Planing - Developing an accurate project budget and timeline

Perhaps the most important skill to develop as a Web strategist is the ability to accurately gauge how much a project will cost and how long it will take to build. Most of the costs incurred while implementing your strategy will come from labor and resources used, and this should be fairly easy to calculate once you have your development timetables set. Developing an accurate itinerary is trickier, but this only gets easier as you get more projects under your belt.

• When developing a timetable, you may find it helpful to use a project management application such as MS Project, but it certainly isn't necessary. Simply follow these steps when developing a timetable:
• Break down each component of the project into discrete processes and elements handled by various resources or departments, such as conceptualization (specifications, site maps, and page schematics), visual design, HTML coding, functional programming, content creation, marketing campaigns, and QA testing.

Estimate how long each development process will take to complete. Be realistic. Business directors might imagine that a strategy can be implemented on short notice, but an initial conceptualization phase alone might take three to four weeks to finalize.

If you need to get sign-off after certain phases, factor these in as independent elements in your timetable.

Determine which processes are dependent and which can be developed simultaneously. For instance, coders will probably have to develop the HTML templates before programmers can integrate functionality, but editors and writers can work on content while other elements are being developed.

After you've mapped out all processes and assigned each a duration, determine start and stop dates for each element. The stop date of the final process of the last component will be the date you'll be ready to launch.
When developing timetables, it's paramount that you allow enough time in your schedule for edits, revamps, QA testing, bug fixing, and final sign-offs, since these are the most difficult elements to quantify. At the beginning of a project, there's no way to estimate the number of iterations the project will go through, the amount of technical bugs QA testing will reveal, or how long it will take to track down a decision maker to get final approval. To allow for these unknowns, it's generally wise to double your original timetable estimates.

After finalizing your timetable, determining project costs will be fairly straightforward. For each resource, simply multiply the number of hours necessary by the corresponding hourly rate, or, if you're paying consultants and freelancers on a project basis, obtain bids and estimates based on the project specifications. Other costs to consider might include additional hardware, software, and partnerships with third-party vendors. Again, when it comes to money, it pays to be realistic in the initial planning stages. If the strategy is going to cost the company more than a fleet of Concorde jets, it's better to sound the warning bell at the beginning of the process rather than having to defend a stack of bloated invoices at the project's conclusion.

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