Site Manager Responsibilities and Site Administration - IEEE Brand Experience

Site Manager Responsibilities and Site Administration

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Site Manager Responsibilities and Site Administration

Every IEEE digital site manager who creates or maintains an IEEE site assumes personal responsibility for its accuracy, professionalism, and quality. Review the sections on this page to learn about other site manager responsibilities.

Role of Webmaster/Manager

IEEE webmasters and site managers must continuously assure that their respective digital sites:

  • Are consistent with the IEEE mission and are used strictly for IEEE-related purposes
  • Uphold optimum user experience as the core criterion for design, content, and related site decisions
  • Comply with the guidelines established in this document and related IEEE policy
  • Follow ownership rights of intellectual property
  • Are developed and managed with a responsible use of resources
  • Protect confidential and copyrighted information and materials
  • Do not link to sites that are not complementary to the IEEE mission
  • Are reviewed periodically to ensure the information contained in them is accurate and up-to-date

Communication with the Experience Design Team

At this stage, include the following details:

  • Project overview/purpose
  • Planned execution/deliverables
  • Project lead (individual contact and sponsoring groups)
  • Desired inception and deployment dates for digital project
  • Needs/plans for internal and external partnership/vendors
  • Project budget and human resources (project team)

Scope changes may include modifications (reductions or expansions) to the planned budget, schedule, or requirements and deliverables for a given project.

  • Before conducting user research, testing, or expert review
  • After conducting user research, testing, or expert review (when findings are available)
  • At key design/development milestones
    –  The wireframe stage
    –  After visual design (prior to development)
    –  Prior to site launch
  • Post launch

Authentication/Single-Sign-On

  • All IEEE site managers or employees who currently do or plan to collect or leverage existing customer or member data in any way must be set up to authenticate through an IEEE Account.
  • Stand-alone registration/account processes expose IEEE to regulation compliance risk and hence all IEEE site managers allowing or planning to allow authentication on their site with an IEEE Account must use the IEEE security suite.
  • All IEEE site managers planning or using site authentication must work with the IEEE Security team to explore the feasibility of using the enterprise single- sign-on service. This process should be initiated by contacting the Experience Design Team, who can submit the request via the HP Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) system on your behalf.

Launching New Sites or Updates

The information below applies to new sites, redesign or major feature releases, and migrations into a new content management system (CMS). All site launches must follow the requirements below (order may vary).

1. Domain registration and naming compliance (where applicable)

2. Pre-launch testing and quality assurance

  • QA testing: certify readiness with code / unit testing and content quality assurance
  • Browser testing: for compliance with IEEE Browser Strategy (IEEE employee or volunteer sign in required)
  • Device compatibility: desktop, laptop, tablet (e.g., iPad, Kindle Fire), mobile (e.g., iPhone, Blackberry, Android)

3. Get Experience Design Team approval

4. Create, add links, cross-link references related to the new site 5. Communication to stakeholders (IEEE employees and volunteers) and users (as appropriate)

Decommissioning or Migrating a Site

When decommissioning a site, the following requirements must be met:

  • Redirects set up to direct users to relevant content including domain updates
  • Archival of old content for future reference (as appropriate)
  • Update/add links or references related to the site
  • Communication to stakeholders (IEEE employees and volunteers) and users (as appropriate)
  • Inform the Experience Design Team

Visit the IEEE URL Redirect Registration Form

Help Desk Portal (IEEE employee sign-in required): This application can be used by employees to log a problem or request with the IEEE Information Technology (IT) Department Help Desk.

Ethical Practices for User Research

It is critical that proper conduct with end users be maintained in order to protect the privacy and interests of study participants and to protect IEEE from risk. In general, the following guidelines should be followed:

  • Be honest, fair, and maintain integrity.
  • Respect confidentiality, privacy and anonymity.
  • Follow proper processes and guidelines when providing honorariums and benefits for participation.

Partnering with External Vendors

All IEEE groups engaging external partners in their digital projects are responsible for educating the partner/vendor on IEEE digital requirements. Additionally, the master services agreement, which must be signed by all external partners working with IEEE, must include the statement below.

All IEEE-branded, end-user facing materials (including, but not limited to, digital sites, print collateral, and promotional items such as pens and shirts) for IEEE publications, products, services, conferences, and the like must adhere to the guidelines established in the IEEE Brand Identity Guidelines (PDF, 5 MB). Additionally, all IEEE digital properties must comply with the IEEE Digital Style Guide. These guidelines were created to present a stronger, more consistent, unified visual presentation of the IEEE brand.

Review the IEEE Brand Identity Guidelines

Submit any questions about the IEEE Brand Identity Guidelines via the IEEE Brand Inquiries Form.

Ongoing Site Monitoring

All IEEE sites must be regularly monitored and maintained to make sure they are still effectively meeting their goals, reflecting IEEE quality standards, and adhering to IEEE guidelines. When issues are identified, they must be responded to in a timely manner.

The following methods should be used (as applicable) to monitor site performance and usability.

  • Quantitative methods
    –  Analytics: performance and traffic monitoring (required)
    –  Search analytics: SEO or search term monitoring as well as content/IA optimization (highly recommended)
    –  Other: satisfaction surveys, user feedback, etc. (as appropriate)
  • Qualitative methods
    –  Usability evaluation: testing with site users or expert review (every two years minimum for flagship sites; every five years minimum for other sites)
    –  Content and information architecture: should be periodically evaluated and updated for accuracy and relevance
    –  Other: User feedback forms, call center reporting, etc. (as appropriate)
The Experience Design Team can help you decide how to implement the appropriate methods for your site and can conduct a site review to evaluate IEEE guideline compliance.

Information produced via ongoing monitoring methods should be periodically analyzed, while findings obtained via a one-time study should be analyzed as soon as the study is completed.

Changes should be made, as appropriate, based on the analysis. Changes should be evaluated for usability prior to implementation, and the ongoing impact should be monitored.

Monitoring of sites should be supported by periodic reporting to the Web Team of the following data (after it has been analyzed and refined as necessary)

Web statistics

  • Frequency/reporting period:
    – Quarterly for flagship sites (include monthly data for past three months)
    – Annually for other sites (include monthly data for past 12 months)
  • Types of reports:
    – Number of visits
    – Number of new vs. returning visitors
    – Referral sources (from IEEE and non-IEEE sites)
    – Top 50 site search terms (if applicable)

Other reporting (as applicable)

  • Conversions (based on site goals or user tasks)
  • Other quantitative and qualitative studies: satisfaction surveys, usability evaluations

Before launch, any IEEE site or section of IEEE.org must be evaluated for usability.

  • For IEEE digital presence sites:

A site review is required at the wireframe, design comp, and beta site stages. If user testing is necessary, the Experience Design Team will work with the site manager.

  • For IEEE.org sections:

Usability will be evaluated through the content quality assurance process. If additional user testing is needed, the Experience Design Team will assess on a case-by-case basis.

This requirement applies to all new sites and any site or section that has been significantly redesigned, that is, with:

  • Changes to IA or navigation
  • New or updated functionality or features
  • Major content changes
  • Major changes to the visual design (re-skins)

The usability evaluation may done in one of three ways:

  • A usability review/heuristic evaluation by a digital usability expert
  • Usability testing with at least six participants, either in-person or remote
  • Conducted by the Experience Design Team

Vendors who are part of the design and development team should not conduct the review. IEEE employees or volunteers may be test participants, but usually will not count towards the testing requirement.

Site managers or IEEE.org contributors must demonstrate that the findings of the evaluation were addressed. Any critical issues must be addressed within six months, or in a time agreed on with the Experience Design Team.