2. User Roles, Training, & Workflow

Roles & Permissions

The University Communications & Marketing team assigns roles in the content management system. Users fall into three categories of roles, with the following permissions: 

• Contributors:

University employees that closely understand site goals & objectives and are responsible for:

1. Ensuring content is kept up to date across their department pages 
2. Follows copywriting and user experience best practices mentioned in governance documents
3. Works with members of the A-State community to make any necessary edits
4. Can publish page updates to the site directly
5. Can publish changes/additions to new events, date changes, outdated content, etc.
6. Can request new pages as needed to align department content with website goals but cannot add new pages without approval from an Administrator

• Administrators

Members of the Marketing & Communications Department and the Web Advisory Committee and are responsible for:

1. Reviews and publishes content to align with sitewide goals (IE, marketing objectives), SEO optimization, accessibility, and final editorial review
2. Reviews and approves new page requests from Contributors
3. Adds and edits content and pages as needed
4. Maintains overall quality control of content on website

 

Training New Users

The  Marketing and Communications Team is responsible for organizing and conducting all trainings. All roles are expected to review the training and governance materials to properly understand how to create and edit content in a way that maintains quality across the site. There are three mandatory trainings for all users: 

1. CMS Training:  Cover how to technically add elements to pages and use the platform from the backend
2. Governance Training: Covers the rules and guidelines outlined in this document and the patterns in Modern Campus specific to Arkansas State
3. Content Development, SEO, & Accessibility: Covers the Arkansas State brand and the best practices of content development, search engine optimization, and accessibility 

 

Editorial Workflow 

Editorial workflows are the processes that determine who is responsible for what when creating or editing a page.

Existing Page Workflow:

1. The Contributor edits and updates the page and publishes the changes.

New Page Workflow:

The Marketing & Communications Team reserves the right to reject new page requests and may suggest editing a current page instead of adding a new one. The process will go as follows:

1. A Contributor completes the Goal & Audience Worksheet and reads Page Creation & Site Structure Guidelines. 
2. The  Contributor submits their new page request to an Administrator.
3. An Administrator will review the request. If approved, the contributor will create the new page. If the request is denied, the Administrator will make a recommendation for where to put the content on an existing page.
4. Once the content meets the requirements for the website, the Administrator will publish the page.

 

Page Maintenance Schedule

How can I ensure the content on a page is kept up to date? How often should we be checking in and making sure it’s useful to our audience?

Regular Updates: Semesterly Review

The frequency with which a page may have to be updated depends on the purpose of the page itself. Departments with many different deadlines and events (financial aid, departments that offer frequent workshops, etc.) will need to be checked and updated often to ensure old dates/events are not featured and users are not confused. Contributors should work with their departments/offices to ensure these pages are kept up to date. Other pages will not need to be checked as frequently.

At a minimum, most pages should be checked before the start of each semester to ensure no outdated content stays on the website for too long. There will be some pages where content remains untouched (policies, directions, etc.). 

Contributors will receive an email before the start of each semester reminding them to review their content.

Content Audit: Yearly Review

Each July, Contributors will conduct a content audit. The audit will ensure that content is accurate, up-to-date and in alignment with the A-State brand. They will also ensure that the content aligns with best practices of web design and content writing using the rubric below.

 

	1 (Poor)	2	3 (Satisfactory)	4	5 (Excellent)
Purpose Is the message of the page delivered clearly and in alignment with the strategic goals of the organization and the page?	The purpose of the page is unclear, little to none CTAs are used, and the institution's message is not or hardly conveyed.		The purpose of the page is clearly attempted but there are opportunities to clarify the purpose, use CTAs, and invoke the institution's messaging.		The purpose of the page is clear and fulfills the user tasks pertinent to the page with clear CTAs and relevant messaging.
Audience Is the page speaking to the right people?	The target audience of the page is unclear and does not align with any user tasks.		The target audience is clear but there's more opportunity to fulfill user tasks.		The target audience of the page is clear and aligns with pertinent user tasks.
Tone/Voice Does the content portray the desired voice and tone?	The tone and voice do not align with the institution and would not engage a persona.		The tone and voice of the page mostly align with the institution but more could be done to provide consistency, amplify the voice of the institution, and engage a persona.		The content embodies the defined voice, tone, and attributes to engage a persona.
Structure/ Organization Is the information conveyed easily and effectively?	The structure of the page makes a persona scroll deep into the page to find an answer to a common question/user task. The size, spacing, and placement of headings may be confusing to personas. The page is particularly text-heavy and does not attempt to use content types to convey information in an effective way.		The structure of the page is sensible but some of the information is buried. The size, spacing, and placement of headings tells personas what they're looking at but more could be done to increase the overall clarity of the page. There's more opportunity to make the page easily scannable while conveying the same information and incorporating engaging content types.		The structure of the page follows a logical information hierarchy with important information at the top that connects to the purpose of the page. Headings are descriptive, well-sized, well-spaced, and well-placed headings. The information is easily scannable and effectively leverages content types.
Readability What is the reading level of the content?	Readability score of 12+		Readability score of 9-10th grade		Readability score of 7th grade or lower