Full Glossary

Vendor

When we talk about a vendor, we're most often talking about an organization that maintains and sells a web-focused tool, such as a content management system, a content tracking service, or a digital asset manager.

This is a little different from an integrator or implementer, who serves as a partner to help with content, design, and implementation of a vendor-provided tool, though some vendors have their own integrators and implementors.

Related Chapter Sections:

  • Verifying the Decision with a Proof of Concept (POC)

    Chapter 16: Select a Content Management System

    With a proof of concept, the vendor works with the actual customer team to implement some solutions to project requirements. It’s a deeper dive, where the customer can get hands-on with the system and interact with the vendor’s team

  • The Short List and Request for Proposal (RFP)

    Chapter 16: Select a Content Management System

    Once you’ve notified a handful of vendors that you’ve decided not to move forward with them, you need to prepare an RFP for the remaining vendors.

  • The Request for Information (RFI)

    Chapter 16: Select a Content Management System

    Now let’s get some more detailed information, which we do through a process creatively called a Request for Information (RFI). This is exactly what the title says – we’re asking the vendor to answer some questions so we can decide whether or not to move them along in the process.

  • The Long List

    Chapter 16: Select a Content Management System

    This is the widest end of the funnel. These is where you create a “Long List” of potential vendors and toss them into the mix.

  • Decision Time

    Chapter 16: Select a Content Management System

    By this point in the process, you’ve likely made multiple decisions (remember: a funnel gets narrower with each step), and the team has probably come to some informal consensus.

  • Pricing: How Much and ... How?

    Chapter 15: Determine System Requirements

    One might think pricing out a software solution is as easy as getting a number, but in reality the cost and how that cost is determined are both pretty complicated.

  • Ecosystem: It's Better with Friends

    Chapter 15: Determine System Requirements

    Finally, don't forget to look into the community that exists around your potential software solution. A good measurement of health is how many people are still actively championing and working on the system.

  • The Site Itself: Adjustments to Your Big Investment

    Chapter 24: Maintain and Improve

    Beyond maintaining content, you'll also find yourself maintaining the site itself — the integrations, the next-phase updates, and the content management system in general.

  • Inputs and Outputs

    Chapter 16: Select a Content Management System

    Inputs and outputs for Chapter 16: Select a Content Management System.

  • Defining Success

    Chapter 2: Set Your Expectations

    At the end of the project, how will you measure its success? At what point can you say, "We have created exactly what we hoped?"

  • Determining if Integration Is Necessary

    Chapter 14: Know Your Integrations

    Of course, even with all of the different factors that go into integrating an external system into your website, there's one major question that comes up every time: does this even need to be integrated?

  • Roles and Responsibilities

    Chapter 23: Plan for Post-Launch Operations

    Before we begin hiring and moving people around, there's a need to understand who will do what on the new website.

  • The Initial Spark

    Chapter 1: Know the Scope of the Project

    Though the machinations of decision-making might feel like a signal from some far off place, web projects don’t come out of nowhere. They need some kind of initial spark.

  • Infrastructure: Who Is Building, and Who Is Hosting?

    Chapter 15: Determine System Requirements

    Let's take a look into the technical details of the new software: who is going to build it, and where will it live?

  • Domain Names and DNS

    Chapter 17: Plan for Hosting

    There’s a step where you have to give the world your web address. Specifically, you need to point your domain name to the website you built.

  • Transitioning from Project to Product

    Chapter 24: Maintain and Improve

    Your site has launched, and it's yours now! We've officially moved from the project phase into the PRODUCT phase.

  • The Request for Proposal

    Chapter 4: Create a Project Plan

    With internal teams formed, we now need to make external selections. This is where the request for proposal (RFP) comes in.

  • What Are You Looking For?

    Chapter 18: Select an Integration Partner

    The first question you need to answer is what, specifically, you need an external firm to help you with.

  • So … What Does Matter?

    Chapter 18: Select an Integration Partner

    What you’re looking for with an implementation partner is broad-based, long-term compatibility.

  • The People: Training and Improvement Planning

    Chapter 24: Maintain and Improve

    Your site might grow and expand and upgrade over time, but these things don't happen on their own. Keeping your staff and partners up to speed is important.

  • Researching People: Who Are You Looking For?

    Chapter 5: Identify Your Audiences

    Researching and interviewing people is one part finding, one part grilling, and one part knowing when to stop.

  • Outcomes: The End Point of a User Journey

    Chapter 6: Identify Outcomes and Expectations

    Figuring out user outcomes doesn't just lead to user-focused design — it also helps confirm site functionality and features.

  • Accountability, Authority, and Change

    Chapter 23: Plan for Post-Launch Operations

    A new website or web project is a clear signal for change: who will be accountable, who will have authority to make changes, and what levels of adoption will be required.