A website is a complex system requiring specialized work from roles like developers, designers, and systems administrators. Having a full picture of these requirements will ensure that an organization's IT team can coordinate properly with the agency's before or after the launch.

The technical environment can be specified by an organization's IT team if, for whatever reason, the environment is fixed or limited. However, the agency is usually in a better position to define the environment based on the finished website's needs. In either case, it's important to identify the following:

• When will development be able to start? When does a staging (beta) site need to be ready? When does the finished site need to be ready?
• What quality assurance process will be used to test and evaluate the site?
• How many responsive breakpoints will there be? What are the breakpoints?
• What level of accessibility will the site be?
• Who will the web host be? Who (agency or organization) is configuring the hosting?
• What is the required server framework: operating system, server, script, and database?
• What is the required browser compatibility?
• What is the full list of integrations? Are they compatible with the website platform and environment? Do existing plug-ins or integrations exist, or is there a need to create middle-ware for the site?
• What is the full list of features and functionality required for the site?
• What platform or content management system does the site need to be on? Will the organization determine this, or the agency?

Depending on the size and background of the organization's IT department, it may be entirely up to the agency to determine the above. The functionality of the site is a large undertaking and ample time should be afforded to ensure all requirements are identified. There will certainly need to be a good deal of coordination between the organization's IT team and the agency's development team.

Answering these questions will allow you to produce the following:

• Technical brief.
• Site specifications.
• Hosting and server environment.