How are web based systems formulated?

The basis of initiating a web application project is firstly, understanding the problem before you begin to solve it and be sure that the solution you conceive is one that people really want and secondly, plan the work before you begin performing it.
Formulation involves a sequence of web engineering actions which begins with identification of needs of business, defining features and functions, performing requirements gathering. Formulation focuses on the big picture; on the business needs and objectives and related information.

Beginning of formulation should be able to answer the main motivation for the web application, the objectives that a web application needs to fulfill and who will be using a web application. While building a web application, it should be build in a single sentence.
There are two type of goals that are identified. First one is informational goals that indicate an intention to provide specific content or information for the end user and second, the applicative goals that indicate the ability to perform some task within the web application.

Once both the goals are identified, a user profile is developed which captures important features that are related to users. Once the goals and user profile is created, formulation focuses on statement of scope for web application.