I. Introduction/initial situation

The state government of North Rhine-Westphalia is particularly dedicated to cultural education for children and young people and creates diverse opportunities for young people to gain access to basic artistic and cultural education offers. The Ministry of Culture and Science alone supports the various cultural education programmes with around 40 million euros per year.

This includes, among other things, the NRW state program Culture and School. At the beginning of the 2006/2007 school year, projects by artists and art educators were supported for the first time within the framework of the programme in all types of schools. For all participating artists and art educators, the program provides for participation in mandatory qualification measures. After completion of these qualification measures, the participants are included in a database, the so-called "Künstlerpool NRW". On the basis of project data sheets, the data is recorded, entered into the artist database, a profile is created and put online after approval by the artist. Admission to the artist pool is voluntary. The artist pool can be reached via the website of the programme "Culture and School", which was set up with the introduction of the 2006/2007 funding programme.

The website "Culture and School" primarily has the function of a central research tool: Participating cooperation partners (including municipalities, schools, artists) can search for suitable cooperation partners here. In addition, the website provides information about projects, current events and offers in cultural education in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The website is aimed in particular at the following target groups:

a) municipalities, schools, artists and cultural institutions that are looking for suitable cooperation partners and useful project information for participation in the state programme Culture and School;

b) interested specialist audience as well as a "broader public" who would like to find out about events and offers on the subject of cultural education in NRW.

Aim of the relaunch

The website "Culture and School" was launched in 2006/2007 and has only been developed selectively since then. As a result, the site in its current design is graphically and technically outdated as well as in terms of layout and user-friendliness and does not meet the usual requirements. It is therefore to be revised in a complete relaunch.

Among other things, the mission of the website "Culture and School" is to be redefined and opened up for further state funding programs of cultural education NRW such as "Artists in the kindergartens" or the "Culture backpack". With the revision and redesign of the website, the Ministry of Culture and Science wants to redevelop the "heart" of the website, the artist database. Using a modern matching tool, the database is to develop into a new and modern research and information medium that supports the search for suitable cooperation partners in the respective funding programmes and serves as a source of inspiration.

II. Objectives, performance and task description

The website "Culture and School" is to be redesigned and revised in a complete relaunch (technology, design and content).

Among other things, information architecture, design and editorial content are to be revised and improved.

The database is to be reprogrammed and updated. Filter functions and search functionalities are to be optimized and significantly improved with the help of an automated "matching tool". The website should be designed to be barrier-free and user-friendly. Currently, the database of the website is based on "Culturebase" (SQL).

Phase 1: New conception, development and creation of a UX strategy for the website "Culture and School", taking into account that the website is to be opened for further state funding programs of cultural education NRW. These include:

(a) conducting workshops, research, stakeholder needs analyses and benchmark analyses;

b) Definition of optimization potentials and creation of requirement profiles from the user's perspective,

c) creation of a content strategy,

d) Creation of a rough concept, which defines, among other things, the following framework conditions: structure of the content, wireframes, content content, special modules, technical concept for the redesign of the database,

e) Creation of a UX strategy, which concretizes the requirements and translates them into a detailed concept. This includes elements such as information architecture, search, menu navigation, wireframes, forms, possibly extentions / plugin specifications).

2nd phase: Production of the design concept and design of the website "Culture and School" (style guide, template design, icon set, prototyping). These include:

a) preparation of page analyses,

b) definition of page types and elements,

c) Entwicklung von Look and Feel,

d) transfer/translation of the concept into design,

e) finalisation and delivery of the layout,

f) revision of editorial content of the website,

g) Prototyping mit Echtinhalten und Proof of Concept,

h) Documentation and handover: Creation of all necessary assets and specifications for front-end and back-end development/transfer of design parameters for programming.

Phase 3: Technical control and programming of the website "Culture and School" this includes:

(a) participation in important meetings and votes, which may also affect Lot 1 (Phase 1 and Phase 2);

b) Establishment of timings and control of the technical implementation steps. Coordination of requirements as well as continuous interface communication, in particular during the coordination and transfer of service packages from Lot 1 (phase 1 and phase 2),

c) Technical development/programming of frontend and backend of the website, including the database,

d) content migration and database migration (revision, quality assurance and cleanup),

e) Qualitätsmanagement, Testing, Debugging,

f) Go-Live.

In order to ensure a flawless integration of lots 1 and 2 (project phases 1 - 3), in particular design and technology, the bidder commissioned with lot 2 should accompany important kick-off discussions, briefings and coordination discussions from the beginning of the project and be involved in particular in central questions that affect the interaction of design (phase 2) and technology (phase 3).