UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
WRP/08/24
WEB REDEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME – TASK AND FINISH GROUP
12.00-13.30, 26 September 2008
Conference Room 1, Xfi Building
MINUTES (Draft)
Attendees:
Neil Armstrong (Chair)
Sean Fielding (SF)
Rob Mitchell (RM)
Linda Peka (LP)
Ann Pollard (AP)
Emma Reeve (ER)
Deborah Welland (DW) vice Michele Shoebridge
Apologies:
Peter Lacey
2.
Minutes – 18 July 2008
The draft minutes were accepted without amendment.
3.
Matters arising from the minutes
3. It was agreed that when the policy framework for external sites hosted by the
University was in place, the homepage editorial group, with SF as chair, should have
sign-off on any hosted site carrying our logo. This policy will be agreed by the editorial
group as part of the second phase.
ACTION RM
5. RM tabled a list of the features and functionality within the website, including
embedded movie clips and virtual tours, social bookmarking, email/print this page
functionality, RSS feeds of news stories and Google maps. SF asked whether web cams
would be a useful addition to the site. RM explained that web cams were relatively easy
to set up, but required a proper level of editorial oversight to ensure they are appropriate
and interesting. RM to investigate.
ACTION RM
5(a) RM reported that the mock-ups of MBA pages have not yet been produced. SF
stated that it was very important to produce these as soon as possible to build the
Business School’s confidence in the new design scheme.
ACTION RM
4.
Web Content Management System (WCMS) Project
RM tabled a written report from DCC. The report detailed delays in the delivery of service
by TERMINALFOUR (T4) and the actions that had been taken to deal with the situation.
This has led to delays in the delivery of the final website.
5.
Redesign Project
•
The minutes of the Redesign Project Board for 1 September were received.
•
RM gave a verbal report on project progress.
(a) Project Schedule
RM reported on the delays in the overall schedule caused by the issues with service
from T4 which made it impossible to deliver the site professionally by the midOctober project deadline. NA stated that a good launch for the site was more
important than a quick launch. SF reported that this was also the Registrar’s view.
th
RM presented a revised project schedule which ran until 14 November. He stated
that it is now critically important that a thorough testing phase was included before
the site was released. DW stated that the testing phase must be planned and
executed carefully.
th
Alternative dates for the launch of the site were discussed. LP stated that 14
November was a safe date in that there were no major events in the student
calendar around that time. SF suggested that the site should be live for at least two
th
weeks before the RAE results were published (18 December). It was agreed that
th
st
the final site should be prepared for 14 November and launched on 1 December.
This will give the opportunity for a ‘soft launch’ to staff and students who could
preview the site for two weeks before it is launched to external users. ACTION RM
NA stated that he would update VCEG on the new schedule at their meeting next
week. LP would update Schools Managers.
ACTION NA
ACTION LP
(b) Updated Communications Plan
RM detailed the updates to the Communications Plan. SF requested that the key
dates for the launch of the site be added to the project website.
ACTION RM
(c) Draft Training Plan
RM presented the draft training plan and explained that he has contacted other
Universities who use T4 to discuss training. They have all developed in-house
training and reported that this has been successful. The group discussed the lack of
resource to develop and deliver the training. DW reported that the recent HR and
SITS projects had each included the recruitment of a full-time trainer. LP stressed
the importance of effective training to ensure that the new site is a success and that
staff are on-board with the new system and styles. NA asked RM to speak to
colleagues in Learning and Development and Academic Services to provide an
estimate of the resources needed to deliver the training plan.
ACTION RM
(d) Risk Log
RM tabled an update Risk Log. RL1 and RL4 have been upgraded to ‘Red’ status to
reflect the delay in the delivery of the CMS.
6.
Any Other Business
None
7.
Date of next meeting
TBA
ACTION RM