Web Governance
Marketing & Communication

Fort Lewis College Web Governance Policy

November 2024

1. Introduction

The website is the College's primary marketing and communication tool, requiring a large investment in time and resources. To reach our goals, the website must be managed through web governance.

What is web governance?

Web governance defines how the website and other digital assets are managed and who manages them. It creates an insurance policy for the significant investment we've made in our digital platforms. It provides structure and accountability toward achieving the college’s strategic goals.

Why is web governance required?

Managing a website or digital asset requires knowledge of digital accessibility, marketing, UX (user experience) design and testing, content strategy, analytics and reporting, and more. Managing a higher ed website requires even more consideration of systems and audiences, especially for an institution as diverse and unique as FLC.

Comprehensive Web Governance will ensure that the website is a single source of truth for our users. That includes up-to-date content, on-brand information and images, legal compliance, and clear navigation structures.

Our user-centered approach reduces confusion and frustration for end users who come to our site to learn about FLC, apply, and complete required tasks.

Purpose

This document defines the scope of web governance to help ensure consistency, compliance, and alignment with the college’s strategic goals. To do that, it will establish roles, responsibilities, and guidelines for website administration, content creation, maintenance, security, and user experience.

Strategic goals

Fort Lewis College’s strategic goals

Academics: Equitable and exceptional education
Basic needs: Thriving & belonging
Community Connections: Engagement & workforce
Student-ready: Student success and graduation outcomes
Reconciliation: Healing and action

View the complete Strategic Plan

Marketing & Communication Department (MarComm) goals

MarComm owns the FLC website, the college’s primary digital marketing asset. MarComm is tasked by the administration with the following goals:

Primary

Recruit new students at the rate set by the college administration.
Retain existing students at the rate set by the college administration.
Fundraising based on goals set by the Office of Advancement.

Secondary

Serve as a resource for current and future employees. Resources include benefits, services, training, events, and more.
Provide a resource to the community and media. This includes events, services, partnerships, initiatives, access to faculty expertise, and more.

To reach these goals, the Web Governance Committee will set objectives on a biannual basis. These objectives may include improving the speed and performance of webpages, ensuring the site is up and running 24/7, making webpages and digital assets accessible for users with disabilities, providing quality search results, and improving the user experience (UX).

2. Scope

Web governance model

The MarComm Web Management Team (WMT) and Information Technology (IT) follow a modified centralized governance model for managing the website and its assets. In this model, individual departments act as subject matter experts, providing content relevant to their areas of expertise.

While departments are responsible for the accuracy and timeliness of their content, including updating information according to the web schedule, the WMT reserves the right to edit or modify departmental content to comply with best practices for readability, accessibility, and overall quality for end users. The WMT can provide reminders for content updates, but ultimately, the department must ensure that its information is current and accurate.

This governance model ensures a collaborative approach to maintaining a high-quality, user-friendly, and accessible website.

Websites and digital assets

The following websites and digital assets fall under this web governance plan.

Primary websites

Primary websites include top-level, mission-critical, and wayfinding pages. These include, but are not limited to:

Secondary websites

Secondary websites are for FLC departments and grant-funded programs with strong community outreach. In most cases, these departments have dedicated staff who maintain the sites. However, some departments do not have the staffing or expertise to maintain the sites in-house. In those cases, the WMT provides ongoing support and maintenance. These include, but are not limited to:

Student clubs and organizations

High-level, long-standing student clubs that have maintained a website on the College’s content management system (CMS).

Images Magazine

The Independent Student News

Other digital assets

theFort Portal

FLC mobile app

Custom and third-party tools

These tools provide a higher quality user experience and/or add content and design elements to the website. They should be implemented in a way that provides a seamless user experience and will require little ongoing maintenance.

Funnelback by Squiz: Search tool

Snap widget: Social media embed tool

Short URLs: IT-Web Services

25Live: Facility scheduling and events

Skyhub by Campus Groups: RSOs and student events

Mainstay: Chat feature

Skyhawk Alerts by Omnilert

MS Office Online: Sharepoint, OneNote, Excel

Limited exemptions

The Web Governance Committee does not manage the following websites and assets. The WMT can provide support upon request. These sites and platforms have technical support from IT. The sites need to adhere to the FLC brand and accessibility guidelines. The Web Governance Committee will review the sites once annually to check for issues. These sites include, but are not limited to:

Individual faculty and student websites.

Student clubs and organizations not listed above.

3rd party websites managed by departments, such as social media sites.

Acalog Course Catalog

Canvas Workforce Development

Canvas LMS

Center for Innovation

FLC Athletics

SkyHub Student Clubs & Events

Slate for prospective students

Slate for current students (Student Resource Center)

Student Account Suite

Workday

3. Roles and responsibilities

The following roles and responsibilities will change as technology evolves and personnel changes occur.

Web Governance Committee

Members: Include representatives from the WMT and IT.

Duties: Create, oversee, and enforce the web governance policy; plan and approve new projects; and define and manage web standards.

Web Management Team (WMT)

Roles: Web designer, content editor, and director.

Responsibilities:

Design and build new websites, webpages, and individual elements.

Create and edit content on all primary websites and some secondary websites in partnership with Content Managers.

Maintain website infrastructure, brand elements, design consistency, and implement approved content changes.

Monitor the site for quality assurance, performance, accessibility, and user experience.

Monitor the quality of the search results in the 3rd party search tool and make improvements as needed.

Manage content on theFort and mobile app in partnership with IT and departments.

Information Technology (IT)

Roles: Manager, system administrators, and director

Responsibilities:

Purchase and maintain the CMS software, theFort Portal software, mobile app software, web servers, and databases.

Create new portals within the CMS.

Create and maintain website permissions in coordination with the WMT.

Purchase, add, and maintain approved 3rd party modules.

Assist with the implementation of embeds/ connections to campus software. Create short URLs.

Conduct security audits.

Maintain the domain names and SSL certificates.

Manage content on theFort and mobile app in partnership with the WMT and departments.

Site administrators

Roles: Designated faculty, staff, and students with permission to add and edit pages and content. These are limited to secondary websites and student clubs.

Responsibilities: Site administrators have permission to add, edit, and delete pages, modules, and content on their sites. Permission is granted on a case-by-case basis. Site administrators are trained by and receive support from the WMT.

Content editors

Roles: Designated faculty and staff who have limited access to edit pages.

Responsibilities: Review and maintain the content on select pages and/or within select modules on the website. For example, event coordinators can add and remove events from an event calendar module.

Data collectors

Roles: Designated faculty and staff who can download data from online form modules.

Responsibilities: Monitor online forms and download data as needed.

Content managers

Roles: Designated faculty and staff responsible for specific sections of the site.

Responsibilities: Content managers review their departmental web pages at least twice a year to ensure accuracy, timeliness, and compliance with institutional guidelines. They collaborate with the WMT and IT, who may make necessary modifications to ensure best practices for readability and accessibility. Content Managers must partner with the WMT during significant updates and redesigns, aligning with the overall web governance model.

4. Content management

Content types

Our content management approach is built on the principle that all content is essential to maintaining a robust and accessible web presence. Content is categorized by review frequency, strategic priority, and update type:

Priority content: Critical to strategic areas such as leadership, advancement, enrollment, and essential student services. These are generally part of broader marketing campaigns that span multiple MarComm teams. Campaigns are annual or ad-hoc.

Regular review content: Content related to academic departments, support services, community resources (such as the police website and student well-being), student services, and academic programs. Updates for redesign or brand refreshes are scheduled based on broader institutional branding needs.

Supporting content: Non-critical, internal audience information is reviewed annually to ensure it stays up-to-date and accessible, with changes made as needed throughout the year.

The WMT schedules medium to significant updates based on priority and availability. They maintain a calendar of upcoming projects. The WMT contacts departments when their site is up for redesign or refresh. Departments can request updates outside of the cycle if they have changes that require them and if they can execute the content updates.

Approval process

All content updates and new pages must go through a defined workflow, which, depending on the content type, includes review and approval by department heads or requestors and MarComm. Significant updates or new web projects require WMT approval.

Workflow

Department heads should designate someone to review their websites and send update requests through the WMT project management program, Lytho, as needed.

Updates include:

Quick web edits: Adding, updating, or deleting existing copy such as program information, events, dates and deadlines, staff bios, and contact information.

Large web updates: Adding/creating one or more new pages on an existing website.

Website design and development: Creating a new site or redesigning an existing site.

Faculty directory bios: The department office manager or administrative assistant for your school completes updates to the faculty directory. Submit those requests directly to them.

Review the Web Management Team Project Process document for detailed workflow information: Web Team Process for Projects_Quick_Large_.docx.

Updates to WMT workflow

WMT will send out as-needed campus communications to inform campus partners of workflow changes for updates to the website.

Content standards

Tone and style: Content must align with FLC’s branding guidelines and follow the institution’s editorial standards, ensuring a consistent tone and voice across all platforms. Content must also align with web content guidelines and editorial standards (approval pending).

Multimedia and visual design: All images, videos, and graphics used on the FLC website must follow institutional branding and design guidelines. Multimedia content should be optimized for performance, including mobile responsiveness, accessibility, and fast load times.
View all guidelines and content style in the Talon Design System (draft)

Accuracy and review: Content must be reviewed regularly for accuracy. Content Managers must ensure information is fact-checked and relevant to their department or program.

Accessibility compliance: See section 7.

Copyright: See the college’s Intellectual Property policy.

AI-generated content: Website content generated by AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Copilot, and Claude must adhere to the policies and guidelines being developed by the AI Governance Committee.

Content archival and removal

The public-facing website is not an archive. Content needs to be up-to-date and accurate to best serve our users. Content that is outdated, irrelevant, or no longer in use must be reviewed and archived. The WMT is responsible for auditing top-level pages, and Content Managers are responsible for auditing their departmental websites. The specifications and timetables are listed under the Content Owner responsibilities above.

5. Quality assurance

6. Technical Standards

7. Accessibility

The State of Colorado requires all state organizations, including colleges and universities, to comply with HB21-1110 and HB24-1454. These laws define the level of compliance required, provide a timetable for compliance, and provide exceptions if compliance can not be achieved for various reasons.

What is accessible content?

Accessible content includes webpages and documents that can be accessed by all users, regardless of ability. This includes ensuring content can be read correctly by screen reading software, images include alt text, graphics have the proper color contrast, and videos have accurate closed captioning.

All accessibility standards are defined in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1.

Compliance responsibilities

The bills listed above require adherence to the WCAG 2.1 AA standard or, when necessary, accommodation for the end users and documentation of why we cannot meet that standard. Examples of non-compliance might include third-party modules that we cannot control directly.

To stay compliant, Content Managers are responsible for providing accessible content to the WMT. This includes images, documents, and videos. The WMT team reviews the content to ensure it meets the standards. If the documents do not meet the standard, the WMT will remediate them as time and priorities allow. They will send them back to the Content Manager for remediation if they cannot remediate them. Digital accessibility is the ultimate responsibility of the Content Manager per Fort Lewis College policy.

Accessibility of Information Technology and Digital Content

In addition, the WMT and third-party vendors working on their behalf must remediate existing webpages and elements and build new webpages and elements that meet the standard or document why they are not able to do so.

Auditing and monitoring

The WMT uses web governance tools such as DubBot and WAVE to identify and remediate accessibility issues on new and existing web pages.

Content Managers use built-in accessibility checkers in MS Word and Adobe Acrobat. They can also use CommonLook, a PDF remediation plug-in for Adobe Acrobat and MS Word.

Remediation and training

WMT will notify stakeholders when content is inaccessible and send it back for remediation before adding it to FLC digital channels.

WMT will point faculty and staff to campus resources for creating and distributing digitally accessible content.

Learn more about digital accessibility standards and FLC policy

Take the Digital Accessibility 2.0 course

8. Legal and regulatory compliance

9. Analytics and reporting

10. Policy enforcement

11. Policy updates

Scott Kadera
Director of Web Development

970-247-7103
kadera_s@fortlewis.edu

First-gen

Web Governance Marketing & Communication

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