HomeMy WebLinkAboutADM 140-006 Website Content Management Procedure0212 [-
P1CKERJ NG
Procedure
Procedure Title: Website Content Management Procedure
Procedure Number
ADM 140-006
Reference
Communications Policy 140
Date Originated (m/d/y)
December 2012
Date Revised (m/d/y)
November 2018
Pages
11
Approval: Chief Admi trative Officer
Point of Contact
Website Coordinator
Procedure Objective
To take a user -centric, self serve approach to our service delivery through the City of Pickering's
corporate website, and align with our corporate priorities including a focus on community
engagement; promoting inclusion, transparency, and efficiency.
The website will have visually pleasing images, with a striking and cohesive layout to create a
meaningful connection with visitors. It will facilitate a more accessible, efficient, and responsive
government, providing a client focused, well organized structure that is intuitive and easy to use,
with quick access to content.
Index
01 Definitions
02 Procedures
03 Roles & Responsibilities
04 Guidelines
01 Definitions
01.01 Accessible Documents can be accessed by persons using assistive
technology. It is the City's goal to ensure staff meet the requirements for the
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) when it comes to service
delivery. Resources are available on the Staff Intranet.
01.02 Alternative Text provides descriptive text tags for images.
01.03 Approval refers to the process of reviewing and approving a web page before it
is released live to the public website.
01.04 Calendar is an i:Create module that stores and organizes public events and
meetings. It displays the details of an event on the website in a clear, easy to
understand format.
01.05 Contacts Manager is an i:Create module that stores City staff and external
contact information in one location. Contact information is manually added to the
module and is available to share in the contact field on individual web pages.
01.06 i:Create is the web -based content management system (CMS) used by staff to
update the City of Pickering website.
01.07 Integrated Marketing Team (IMT) was established to address the City of
Pickering's need for a proactive, effective, and consistent approach to
communications as it relates to corporate standards and procedures, visual
identity, promotions, marketing, print publications, web communications, and
media relations.
01.08 Landing Page is a web page that highlights a particular section of the website,.
such as Business, Museum, or Recreation Complex.
01.09 Laserfiche is the City's Records Management System.
01.10 Link Checker is an i:Create module that allows authorized users to test all
internal and external hyperlinks connected through the website.
01.11 Menu Manager is an i:Create module used to maintain the website menu
structure. It can be accessed while editing a web page or through the i:Create
workbench.
01.12 Permissions define the actions that a user or user group can perform in the
CMS.
01.13 Publish refers to releasing a page live to the public website.
01.14 Roles define the function of a user in i:Create (Administrator, Publisher, Editor,
Approver).
01.15 Siteimprove is an integrated system that monitors the website for accessibility
and quality assurance.
01.16 Title Text provides descriptive text tags for hyperlinks and menu items.
01.17 User refers to any City employee contributing to the management of the website.
01.18 User Groups can be created to assign permissions and roles to a group of user
accounts, rather than on an individual basis.
01.19 Workbench is the back end user interface in i:Create.
01.20 Workflow allows for a single or multistep approval process to be initiated prior to
releasing new or updated pages live to the public website.
Procedure Title: Website Content Management Procedure Page 2 of 11
Procedure Number: ADM 140-006
02 Procedures
This procedure describes the expectations, responsibilities, processes, and accountability
for management of website content.
The procedure applies to all staff, and all content, including content provided by external
sources.
Departments are encouraged to consult with Corporate Communications on matters of
sensitive or controversial content.
03 Roles & Responsibilities
03.01 Chief Administrative Officer to:
a) Support and approve this Procedure
03.02 Website Coordinator to:
a) Review website for compliance to WCAG 2.0 Level AA standards, using
tools provided within i:Create, along with Siteimprove monitoring. Additional
support is available from the eSolutions Group.
b) Review website content and make regular, basic updates to the website as
required.
c) Coordinate regular reviews of the overall website to ensure it remains
relevant and dynamic, and serves as an efficient resource for our residents,
businesses, and community stakeholders.
d) Receive, evaluate, and forward staff requests for Landing Pages to the IMT.
e) Receive, evaluate, and forward staff requests for photo use on the website
to Corporate Communications.
f) Receive and evaluate staff requests for use of the Alert Banner.
g) Receive and evaluate staff requests to create a new web page.
h) Receive and evaluate staff requests for new user accounts in the content
management system.
i) Receive and evaluate staff requests for permission to any modules, such as
Calendar, News, Photo Gallery, etc.
j) Create and maintain any Standard Operating Procedures relating directly to
the website.
k) Provide training to new content managers.
03.03 Corporate Communications to:
a) Evaluate, make recommendations, and update the Website Content
Management Procedure.
Procedure Title: Website Content Management Procedure Page 3 of 11
Procedure Number: ADM 140-006
b) Through IMT, coordinate quarterly reviews of the overall website to ensure
it remains relevant, dynamic, and serves as an efficient resource for our
residents, businesses, and community stakeholders.
c) Have final approval of any images used on the City website.
d) Have final approval of Landing Page requests.
e) Have final approval on matters of sensitive or controversial content posted
to the website.
f) Have final approval of all items to be placed on the Home Page; this
includes banner images, mid -content blocks, menus, footer text, and social
media feeds.
g)
Have final approval on use of the Alert Banner if deemed necessary.
03.04 Customer Care Staff to:
a) Maintain the Contacts Manager.
b) Upload Service Disruption notices to the News Manager.
c) Provide back up for posting Alert Banner notices.
d) Review website content for accuracy.
03.05 Administrative Assistants or designates to:
a) Ensure that only accessible documents are uploaded to the website.
b) Provide assistance by loading appropriate documents into Laserfiche.
c) Ensure that documents are uploaded to the website or Laserfiche in
accordance with the Records Management Procedure.
03.06 Content for the website will be managed under the following roles:
a) Administrator - can do everything in the system.
b) Publisher - can edit and publish pages.
c) Editor - can edit pages (only role that cannot approve).
d) Approver - can approve pages.
04 Guidelines
04.01 Information Retention
a) Depending on the lifecycle of the website content, users must retire content
when it is obsolete rather than using up storage space and diluting search
results. This content may be stored in Laserfiche for future reference.
b) It is the responsibility of the writer to retain all-important submissions to the
website, that although may expire on the public end, may be needed for
future postings or reference. i:Create retains every published page revision,
allowing a user to restore and republish an earlier version of any page. This
Procedure Title: Website Content Management Procedure Page 4 of 11
Procedure Number: ADM 140-006
does not apply to deleted pages. Refer to the i:Create User Manual for
assistance (available in i:Create to authorized users).
c) Documents that exist as permanent record of a project or process should be
stored in Laserfiche, (i.e. Seaton reports or studies, Engineering reports or
studies, Public Information Centre presentation materials, etc.). The
document title can be directly linked to the Laserfiche record from the web
page and will be easily retrieved without consuming storage space on the
website.
d) When publishing a web page, a user has the option of setting an expiry
date. In most cases, the expiry date field should remain blank. In order to
avoid broken links and error messages, any user setting a page expiry date
may also need to request a menu adjustment. Note that expired pages are
not available to the public, but remain in i:Create and can be re -published.
04.02 Paragraph & Page Length
a) Concise, simple messaging is best.
b) Staff may refer to Writing for the Website Guidelines on the Corporate
Intranet.
c) For a clean presentation on pages with substantial content, use the Accordion
Tool. This creates sections that can be expanded and collapsed by the visitor.
04.03 File Formats & Size
a) Regular web pages are .aspx format. This is controlled by eSolutions Group
through the content management system.
b) Supporting files would be images or linked documents. The following file
types are acceptable for populating the website:
• GIF / JPG / PNG
• PDF
c) Images are sized differently based on placement (Home Page, Landing
Pages, Interior Pages, and Photo Galleries). Staff may refer to the Website
Style Guide on the Corporate Intranet for image sizes.
d) Images must be sized appropriate before uploading to i:Create. Images can
be cropped to required size using applications such as Photoshop, or Paint.
In any instance where a user cannot resize an image themselves, they may
send their request to the Website Coordinator.
e) PDF files must be accessible and should be optimized for web viewing
using Adobe Acrobat.
• the maximum allowed single file upload into i:Create is 45 mb
• note that Twitter and Facebook both reject files over 5 mb
04.04 Use of PDF Files
a) Refer to Procedure ADM 140-008 Creating Accessible Documents.
Procedure Title: Website Content Management Procedure Page 5 of 11
Procedure Number: ADM 140-006
b) To ensure compliance with WCAG standards, proof of accessibility is
required prior to uploading PDF files. If a full pass is not obtained, then
justification for posting is required.
c) PDF files considered transitory in nature, such as event posters or
schedules, can be uploaded directly to the website. These files must be
deleted or replaced as required.
d) PDF files should be optimized for web viewing. PDF file size can often be
reduced using Adobe Acrobat.
e) When replacing a PDF file on the website, make sure the new file name is
exactly the same as the original file name, in order to ensure that existing
links to the file are not broken.
f) Use brief and descriptive file names on PDF files. Use hyphens to connect
multiple words in a file name.
g) Set file properties on all PDF files. Always include Title, Author and the
natural language of the document.
h) Remember that PDF files created by scanning are often not accessible.
Scanning a paper file to PDF will eliminate all of the accessibility features
that were present in the source document (i.e. MS Word).
i) If a PDF file must be created by scanning a paper document, ensure that
Adobe Acrobat is then used to recognize text in the document. Additional
accessibility features available in Adobe Acrobat include tagging and
defining reading order. These features are required in order to pass the
PDF file as an accessible document.
04.05 User Groups
a) Within i:Create there is a group called All Users. This is a list of all i:Create
users for the site, and the group cannot be removed.
b) Additional groups can be added to manage access for users that require the
same role and permissions within specific areas of the site.
c) Administrators are responsible for assigning user group roles,
responsibilities and permissions.
04.06 Contact Information
a) Through the Contact Manager, authorized users input contact information
that can be displayed on most web pages. Depending on page content,
users may wish to set specific contact names, resulting in an individual's
email link and telephone extension being shared. For other instances, the
general department contact information may be shown, allowing the visitor
to connect with the general email and telephone line.
b) Customer Care is responsible for updating and maintaining information in
the Contact Manager.
Procedure Title: Website Content Management Procedure Page 6 of 11
Procedure Number: ADM 140-006
Email addresses should not be displayed on web pages using the mailto:
prefix in a hyperlink. If an email link is required within the page content area,
use the Email Selector tool on the i:Create editing toolbar to create the link.
04.07 Approval Process
a) i:Create includes an approval step to allow for a review of edited web pages
prior to releasing them live to the public.
b) Administrators may create approval workflows for a specific page, a specific
user, or both.
c) Approval notification is provided by email.
d) A Publisher must address an Editor's request for approval of a website
page within two business days of submission.
e) Rejecting a page will return the responsibility back to the requester to make
any changes.
f) The approval tab is visible to Administrators, Publishers, and Approvers.
Regardless of any set workflow, any user with approve or publish
permission is able to publish a page, regardless of whether the approval
request was assigned to them.
04.08 Website Monitoring
a) It is the responsibility of each department to regularly monitor all of the
content created and maintained under their ownership. This includes
correct and up-to-date contact information, links, images, and page text. As
a minimum, a content review should be done twice per year.
b) The Website Coordinator, along with the IMT, will coordinate regular
reviews (at least quarterly) of the overall website to ensure it remains
relevant, dynamic, and serves as an efficient resource for our residents,
businesses, and community stakeholders.
c) Although the Link Checker module generates a report highlighting all
potential hyperlink errors, it is still critical for users to test hyperlinks during
their monitoring process, as although the link may work, it may not lead to
where it was originally intended to go.
04.09 i:Create Modules
a) Modules are listed under More+ in the i:Create workbench:
• A to Z Services • News Manager
• Calendar - includes Emergency Alert Banner
• Contact Manager • Photo Gallery Manager
• eBook • Polling Module
• Feedback Form • Rotating Image Manager
• Friendly URLs • User Manager
• Link Checker • Workflow Manager
• Menu Manager
Procedure Title: Website Content Management Procedure Page 7 of 11
Procedure Number: ADM 140-006
c) Administrators have access to all modules. Additional access as follows:
• Calendar
o View staff list in section 04.12
• Contact Manager
o Customer Care Representatives
• News Manager
o Customer Care Representatives
o Recreation Complex Front Desk
04.10 Photography
Pickering is a connected community, where people will find the perfect balance
between living, working and playing. With a rich and storied history, beautiful
waterfront backyard, and a diverse mix of residents; Pickering is an all inclusive
community that continues on its journey of becoming the most sustainable city in
the province.
The photography used on the website must capture Pickering's unique character.
Photos selected for use on the website will meet the following criteria:
• great composition (symmetrically or asymmetrically balanced — make use of
cropping)
• captures emotion (always strive to have a person or group in the shot)
• tells a story (you know there is more going on)
• leaves something to the imagination (just out of range, out of focus)
• captures a moment in time (not staged)
• presents the unique (to Pickering)
• enhances the detail (commonly overlooked)
If content editors cannot locate an appropriate image, they may request
assistance from the Website Coordinator or the Coordinator, Corporate
Communications & Community Engagement.
The Coordinator, Corporate Communications & Community Engagement will
assist in photo hunting if one does not exist, and will provide assistance to
capture new images.
a) Photos on the website should wherever possible, come from real situations.
b) Model release forms must be retained by the originating department for any
photographs uploaded to the website.
c) Model Release forms are always required for photos of children used on the
website.
Procedure Title: Website Content Management Procedure Page 8 of 11
Procedure Number: ADM 140-006
d) Limited use of stock photography is permitted. Any photo that is part of
stock photography must be copyright and trademark free or be posted with
permission from the owner.
e) No clip art is permitted for use within website content on a page.
f) Any promotional images such as posters or advertisements shared through
the website must be professionally designed and approved by an IMT
representative.
04.11 Photo Gallery
The Photo Gallery module provides a tidy and easy way to present multiple
photos on a page. Photo galleries could have a minimum of ten photos and a
maximum of fifteen, accompanied by brief, descriptive, easy to digest photo
captions and alternative text tags for accessibility. Photo credit can be included, if
required.
04.12 Calendar
a) The Submit Your Event form on the website allows members of the public
to submit an online request for the events calendar. Requests will be
approved or declined by the Coordinator, Community Partnerships. All
public requests are tracked through the Calendar system.
b) The following staff may post information on the Calendar:
• Council — Clerks Staff
o Deputy Clerk
o Coordinator, Records & Elections
o Committee Coordinator
• Events — City Development Staff
o Coordinator, Sustainability
o Coordinator, Environmental Engagement
• Events — Community Services Staff
o Supervisor, Cultural Services
o Coordinator, Marketing Recreation Services
o Coordinator, Community Partnerships
o Coordinator, Cultural Services
c) Staff may refer to the Website Event Calendar SOP for more information.
04.13 Heading Styles/Typography
a) i:Create page templates provide consistent heading and paragraph styles
for the entire website. The default font face is "Open Sans", sans -serif font.
b) Staff may refer to the Website Style Guide on the Corporate Intranet for
examples of heading styles.
c) When it is necessary to veer away from set templates, please follow all
other Corporate Communications procedures.
Procedure Title: Website Content Management Procedure Page 9 of 11
Procedure Number: ADM 140-006
04.14 Alternative Text and Title Text
a) Alternative text is an image attribute used by assistive technologies to
describe an image for accessibility purposes.
b) Title text is required on links to provide visitors with decision-making
information. This briefly explains what will happen when a link is selected.
c) Staff may refer to the Website Style Guide on the Corporate Intranet for
examples.
04.15 Landing Pages
The landing page acts as an entranceway. It will highlight and promote key
messages, with visual treatments, and intuitive navigation. Information and
visuals should give an accurate impression of what the section is about, and act
as an enticing welcome mat with brief content, seeded with key messaging, and
relevant and inviting pictures to illustrate the intent of pages to come.
a) Staff will submit requests for Landing Pages to the Website Coordinator.
b) The Website Coordinator will review the request for relevancy and bring the
request forward to Corporate Communications for final approval.
c) Subject to approval, Corporate Communications will review the draft
Landing Page to ensure it complies with the brand objectives of the
website.
d) Visual identity of the website: Refer to City of Pickering Brand Guidelines.
04.16 Alert Banner Manager
a) The Alert Banner is used to feed matters of urgency or utmost importance
to the public. This would be items of interest to the community as a whole,
i.e., snow safety, urgent community health information, weather related
closures, etc.
b) An expiry date is always required on an Alert Banner.
c) The following staff are authorized to post Alert Banners:
• Website Coordinator
• Customer Care Representative
• Coordinator, Corporate Communications & Community Engagement
• Recreation Complex front desk staff, to announce Cooling Centre details
d) There are 3 banner colours to chose from:
• Alert (red)
• General (green)
• Information (blue)
04.17 Video
The website allows for sharing of YouTube videos.
Procedure Title: Website Content Management Procedure Page 10 of 11
Procedure Number: ADM 140-006
a) Those wishing to share a YouTube video must forward the request to the
Website Coordinator by email.
b) If the video does not already exist on the Corporate YouTube channel, the
file must be provided to the Coordinator, Corporate Communications &
Community Engagement on a disk or memory stick. Do not send video files
by email.
c) The video will be uploaded to the Corporate YouTube channel if approved,
then linked on the appropriate page of the website.
Procedure Title: Website Content Management Procedure Page 11 of 11
Procedure Number: ADM 140-006