MorsePODHwDocs/ProductDocumentatipn/Proposal.md

##### Project

::[PROJECT-NAME](Home)

##### Project Time-frame:

::2003/1/16 to 2003/3/19

##### Summary:

::2-4 SENTENCE SUMMARY

##### Attached Worksheets:

Project Proposal > [Target audience and benefits](Target-and-Benefits)

##### Related Documents

- [Project plan](Project-Plan) > [Resource needs](Resource-Needs)
- [Glossary](Glossary)

---

**Process impact:** This proposal, along with drafts of related
documents, will be used by management to determine whether or not to
approve work on this project. A clear and precise project plan helps set
expectations that will be used later to evaluate the success of the
project.

### Background and Motivation

*TODO: Replace the example text below with text that describes your
project. What are the needs or problems that you are trying to address?
Why do these needs (still) exist? Why are these problems worth solving?
Who is the customer? Write 2-4 paragraphs.*

#### What is the setting and history behind this project?

::Video games were originally designed and built as stand-alone
systems with the user playing against the machine. Although many
advances have been made in game AI, humans still tend to enjoy
competing against other humans over a network. There is a social
aspect to network gaming where people form teams that play and
leagues that play at scheduled times and keep scores over a
prolonged period. This is important to video game vendors because it
can result in increased revenue and extend the sales life of
their products.

#### What is the problem to be addressed?

::There are 100 million users on the Internet, and hundreds of
websites dedicated to video game playing teams, called "clans". If
users have to explore to find the good clans that they can join, it
takes a lot of their time. There is a need for a faster way for
users to find high quality clan websites that interest them and that
will allow them to join.

#### What are some current approaches to this problem?

::Users can tell each other about clan websites, but that is not
scalable because it depends on manual steps by people who may not be
motivated or honest in their evaluations. There are already some
clan directory web sites, but they are not automated so they are
always out of date and do not rate the quality of the websites.

- ::[Example of current manually maintained clan website](#)
- ::[Link to existing competitor](#)

#### Why is this problem worth solving or worth solving better?

::A better clan directory service would be valuable because it could
greatly increase player satisfaction and allow them to spend more
time playing and less time searching. Implementing a better clan
directory would cause players to use that website rather than the
existing directories. The benefit to us could come in the form of
revenue from advertising and service fees from video game vendors.

#### How will this product be better than previous approaches?

::We add innovative new features. Our affiliate directory will be
larger an more detailed. We will offer built-in tools for managing
membership and organizing events such as game nights or tournaments.

::Our system will have similar functionality, but it will have much
better maintainability, scalability, and security.

::Our system will have similar functionality, but it is specifically
aimed at a market segment that is not served by competing products.

::This is a "me-too" product that will go head-to-head with very
similar competing products in the same market. The market is large
enough that we can be very happy with a share of it. Our unique
competitive advantages are in non-product area of our business such
as sales, marketing, partnerships, support, training, etc. The
product will have some simple built-in "hooks" that leverage
those advantages.

#### Where is there more information on this problem?

::The following pages provide additional background and motivation:

- ::[Magazine article on this topic](#)
- ::[Industry analysis's report on massive-multi-player game market](#)
- ::[Quotes from game players](#)

### Goal

#### What is the goal of this project?

::This project will produce an engine for clan directory websites that
allows players to quickly find, evaluate, and join clans.

#### What are the defining features and benefits of this product?

- ::Reusable website engine with functionality for creating,
  editing, deleting, searching, categorizing, browsing, rating,
  and commenting on clans. This automates all clan operations and
  ensures that users will always find information that is
  automatically up-to-date.
- ::The reusable website engine will have a highly configurable
  appearance that allows it to match the look and feel of the
  game. This allows the reusable website engine to have a
  high-quality appearance that is just as good as existing
  clan directories.
- ::The website engine will be secure and only allow users with the
  proper permissions to edit, delete, or join a clan. This will
  prevent cheating or the submission of false information.

#### Where are other documents that further explain the goal of this project?

- ::[Mock-up](LINK-TO-MOCKUP)
- ::[Early user stories](LINK-TO-EARLY-STORIES)
- ::[Quotes from potential customers](LINK-TO-QUOTES)
- ::[Comparison to existing competitors](LINK-TO-COMPARISON)
- ::[Draft feature list](LINK-TO-DRAFT-FEATURES)

### Scope

*TODO: Replace the sample text below with a clear statement of the scope
of your project. What are the high-level things that you plan to do, and
that you will not do? What are your important simplifying assumptions?
Try to guard against reasonable misunderstandings that might arise if
you did not explain the scope. It can take the form of a paragraph,
bullet list, in/out list, and/or UML context diagram.*

::We want to focus on the web application itself, and the features of that
application that help build a good gaming community.

::See the [context diagram](LINK-TO-CONTEXT-DIAGRAM).

- ::Work with common servers and browsers that we are already
  familiar with.
- ::Allow easy customizations of fonts and colors, with the same basic
  page layout.
- ::Enough security to greatly discourage abuse
- ::The web site content discusses a game, but it will not need to
  actually integrate with any game software

| In Scope                                                                               | Out of Scope                                                                                                                                                                                              |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ::Building a web application for use with standard web servers and application servers | ::Building a new web server or application server                                                                                                                                                         |
| ::Working the most popular browsers (IE6, NN7/Mozilla)                                 | ::Working with uncommon or outdated browsers                                                                                                                                                              |
| ::Security in the form of user accounts, passwords, and permissions                    | ::Special security against hackers. Finding or patching security holes in existing software components.                                                                                                   |
| ::One simple sample look-and-feel and instructions for customization                   | ::Our own high-quality look-and-feel. A library of look-and-feel options.                                                                                                                                 |
| ::Database and server load and data volume that can be handled by one computer.        | ::Managing a cluster of servers.                                                                                                                                                                          |
| ::Keeping track of which users are in which clans                                      | ::Tracking all user activity on the site and producing custom reports                                                                                                                                     |
| ::Displaying advertisements to visitors. Billing advertisers for impressions.          | ::Automatically selecting ads that fit the visitor's interests. On-line management of advertising or real-time reporting to advertisers. Participating in existing banner advertising affiliate networks. |

### Deliverables

*TODO: Briefly list project deliverables. When you are done, what will
you deliver to the customer? This can be copied from the draft project
plan and simplified to reduce technical detail.*

- ::Clan website directory engine
- ::Customization guide
- ::Sample look-and-feel
- ::On-line help for end users
- ::Command-line advertising configuration tool and report generator

### Risks and Rewards

#### What are the main risks of this project?

1. ::There is a potential conflict between the goals of a
   high-quality appearance and one that is completely customizable.
   We can only succeed if players find the web site appealing, and
   game vendors can customize it with no more effort than would be
   needed to build a static website. We already have a design in
   mind that will address this risk and we will review it with a
   web site designer who worked for a game vendor site.

2. ::There are significant technical difficulties in building a web
   site and web application. This will be a risk because one person
   on our team has much experience with the relevant tools
   and technologies. Although the others will learn, we will
   certainly make some mistakes and sub-optimal choices. We will
   address this risk by scoping the project such that we have
   enough time to train and to review the design
   and implementation.

3. ::The schedule for this project is very short. We will manage this
   by planning a conservatively scoped functional core and series
   of functional enhancements that can be individually slipped to
   later releases if needed.

#### What are the main rewards if this project succeeds?

::If we accomplish the elements of our plan, our clan directory
website engine will replace existing clan directory websites and
generate traffic which will result in advertising revenue and/or
hosting fees paid by game vendors. Our ability to overcome the
challenges above will determine time to market, the speed of
adoption, the amount of web traffic, and thus the generated revenue
over time.

### Project Plan

See attached draft of [project plan](Project-Plan)
and [resource needs](Resource-Needs).