Project Management
Alethia started as research heavy project. Translating legal data into forms that anyone can easily access and understand required the consideration of many vectors that eventually fed into a single UX solution.
The project was planned in detail over a year, with 7 months spent on research and 6 months on business planning, including successful completion of the Iowa Startup Factory.
The execution phase is split into four parts. Starting with Entity Formation, followed by backend and frontend development and finally platform testing.
Testing was an iterative proses thought-out the life of the project consisting of small-scale user acceptance testing with plans to scale to standard UX methodologies and AB testing after launch.
Initiation >> planning >> execution >> monitoring >> closure
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Literature Review
Literary review for Alethia looked at academic research sources as well as industrial reports, standard implementations, and competitive products. Academically examining the wide-range of domains necessary for Alethia's mission informed the project requirements, goals, and executional path of the project.
Consumer Protection Models
Research customer protection business, their social impact, business models, customer acquisition flows and markets. Focus on ethical consumerism, environmental justice, and cause driven decision making.
Data and Administrative Policy
Research data-protection laws, government-public disclosure methods, fair-use, and automated data governance to ensure that the project complies with all legal and ethical standards applicable to it's operation.
Mobile Information Display
Research information display on mobile devices, including data representational displays for numerical information, information overload theories, and quantitative data visualization methods.
Legal Data Organization
Research legal data organization systems including legal, normative, and communication aspects.
Barcodes and Standards
Research on barcodes, including technical approach, governance, mobile interactions, history, distribution, implementations, and standards.
Preliminary Research
The preliminary research phase was instrumental for narrowing the scope of the project and planning out in detail related to user and data flows. This phase greatly expanded data gathering capabilities, increased data integrity and clarity.
Primary Data Sources
Identify primary data sources on federal, state, and local levels that distribute legal case data.
Data Gathering Technologies
Identify modern and effective data gathering techniques to update existing Python scripts.
Data Model Formalization
Plan data model, structure dataflows, information architecture, optimize database for API calls, and organize hierarchies and relationships.
Iowa Startup Factory
Successfully completed the Iowa Startup Factory, a incubator offered by the University of Iowa that focuses on validating, analyzing and planning startup companies.
Market Analysis
Identify market size, market segment, customer behavior, and market trends.
Competitive Analysis
Identify competition strengths, product features, price points and model differences. Examine competitors quality, user experience, price, financial health, and brand reputation.
Model Validation
Structure financial models to assure independence and ongoing operational viability.
Market Validation
Market response alpha testing consisting of customer discovery, interviews, and observation.
Entity Formation and Funding
Testing
Form corporate entity, policies, and governance that create strong ethical guardrails that guide growth and align Alethia’s mission.
Governance
Create focused mission statements, communication strategies, along with ethical, investor, and employment policies.
Data Policy
Craft strong and clear data policies that focus on affirming user rights, data security, retention policies and data privacy.
Incorporation
Incorporate as a Iowa based corporation with an advisory board knowledgeable in research, user experience, data analysis, data systems, law, and financial domains.
Funding
Alethia achieved a large portion of it's funding goals within a week of starting it's initial funding phase, in addition Alethia continues to work with the SBA and local community resources to secure nesssesserly early stage funding.
Backend Development
Execute on planned back-end development, including infrastructure, security, and certifications. Efforts focus around database models and user experience flows.
Data Gathering Protocols
Develop remaining data extraction and gathering crawlers using Python to organize and implement dataflows to SQL.
Data Organization Algorithms
Final data organization and flows based on existing database structures that match functionality and design requirements.
Relational Database
Finalize ownership database and associated data organization including data provided by SEC.
User Experience flows
Finish user experience flows and assure compatibility with emphasis on current mobile platforms through user acceptance testing.
Rest API links
Setup rest APIs and response handling to ensure efficient and accurate data translation to frontend.
Frontend Development
Run a battery of user, platform, and hardware testing to ensure quality of product experience.
Platform Testing
Usability Testing and AB Testing to examine the functionality and intuitiveness of your user interface and design.
Hardware Testing
Testing compatibility with a variety of Apple, Samsung, Google, Motorola and other devices.
Create front-end React Native applications for Android and IOS that emphasizes ease of access, usability, and legibility through a focus on UX and testing.
Data Representations
Build novel data flowers in addition to standard data representations, dataflows, and associated animations.
Interface and Interaction
Implement UX designs, company review, impact reporting, enhanced search, and static information screens as defined by the UX document. Including the implementation of accessibility and dark modes.
Barcode Scanner
Implement existing barcode extraction methods and associated database call structures to seamlessly integrate barcode scanning functionality.
User Accounts
Build user account infrastructure including registration, account creation, security and API links.
User Settings
Create user settings and other menus that allow users to change various preferences and settings as defined in the UX document.
Payment / Subscriptions
Implement payment systems for subscription and ad support for free accounts.
