Even big IBM is talking about drupal... sample IT project

WOW part two is pretty serious thinking about website design ... much as I do.

In this series we're using a fictitious organization, International Business Council (IBC), which connects employees of the company with external business partners in a collaborative community. IBC needs a redesign of their existing Web site and requires document storage, discussion groups, specialized workgroups, conference scheduling, schedule session descriptions, session expiration, and other capabilities.

Our process involves analyzing the business goals, the user's goals, and evaluating the existing Web site. From the analysis, we designed alternative solutions, iteratively refined them from user feedback, and arrived at a final design solution.

Figure 1 shows an overview of our process, which is composed of the four basic phases:

* Analysis
* Design
* Prototyping
* Development

The process helps focus on the user's goals, tasks, and concerns. Although Figure 1 is in a linear sequence, the process is not. Each phase informs the others, both forward and backward. Throughout this process, feedback provides essential information to the previous stages and allows for the evolution of improved solutions. Feedback provides valuable information, keeping the project on track and focusing on the overall objectives. This article focuses on the first three phases of this process.