MANUAL OF UNIVERSITY POLICIES PROCEDURES AND GUIDELINES. Applies to: faculty staff students student employees visitors contractors

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1 Page 1 of 10 Applies to: faculty staff students student employees visitors contractors Effective Date of This Revision: September 1, 2011 Contact for More Information: Renee Walker Board Policy Administrative Policy Procedure Guideline I. Background and Introduction CMU is a large and complex higher education organization that services multiple unique populations on campus, regionally, nationally, and internationally. We are a dynamic organization that is committed to excellence, remaining competitive and adjusting to meet changing educational and market needs into the future. Our web presence is a critical component to our success. The web is our most vital tool for communications and business operations both internal (Intranet) and external (Internet) to CMU. Our various audiences and constituencies rely heavily on our website to communicate, manage operations, and make decisions that directly impact students, employees, and other constituents of CMU. This document has been drafted to ensure that CMU s web presence allows the university to meet the web-based needs of its constituencies. Through a unified presence, CMU s websites will maximize the university s reputation and brand while: Creating value for students, staff and faculty by providing tools to enable them to carry out academic and financial business Creating value for faculty and staff by providing a platform that allows them to further teaching and learning by communicating and collaborating effectively, both internally and externally Creating value for prospective students by showcasing the success and experience CMU has to offer them Creating value for other external users (general public, media, etc.) by providing accurate, relevant and updated information about the university and its activities. Web governance uses people, policy and process to resolve ambiguity, manage short and long term goals, and mitigate conflict within CMU in an effort to implement an extensible, yet controlled, web communications platform. This document defines the people, policies and processes that form the foundation, or constitution, of web governance at CMU. Also, the rules and policies governing CMU s academic and business environment are many and varied. Though the activity supporting this environment may not be exclusively web-based, because so many of these activities are delivered through CMU websites, a number of related policies are referenced in Related Policies and Documents near the end of this document. II. Policy Statement CMU s web governance structure will be designed to maintain a university web environment (both internal and external) that provides, through an excellent user interface, an effective, highly integrated communications vehicle for the university with and among its various divisions, units, and constituencies and an efficient platform supporting academic and business collaboration and functionality. Our web presence will present CMU as a strongly integrated, unified university that Authority: [leave blank] History: [leave blank] Indexed as: Enter up to eight keyword and/or phrases separated by semicolons.

2 Page 2 of 10 delivers its services to a wide variety of constituent audiences. III. Principles 1. All governance principles will be driven by the best interest of the university as a whole. 2. Effectiveness and consistency of the user experience (design and navigation, for example) will be major goals of CMU websites. 3. Consistency of look and feel will be balanced with the need to provide differentiation among audiences. 4. Objective evaluation and usability studies will be leveraged to the greatest extent reasonable. 5. Accountability for web content will be assigned to Content Publishers, as defined later in this policy. 6. Control of web content should be at the lowest organizational level possible. 7. Content on the web site will be current and relevant to the university mission. 8. Content should be reused to the greatest extent possible within the web site. 9. The university s web presence should be secure and reliable. 10. Cooperation and collaboration will be expected and valued. IV. Scope This policy has been drafted to address all CMU webspace, with its primary focus being the main administrative, organizational web presence of the university represented across four primary sites centrallink.cmich.edu, go.cmich.edu, and cmuchippewas.com. It is expected that all web sites through which official university business is transacted or that represents an official administrative position of the university will reside within one of these four primary sites. Unless otherwise noted herein, organizational units of the university are required to adhere to the provisions of this policy in the development and management of their websites. Sites dedicated to the academic activities of the university s faculty and students - personal, class, and organizational sites maintained by faculty or students, for example - are specifically excluded from the provisions of this policy. will be focused exclusively on audiences external to CMU and is not intended for audiences internal to CMU. centrallink.cmich.edu is dedicated to the use of audiences internal to CMU, and access to the site will be limited to those with CMU authentication credentials (students, faculty, staff, alumni). go.cmich.edu is maintained specifically for the use of prospective students and their families. cmuchippewas.com is the dedicated site of CMU Athletics. Where noted, provisions of this policy may not apply to this site. V. People - Roles and Responsibilities The diagram below provides a conceptual overview of the people involved in administering CMU s web environment, as well as their roles in support of CMU s web environment.

3 Page 3 of 10 Figure 1: Web Governance Organizational Chart President s Cabinet The Web Governance Council (WGC) derives its authority from the President s Cabinet. Accordingly, the Cabinet will act on revisions of this policy or any other items escalated by or recommended by the WGC. Web Governance Council The Web Governance Council will meet regularly to review the implementation of governance standards and policies and recommend adjustments, as needed. The WGC will be chaired by the AVP, University Communications, and its membership will consist of: Associate Vice President, University Communications, chair Vice President for Information Technology Vice President, Enrollment and Student Services Vice President, Development and External Relations or designee Vice President, CMU Off-Campus and Online Programs Two Faculty members appointed by the Provost (two year, staggered term) One Academic Dean (appointed by the Provost for a two-year term) Web Communications Manager (ex officio and non-voting) Web Technical Manager (ex officio and non-voting) The WGC is responsible for the maintenance, revision, and enforcement of this and other policy documents relative to the web and for developing the Service Level Agreement (SLA) for internal and external web presences. It is also responsible for articulating - and assuring compliance with - CMU s overall web strategy and ensuring consistency and cohesion of communication among and between the various divisions and units of CMU. Through the VP for Information Technology, it

4 Page 4 of 10 will recommend any major web technology related projects to the Technology Planning Council for prioritization and implementation. As a part of its role, the WGC will define the navigation of the common pages within the domains under the jurisdiction of this policy, and the WGC must approve any changes to that navigation. University Communications (UComm) will manage these common pages for the benefit of CMU and on behalf of the WGC and will be responsible for the content appearing there. University Communications University Communications (UComm) is primarily responsible for the functional effectiveness of CMU websites from a communications perspective. UComm will appoint a staff member to serve as a Web Communications Manager with responsibilities to include: Ensuring regular and frequent review and real-time availability to stakeholders of analytics and metrics, along with recommendation of specific actions to be taken to ensure continuous improvement of the effectiveness of CMU websites Monitoring website compliance with the intent of the governance, design and content standards defined in this document Facilitating resolution of content ownership disputes and referring any relevant issues to the WGC Referring relevant issues to the WGC for consideration Actions assigned to this position by the WGC or through processes defined in this document Office of Information Technology The Office of Information Technology (OIT) is primarily responsible for the technical design and integrity of the web solution delivered by CMU. OIT will appoint a Web Technical Manager with responsibilities to include: Maintenance of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) defined by the WGC including: o Web system administration, maintenance, and security o Maintenance and testing of disaster recovery plans Incorporation of appropriate web-related changes into the broader CMU Change Management process Maintenance of and compliance with web-related development standards Direct oversight of the functions provided by the Hosting and Site Collection Administrators. Referring relevant issues to the WGC for consideration Actions assigned to this position by the WGC or through processes defined in this document The Partnership between University Communications and the Office of Information Technology The partnership between UComm and OIT is critical to the success of CMU s web environment. While the unique roles of each are identified above, collaboration between the two units is essential in order to assess compliance of the CMU web environment with this policy, provide effective communications surrounding CMU web systems, identify and deliver training opportunities, and assess the value of and advocate for upgrades, new functionality, and enhancements to existing functionality. To further facilitate this partnership, both the Web Communications and Technical Managers will be ex officio members of the WGC, and the Web Communications Manager will be a regular member of OIT s Change Management board. Administrators This role can be broken into multiple subsets of administrators, and it should be clarified which subset is being referenced for delegation of a particular responsibility. Hosting/Farm Administrator Reporting to the Web Technical Manager, the Hosting Administrator acts as the primary systems administrator for CMU web systems maintaining the infrastructure and applying necessary OS and system specific patches and hotfixes,

5 Page 5 of 10 defragmenting discs, performing backups, monitoring system health, deploying packages/features, maintaining disaster recovery plans, etc. as defined in the hosting SLA. The Hosting/Farm Administrator manages SharePoint specific components and maintains, manages, and reports on the farm web, application, index, query and database servers in accordance with best practices. Upon the recommendation of the VP for Information Technology and with the approval of the President s Cabinet, this role may be outsourced. Site Collection Administrator A Site Collection Administrator administers CMU site collections within SharePoint - managing permissions, partitioning sites, activating/deactivating site features and site collection features, handling security related administration at the Site Collection and/or site level, managing those SharePoint specific services not explicitly handled by the Hosting/Farm Administrators (Vizio, Access, Excel Services, Profile Imports, Search etc), identifying issues in the SharePoint environment, and implementing prescribed and approved changes. This role will be held exclusively within OIT. Site Administrator A Site Administrator maintains and administers a site or sites within a given SharePoint site collection. (An example might be a departmental or college site or a team site for a particular university committee.) The site administrator is responsible for the management of permissions for these sites and might also be allowed to activate/deactivate site features. Any appropriately qualified and trained staff member can serve as a Site Administrator, and OIT administrators are available to serve in this role for any campus unit upon request. Support Administrator A Support Administrator has read-only access to the system for purposes of trouble-shooting and problem resolution. This role will be held exclusively by OIT Help Desk employees. Site Owners Site Owners are the logical owners of one or more individual sites within the system, responsible for delegating content ownership and security/access and often the content as well. Site Owners may be CMU administrators, project managers or business users who request and therefore own a team site, or may be a designated person responsible for coordination of one or more sites for a business unit. Depending on the circumstances, Site Owners may also serve as Content Publishers, Content Approvers, or Site Administrators. Content Publishers Content Publishers approve the publication of content to CMU s external websites. This role is restricted to division heads and their direct reports, and a list of these approved individuals is included below. Changes to this list must be requested of the WGC. Content Publishers also are responsible for appointing and regularly reviewing the configuration of Content Approvers and Editors in the units reporting to them and are ultimately responsible and accountable for the content appearing on their sites. As an aid to managing workload, Content Publishers may identify staff members from their office who are able to approve routine or minor changes to public sites in their stead. CMU Content Publishers: President s Division o General Counsel o Associate Vice President, University Communications o Associate Vice President of Athletics/Director, Athletics o Executive Assistant to the President Executive Vice President/ Provost, Academic Affairs o Dean, College of Communications and Fine Arts o Dean, College of Business Administration o Dean, College of Science and Technology o Dean, College of Graduate Studies

6 Page 6 of 10 o Vice Provost for Research, Office of Research & Sponsored Programs o Vice President, CMU Off-Campus and Online Programs o Dean, The Herbert H. & Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions o Dean, College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences o Dean, College of Education and Human Services o Dean, Libraries o Dean, College of Medicine o Vice Provost, Office of Academic Administration o Associate Vice President, Office for Institutional Diversity o Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer o Executive Director, Office of International Affairs o Vice Provost, Office of Academic Affairs Vice President, Finance & Administrative Services o Associate Vice President, Financial Services & Reporting and Controller o Associate Vice President, Residences & Auxiliary Services o Director, Health Services o Associate Vice President, Facilities Management o Associate Vice President, Human Resources o Chief of Police, CMU Police o Director, Financial Planning & Budgets Vice President, Development and External Relations o Director, Government Relations o Executive Director, Alumni Relations o Assistant Vice President, Major & Planned Giving Program o Director, Annual Giving Program Vice President, Enrollment and Student Services o Dean of Students Content Approvers Content Approvers will be appointed by the appropriate Content Publisher and are able to approve the publication of content on CMU internal websites. They are also the first line of approval for content to be published on CMU external websites. Content Editors Content Editors will be appointed by the appropriate Content Publisher and have the capability of creating new content and modifying existing content. A Content Editor cannot publish his or her new or modified content directly to internal or external sites without first having submitted said content for appropriate approval. Developers People who create custom webparts, workflows, and functionality within the system are referred to as developers. Developers are not necessarily programmers, but are categorized as one broad role so that customizations can follow the same lifecycle, with sign-off, testing, and change control, regardless of the technology. Those who are certified as developers within CMU websites must adhere to the development standards established by the university, including adherence to OIT s change management requirements. VI. Sites External (Internet) or Internal (Intranet) Organizational Site CMU departments and other organizational units may create external or internal pages within their existing web site or directory with the approval of the appropriate site owner. Similarly, any changes to local navigation require only the approval of the appropriate site owner. Requests for DNS entries that suggest a location outside an owned site or directory

7 Page 7 of 10 in particular, addresses such as xxx.cmich.edu or - as well as requests to be added to site-wide navigation, must be approved by the WGC. Appeals of the WGC decision will be escalated to the President s Cabinet. Approved units may maintain and use alternate URLs in their print documentation (as well as accompanying redirects) as defined by the WGC. Redirects from alternate addresses existing at the time of the adoption of this policy will remain in place until otherwise determined by the WGC. The WGC will use data and analytics to determine when existing redirects will expire. The WGC will review activity related to the use of redirects quarterly for this purpose. While determination of local navigation is within the purview of the appropriate site owner, these site owners should consider inclusion of an About Us item as the first item in that navigation. Located on this page might be items of relevance to the local unit, such as: The Unit s Vision, Mission and Values Quick facts/reports Accreditation information Awards and Recognitions Departments and Services Organizational Chart Departmental Policies and Bylaws Contact Information, Staff Lists, and/or Requests for Information Links to any External Sites Links to any Forms Application Site Through the change management process, new DNS entries may be assigned in order to enable applications external to the content management system. Addresses provisioned in this manner may not be used for publication. The addresses of these applications will be maintained by the Web Technical Manager and will be reviewed at least quarterly with the WGC. Application addresses existing at the time of the adoption of this policy will remain in place until otherwise determined by the WGC. Team Site Team sites exist at centrallink.cmich.edu/teams for the use of workgroups, task forces, committees, and project teams. Creation of a team site must be requested of and approved by the Web Technical Manager and will be subsequently created through workflow. A short training course will be required for owners of these sites. Appeals of the decision of the Web Technical Manager will be escalated to the WGC. Team site owners should review their team sites at least annually for relevance and validity of content. Personal Site A decision regarding governance of personal sites is pending. Existing personal sites will be maintained until more information is available. VII. Search Because effective search is a keystone of CMU s strategy for effective navigation to relevant content, a major goal of this policy is to ensure the effectiveness and relevance of search across all of CMU s webspace. Site owners will ensure that each page contains a relevant title and metadata. Page titles will be constructed in the form <Title> Central Michigan University with the Central Michigan University portion to be programmatically added. Unique keywords should be used where relevant and important and certainly where they are a part of a publications strategy. Keywords are limited and finite in supply, and those requesting a keyword should undergo a process of discovery to resolve any concerns about the assignment of the keyword. A searchable registry of keywords will be maintained by and - through a web form provided for this purpose - new keywords may be requested from the Web Communications

8 Page 8 of 10 Manager. In certain cases (military, admissions, or off campus, for example), a disambiguation page might be implemented to support efficient search. Disputes concerning the assignment of keywords will be facilitated by the Web Communications Manager and may be appealed to the WGC for resolution if necessary. Documents should also contain appropriate titles and metadata. Appropriate document metadata might include the acronym or common name of the committee for which the document was produced, the type of document (agenda, minutes, or report), for example), or the subject of the report (if applicable). Documents posted to team and personal sites are exempt from this provision. VIII. URL Publication Guidelines If CMU is to utilize its webspace effectively, the strategy for creation and maintenance of web addresses (URLs) needs to coordinate closely with its advertising of those addresses in a variety of publications across a wide range of media. The following guidelines should be observed. Digital Publications Web addresses should not be published in digital communications intended for audiences external to CMU. Instead, a graphic or plain text description ( visit our site, click here, or consult this document, for example) containing a link to the location should be used. Internal to CMU, s and documents noting the entire path of the URL are acceptable, though graphics or plain text descriptions are preferred. Print Publications and Audio Announcements Referrals to CMU website locations included in print publications and audio announcements (TV or radio, for example) should be in the form visit cmich.edu and search on keyword xxx. URLs included in print and audio advertising should not include more than one step down the qualifying path - cmich.edu/xxx, for example. IX. Content Lifecycle Management of content across its lifecycle requires the attention of site owners and office directors across the university. Each stage of the process must by managed and controlled by the appropriate business officers. Content Creation The accountability and responsibility for both internal and external site content has been assigned to Content Publishers as defined above. Content Publishers, Approvers and Editors must be aware of and adhere to the policy set forth by the university regarding the branding, tone, and message of content as it is produced, approved, and published and will be reminded of this as they approve pages through the workflow mechanisms. Content Publishers and Approvers are able to publish content relating to activities within their part of the organization. If content overlaps the purview of another unit, any appropriate reusable content should be leveraged (see Reusable Content below) or that unit should be consulted before content is posted. Content creation for all organizational sites will be required and enforced through automated workflows. As noted above, it is the responsibility of Content Publishers to know and understand the flow of content through their units and to ensure that appropriate controls are in place. While it is possible, for instance, for a single individual to serve both as a Content Editor and a Content Approver, it is discouraged and should be treated as an exception. In any case, Content Editors should not be allowed to publish significant content changes to the external web without independent review and approval. Content Publishers should also be aware that the use of many web publishing tools blogs, wikis, RSS and Twitter feeds, for example effectively bypass their ability to approve content before it is published externally. The use of these tools on CMU websites should be done deliberately, carefully, and only when the source of the content is highly trusted. Content Auditing, Review, Expiration and Archiving

9 Page 9 of 10 Site owners and content approvers are responsible for the annual review and maintenance of all site content. For purposes of managing all paper and digital records, including website content, an annual process for destroying outdated records will be established. As a part of this process, site structures, content and libraries should be reviewed to ensure that information is refreshed, deleted or archived in accordance with CMU s Record Retention Schedule and to ensure validity and relevance. It is important that site owners consider that while some documents require retention for considerable periods of time per the Record Retention Schedule, at some point those documents may no longer be relevant on the website. Many records and documents should be archived off the website before the end of their retention period. To the degree possible, site owners should use triggers provided in CMU web systems that provide for automatic deletion of content on a designated date. Additional guidelines specific to specialized content types are included below. Announcements Discussion Boards Online Forms and Lists News Agendas, Minutes, and Reports Promotional Materials Blogs and Wikis Picture and Video Libraries Links Document Libraries External Content (Widgets, RSS feeds) Set these to auto-expire within a week of event. Archive or delete if no activity in past 12 months. If active, archive or delete activity more than 3 years old. Archive or delete if no activity in past 12 months Archive or delete any postings older than one year. CMU Media Channel archive - 2 years. Archive or delete from website after 3 years (see CMU Record Retention Schedule) Archive or delete if no longer relevant Archive or delete if no activity in past 12 months. If active, archive or delete postings more than 3 years old. Archive or delete if no activity in past 12 months. If active, archive or delete items more than 1 year old. Delete or repair any broken links. Archive or delete if no activity in past 12 months. If active, archive or delete items more than 3 years old. Delete or repair any broken widgets or RSS feeds. Development of Reusable Content When applicable, Content Editors should dynamically utilize reusable content from a master source of the truth for sections of content that may be reused throughout the system. In addition, content editors are expected to consult with other units as appropriate to ensure reuse of content where possible and coordination of content where appropriate (see Content Creation above). Events and the CMU Event Calendar The WGC will maintain a campus-wide events calendar on which all relevant dates across a wide range of interest areas will be registered and displayed. In addition, the WGC will maintain a form and workflow for posting events to this calendar. This calendar will be searchable, filterable by individual preference and can and should be reused by site owners across the university. X. Design Standards

10 Page 10 of 10 Because site design is a critical part of CMU s branding and imaging, all websites must utilize templates and site designs approved by University Communications. UComm will maintain a Web Style Guide for use by non-ucomm designers and is available for consultation regarding design and brand. XI. ADA Compliance CMU is federally mandated to maintain websites that meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Because these requirements are subject to frequent change, Site Owners should consult the CMU Web Style Guide or contact UComm if they have questions about the compliance of their websites. XII. Success Measures The Web Governance Council will make regular use of analytics and usability studies to refine the effectiveness of web communication, functionality, and performance. All university sites within the scope of this policy will be placed under a single analytics umbrella that provides an appropriate balance of local and organizational visibility and management. The WGC will determine and maintain strategies for the effective administration of analytics technologies. In order to push analytics capabilities to local units and promote a culture of data-driven decision-making across the university, the WGC will also construct systems that allow real-time access to appropriate analytics. Usability and other periodic studies will be shared with the campus community upon completion. Site owners that employ analytics tools separate from those overseen by the WGC must share these data with the WGC. Adwords accounts will be held at the departmental level and linked into the analytics umbrella. Examples of metrics to be collected include, but are not limited to: Bounce Rate to assess visit quality New Visits to assess campaign reach Absolute Unique Visitors such as audience size over a 30 day period Event Tracking such as quantity of Video or PDF downloads Time on Site to assess content quality Visits with Search to assess effectiveness and use of site search Goal Completions to drive effective and desired behaviors Traffic Sources to identify top sources Data documenting compliance with ADA and other required standards Data documenting compliance with this policy XIII. Related Policies and Documents Web Systems Policy (under development) Acceptable Use Policy (in place) Solicitation and Fund-raising Policy (in place) Advocacy Policy (in place) Data Stewardship Policy (in place) Digital Communications Policy (in place) Record Retention Schedule (in place) Brand Identity Guidelines (under development) Board of Trustees Resolution Unified Brand and Marketing (in place) OIT Change Management Process (under revision) OIT Communications Process (under revision) CMU Web Development Standards (under development) Web Style Guide