PREPARE

1. Familiarize yourself with the online help site
2. Understand the Tiers of Participation
   
3. Determine a preliminary target date for when you would like your website to launch

1. Get buy-in from your leadership (no project is a priority without leadership support)
   
2. Identify how you will resource the roles needed for a successful project
   
3. Estimate your time commitment using the readiness planning worksheet (at right)

PREPARE

1. Read the overview: Business Strategy and Planning
   
2. Take the online training to learn about Understanding Your Strategic and Audience Needs

DO

• Suggested:
  • Identify key business and websites objectives
    
  • Identify core messages
    
    • Make sure you have incorporated your unit brand messages (see your unit Senior Communicator).
      
  • Identify and prioritize target audiences
    
  • Develop an audience matrix
    
    • Map target audiences with their key tasks, the information you need to give them and the messages that are relevant to infuse
      
  • Compile information into a business planning document
    
  • Circulate to stakeholders and your unit Senior Communicator for feedback
• Optional:
  • Review your peers and competitors
    
  • Conduct stakeholder interviews to understand key business needs
  • Conduct audience interviews to understand key user needs
    

PREPARE

1. Read the overviews:
   
   • Assessing Your Existing Content
   • Creating a Content Audit
     
2. Take online training to learn how to do a content audit
3. To prepare your ability to audit, we also recommend taking:
   • Writing for the web
   • Writing for the brand

DO

1. Evaluate the integrity (be sure to use usage data from current site)
2. Make qualitative assessments
3. Create a content audit using the example spreadsheet
4. Discuss the outcomes with your team
   • What is the shape your content is in?
   • Will you need new content? Content editing?
     
   • What are your photo and/or video needs?
     
   • Are there databases needed to be included?
     
   • Are there external dependencies that are not to your standards? (e.g. docs, pdfs, videos/YouTube, rss feeds)
   • Have you identified essential functionality needs that do not exist in the UBCMS?

PREPARE

1. Understand how to think about your audience needs
2. Take the online training: Planning your Information Architecture

DO

1. Create a key task document (what are the tasks users need to act on?)
2. If you haven't already, create (or expand upon) your Audience Matrix
3. Identify "birds of a feather" sites in the UBCMS and use their IA as a starting point for organizing your site
   
4. Build out your Information Architecture (IA) in Word, Excel or other outlining software
   
5. Create a "purpose statement" for every section
   
6. Map your existing content to your IA (pages, documents, databases)
7. Make sure when you place content in sections your organization make sense to your audience
8. Take the time to codify the success factors for your content. This will be an invaluable guide for those who are writing the content, and later for those who are doing site production
   
   • What is the purpose this content is fulfilling (if not self evident)
     
   • What are the key tasks for this content to fulfill
   • What are the key messages for this content to support
   • What calls to action should be incorporated
   • Are there any key points this content should touch on
   • Was there any best practices we found from our competition that can inform this content?
     
   • When writing this content, is there a special page layout from an existing site the author should keep in mind

Get Ready

• Based on your Information Architecture, estimate the number of pages in your site
• Find a site in our DCT Live Sites that looks and is structured like the site you have in mind
• Check our guide below to see what type of site it is

Rule of thumb:

• If your site is simple, pick a simple template
• If you know your site is growing, pick a template that will reflect where you want to be
• If you don't have technology support, pick a "inspiration" site that is more basic

 Pick your lauch date

• Identify a target site launch date based on
  • How long will take you to craft your content (be realistic and include review and sign off time)
  • How long it will take you to build your site
    • Rule of thumb:
      • 4 hours of learning and slower production (once you take the training of course)
      • 20 minutes per simple page
      • 40 minutes per complex page
      • 3 hours for your home page
  • Build in an additional 3 weeks for
    
    • Site launch
    • Redirects to be put in place
      
    • and the time YOU need to do an accessibility review.
      
  • Make sure you choose a date when you are not on vacation
  • Learn more about the Site Launch process
    

DO

Fill out the Website Creation form to schedule your estimated site launch dates. Be prepared to share our requested launch date and number of pages. 

PREPARE

1. Learn how to write content that will resonate with your website visitors
2. Learn how to select strong visuals
   
3. Take the online training: Writing for the web
4. Review the Solutions Group Videos on Understanding and Applying the UB Brand, Content Development, Shared Content and Using Images.

DO

1. Review the content requirements in your information architecture (IA)
2. Identify what visual and written content is needed for your new site
3. Identify opportunities to share content from other sites (saves you from having to create it!)
   
4. Identify who needs to review/sign off on all content
   
5. Prepare your content
   • Update out-of-date content
   • Edit existing content so it aligns with writing for the web best practices
     
   • Create new content 
6. Copyedit all content for grammatical/spelling errors, style, strength of message, clarity, consistency
   
7. Arrange for photos/video to be taken or buy stock images as needed
8. Check that the content you prepare is accessible
   
9. Arrange for reviews and sign offs before content is placed into system
   

Prepare

1. Take the online training: Stewarding your site
   
2. Review Solutions Group Videos on Stewardship and Planning

Do 

1. Review the content for your site and be sure it is written in a way (or the topics of visual used) that is sustainable.
   
2. Determine the editorial process for your website (How and when will you update your Web content? Who will update your content?)
3. Determine a strategy for ongoing refinements and evolving your site to align with your business strategy
4. Determine what analytics are important to review, who will review them and how often
5. Be sure your site is set up in a way that leverages shared content and lists (time saver!)
   
6. Codify your stewardship plans for each page in your page properties stewardship tab.

After Launch

1. Review your stewardship report for tasks and updates monthly.
2. Assign and execute.

1. Identify staff that require UBCMS training
   
2. Take the online training courses
   
3. Familiarize yourself with a wide variety of DCT Solutions Group Trainings available which will take your knowledge of using the tool to the next step.

1. Enter your information architecture into the UBCMS (keeping UB core content, such as Our Campuses, etc.)
2. Make certain your content is optimized for the web
   
3. Use existing DCT live sites for ideas and inspiration on page layouts
4. Be sure to use lists and shared content to minimize your stewardship impact, including university-wide and authoritative shared content.
5. Read the documentation carefully, it helps you set things up right the first time.
6. You are responsible for accessibility testing your site throughout the process of bulding it. Make sure you build this time into your process. For expectations see Preparing to Launch Your Site and read it carefully.
7. Be sure to copyedit and proofread your work.
8. Integrate outside databases  [if applicable]
9. You can activate pages as soon as they have been reviewed and found to be complete (Don’t worry. We have blocks in place that keep your pages from being seen by anything but Site Improve UNTIL your Soft Launch)
10. When you are done walk through every page and every link.
11. Before you get ready to launch your site it needs to be done. Make sure to hide any pages you do not intend to activate or are not ready for review.
12. If you see you are not making your site launch deadline, please contact the DCT Help Desk to reschedule as soon as possible.

1. Keeping our UB web accessible is a federal law. You are responsible to ensure your team uses SiteImprove scans to identify and remediate identified accessibility issues
2. Work with your Unit Accessibility Liaison to learn how to see, review and remediate your pages in SiteImprove
3. As pages are complete, activate each page to start accessibility scanning

• Don’t worry. We have blocks in place that keep your pages from being seen by anything but SiteImprove UNTIL your Soft Launch

       4. If you have not addressed all your remaining accessibility issues before launch, contact the DCT Help Desk. We will work with                 Site Owner to identify a new date.

       5. The Thursday before your planned launch date, fill out and submit the affirmation that your site is complete and accessible.

• When the site is complete and all accessibility issues have been remediated  your Site Owner confirms via the SUBMIT AFFIRMATION button to move forward with soft launch.

Before you launch your site it needs to be done. Make sure to hide any pages you do not intend to activate or are not ready for review.

Carefully read and review the steps in Preparing to Launch a UBCMS Site

Fill out the Site Affirmation Form that your site is complete and accessible

Hint: Make sure you submit your affirmation on time. If we do not receive the Site Affirmation Form by the Thursday before your planned soft launch date, your soft launch will be cancelled and it will be up to you to reschedule.

Walk through every page and every link and review:

1. Does everything work?

• Check forms
• Check links
• Check any code or snippets you might have added to your site

       2. Check that there are no unfinished pages or “placeholder text or images”

• Any pages that are unfinished should be hidden in navigation and lists so they do not show when your site goes live (You can find these check boxes in page properties)

       3. Has the page been reviewed in Site Improve and any identified issues resolved

       4. Did you activate all your pages?

If you see you are not making your site launch deadline, please contact the DCT Help Desk to reschedule as soon as possible.

1. Launching your website can take up to three to four weeks, so please plan accordingly.
2. On your soft launch date the the site improve block is removed and your published site is now visible to the public.
3. On your hard launch date any redirects are implemented and your site is live and visiable to the public.
4. Once your site is live, it will be added to our Live DCT Websites on the UBCMS Home Page.