August 17, 2009

Functional Design Assignment

See website for examples of complete functional designs http://www bu edu/goglobal under courses tm!"# $our pro%ect is to be two to three pages not including drawings of web sites &igital file is to be turned in on flash dri'e (f )ou put the flash dri'e in an en'elope with )our name we can return the dri'e to )ou Assignment: A compan) has hired )ou to underta*e the design of their site+ )ou will prepare a functional design document for the proposed web site $ou determine the compan) that has hired )ou and its function (t can be a commercial ecommerce site or an informational site ,normall) would be for a not-for-profit organi.ation/ ( would li*e )ou to choose a compan) or a not-for-profit organi.ation that reflects )our interests in order to ma*e this a personall) meaningful assignment (n past courses, ( ha'e had indi'iduals plan a site for a new business the) are considering, create a new site for an existing compan) that had a site which did not reflect the compan)0s mission, or underta*e a site for a not-for-profit organi.ation, such as an animal shelter or support group $ou will pro'ide a 1unctional Specifications ,1S/ document that co'ers the needs of the pro%ect to create the site $our 1S should include designs for four pages of the site, while the written material should discuss )our whole site $ou should pro'ide drafts and/or drawings of the home page and three additional pages 2hese three pages need not be the first pages if the site is to contain more than four pages+ instead the three pages should be selected to demonstrate )our o'erall understanding of 1S documents and pro'ide an mix of page t)pes ,home page, information pages, shopping cart pages, etc / 2he assignment should reflect the readings of the wee* about functional design, and should demonstrate that )ou ha'e a clear grasp of site construction issues and ultimate design characteristics $our 1S document should describe the compan), its needs and the purpose of the site (t should then pro'ide written documentation and drafts or drawings with detail for each of the four pages )ou ha'e chosen to show 3e will want to see that the document pro'ides the detail needed b) a software designer in order to design the site and the detail needed for the ultimate site user to understand the purpose and actions to underta*e on each page After reading the document a reader should understand what the compan) is attempting to accomplish and how the consumer/'iewer will interact with the site in order to accomplish that (n addition, the document should include issues relating to the 4bac* office4 applications, such as securit) issues, database/matrix design, coo*ie management and shopping cart needs A. Project Overview 2his will introduce )our site proposal to the team and set up the ob%ecti'es Among the items that should be included in the o'er'iew would be: 5ompan) information 6oal of the site 2eam members ,bios, roles/ &escription of the organi.ation8s information culture ,attitudes towards information, information sharing, information load, information politics, information norms/ 9 :xamination of how the physical setting affects information access and use ! &efinition of the primar) audience and whether there are potential secondar) users 7 ;nderstandable demographics of the audience ,age, sex, location if regional/ 1 of " 1 2 7 "

August 17, 2009 # <s)chographics ,metrics, li*e beha'iors or ps)chological aspects of consumers/ 9 &iscussion of the platform on which the site ma) be 'iewed ,<5, netboo*, phone, etc / 10 <rimar) use of the product or ser'ice 11 :xplanation of the role of the compan)0s current resources ,e g , librarians, records managers, information s)stems staff/ in pro'iding information for the site 12 &atabase needs of the site 17 Securit) needs of both the firm and consumer, including:

A brief re'iew of what t)pes of content, pictures, lin*s, etc , are planned, to pro'ide an o'er'iew image of the site A discussion of whether to use coo*ies 3h) would )ou or wouldn8t )ou= 2he specific purpose for the coo*ies needs to be defined, as well as what data will be collected about the 'iewer $ou should also co'er how )ou intend to deal with personal securit) issues relating to this data

B. Visual & Functional Details

&esign the Site map 3ritten material and drawings of screens <ictures of an) pop-ups that accompan) pages <ro'ide locations and rationale for lin*s which demonstrate how screens are connected 2he site map should depict each of the site paths and how the) are lin*ed (dentif) sets of ma%or users and their information preferences >e'iew the wor*-related tas*s and problems, including problem dimensions and information needs 3ireframe :ach screen element needs needs to ha'e a technolog) o'er'iew which describes the software product needed for design $ou should also describe what platforms the 'iewers will need to open ,audio, 'ideo, text, lin*s, scrollbars, or static or interacti'e graphics/ Show each of the user actions and, in cases where user can enter wrong information, what the conse?uence of this would be 6i'e parameters 2his is the artistic aspect of the site, and would include the color scheme, dimensions, la)out information, and time to open, if music, 'ideos, pictures, or flash, etc , are used &rafts of screens $ou should pro'ide drawings of screens which pro'ide a 'isual depiction of what each page will loo* li*e 2his is important as it will ?uic*l) become clear when )ou draft screens if their 4loo* and feel4 is appropriate, and whether their ease of use, na'igation features and usefulness to the consumer will accomplish the intended tas* Helpful rawing suggestions! $ou can create design drawings for this assignment using the drawing capabilities of an) software program that )ou ha'e access to, including @icrosoft 3ord Ather options include drawing programs such as Inspiration ,free 70 da) trial at http://www inspiration com// or Visio ,more complicated/, etc <lease note that the idea of this assignment is not to ma*e )ou learn a new software program, so there is no need to do so $ou %ust need to include the drawings as part of )our functional design document Another option for including )our drawings is to hand-draw and then scan them ,if )ou ha'e access to a scanner/, creating a B<:6 image, and then inserting the image,s/ into )our 3ord document

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August 17, 2009 Scanning tips and ideas can be found in a special &iscussion area of Cista, 4Scanning (deas4 ,one discussion thread for <5 users and one for @ac users / $ou can share )our own tips or as* ?uestions in those discussion threads

"valuation #riteria 2he web site design will be e'aluated according to the extent that it achie'es the elements necessar) for a successful functional specifications document (n addition to the items discussed abo'e, re'iewers will be considering: 1 2 7 Dow well does the 1S document describe the compan), its goals, and the purpose of the site= Dow well could the 1S be used to pro'ide a web site designer with a road map for site construction= Site structure is logical, clear, and well aligned with the information en'ironment of the organi.ation <age designs facilitate information access and na'igation 1unctional features or applications effecti'el) support ma%or sets of users, their information tas*s and beha'iors $ou ha'e bro*en )our pro%ect down into modules ,e g , multiple choice game engine, 'ideo, etc / $ou ha'e included a diagram of the technical structure of )our pro%ect 2he steps that are needed to de'elop )our software are well laid out ,e g , get 'ideo, de'elop ?ui. template, implement na'igation s)stem, etc / 1unctional features or applications effecti'el) support the purpose of the site and are logical in their flow, design and application $ou ha'e thought about an) special considerations that will ha'e to be made to ha'e a successful pro%ect $ou ha'e included the plans for implementation and anticipated an) challenges that should be expected

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According to 2im >)an in 42he Anatom) of a &esign &ocument, <art 24 ,http://www gamasutra com/features/19991019/r)anE01 htm/ there are se'eral commons mista*es to loo* out for when creating a design document:

$ote! 2hough the thoughts below were originall) written for a team pro%ect in a game-building en'ironment, the) are e?uall) applicable to )our pro%ect 1 (nsufficient details: 2he descriptions need to be specific enough to con'e) intent and function A'oid using 'ague terms unless )ou follow up with specifics 2 <atroni.ing material: $ou wouldn8t gi'e a chef a recipe that told him how to ma*e a marinara sauce, so )ou don0t tell artists how to manage their 29! color palette or programmers how to define a particular data structure Bust list the facts important to the 'ision Fot onl) does it waste their time ,and anno) them/, but it wastes the writers8 time Such details are more appropriate for the technical specification an)wa), which is written b) the programmers 7 Ambiguous or contradictor) material: 3atch for this (t clouds the 'ision, creates misunderstandings, and in'alidates the functional specification " 2he &esign &ocument from Dell: Fothing stupid, nothing ambiguous, nothing lac*ing G it %ust is too damn much 2r) to *eep a mental total of how long the design is going to ta*e to implement when 7 of "

August 17, 2009 fleshing out the specification 5ut extraneous, non-essential features and sa'e them for the se?uel+ or be prepared to argue the merits of *eeping the features and extending the ship date 9 6etting too personal with the design: $ou are not )our wor* $our personal boundaries should not include the design As ( ha'e stressed throughout this document, game design is a collaborati'e process 3hile )ou want people to ta*e ownership and responsibilit) for their wor*, the functional specification should ha'e %oint ownership 2his *eeps people from feeling isolated and more a part of the process, and it ma*es the documents feel less li*e marching orders and more li*e a plan 2he team members are also much more li*el) to read something that the) helped put together 5riticism is then aimed at the design not the documenters who put is all together+ thus ma*ing the team more comfortable and producti'e in offering their criticism ! 3andering 'ision: 2his ma) happen as )ou write the functional spec :'en with a good concept document and proposal championing the 'ision, there8s still some room for interpretation 5reati'e fol*s ha'e a wandering imagination and ma) be influenced strongl) b) whate'er game the) ma) be pla)ing at the moment

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