Overview

Compulabs Etc. LLC (Compulabs) is seeking to engage ScaleWP (ScaleWP) to help the Compulabs team create, launch and manage a modern and easily-maintained WordPress-powered website that follows the Texas State Universities branding and design guidelines, as well as the most modern design trends and multimedia design practices. This website will be built with a WordPress page builder and visual editor that can be easily edited and maintained Compulab’s and Texas State University’s internal team, and has built-in ADA compliance tools to ensure broad usability across all devices. In addition to the WordPress design and development, ScaleWp will also provide wireframing, design and responsive front-end development service for Texas State University’s existing proprietary theme on the Magnolia CMS platform.  

About ScaleWP

ScaleWP is an enterprise WordPress development, web development and hosting company that specializes in building and maintaining best-in-class websites for large companies and organizations that have advanced publishing and hosting needs. In addition to being a full-service design & web development firm, we also have developed a WordPress framework and managed hosting platform that are designed to scale with the publishing and traffic needs of large content teams. 

Our websites combine an easy-to-use page-builder with a validated framework of plugins that are tailored for high-traffic websites. We also offer fully-managed hosting plans that run on dedicated AWS and Digital Ocean containers which are capable of scaling to millions of monthly users. 

Approach & Technical Response

Based on the initial discussions, we are proposing the following approach:

• The CMS for the alumni website will be WordPress hosted on the Blackbaud Web Essentials Platform. 
• The design will be based on branding guidelines and provided by Compulabs that will be implemented throughout the website design. 
• ScaleWP will perform a discovery phase for both websites by delivering wireframe, user-flow, and content strategy document for the primary pages of the two websites. 
• For the pages that are redesigned in the Magnolia CMS platform, ScaleWP will take the wireframes that were created during discovery and convert them into high-fidelity, layered PSD designs that are ready to be handed off to our front-end developers. 
• Once approved, ScaleWP will take these finalized designs and convert them into HTML, CSS & Javascript (or other front-end frameworks such as React & Angular if needed) to be implemented on the existing site on the Magnolia CMS. In order to do this in an efficient way, we recommend that Texas State University or Compulabs provide a staging environment with push/pull functionality so that designs can be implemented and tested before being pushed to production. 
• ScaleWP will then work with Compulabs and Texas State University to determine the best methods for integrating the two websites. 
• ScaleWP will create and customize a child theme for the Divi framework to empower the Compulabs and the Texas State University’s team to update the website easily and support content publishing efforts with easy-to-use page layouts and designs that will be saved in a modular fashion. 
• Site content will be migrated as needed. Compulabs team will provide copy, images and video as needed. 
• ScaleWP will use built-in ADA compliance tools and develop and design the WordPress site based on ADA compliance standards. 
• ScaleWP will take into consideration a user experience and usability audit that defines key user personas, and user actions in order to improve the overall user experience for the site redesign. 
• ScaleWP will determine and develop a framework of validated plugins based on Compulab’s needs that will be defined during discovery. 
• ScaleWP will configure industry-standard SSL encryption and HTTPS redirection for the website for the WordPress website if offered by the Blackbaud platform.  
• The WordPress theme will be modified to store various document formats such as Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and PDF. 
• ScaleWP will create a development environment that can be used for testing theme changes, major core WordPress updates, and new feature additions before implementing to production. 

Timing

Site should launch 90-120 days from initial discovery meeting. Timing is subject to approvals and content being provided in a timely manner.

Statement of Work and Estimates

Price estimates are based on initial objectives and may change as mutually agreed upon tasks and objectives change. Cost estimates and payment schedule are provided for four milestones. 

Total Estimated Development Costs: 
375hrs @ $95hr  $33,750

Estimated Hourly Breakdown:
Discovery, Wireframing & Dev Environment Setup: 25hrs
UI/UX Design for both Sites Estimated Hours: 100 hrs
WordPress Development & Migration: 80hrs
Front-End Development & Implementation on Magnolia: 125 hrs
Site Integration: 45hrs

Milestone 1 – Discovery, Wireframes, Content Strategy and Scope of Work
25% Deposit ($6250) of Total Project Fee is Due to Start Work

Weeks 1-3
ScaleWP and the Compulabs team will meet at least once and follow-up with phone and emails to iron out remaining details.

• Confirm both site requirements for branding, design, sitemap and functionality. 
• Define plugins needed to execute on additional requirements of the WordPress website (email signups, google analytics, SEO, etc.).
• Work closely with Compulabs team to define key user groups that have the largest footprint on both websites’ focus. 
• Use these user personas in combination with our discovery discussion on key functionalities to develop wireframes for the primary pages of WordPress site as well as the 10 pages that are being redesigned on the existing site on the Magnolia CMS. 
• Create a sitemap that consolidates both websites’ navigation in order to improve usability and improve user experience. 
• Define content assets available and needed for website pages. This includes defining which content moved over from the existing Magnolia pages that need to be redesigned, or what new content is needed for new page designs.  
• Define the schedule and approval process.
• Define requirements and data to be included in custom post types for content types on the alumni website if necessary. 
• Define form integration requirements for contact submissions. 
• Confirm hosting needs and setup a development environment. 

Milestone 2: Primary Design and Development Sprint 
We’ll begin work after 50% of the total project fee ($12,500) has been deposited.

Week 4-7 – Design

• Using the wireframes created during discovery, ScaleWP will create an initial high-fidelity PSD design of a primary page for the Magnolia CMS redesign.
• ScaleWP will then go through 2 revision round with up to 6 hours of work to finalize this page design, which will then be used as a broad style guide for the other 9 pages that need to be designed. 
• We’ll work with the Compulabs team to define the Divi child theme requirements for creating finalizes page layout designs in the page builder based on approved wireframes from Discovery in Milestone 1. 
• The ScaleWp team will place initial content on sample pages for review and revise based on feedback from the Compulabs team.

• ScaleWP will create final graphics for primary pages layouts that were created as wireframes during Discovery for the WordPress site. 

Weeks 5 – 8 Site Development, Internal Page Design, 3rd Party Integrations & Content Development

Customize and configure the WordPress theme, user experience and content organization based on the approved wireframes and designs. Mobile views of the website design will vary based on the screen size and platform. The site will not look exactly the same for all users, however, it will be fully mobile responsive.

• Install and configure plug-ins to add functionality defined in the discovery phase.
• Integrate social media and any other third-party services via plugins. 
• Integrate these any 3rd party apps/code/iframes that need to be placed on pages where necessary, these may include:
  • Downloadable documents library if needed
  • Advanced Searching Addon
  • Forms
• Create finalized Divi layouts for Primary Pages 
• Create the remaining 9 psd designs and collect feedback. 

Milestone 3: Revisions, Finalized PSD Designs, & Front-End Development
We’ll begin work after 75% of the total project fee ($28,500) has been deposited. 

Weeks 8 -12

• Go through revision rounds for both the WordPress site and the psd designs with up 10 hours of total work. 
• Implement changes to psd designs and WordPress pages based on Compulab’s feedback. 
• Convert layered psd files into working HTML, JS, & CSS. 
• Implement new pages on the Magnolia staging environment. 
• Test the WordPress site & Magnolia site on the latest two versions of MSFT IE, Firefox, Safari. Test on most recent versions of Android and iOS.
• For the final DNS changes; we provide consultation or perform work as needed to get the DNS updated. We troubleshoot issues and make the transition as smooth as possible. 
• Content Delivery Network setup for increased security, performance, and speed. 
• Assist the Compulabs team with adding and formatting content up to 8 hours of work if necessary.

Milestone 4: Website Launch, Google Analytics Configuration, Google Search Console Submission, Post-Launch Setup and Training

We’ll begin work after 100% of the total project fee ($38,000) has been deposited. 

Weeks 12 -14

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