Project Sponsor Interview

Sean Smith

PM 511

Dale Wilen

March 7, 2010

Abstract The internet places vast amounts of information at our fingertips. More and more customers view the website first before they visit a store or make contact with the company. A company’s web page is becoming the face of the corporation in today’s marketplace. The design of that web page can either entice or detract a potential customer from seeking assistance. Web page design companies use project managers to supervise web page construction for corporate and government clients. The success or failure of these pages depends on the use of sound project planning and metrics. Practical use of these metrics will win
You do not want to try to build an elaborate site on a shoestring budget. Before the plan is implemented, he always asks, “Can we stay in the budget range.” This is a surprisingly simple question, but one that is the foundation of the project. If the answer is yes, the plan will be approved and work will be scheduled. Josh uses data and statistics to entice potential clients into choosing his team to build their web applications. He will show the customer how building or redesigning will increase traffic to their web page. Using data from previous projects shows the client how a new design has worked for previous customers. This helps new customers see the benefits of choosing to move forward with the project. One of the initial statistics that he uses is web analytics. Web analytics are "any request for a file from a Web server." This means that every request that is made to a Web server can be considered a hit. Every time an image is downloaded for display on a Web page is a hit. For example, a simple Web page with four images would result in five hits to the server. These hits provide sense of overall happiness and time spent at the web page. More time spent on the site means more opportunities for the company to reach additional customers. Another metric used to show the potential benefits of the project is the Return on Investment (ROI). The ROI helps to convince the client that the expense for the project solution is