Inception	Elaboration	Construction	Transition

The purpose of the Elaboration phase is to create a complete and detailed development plan. Roughly 60% to 80% of a successful project is spent in Inception and Elaboration.

A detailed plan minimizes the time and money spent in construction, which is generally the highest hourly cost of any project. Features skipped or missed in Elaboration can have a profound impact on development time and budget.

Good Elaboration documentation communicates effectively and clearly defines your project’s features and capabilities. If there is a question as to how something works, or looks, or behaves, the answer will be in the Elaboration documents. When everyone involved in the project is "on the same page", you can thank the Elaboration documents.

Goals Create a complete & detailed plan Reduce construction costs Communicate feature set

Activities Requirements specification Content collection User interface design Visual design Environment analysis Application planning Testing plan development

Deliverables Use case specification Requirements specification Draft content library User Interface design document Visual design Design asset library Environment specs Application development plan Testing plan Proof of concept