We know that good project management is vital to success.

Our approach is pragmatic; respecting the needs of all the stakeholders, appreciating that e-learning development requires flexibility as well as a structured environment.

We use a number of tools to ensure good regular communication, including:

A secure online project management site; where key documents and milestones are stored, available to nominated team members.
Regular progress reports which are circulated to key team members; these act as an early warning system, and encourage the team to reflect regularly on key production and risk areas.
Email; where the project team is scattered geographically, asynchronous communications such as email are a vital tool, providing easy communication and an audit trail that records key decisions and discussions.
Onsite working; we encourage a collaborative approach to development, working closely with client subject experts and managers - this is both more effective and more interesting than a hands-off, distant approach; we frequently find our clients working onsite in Brighton alongside our development team.

Development phases

This is an overview of the development process that we follow. It can be adapted as appropriate for specific projects. If you are interested in reviewing the process more in detail please contact us.

A diagram of the development process

Working together

Developing e-learning programmes is a collaborative venture. We are experts in the design and development of e-learning; you are the expert of the make-up of your target audience, your organisation's culture, or the specific subject matter. A certain amount of knowledge transfer is always required - as identified during the project planning phase.

However, we recommend that you consider the resources you will need to commit to an e-learning project, in advance of starting the project. For example:

Will you appoint a project manager/single point of contact that we can liaise with on a day-to-day basis?
Can you outline a precise specification of the technical environment in which the programme will be delivered?
Do you have detailed information about the target audience?
What information do you have available about the content, including for instance how it is currently delivered?
Do you have information about your organisation's branding, intranet and e-learning guidelines, including for instance access to any image libraries or other sources of organisation imagery?
How will you organise access to subject matter experts and precise briefings on the content?
Who will be responsible for sign-offs of key deliverables throughout the project, including a detailed sign-off on final delivery?

Risk management

Risk management is an integral part of our day-to-day project management. We have a structured approach to identifying and defining, recording, reporting and monitoring risks both at the outset, and throughout the project lifecycle. We tailor the formality of risk management to suit a particular client but in every instance we seek to collaborate to ensure that all risks are identified, assessed and addressed at the earliest opportunity.

Experience

Because we have successfully developed over 200 projects that are used worldwide you can be certain that our project management processes work. We know that developing an e-learning programme can be a painful process if you don't know what is expected of you. Our experienced project managers are at hand during the whole process to ensure you know exactly what is happening at each stage in the process and what the next steps are.

"We chose Brightwave because we liked their style - approachable, adaptable and really willing to work with us."