
projects
● Budget Tracking (Excel, Google Sheets) - manage budgets and expenses
● Functional & Technical Specifications (Google Docs, Confluence) - capture information
related to functional requirements and technical solutions
● Status Updates (PowerPoint, Google Slides) - a templated approach for regular status
updates and communications between PM and stakeholders

5. Status Reporting & Progress Indication
Project Task 1 (90% Complete, Pending Feedback, Green)
- completed to do item
- completed deliverable
- coming up milestone <- 1/1/16
- actionable item <- Owner, due 1/1/16
● Weekly meetings to capture status & report progress
● Weekly Status Report emails to all stakeholders
● Track progress against project planning tool
● Visually indicate progress through slides shared with team
Project Task 2 (50% Complete, Delay in Production, Yellow)
- completed to do item
- completed deliverable
- coming up milestone <- 1/1/16
- actionable item <- Owner, due 1/1/16

6. Site Launch Phases
Roadmap Release Phases (Regular Updates / Bug Fixes)
Detailed Project Phases
Phase I:
Initiation
Phase II: Scoping
Phase III:
Execution
Phase IV:
Launch
1.1 Feature
Request
1.1 Business
Decision
2.1
Requirements
Gathering
2.2
Release
Prioritization
2.1
Requirements
Gathering
& Scoping
3.1
UX Design
Wireframes
3.2
Copywriting
Creative
Design
3.3
System
Integration
3.4
Catalog & Site
Configuration
4.1
QA
UAT
Training
4.2
Site Launch
3.2 Creative
(Optional)
4.1
UAT
4.2 Release
3.3
System
Integration
2.3
Estimation
SOW
1.2 Kick-off
Meeting

7. Phase I: Feature Request / Business Brief
During the Phase I of the project lifecycle the project would effectively be initiated by the either a feature request or a business brief
describing the desired change or new functionality.
Deliverables:
● Business Brief (Site Launch) - high level overview of the requirements and purpose for the request
● Project Charter - a formal agreement between all stakeholders and teams to commit resources and time
● Feature Request - JIRA ticket(s) with sufficient information describing the new request
Stakeholders & Responsibilities:
● Business Owners - provides business rules & functional requirements
● Digital Operations - creates initial project plan, defines scope & budget
1.1

8. Phase I: Project Kick-off (Site Launch Only)
Once the business brief is analyzed and preliminary budget is validated, a larger team would be call to a meeting in order to formally
kick-off the project. This would mostly apply to site launches and rock sized projects.
Requirements:
● Business Brief - a clearly articulated document describing new site launch requirements
● Project Charter - defines high level expectations form the project and identifies stakeholders
Deliverables:
● Project Deck - high level plan to set expectations for the team
● Scope Document - initial scope of all requirements included in site launch
● Project Budget - preliminary budget for the project
● Project Timeline Planning - establish preliminary timeline based on high-level phases
● Kick-off Meeting - initial meeting to introduce stakeholders and establish cadence for the project
Stakeholders & Responsibilities:
● Business Owners - provides support for business driven decisions
● Digital Operations - coordinates meeting, captures action items and sets expectations
● System Integrator / Vendors - becomes familiar with the new project and assures required resources availability
1.2

9. Phase II: Requirements Gathering & Scope
During the Requirements Gathering and Scoping Phase, business owners will be tasked with documenting and providing sufficient
information in order to fully understand their requirements. PM will aggregate and validate all provided documentation to ensure
completeness.
Requirements:
● Scope Document (Site Launch) - for major projects, initial scope as agreed on during the kick-off meeting
● Business Brief / Feature Request - high level requirements provided by business owners, including illustrations
Deliverables:
● User Stories - business requirements in detailed user story format either as a separate document or in JIRA
Stakeholders & Responsibilities:
● Business Owners - describes requested functionality in sufficient detail
● Digital Operations - validates information captured through BRD and User Stories
● System Integrator / Vendors - provides secondary validation and feasibility for requested functionality
2.1

10. Phase II: Release Planning (Feature Release)
For feature requests in Evolution project, Digital Operations will prioritize and plan release cycles together with System Integrator.
Requirements:
● User Stories - detailed information required to implement requested functionality, captured in JIRA
Deliverables:
● Release Plan / Roadmap - Sprint planning and release schedule for all feature requests in a given cycle
Stakeholders & Responsibilities:
● Business Owners - provide priority requirements
● Digital Operations - coordinate release planning to ensure all necessary teams are available
● System Integrator / Vendors - ensure external teams are committed to agreed scope within each release
2.2

11. Phase II: SOW Estimation (Site Launch Only)
Once Digital Operations has validated all BRDs and established project Scope, they will solicit cost estimate from a System Integrator and
validated that against established budget.
Requirements:
● Scope Document - this will guide project scope during the estimation process
● User Stories - documented details of expected functional requirements
Deliverables:
● SOW - contractual agreement between Clarins and System Integrator to implement new site functionality
● Finalized Scope Document - once the estimation is complete, the scope will be frozen and any change will require a Change
Request
● Contracts Sign-off - contracts with all 3rd party vendors need to be signed at this stage
Stakeholders & Responsibilities:
● Digital Operations - negotiates with vendors to ensure project cost is in line with expected budget
● System Integrator / Vendors - provide cost estimate and SOW for work to be completed as part of the project
2.3

12. During this Phase, creative design team will illustrate the new site launch functionality through mockups and wireframes.
Requirements:
● Scope Document - provides scope management for the effort being done
● User Stories - documented details of expected functional requirements
Deliverables:
● Wireframes - visual page layout, illustrating user experience
● (Optional) Interactive Prototype - dynamic set of wireframes allowing user interaction
Stakeholders & Responsibilities:
● Business Owners - provide feedback and guidance for user experience
● Digital Operations - manages and coordinates the project activities
● System Integrator / Vendors - responsible for deliverables during this phase
Phase III: User Experience Design (Site Launch Only)
3.1

13. Once the business owners validate and sign-off on wireframes, the creative them will then begin work on graphic design for the new site.
This step is optional in Evolution feature requests and simple site duplication projects.
Requirements:
● Scope Document (Site Launch) - provides scope management for the effort being done
● Wireframes (Site Launch) - illustrate user experience and site layout
● User Stories - provide functional guidance for Evolution project
Deliverables:
● Creative Concepts (Site Launch) - high level creative briefs for new site launches
● Graphic Design Assets - page mockups with all graphical elements which will be required for implementation
● Website Copy - all copy and text used to populate website pages during site configuration
● Legal Validation - given the nature of global operations, this is a necessary step to validate all copy
Stakeholders & Responsibilities:
● Digital Operations - manages and coordinates the project activities
● System Integrator / Vendors - responsible for deliverables in this phase
● Business Owners - validates work being delivered against business requirements
Phase III: Copywriting & Graphic Design
3.2

14. The bulk if implementation work will be done during this phase. For Site Launch projects, System Integrator will go through a series of
Sprints as agreed in SOW. For feature requests, the development team will perform work as part of release cycle Sprints.
Requirements:
● Scope Document (Site Launch) - provides scope management for the work being done
● User Stories - described feature request functionality capture in JIRA
● Graphic Design Assets - visual assets used in template production
● Website Copy Deck - provides copy necessary for template production
Deliverables:
● Live Website Templates - visual elements for the new site or feature requests
● Back-end Functionality - back-end integrations according to requirements
Stakeholders & Responsibilities:
● Digital Operations - responsible for coordinating and managing project activities
● System Integrator / Vendors - responsible for deliverables
Phase III: System Integration
3.3

15. For Demandware new Site Launches, site configuration follows the integration phase. During this Phase, things like Product Catalog,
Pricing Catalog and various integrations are configured.
Requirements:
● Scope Document - provides scope management for the work being done
● User Stories - described feature request functionality capture in JIRA
● Graphic Design Assets - some visual assets may be uploaded and configured during this phase
● Website Copy Deck - some copy may be updated during this phase
Deliverables:
● Content Production - the site will be populated with content, including product catalog, pricing, promotions, etc.
● BM Configuration - configure Demandware shipping, payment and other parameters.
Stakeholders & Responsibilities:
● Digital Operations - responsible for coordinating and managing project activities
● System Integrator / Vendors - responsible for deliverables
Phase III: System Configuration (Site Launch Only)
3.4

16. The final Phase of the project lifecycle includes quality validation to ensure there are no bugs or issues with the user experience, following
by user acceptance testing to make sure the delivered functionality follows the requirements provided in the first Phase.
Requirements:
● BRD/FSD (Site Launch) - describes desired functionality based on business expectations
● User Stories - functional requirements captured in JIRA
● Functioning Website in Test/Staging Environment - fully functional interactive website
Deliverables:
● Stakeholder Acceptance - all Business Owners are satisfied with delivered functionality
● Business Manager Training (Site Launch) - for new site launches, new users will need to be trained on site management
Stakeholders & Responsibilities:
● Digital Operations - responsible for coordinating and managing project activities
● Business Owners - validate delivered functionality
● System Integrator - supports bug fixing during UAT
Phase IV: QA, UAT & Training
4.1

17. In the final phase in the project lifecycle includes code release to production environment.
Requirements:
● UAT Validation - Business Owner satisfaction with delivered functionality
● Functioning Website in Test/Staging Environment - fully functional interactive website
● Go Decision (Site Launch) - team validated decision to proceed with the site launch
Deliverables & Milestones:
● Live Website in Production - new site is launched and deployed in the production environment
● New Functionality Released - new functionality is deployed during a scheduled release cycle
Stakeholders & Responsibilities:
● Digital Operations - responsible for coordinating site launches and release planning
● System Integrator - provides technical and operational support during code releases
● Business Owners - provide validation of new functionality in production environment
Phase IV: Release & Site Launch
4.2