Typical deliverables part of the onboarding process

The deliverables of our “onboarding” coincide with what might also be thought of the tools and information necessary to start the execution point of the project itself (i.e. Design and Development). They most commonly would be the following: Project Plan, Feature & Function List, UX Flow, User Permissions, Site Architecture, Interviews, Site Mapping, Content Mapping, Personas and Operational Usage Plan.

The difficulty is that while there is a general standard we can follow to give a view of what may be relevant in onboarding for a specific client, it almost always varies based on the wants, needs and of course perception of expectations lining the digital project. 

Two Methods of Selecting Onboarding Deliverables

When are the exact onboarding deliverables determined? Depending on how your selection process is laid out would dictate one of two methods. The first is if you have a relatively loose process of selection (ie can engage in strategy and discovery prior to having to select a final partner). In this case we provide a scope discovery workshop that aligns expectations, personalities and goals of the project. At the completion of this workshop we then provide recommendations for onboarding deliverables as part of scope, reviewing and selecting those that the client and team approve of.

The second method is a “framework” method whereby we pre-select recommended deliverables based on the often limited discussions and knowledge we have of the team and project. This helps to highlight most non-negotiable (ie completely necessary) deliverables that are needed for an in-depth understanding, and is typically done in cases whereby the company has to fully select a vendor / partner with no ability to enact on any strategy or discovery prior to that decision.

Tony: Yeah, so I guess the last thing, and we kind of covered it a little, typical deliverables that would be a part of this onboarding process.  Maybe just rattle off a couple that come into your mind.  

Austeja: Sure, so we have the R&D document which usually for website projects is something that educates you the client into what the basics of your look and feel are going to be.  Other examples include personas, workshops, especially for web app projects, those we feel are a great onboarding process for us to get to know you, your customer base and any business needs or strategies that we need to know about.  Yeah, so those are a couple that come to mind right away.  

Tony: Yeah, definitely, and then building, depending if they have content needs, content mapping, storyboarding if they’re doing visual media, if it’s photography and videography, and there’s a lot of other things nestled within there, because, if they’re doing visual media, we might assess and discover their current assets, and then recommend, and really see where they stand.  It’s saying, hey, you’ve got some good video here, here is where we believe there could be some improvement, is that worth it too, and so that’s where that whole umbrella of UX comes into a lot of different areas, and it can translate into many different deliverables, of which we have certain set ones, but some of them kind of toe the line with a little gray areas, depending what you want to call it.