Our universities have so much history & tradition (i.e. complexity), it makes web management much harder to sort out than in other similar sized organisations. Yet, 3 essential steps seem to remain: 1. Beef up on good web management practice. 2. Do the simple things first & plan for 'better'. 3. Build the 'better' (i.e. new roles, responsibilities, processes, etc). Read more thoughts about better web management at www.diffily.com

1. A free presentation from Shane Diffily
Universities & Higher Education
3 steps to better online management in UK

2. • Huge content volumes
• New sites & social networks
• Massive user engagement
• High user expectations
• High internal expectations
Recent years have seen a
MASSIVE growth in universities’
• Unclear Roles & Responsibilities
• Unclear processes & procedures
• Issues with distributed publishing
• Unclear web ownership/leadership
• Lack of tools, budget & skills
But this growth has often
NOT been matched by changes in
Online Ambition Web Management

3. The journey to better Online Management has 3 steps.
“We have lots of quality issues
& my Web Team is in revolt!
We need to start doing better
Web Management, right now!”
“My management team is finally
ready to invest in web operations.
I now need to identify what I
need & how much it’ll cost.”
“My budget is now in place, so it is
time to get serious.
I need a plan a web team that can
work in a complex organisation.”
Step 3. OptimiseStep 2. OrganiseStep 1. Discover

4. First, restructure how you think about your web operations.
Use the model below to categorise everything into 2 key groups.
These Activities describe
everything you must do to manage
an online presence effectively.
These Resources describe
everything you must have to make
the above Activities happen.
Roles
1. Discover
Learn about this model of Web Management
at www.diffily.com/articles/model.htm

5. Now, you can start to get “Organised”.
To begin, audit your operations to fill-in any critical gaps.
Are you missing essential
software or tools?
Are there unresolved issues
of ownership or authority?
Does your team have out-of-
date roles & responsibilities?
Are important activities being
ignored or left incomplete?
2. Organise

6. Next, clarify the investment you need to do things better.
To do so, measure the impact of your management burden.
This means lots of investment will be
needed to acquire all Resources.
This means operational Activities
will occur very frequently.
A very large web presence creates
a very large management burden.
2. Organise
• Great technical complexity
• Huge content volumes
• High traffic & engagement
Learn how to calculate your own Web Management
burden at www.diffily.com/articles/websitescale.htm

7. Finally, design a web management system that can cope.
This includes roles, responsibilities, staffing, tools, processes, etc.
Common skills include:
- Code
- Design
- Content
Manpower/staffing can be
upwards of 10+ FTEs.*
Ownership often resides with IT,
Communications or Corp. Affairs.
Team structures & leadership
systems are often as shown.
Common tools include CMS,
QA, Analytics, Monitoring & more.
- Marketing
- Analytics
- Technical
*10 FTEs (Full Time Equivalents) is an
estimate for a Large Scale online operation.
3. Optimise
Learn how to configure your own Web Team
at www.diffily.com/articles/webteamroles.htm

8. The advantages of better web management will then become clear.
This 3 benefits below will form the core of your business case.
Clear roles, coherent teams &
defined processes reduce the
chances of embarrassing errors.
Staff with the right tools & support
will produce consistently better
content.
Reduced riskImproved quality
A web team with the right budget
authority & leadership will get
more done at less cost.
More productivity

9. I can help you create a robust & secure business case by
auditing your web management & making recommendations.
I can help you create a better & more stable web team by
fixing structural issues with Roles, Responsibilities, Staffing, etc.
I can help you improve relations with internal customers by
creating the responsive system of support they need.
1
2
3
3 ways I can
help YOU on
this journey.

10. I created a single approach to online for UCD Research
(University College Dublin) by developing a Web Governance
Framework for use among diverse institutions.
I designed a new Web Team for the Irish Cancer Society (incl.
roles, responsibilities & staffing) as part of a new digital strategy
- of which I was also the author.
I have hosted several 3-day & 5-day training courses in the
“Concepts & Practice of Online Management” (e.g. for Aviva
insurance, Zurich, etc.) to improve web teams core skills.
For example,
3 ways I have
helped others.
1
2
3

11. I am a specialist in Web Governance, as well as being the internet’s most prolific
author on this topic.
With 15 years' experience in digital operations, I have helped organisations in
Higher Education, Government, Non-Profit & Retail improve web management.
In 2014, I produced a 6-part online training course in Web Governance for leading
technology vendor, Siteimprove.com.
Contact me NOW to see how I can help improve your own online operations.
Arrange a FREE webinar… Go to www.diffily.com
Hi. I’m Shane Diffily.
Web: www.diffily.com | Email: shane@diffily.com

12. Infographic: “Web
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Web Content
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Calculate the time & effort you need to produce,
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Free download at Diffily.com/governance
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13. A free presentation from www.diffily.com