WebPublish Usage Guidelines

These WebPublish Usage Guidelines outline the roles and responsibilities, policies and processes that guide, direct, and govern the management and operation of the WebPublish service. These guidelines must be considered when building, maintaining, deleting, or archiving a site in the WebPublish Service.

These guidelines are reviewed and updated on a regular basis to ensure alignment with any changes to the content management system (CMS) platform and software, brand and visual identity, accessibility, security, or copyright requirements at the university.

The WebPublish Service is offered through a partnership between Queen’s University Relations and Information Technology Services (ITS).

Scope

These Guidelines apply to all WebPublish sites, whether created in the Basic, Custom or Advanced tier of the service. They cover use of the features included in the WebPublish service, including but not limited to:

• core modules
• contributed modules
• custom modules
• preset themes
• custom themes
• preset layouts and tools

Audience

These Guidelines apply to any individual using Queen’s IT Services resources, whether on-campus or remotely. This includes:

• faculty, staff and students
• contractors or agents engaged by a department or employee
• alumni
• volunteers working on behalf of the university
• external consultants and partners
• guests or other external users

Governing policies

Users of the WebPublish Service are governed by policies of the Electronic Information Security Policy Framework, including the Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources. Failure to comply may result, at a minimum, with suspension of service.

Appropriate use and eligibility

The WebPublish Service is intended for hosting publicly accessible web content that is affiliated with Queen’s University. This could range from faculty and departmental websites, to support service sites, to research group sites, and to sites reflecting partnerships with external stakeholders.

• sites cannot be requested for hosting personal content
• sites cannot be requested for hosting private or internal information requiring access restrictions
• sites cannot be requested for students

Roles and responsibilities

Site owners

Site owners are accountable for the site and its content. Site owners must be a full-time staff or faculty member. By default, site owners will be granted the site administrator role for their WebPublish site, however, they can choose to delegate this role to other users. Site owners are responsible for:

• ensuring that the site always has at least two active site administrators
• ensuring that new owners are appointed prior to the departure of the previous owner from their position and that IT Services is notified of the change
• reading and understanding the Guidelines, including governing university policies, standards and best practices
• ensuring that the site content adheres to the Guidelines and does not compromise the reputation of the university

Site administrators

Site administrators have access rights to maintain the website. A site administrator can be any user with an active NetID and password whom the site owner chooses to delegate to this role; an owner can also be a site administrator. Site administrators are responsible for:

• managing user access to the site’s authoring environment
• approving or implementing changes on behalf of the site owner
• managing the day-to-day maintenance of the site
• reading and understanding the Guidelines, including governing university policies, standards and best practices
• monitoring the site for compliance with the Guidelines and either resolving or flagging issues with the site owner where applicable

Site provisioning

To request an account, a site owner or designate completes an Intent to Publish form. The purpose of this form is to provide a high-level plan, outlining the intended purpose of the site, for the Website Governance Committee. Once the request is reviewed and approved by the committee, the committee submits a request to IT Services, at which point the site is provisioned. The committee may recommend modifications to the plan before the site is provisioned.

Site launches

To launch the site, a site owners(or a designate) submits a Request to Go Live. The Website Governance Committee reviews the site for compliance with the WebPublish Usage Guidelines, university policies and standards, and industry best practices. Once the site is reviewed and approved, a go-live request is submitted to IT Services, at which point a launch will be scheduled. The committee may recommend modifications to the site before it is made live.

"University policies and standards" refers to (but is not limited to):

• Brand and Visual Identity Policy: all sites must adhere to the requirements of Queen’s Visual Identity Guide.

• Accessibility Policy: all sites must be compliant with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Ace (AODA). For support with accessibility, consult Queen's Accessibility Hub: Website Accessibility “How-to” information, and integrations of tools such as Siteimprove.

• Security Standards: All sites must adhere to the security responsibilities as outlined in their WebPublish Service Level Agreement. All sites, regardless of service level, must:

  • monitor user access to the site’s authoring environment and ensure access is provisioned and de-provisioned as necessary

  • ensure that any data collected on the site does not exceed the classification category of “Confidential” according to the IT Services Data Classification Standard is published, collected, or stored via Drupal 9

• Copyright Policies: All site content must adhere to the responsibilities outlined by the Copyright Advisory Office. This includes copyright considerations for photography and videography posted on the site, as outlined in Queen’s University Photo and Video Guidelines (available to employees through the Image Bank)

• Privacy Policies: All sites must adhere to the privacy responsibilities as outlined by the Records Management and Privacy Office, including guidelines on Web Privacy and taking and using images with consent.

Site deactivation and removal

Sites that have been provisioned but have not gone live after one year, will be flagged for removal. Site owners will be asked to confirm whether the site is still required – if so, the site will remain active. Otherwise, the site will be deleted.

If a live site is no longer required, site owners must submit a Request Form. The site will be taken down from public view and flagged for removal but will remain available in the authoring environment for a period of six months. After six months, the site will be deleted. The site owners will be notified prior to the site deletion.

Orphaned sites

If a Site Owner is no longer affiliated with a site and the responsibility has not been delegated to another individual, ownership will be assigned to the department head. They will be notified, at which point they may choose to delegate ownership to another member of the department.