WordPress Intranet Project Estimate

Updated: 9/9/2018

Overview

Tortoise Advisors (Tortoise) is seeking to engage Brandit, LLC (Brandit) to help the develop an internal communication website for employees and staff that will be powered by WordPress.

The new site will replace and add additional functionality currently delivered in an existing WordPress intranet.  This project outline details the Approach and Discovery phases of the implementation with later stages of development outlined in broad strokes that will be defined after Discovery.

Approach & Functionality

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

• The intranet will be built using WordPress hosted on Tortoise’s current hosting environment on WP Engine.
• Access will be limited to Tortoise employees who have an individual login.
• Logins will be synced from Microsoft Exchange/Active Directory via a custom API or plugin that will be determined during Discovery.
• The design will be based on branding guidelines provided by Tortoise that will be used to create a design that has recognizable Tortoise brand elements.
• Brandit will create and customize a WP framework theme to empower the Tortoise team to update the website easily and support content publishing efforts both for employees using the front-end publishing tools, and for department admins using the standard WordPress editor.
• Brandit will integrate an events and calendar plugin that will support company-wide events posting including birthdays and anniversaries.
• Brandit will integrate a widely-adopted membership plugin in order to add additional filtering functionality that displays specific content to users based on predefined user groups. These groups can be created based on internal employee groups provided by Tortoise such as departments or office locations.
• Brandit will integrate and redesign BuddyPress in order to provide social feed & profile functionality. This will give employees the ability to easily publish status updates from the front-end of the website which will be visible in a social feed.  It will also add additional social features such as mentions.
• Brandit will pull in existing site content from the current intranet site that can be vetted and approved by Tortoise team in order to remove old or unneeded content.
• Brandit will integrate a downloads manager plugin that will streamline the management of internal pdf documents with download links that will dynamically update when new files are uploaded in the manager.
• Brandit will use Gravity Forms that can be integrated into an existing or new ticketing system for internal IT support requests.
• Brandit will develop a custom post type that has a unique design in order to encourage community engagements and collaboration on internal events and projects.

Timing

The site should launch 90 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 in four milestones.

Total Estimated Cost: $ 24,000

Milestone 1 – Discovery, Wireframing, Content Strategy and Scope of Work
25% Deposit ($6,000) of Total Project Fee is Due to Start Work

Weeks 1-4
Brandit and the Tortoise team will meet at least twice and follow-up with phone calls and emails to iron out remaining details. During initial discovery, Brandit will perform the following services:

• Confirm site requirements for branding and design, sitemap and functionality.
• Define plugins needed to execute on additional requirements as outlined in the Approach (eg social feeds, advanced filters determined by user groups, Microsoft Exchange integration, file management etc.).
• Work closely with the Tortoise team to develop wireframes that will define how user-specific content and messaging will be presented on the pages. The following views will be required and others may be needed:  homepage, department pages, company overview, calendars & events page, social feed, events and birthdays feed, IT support request forms, downloadable pdfs page.
• Work with the Tortoise team to create a content matrix and sitemap that defines pages and user flow for site content. Creating a hierarchy of content will help users find what they need more efficiently.
• Consult with the Tortoise team to define content that will be migrated.
• Consult with Tortoise internal communications team to define a content management and categorization structure to support their needs.
• Work with the Tortoise team to define schedule and approval processes.
• Define users groups and access rules to different categories of posts and documents.
• Define KPI’s for site usage and metrics that will be tracked through site analytics.
• Consult on hosting configuration & security as well as create dedicated development environments if needed.

Milestone 2 : Primary Design and Development Sprint
We’ll begin work after 40% of the total project fee ($12,000) has been deposited.

Week 4-8 – Design

• We’ll work with the Tortoise team to define the WP theme requirements and create designed templates for the homepage, department pages, company overview, calendars & events page, social feed, events and birthdays feed, IT support request forms, & downloadable pdfs and other pages based on approved wireframes from Milestone 1.
• Brandit will provide two rounds of revisions for design totaling no more than 10 hours.

• Brandit will create final graphics for headers and featured graphics as needed using images and content provided by Tortoise.

Weeks 6 – 10 Site Development, Internal Page Design, 3rd Party Integrations & Content Development

Customize and configure the theme, user experience and content organization based on the approved wireframes and content. Mobile views of the website design will vary based on screen size and platform and will not look exactly the same for all users.

• Brandit will install and configure plug-ins to add functionality defined in the discovery phase.
• The Bandit team will import approved content into posts and upload documents using the content matrix and sitemap that were approved in the discovery phase.
• Brandit will create user groups and categorize content as needed in order to apply advanced filtering to customize the experience for intranet users.
• Brandit will test and revise member management settings as needed.

Milestone 3: Revisions, Integrations, Browser Testing
We’ll begin work after 75% of the total project fee ($18,000) has been deposited.

Weeks 10 -14

• Brandit will complete two revision rounds based on the feedback from the Tortoise team with up to 10 hours of total work.
• Brandit will test site on the latest two versions of MSFT IE, Firefox, Safari. Test on most recent versions of Android and iOS.
• Assist the Tortoise team with adding and formatting content up to 8 hours of work.

Milestone 4: Website Launch, Google Analytics Configuration, Post-Launch Setup and Training
We’ll begin work after 100% of the total project fee ($24,000) has been deposited.

Weeks 14 -16

• As needed, configure 301 redirects for up to 50 renamed or deleted Web pages.
• Brandit will rain staff to manage site as needed in 1-3 training sessions via one in-person meeting and one or two meetings by phone or teleconference.
• Brandit will configure Google Analytics and baseline reporting and create a basic reporting dashboard as defined in the discovery phase.
• Brandit will assist with user issues and fixes totaling no more than six hours.