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Document status: Most recent version but currently under revision to prepare key messages and presentation for F&S
What is the current situation?
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- Who to contact
- Staff profiles
- Subjects and programmes - undergrad and postgrad (this traffic is likely to come in via the site and external search)
- Admin info for current students (eg, facilities, building access hours, academic transcripts, faculty handbook, forms)
- Accessing centres and institutes.
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- The Victoria University website represents a single organisation. A key aspect of this is that all core sites are being integrated with the main site (referred to as the 'mainsite' or 'homesite').
- The Victoria University website is topic, task and audience based. We're moving towards having all increasing organising the website content organised on this basisaround task (and some by audience then by task), rather than by our organisational structure.
- There will be no less duplication of content duplicates: all Increasingly, information will have a single source . However, the site will provide the ability to display some content in different locations when needed (eg, news, events, staff profiles)yet be surfaced in multiple places according to need.
New initiatives
- The current information architecture (IA) is under review, including top menu items and second-level navigation options.
- Work to improve the site search is underwaywill be undertaken as BAU, with priorities influenced by WIP2 need.
- Improvements to staff profiles have been proposed by the WIP2 project team, who are having discussions about this with ITSare in scope for WIP2, ITS are informed and Fronde are being engaged to do the system plumbing.
- Scoping work is underway to provide an information page that sits 'behind' every site page, and can be accessed by staff (i.e. some of the analytics). This would provide detail on the page's purpose, target audiences, content owner, core analytics (eg, number of views of the page, average time spent on page) and similar things.
- The effectiveness of both News and Events is being considered and solutions discussed to bring about improvements.
- Keyword tagging will enable an item of content to be centrally authored then presented in relevant locations on the site ('reusable content').
- Victoria's association with related third-party sites will be made clearer, when this is appropriate.
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A new approach for faculty and school web content
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- Each faculty and each school will have an area (or subsection or space) rather than a distinct site.
- Faculties and schools that are combined, or wish to be combined on the web, will have with only one school (or that wish the same solution) will be offered a blended area. See attachment for how these could be presented in a flattened IA. Combined areas could be provided for: Faculties where this might be suitable include Law, Engineering and CS, , Education, and Graduate Research (this only leaves Architecture and Design, and Faculty of Education/School of Education: Te Kura Māori (to be discussed).Humanities and Social Sciences, Science, and VBS)
- The faculty areas and school areas will be located in About us > Faculties and schools. The faculty areas and school areas will be must be different from one another: they won't have duplicate content, and each of the two types of area will be tightly focused on a Each has a clear purpose and identified target audiences. They will , so the content should be different. They will be much simpler than the current sites.
Where content represents a standard university approach, it
Content that is currently on these sites that follows a standard university approach (i.e. isn't unique or truly faculty-specific) will be located in
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the appropriate area of
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Homesite (cf distributed across different faculty areas or school areas).
For example:
- Student
wellbeing - well-being and support will be located in 'Current students'.
- Alumni will be located in a new 'engagement hub' that is being planned.
- Overseas exchanges will be located in 'Victoria Abroad'.
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Content that is
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best viewed as university owned/curated will be centrally located on
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Homesite (but can be surfaced on faculty and school sites as and when required). For example:
- Courses, subjects and programmes will be located in 'Future Students (might be renamed Study at Victoria' (now called 'Future students’). The structure, presentation and content will be improved.
- Diplomas, certificates and professional development courses will also be located in 'Study at Victoria'. Improving the content is out of scope for the current project.Research centres and institutes, research projects
- Profiles of research projects (current projects and significant past projects), research funding and research partnerships will be located with the Centres, Institutes and Chairs, where appropriate.
- Scholarships information will be located in the Scholarships section of 'Research' section. Current students' (which includes the Scholarships database) wherever possible.
- Information about the location of Victoria's campuses, where to find faculties and schools within campuses, and higher-level content about facilities (including maps, information about getting there and parking, and similar) will live in an improved version of the area that is currently called Our campuses.
- Content that demonstrates the work faculties and schools do will remain discoverable from within the faculty areas and school areas. Two methods will be used to achieve this:
- Keyword tagging will enable some content types to be authored centrally, then pulled through to faculty areas and school areas.
- Clear links to related content will be integrated into the design.
Design
- The faculty areas and school areas will have a new design that is engaging and appealing, matches the homesite and works well on mobile devices.
Content
- Much of the content currently on F&S sites will be improved as part of the project. Skilled web editors will ensure it is written for online readers and focused on its target audiences. Content will have more visual elements and be more engaging.
- Features ('profiles') will be rationalised: we'll plan more carefully what they cover, align them more closely with News, and include more multimedia. We'll ensure they're always recent.
- Guidance will be provided to faculties and schools to help them address some of the content management issues they mentioned at the workshops. It will include advice on content planning, and tools and techniques for keeping content current. It will draw on effective practices identified in the workshops, and expertise and prior experience within the web team.
- Findings from user sessions with Victoria students relevant to which channels they prefer will be shared with faculties and schools.
The Faculty of Graduate Research will be addressed in the postgrad phase of WIP 2 (phase 3).
School area
Purpose
- Provide a profile of the school and its activities, demonstrating its strengths and distinctiveness.
- Provide a base for school-specific study and research information and materials for current students.
Primary audiences
Audience | Information needs |
|---|---|
Prospective staff | Is this somewhere I'd like to work? What do they do? Who else works here? |
Prospective students, including international students, and their influencers | Understand the strengths and features of the school. Why would I choose to study here? What would it be like being a student here? |
| Prospective research partners (industry and business, government (central, local), other universities) | Understand the strengths and features of the school. Why would I work with them? Who are their people? What are their areas of expertise? |
| Current students - both coursework and research | Study and research material and information that is distinct to the school/programme. |
IA
| About | Student info |
Content
Home
| Intro | Intro block - brief. Linking to main intro in 'About us' |
| Contacts | Contact block - who to contact |
| News | Research projects, student achievements etc |
| Events | Seminars, conferences, careers events, lectures etc |
| Links: | Areas of study - linking to topics/programmes/courses in 'Study at Victoria' Research - linking to relevant content in Research Centres and institutes Faculty site |
About / About the school
| Introduction | Strengths, unique features. Vibrant, exciting, makes an emotional connection. Like a walk down Cuba St? Include a video tour? One page only. Consider including a 1-minute video from HOS. |
| Location and facilities | Link to Our campuses. The content in Our campuses will be extended to include information about where to find faculties and schools within campuses, what general facilities are available, building/floor access, health and safety, and similar areas. Any 'local' information that is specific to the school and wouldn't be a fit on the mainsite can be added to this page. |
| Students | A small collection of features covering the university experience of recent students. Different from News. |
| Staff | People finder tool? All staff associated with the school. Not presented in a table. |
| Alumni | Link to main alumni site. Any school-specific information for alumni (eg, newsletters). How to sign up. A small collection of features covering the university experience of recent students. |
| Positions | Eg, Academic Visitors' Programme, Fellows, Curator in Residence (School of Art History). |
| Partners | Accreditation, affiliations, prof bodies, industry assns and partnerships, sponsors, donors. |
| Structure | Boards, committees etc. Org chart. |
| Publications | Relevant publications - eg: School Prospectus, Faculty Handbook. |
Student info
Purpose: School-specific info for current students by coursework and research students that wouldn't fit into the generic content on the homesite.
Content will vary by school - below is indicative only.
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Eg:
- Computer facilities and services, how to get help
- Labs, libraries, studios and equipment - eg, School of Chem (electron microscope and more), Geo (labs, collections), Classics (museum), Law Library (location, contact, hours, about).
- How to use them. Documentation and help files. May have an online booking system.
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Study and research resources - eg: databases, software, online written resources. Example: School of Linguistics
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Student study groups
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(Amend nav label as relevant to the content)
Will only be required by a few schools - eg, ECS
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More an admin area. Forms and other key documents for students to access easily. May not be required by all schools. Must be relevant to school role (ie, don't include faculty forms and downloads).
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Links
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Current students - including:
> Prizes
Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association (VUWSA)
Research section - including:
- Research projects (in Research expertise)
- Research reports (in Research publications).
- Centres, Institutes and Chairs
Notes
Other areas with important 'local' content for current students can be added to this subsection as needed - although eventually this may be incorporated into the homesite.
Examples:
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Content to be moved:
- Content on clubs to go here
- Scholarships to go here
- Prizes to go here (needs improvement) - eg, Linguistics, Maths.
To be moved into the Research section of the homesite:
- All profiles of research projects (extensive) - take across current projects and significant past projects
- All research reports (extensive and diverse) - consider principles of open information (provide access to full versions whenever possible).
To be moved into the new Postgrad info on the homesite - info on Research with a student focus - eg:
- Research grants and funding (info for students on what's available. Info on tools such as the Oracle Grants Management System).
- Research groups (info for students on what's available in the school. See School of Chem.)
Student study materials and other resources may eventually live in a student learning area of the homesite.
New page: We will create a new page in Current students > New students telling them what channels to use to get updates, how to sign up to them, etc. Make sure they know all they need to about BB, Fbk, Vic email addresses, and so on.
Faculty area
Purpose
- Provide a profile of the faculty, including its purpose, roles and responsibilities; structure and affiliations.
- Provide faculty-specific administrative material for current students.
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- Student study materials and other learning resources that are currently on school sites are likely to eventually live in a student learning area of Homesite, but this will take time.
Other content:
- Research reports are extensive and diverse, and need careful consideration. They could be located in the Library, or in the Research hub, or stay attached to their faculties and schools.
- Research centres, institutes and chairs will be located in the Research hub, at least until Engagement have a better plan.
Centrally authored content:
- Some types of content will be 'authored' centrally, then pulled through to faculty areas and school areas (and other relevant locations) via keyword tagging. This includes faculty and school news and events; and all staff profiles.
Linkages
Faculty and school content that is on the Homesite will be clearly discoverable from within the faculty areas and school areas.
- Graphic/promo links will be integrated into the design.
- Text links will be integrated into the content.
Design
- The faculty areas and school areas will have a new design that is engaging and appealing, either utilising an appropriate presentation layer technology (e.g. we used Angular JS for Topics and Degrees) or, if this doesn't pan out using responsive templates in Squiz (similar to Homesite).
Content improvement
- Most of the content that is currently on faculty and school sites will be moved pretty much as is, with some trimming and some rewriting as resource allows. Attention should be given to the needs of the target audiences and therefore the writing should be in plain language, formatted for online readers, have more visual elements and be more engaging.
- 'Features' (eg, student experience and project profiles) will be rationalised: We will consider carefully what they cover, align them more closely with News, include more multimedia, reuse those used on topic pages where possible, and ensure they're always recent.
- Guidance will be provided to faculties and schools to help them address some of the content management issues they mentioned at the workshops. This will include advice on content planning, and tools and techniques for keeping content current. It will draw on effective practices identified in the workshops, and expertise and prior experience within the web team.
- Findings will be shared from user sessions where Victoria students were asked which channels they prefer for getting information and updates from faculties and schools.
The Faculty of Graduate Research will be addressed in the postgrad phase of WIP 2 (phase 3). This is because in that phase we will look specifically at the information needs of postgrad students.
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School area
Purpose
- Provide a profile of the school and its activities, demonstrating its strengths and relevance to the key audience groups (see table below).
- Provide a base for school-specific study and research material and information for current students (longer term, this may live in a student learning area of Homesite).
- Surface Homesite content as appropriate in a school setting.
Audiences
Audience | Information needs |
|---|---|
| Current students - both coursework and research | Study and research material and information that is distinct to the school/programme. |
Prospective students, including international and postgraduate students, and their influencers | Understand the strengths and features of the school. Why would I choose to study here? What would it be like being a student here? |
Prospective staff | Is this somewhere I'd like to work? What do they do? Who else works here? |
| Prospective research partners (industry and business, government (central, local), other universities) | Understand the strengths and features of the school. Why would I work with them? Who are their people? What are their areas of expertise? |
Home
| Introduction | Brief intro block, linking to Introduction page in About Us section |
| Our services | Overview of services school offers (what is taught (via a topics/subjects widget) and what is researched (content or a filtered search result?)), with rest on About Us section. |
| Our people | People finder widget for academic and general staff, as well as research-focused PG students |
| Contact us | Block with key contact details. |
| News | Research projects, student achievements etc. Surfacing from Homesite based on tags |
| Events | Seminars, conferences, careers events, lectures etc. Surfacing from Homesite based on tags |
Content
The content outline below represents a general example of what a school area might contain. While some content will be in all school areas (eg, Introduction, What we do), other content won't be required by all schools - and some schools may have additional content needs.
About us
| Introduction | Strengths, unique features. Vibrant, exciting, makes an emotional connection. Like a walk down Cuba St? Include a video tour? Consider including a 1-minute video from HOS. |
| Our services | A fuller version of what is in the Home section/page.Link to Homesite content when ever possible (eg: Subjects/topics; UG Degrees and PG programmes; Research projects; Centres, institutes and chairs). May be a series of visual 'promo' links. Could have a course widget to show courses taught by the school (or staff in the school). |
| Research capability | Profile of areas in which research is under taken and can be supported. Links to examples, staff profiles, etc |
| Location and facilities | Link to Our campuses on the homesite. Retain info about facilities, building/floor access, health and safety, and similar (although potentially this should be located in 'Current students'), but maybe have an overview here and the detail in the Student Information section |
| Students | A small collection of features covering the university experience of recent students. Are these stories? Projects? |
| Alumni | Medium term plan is to move much/all alumni information to the new 'engagement hub' and link to it. However, a short-medium term solution might be required to retain it on the new school site. |
| Positions | Appointments and important positions outside the normal management chart (e.g. Academic Visitors' Programme, Fellows, Curator in Residence (School of Art History). |
| Partners | Accreditation, affiliations, professional bodies, industry associations and partnerships, sponsors, donors. |
| Forms | If any. Could be improved (to be online forms) and moved to Current Students in future |
| Publications | Links to core publications (e.g. School Prospectus, Faculty Handbook) Does this include research reports/publications (that are not by an individual (therefore in staff profiles) or a centre/institute/chair (therefore in Research hub) if they can't go to the library? |
Student information
Purpose: School-specific information for current students by coursework and research students.
Content will vary by school - below is indicative only.
(Note that longer term, study and research material and resources may live in a student learning area of the homesite.)
| Facilities | Details behind overview in About Us section above. Includes:
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| Resources | Study and research resources - eg: databases, software, online written resources. Example: School of Linguistics |
| Study groups | Student study groups. Is this also where we put research groups (even though it seems buried)? |
| Work experience and internships | (Amend nav label as relevant to the content) Will only be required by a few schools - eg, ECS |
Links
(A tentative list) | Areas of study (topics, degrees, postgrad programmes): Although this might need a smarter widget if we wanted to surface them in the school site, rather than link away. Centres, Institutes and Chairs: Research information including Research projects (in Research expertise?) and Research reports (maybe cared for by the Library?) 'Current students' - eg: Student services and support / New students / Wellbeing / Clubs Social media sites (eg, Facebook) |
Questions
- Is Student Information better labelled Supporting students in study and research?
- Is Resources different or does it include Publications? Facilities? Forms?
- What do we do when facilities are not necessarily for teaching/students but either for research or available to industry (e.g. specialised equipment)?
- Where do we plan to put outputs from (historic) research funding?
- Publications and forms seem to fit as well in Student Information as in About Us. Are there a subset there and others on About Us? references?
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Faculty area
Purpose
- Provide a profile of the faculty demonstrating its strengths and relevance to the key audience groups (see table below)
- Present the value add functions the faculty offers, both on behalf of its composite schools and in activities that cross school boundaries. This includes responsibilities, structure (i.e. schools) and affiliations.
- Surface Homesite content as appropriate in a school setting.
- Surface school content as appropriate (e.g. an aggregation of some content from composite schools (e.g. news, events, staff)
Audiences
Audience | Information needs |
|---|---|
| Current students - both coursework and research | Find out about Student and Academic Services - what they can help with, how to contact them. |
| Industry/external stakeholders | Building channels for research and funding We heard this but how true is it? |
Prospective staff | Understand the strengths and features of the faculty. |
| Is this somewhere I'd like to work? Who else works here? |
IA
| About | Student help |
Content
Home
| Introduction | Intro block - brief. Linking to main intro in 'About us' |
Contact block
Research
Centres and institutes
Areas of study
About / About us
| Introduction | Introduction from Dean: purpose and role of faculty. What sets our faculty apart. Punchy, marketing focus. Consider video where appropriate. Link to faculty handbook. |
| Location | Link to Our campuses. |
| Staff / Faculty staff | People finder tool? All staff associated with the school. |
| Mission, vision and values | If required |
| Committees and boards | If required |
| Affiliations | If relevant at faculty level (rather than school level) |
Dean's list | Deans list, Deans award. |
Student help
Blue text identifies scope to include admin info for specific topics if it's distinct to the faculty (eg, see Faculty of Law on assessments and exams). Generic faculty 'rules' and FAQ-type info should be moved into 'Current students'. Cross-linking will be important.
| Who to talk to | Faculty staff: Student and Academic Services - who, what, when (counter hours), where. |
Enrolment |
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| Fees | |
Changes to courses |
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| Planning your degree | |
| Assignments | |
| Examinations | |
| Graduation | |
| Forms | As on faculty sites now - large number of downloads. Include form(s) for academic transcripts and certs of completion. |
| Links | Current students - specific links for all relevant areas. |
Notes
Academic transcripts and Certs of Completion: provide form on 'Forms' page. Link to relevant page in Current students.
Summary
- Sections/areas, not separate sites.
- Much smaller and simpler - audience focused, clearly defined purpose.
- Content much more integrated with mainsite. Content exposed in key areas of site where visitors are looking at related material.
- No content duplication.
- Flexible approach - 'local' content that has no logical home on mainsite remains on school site.
- Aligned with mainsite approach for content being organised by task, topic or user group - not by organisational structure.
- Proposal to move away from distributive publishing, towards an account manager web publishing model. Needs lots of discussion! Current issues are poor quality publishing, writing (endemic) and content management; and the amount of training and ongoing support needed.
Some key changes:
- Courses, subjects and programmes will be located (only) in Future students. (The plan is to rename this section 'Study at Victoria'.)
- Dips, certs etc will be located in Future students.
- Research projects, centres and institutes, research funding and partnership info (ie, outward focused) will be in an improved Research section.
- Info for research students will be located in the postgrad 'area' or with related PG content (depending on how this pans out in phase 3).
- Wellbeing and other 'student support' content will be integrated into Current students.
- Location/facilities info will be moved into an improved 'Our campuses' area (via Maps).
Talk points
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Our services | Overview of services faculty offers (what is administered and managed 'Quicklinks' to schools. 'Quicklinks' to research centres, institutes and chairs. Do we (via widgets and filtered search results) also show what is taught and researched by the schools in the faculty? Could save user time searching, but would it be misleading? |
| Our people | People finder widget for academic and general staff. Could have option to expand search to cover all staff and research-focused PG students in the composite schools. |
| Contact Us | Contact block, including Student and Academic Services. |
| News | Research projects, student achievements etc. Surfacing from Homesite based on tags Could include items created by the composite schools, especially if cross-school (and maybe engagement or alumni) focused? |
| Events | Seminars, conferences, careers events, lectures etc. Surfacing from Homesite based on tags Could include items created by the composite schools, especially if cross-school (and maybe engagement or alumni) focused? |
Content
The content outline below represents a general example of what a school area might contain. While some content will be in all school areas (eg, Introduction, What we do), other content won't be required by all schools - and some schools may have additional content needs.
About Us
| Introduction | More official/prestigious (than school), covering purpose/role., strategic objectives, strengths and features. Maybe organisation chart. |
| Location and facilities | Link to Our campuses. Retain info about facilities, building/floor access, health and safety, and similar (although potentially this should be located in 'Current students'), but maybe have an overview here and the detail in the Student Information section. |
| Research capability | Profile of areas in which research is under taken and can be supported. Links to examples, staff profiles, etc |
| Mission, vision and values | If required |
| Committees and boards | If required. Complex information needs to be simplified or 'flattened' out (i.e. not nested too deeply). |
| Partners | Accreditation, affiliations, professional bodies, industry associations and partnerships, sponsors, donors. If relevant at faculty level (rather than school level) |
Dean's list | Dean's list, Dean's award. |
| Forms | As on faculty sites now (where there are large number) Could be improved (to be online forms) and moved to Current Students in future |
| Publications | Links to core publications (e.g. School Prospectus, Faculty Handbook) Does this include research reports/publications (that are not by an individual (therefore in staff profiles) or a centre/institute/chair (therefore in Research hub) if they can't go to the library? |
Links
| (A tentative list) | Areas of study (topics, degrees, postgrad programmes) Research Centres, institutes and chairs (if located elsewhere) |
| Social media sites (eg, Facebook) |
Questions
- Should we consider a model where more of the action/glamour is at a faculty level (by including the aggregation of news and events from units within a faculty) and leave schools to handle supporting students? Why do we want a lite faculty site and have many more active school sites?
- Where do we show research centres that are attached to faculty (not school) level?
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Summary of approach
- Sections/areas, not separate sites.
- Much smaller and simpler - audience focused, clearly defined purpose.
- Content much more integrated/aligned with Homesite (i.e. strong links to and even content surfaced from Homesite.
- Focus is on the audience context for showing content and building a relationship between existing content, not the duplication of it.
- Flexible approach - 'local' content that has no logical home on Homesite remains on school site.
- Aligned with Homesite approach for content increasingly being organised by task, topic or user group - not by organisational structure.
- Encourage people to think about F&S content (rather than F&S 'sites').
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Risks
| Risk | Description of risk and consequence | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Consultation could be long and slow, with many objections | Based on recent experience with the subject groupings, the consultation process could be slow, maybe very slow. This consumes time and resources, as well as the possibility that it introduces changes in a disjointed/non-integrated way. | H | M | Start early, so timelines are not adversely impacted. Shield most of the team by using only the BA and PM, plus COMT management. Attempt to use 1-2-1's with senior people (e.g. PVCs), existing forums for others (faculty manager, school managers, faculty management teams, etc), and casual or relational/network conversations with those we know and work closely with. |
| 2 | True buy-in from faculties and schools is not gained prior to starting work | Despite obtaining approval and socialising the approach, f&s staff may understand or accept the approach. There are both many stakeholders and many layers (organisation hierarchy). This may lead to repeated rounds of negotiation (taking time and stressing relationships) and even lead to f&s doing their own thing (outside/around the website). | H | M | Ground our approach to communications/consultation in:
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| 3 | Approach takes a long time to implement | Improving and relocating the content on f&s sites is a big job. This may mean that some sites don't change for some time, continuing to have an old design and content. | M | M
| Planned and prioritised approach to the required work. Set and manage expectations carefully. Request more project content resource. |
| 4 | Loss of 'online identity' for faculties and schools | As content that is currently on f&s sites is merged or moved the new f&s sites will be much smaller/leaner/lighter. This may lead to f&s staff feeling that their importance as organisational entities is diminished. | M | M | Use all three consultation approaches listed in risk 1 above. Demonstration versions, as covered in risk 2 above
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| 5 | Diminished sense of content ownership across faculties and schools | Same cause as with Risk 4 above. This may lead to a reduced sense of ownership of the content, resulting in to slower updating / information out of date. | M | M
| Gain true buy-in to the approach during the initial consultation (education) and while working with faculties and schools on the content changes. Develop strong web author/editor networks to ensure people remain connected. |
| 6 | Complexity around page ownership and page edit permissions | As more content currently on f&s sites is integrated into existing homesite pages page ownership could become unclear and authoring permissions may become more complex | M | M
| Plan content management with the Web BAU team. Train and communicate effectively. |
| 7 | The Faculty of Engineering may be resistant to moving away from using a wiki for web publishing | The Faculty of Engineering (and school) uses a wiki to author and display some of their website content and be resistant to having to move some of their activities to university-standard methods. This may lead to the Web Team having to support two models, one for only one faculty and one school | H | L-M
| COMT management to initiate this conversation with the faculty management, trying to find a good way forward. Separation of presentation layer from content management offers flexible options not previously available.
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