Objective:

To provide CAHNR departments, units, and programs with professional website design services using the University’s approved platform, Aurora WordPress. This SOP will serve to 1) confirm the responsibilities of the CAHNR Office of Communications and the CAHNR unit requesting services; 2) determine the scope of services to be provided; 3) and establish the standard timeline for scheduling, coordinating, and executing website design, and for creating and launching the designed website to ensure deliverables meet the standards of the CAHNR Office of Communications and the desired outcomes of the CAHNR unit requesting service.

Scope:

This SOP applies to all website design services provided by CAHNR’s Office of Communications. Website design services provided by external agencies or individuals outside of CAHNR’s Office of Communications are out of the scope of this SOP.

Responsibilities/Roles:

Requestor: The individual/unit within CAHNR requesting website design services from the CAHNR Office of Communications using [link to project request form]. The Requestor serves as the point of contact for CAHNR’s Office of Communications and the CAHNR Web Developer/Graphic Designer to support all aspects of the process (e.g. submitting the request for service, discussing desired outcomes, coordinating with members of the unit as needed for content, etc.) The Requestor and their designees will be responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining content in the website designed by CAHNR’s Office of Communications.

CAHNR Director of Communications: The CAHNR Director of Communications will assign a CAHNR Web Developer/Graphic Designer to provide website design services. The CAHNR Director of Communications will work with the Requestor and CAHNR Web Developer/Graphic Designer to determine the scope and timeline of the website design project.

CAHNR Web Developer/Graphic Designer: The CAHNR Web Developer/Graphic Designer assigned to provide services will create high a quality website in accordance with University brand standards, web best practices, analytics, and accessibility requirements to support the desired outcomes. The CAHNR Web Developer/Graphic Designer will develop a design, help establish an appropriate sitemap, create mockup designs for review, and build out template pages. The CAHNR Web Developer/Graphic Designer will make go-live requests to ITS and will provide ongoing technical support for the Requestor and/or their designees from the requesting unit/department/program.

Timeline:

The CAHNR Office of Communications will respond to a request for website design services within five (5) business days upon receipt of the project submission form. The designed website will be scheduled at a mutually agreed upon time that is acceptable to both the Requestor and the CAHNR Office of Communications. The timeline for delivery will depend on the desired outcomes and the scale of the project.

Deliverables:

The CAHNR Web Developer/Graphic Designer will design a professional website using University branding standards on the approved platform, Aurora WordPress.

Website Checklist:

The Requestor should be able to provide the following to the Director and Designer before work on the site begins.

• Outline of pages – The Director and Designer will provide feedback from a web standards perspective. The Requestor and their unit colleagues are responsible for supplying content for each of the pages in the initial outline with content before a site can go live
• Description of referred audience (internal/faculty/staff, external/public/students)
• List of goals or action items. For a redesign of an existing site, provide desired changes and what should remain
• Image requests/needs – Designer will provide necessary specs and can help organize a shoot with the CAHNR Office of Communications if no relevant images are available
• Access to analytic data from previous site(s), if applicable
• Description of a maintenance plan to ensure content is updated regularly post launch