For most of you, the bulk of the work on the app will be done by your supplier but there may be some work required on your side and – if you’re doing this for your company – this may involve your colleagues as well.
This makes it important to define those responsibilities as early as possible. Not least because you may be able to get some of this work completed before the supplier has even started and reduce the overall amount of time needed by your project.
Things you may be required to supply at some stage:
- Your logo;
- Images (not being supplied by any content/XML feed);
- Text for the app;
- Working feeds (likely content/XML feeds) to pass data in the app (if this is the case it is worth getting them tested far in advance, if possible);
- Web pages or web code for any dynamic pages of the app (for hybrid apps);
- Sponsor logo;
- Sponsor text and images;
- Sponsor XML feeds;
- Designs (if they are being created on your side);
- Icon for your app to be displayed in the App Store and on people’s iPhone/iPad screens.
If you are starting to build up a backlog of things that will need to be supplied from your side, then I recommend getting them in place as soon as possible. If the supplier can get all these at the start, it will let them concentrate on the things that they are best at, without all the ‘what if ’s’ of fitting your content in later.
With all of this,you now have a great starting spec.Certainly things will change as you consult your app developers and as the project progresses (keep your stakeholders in the loop with any major changes or challenges that come up) but you now have a good foundation for the rest of the project.
