From Order Takers to Web CustodiansHow a team of 7 web professionals managed to transitionfrom taking phone calls to developing a processto ensure quality, support, accountability, and visibility. Prepared by Benny Jones Jr., Tammaye Murray, April 2013High Ed Web - Florida. Source: Liz Snow, Director, Web Services & Learning Management, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Link: http://fl.highedweb.org/conference-schedule-and-venue/from-order-takers-to-web-custodians-within-2-years
Passkey Providers and Enabling Portability: FIDO Paris Seminar.pptx
Order takers-web-custodians-pruned
1. From Order Takers to Web Custodians
How a team of 7 web professionals managed to transition
from taking phone calls to developing a process
to ensure quality, support, accountability, and visibility.
Prepared by Benny Jones Jr., Tammaye Murray, April 2013
High Ed Web - Florida
http://fl.highedweb.org/conference-schedule-and-venue/from-order-takers-to-web-custodians-within-2-years/
2. May I take your order?
Discovery
Production
Culture Shock
Rise of the Custodian
Challenges
Resources
Questions & Answers
Agenda
Prepared by Benny Jones, Tammaye Murray, April 2013
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
3. Benny Jones Jr.
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
Web Producer
Current Projects
- Ernie Redesign (Intranet)
Past Projects
-Faculty Experts Site (C&M)
-Admissions Blogs (Word Press)
4. Tammaye Murray
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
Information Architect
Current Projects
-New Intranet Architecture
-Digital Catalog
-WebTrends Upgrade
Past Projects
-Campus Website Architecture
-Site Improve setup
5. About Embry-Riddle
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
For more information, visit http://www.embryriddle.edu
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is
the world's oldest, largest, and most
prestigious university specializing in
aviation and aerospace. It is the only
fully accredited, aviation-oriented
university in the world. Embry-Riddle
educates students at residential
campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and
Prescott, Ariz., and through the
Worldwide Campus with more than 150
locations in the United States, Europe,
Asia, and the Middle East.
6. Web Services Team
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
Web Producer
Work collaboratively with
designers, developers, and
business to facilitate design
meetings, solution proposal
sessions, identify project scope,
objectives and requirements.
Web Producer may utilize web
publishing tools to implement
requirements and requests made
by the business.
Information Architect
Research and plan web interfaces,
usability, and information on web
user-facing systems and
information. Collaborate with web
designer and web producers to
ensure web projects and
information architecture are
delivered with a high level of quality
in accordance with web, marketing
and brand standards.
Web Designer
Create design interfaces
for new and existing sites
and other interactive
mediums; Work closely
with IA and WP to both
implement and suggest
with new ways to use web
technologies while
adhering to and
maintaining web,
marketing and brand
standards.
Web Writer
Partner with web team
members, and business to
create and edit content.
Ensure editorial content is
written and presented in a
format that meets web
usability standards and is
consistent with design
guidelines, web, marketing
and brand standards.
8. May I take your order?
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
What is order taking
and what challenges does it cause?
Image source: www.bottomlineperformance.com/learning-solutions-or-fast-food-orders
9. Order taking challenges
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
- No visibility
- Lowers value of content
- No traceability or
accountability
- May diminish reputation
- Service redundancy and
master mind
- Work capacity inaccurate
Image source: www.bottomlineperformance.com/learning-solutions-or-fast-food-orders
10. Discovery
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
How is work received
and tracked?
How are projects
managed?
Who knows what?
Image source: http://beyondthebrochurela.com/2011/10//
11. Discovery
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
How is work received and tracked?
o Phone, email, IT support
software, paper, face-to-face
Issues/Opportunities
o No transparency
o Rework
o Inconsistent metrics
o Work capacity
o Project estimating
Image source: http://beyondthebrochurela.com/2011/10//
12. Discovery
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
How are projects managed
and communicated?
o Excel, Quickbase, Web
committee meetings
Issues/Opportunities
o Standards
o Microsoft Project best
practice
o Project Management
best practice
*Review 2009 project plan next
slide
Image source: http://beyondthebrochurela.com/2011/10/
/
16. Discovery
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
Who knows what?
o Skills matrix
Issues/Opportunities
o Discover skills gaps
o Development
opportunities
o Assign service request
o What needs to be
outsourced
*Review skills matrix next slide
Image source: http://beyondthebrochurela.com/2011/10/
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18. Discovery
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
How much time spent on
support/projects?
o Time matrix
Issues/Opportunities
o Track time spent on
support, projects, other
o Can determine project
capacity
*Review time matrix next slide
Image source: http://beyondthebrochurela.com/2011/10/
/
20. Discovery
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
How much time spent on
support/projects?
o 40hr work week = 32hrs
o 8hr/day – 6.5 work hrs
o 1.6hr slack: bio, water
cooler, other
o For projects resources
aren’t allocated above
40% (32*.40=12hrs)
Image source: http://beyondthebrochurela.com/2011/10/
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22. From Order Takers to Web Custodians
Project Size Campus Impacts Effort
Resource
Requirements
Duration
for Delivery
Simple 1 campus 5-10 days work 1-2 resources 1-2 months
Moderate 1 or more campuses 11-25 days work 2-3 resources 2-4 months
Complex 1 or more campuses 25+ days work 4 + resources 4+ months
Project Size & Complexity
23. From Order Takers to Web Custodians
Project Capacity
Option Complex Moderate Simple
A 2 1
B 1 2
C 3
D 2 2
24. Discovery
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
Review:
-Discovery
o Root cause
o Skills matrix
o Time matrix
o Work capacity
o Project sizing
-Challenges
o Backlog or project
requests
o Work intake silos
o Non-standard PM
practices
Image source: http://beyondthebrochurela.com/2011/10/
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25. Production
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
Image source: http://www.oracle-apps-training-online.com/oracle-work-in-process.html
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Best Practice – Process – Standards
Work intake process
o Must use IT-Support
Software for all work intake
Project methodology
o MS Project
o Charter
o Kickoff meeting
o Project status
26. Production
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
Image source: http://www.oracle-apps-training-online.com/oracle-work-in-process.html
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Best Practice – Process – Standards
Work intake process
o Must use IT Support software
for all work intake
Issues/Opportunities
o Accountability, tracking, metrics
o Visibility, decrease in rework
o Value, ROI
o Monitoring requests (Issue)
*SNOW shown on next slide
27. From Order Takers to Web Custodians
Ellucian: Software and Services for Higher Education
www.ellucian.com
IT Service Management - SNOW
30. From Order Takers to Web Custodians
IT Service Management - SNOW
Term Description
Incident Task type used for reporting problems, errors,
failures, etc
Requests Task type used for reporting requests for
enhancements.
Task General term that refers to either an Incident
or a Request.
Triage Initial review of tasks submitted to the team in
SNOW. This involves first review to ensure
fields updated correctly and assignment to
team member.
31. From Order Takers to Web Custodians
IT Service Management - SNOW
Team Priority Complexity Effort SLA Notifications /
Escalations /
Escalation Reports
Incidents (Failures)
Web Services All 50% within 1 day
80% within 2 days
As per usual Incident
SLAs
Requests (Enhancements)
Web Services Urgent / Simple <=1 d 70% within 1 day Reports
Moderate <=3 d 60% within 3 days Reports
Complex >10d As per project
schedules
Reports
32. Production
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
Image source: http://www.oracle-apps-training-online.com/oracle-work-in-process.html
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Best Practice – Process – Standards
Project methodology
o Charter
o Sponsor
o Stakeholder committee
o Steering committee
o MS Project template
o Kickoff meeting
o Project status meetings
o Project communication
o Project documentation
*Illustrations shown next slides
40. Production
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
Image source: http://www.oracle-apps-training-online.com/oracle-work-in-process.html
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Review:
Production
o Best Practices
o Process
o Standards
Challenges
o Team pushback
o Customer pushback
o Lack of formal training about
PM methodology
41. Culture Shock
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
Image source: http://www.oracle-apps-training-online.com/oracle-work-in-process.html
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Department/Team
o Change has to be top down
o SOP for effectiveness
Benefits
o Visibility
o Accountability
o Value, ROI
Challenges
oSome customers will try to
bend the rules
oSenior managers need to
follow protocol
oCommunicate process
42. Web Custodian
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
What is a web custodian?
- Sets standards, trains, audits,
shares knowledge
- Evaluates all web content requests
with regard to best practices in web
design, information architecture and
SEO while adhering to University
web, marketing and brand
standards.
43. Web Custodian
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
Content Strategy
Planning for
content creation,
delivery, and
governance.
Web Custodian
Evaluate all web
content requests with
regard to best practices
in web design,
information architecture
and SEO while
adhering to University
web, marketing and
brand standards.
Information Architecture
Determine navigation and
navigation labels based on
research, best practices,
and peer review of other
education institutions.
46. Web Custodian
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
WUG – Web Users Group
Participants:
- Content Owners
Purpose:
- Share info about webpages
-Share tips and tricks
-Discuss layout methods in
CMS
-ID problematic content types
-Special topics: web design,
web writing, SEO, Social Media
-Recommend enhancements
Frequency
-Once a month every 2nd
Wed
CMS Training
Participants:
- Content Owners
Purpose:
- The course will provide
a brief introduction to the
use of CMS for managing
website content in the
University.
Frequency
-Once a month every 4th
Wed
SEO & Social Media
Participants:
- Web Services/Marketing
Purpose:
- Review, discuss and
recommend SEO/SMO
changes.
Frequency
-Once a month every Tue
47. Metrics & Website Usage
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
IT Web Team 25 sites, #pages, 7 resources
•381,000 visits January 2013
•14% of these visits are from a mobile device
• 43% increase in mobile last 3 months
• 55,410 mobile device visits January 2013
• 31,243 mobile device visits November 2012
•31% of these visits are from organic search
• 73% organic search visits are from Google
50. Success Factors
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
• Branding
o Review branding position and strategy
• Web Analyst (SEO, Analytics, Usability) – additional resource
• Marketing
o Campus resource with direct or dotted line to M&C
• Content Editors
o Web Team as custodians – set standards, train, audit, share knowledge
and expertise
o Clarify roles and expectations of customer content editors
o Fewer content editors that are web and tech savvy
• Policies, Standards, Guidelines
o Defined
o Communicated and enforced
• Planning
o Regular meetings
Deans, COA, Marketing , IT
(Admissions, Mktg), IT
• Functionality
o Super users
51. Best Practices
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
User Survey
Content Inventory
Card Sort
Site Map
Content Creation/Migration Schedule
Wireframes
Graphical Mockups
Usability Study (early and often)
Prototype
52. Resources
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
Sites/Blogs
Higher Ed Experts
www.higheredexperts.com
- EDUniverse
http://www.eduniverse.org
-Higher Ed Experts
www.higheredexperts.com
- Gerry McGovern
www.gerrymcgovern.com
-Steve Krug
www.sensible.com
- Jacob Nielsen
www.useit.com
- A List Apart
www.alistapart.com
White Papers
Noel Levitz Higher
Education Consultants
-The Online expectations of
Prospective College
Students and Their Parents
-2012 E-Expectations
Report: Students and
Parents
- 2012 Marketing and
Student Recruitment
Practices Report
Books
Content Strategy Web Content
Web Redesign Web Usability
53. Tools
From Order Takers to Web Custodians
All images sources are copyrighted respective to the owner.
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Benny works for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University as a Web Producer where he is responsible for managing web projects. Benny has earned Search Engine Marketing certifications with Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) and WebCEO. Benny is a graduate of the University of Florida and earned an MBA with emphasis in entrepreneurism and is passionate about technology, marketing, and wellness strategies.
Tammaye works for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University as an Information Architect where she oversees the organization, navigation and labeling of thousands of pages across the university’s web presence, and she brings a passion for both findability and usability to her role. Tammaye holds undergraduate degrees in journalism and graphic design, and earned a master’s degree in Interactive Communication from Florida State University in 1998.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is the world's oldest, largest, and most prestigious university specializing in aviation and aerospace. It is the only fully accredited, aviation-oriented university in the world. Embry-Riddle educates students at residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz., and through the Worldwide Campus with more than 150 locations in the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
You have all heard this before and it starts with can you make this change to this or that… Or can I have another navigation link label etc… Order taking is developing, correcting, and modifying web sites/assets without regard to your organization’s policies, business processes, industry best practices, or user data. In addition, order taking is often not documented and often received verbally or via phone and email, and not input into any support application system. Image: www.bottomlineperformance.com%2Flearning-solutions-or-fast-food-order
No visibility: The intake wasn’t input into a IT support application Value: If no one knows what you’re doing it can lower your value within the organization/enterprise Traceability/Accountability: Again, without being able to reference the intake in the system there’s no traceability or more important accountability. For example, if someone calls you and you’re out of the office or if a customer sends you an email and you miss it and don’t respond for days/weeks – your reputation could be damaged. Redundancy/Mastermind: When work intake is input into a IT support app where all team members can view all work, you can see redundancies or trends to either remove dupes or create solutions through brain-storm/master-mind Capacity: If you’re receiving all your work through phone and email how can managers determine/forecast capacity (ie: how much support/maintenance and project capacity). Without data from IT support app, it’s extremely hard for managers to communicate to customers/leadership without [capacity] metrics to show work volume to justify pushback /OT/FTE. Image: www.bottomlineperformance.com%2Flearning-solutions-or-fast-food-orders
Order taking often begets silos: pockets of information that 1 individual has that could be used to improve csr for the entire team. In addition, order taking causes inefficiencies with work capacity and project sizing and often times you can’t justify the pushback/OT/FTE with no metrics. Image: http://beyondthebrochurela.com/2011/10/ /
Shadow: How is work received and tracked Liz shadowed each web producer observing our work methods and asking questions. Order taking often begets silos: pockets of information that 1 individual has that could be used to improve csr for the entire team. In addition, order taking causes inefficiencies with work capacity and project sizing and often times you can’t justify the pushback/OT/FTE with no metrics. Image: http://cathyberggren.com/tag/shadow/ Image: http://beyondthebrochurela.com/2011/10/
Discover root cause How are projects managed and communicated Excel, Quickbase, Web committee meetings ** The team was inconsistent from producer to producer in how web projects were managed and communicated - Issues MSP best practice PMP best practice ** Team didn’t follow PM best practices: MSP as project tool, kickoff meetings, sponsor, steering committee, weekly team meetings, weekly project status email Image: http://beyondthebrochurela.com/2011/10/
Discover root cause How are projects managed and communicated Excel, Quickbase, Web committee meetings ** The team was inconsistent from producer to producer in how web projects were managed and communicated - Issues MSP best practice PMP best practice ** Team didn’t follow PM best practices: MSP as project tool, kickoff meetings, sponsor, steering committee, weekly team meetings, weekly project status email Image: http://beyondthebrochurela.com/2011/10/
Discover root cause How are projects managed and communicated Excel, Quickbase, Web committee meetings ** The team was inconsistent from producer to producer in how web projects were managed and communicated - Issues MSP best practice PMP best practice ** Team didn’t follow PM best practices: MSP as project tool, kickoff meetings, sponsor, steering committee, weekly team meetings, weekly project status email Image: http://beyondthebrochurela.com/2011/10/
Discover root cause How are projects managed and communicated Excel, Quickbase, Web committee meetings ** The team was inconsistent from producer to producer in how web projects were managed and communicated - Issues MSP best practice PMP best practice ** Team didn’t follow PM best practices: MSP as project tool, kickoff meetings, sponsor, steering committee, weekly team meetings, weekly project status email Image: http://beyondthebrochurela.com/2011/10/
Discover root cause - Who knows what Skills matrix - Issues/Opportunities Discover skills gaps Development opportunities Assign service request What needs to be outsourced Image: http://beyondthebrochurela.com/2011/10/
Discover root cause - Who knows what Skills matrix - Issues/Opportunities Discover skills gaps Development opportunities Assign service request What needs to be outsourced Image: http://beyondthebrochurela.com/2011/10/
Discover root cause - How much time do spent on support/projects Time matrix - Issues/Opportunities Track time spent on support, projects, other Can determine project capacity ** By estimating time spent on support and projects you can start to determine work capacity Image: http://beyondthebrochurela.com/2011/10/
Discover root cause - How much time do spent on support/projects Time matrix - Issues/Opportunities Track time spent on support, projects, other Can determine project capacity ** By estimating time spent on support and projects you can start to determine work capacity Image: http://beyondthebrochurela.com/2011/10/
Discover root cause How much time spent on support/projects (resource allocation) 40hr work week = 32hrs 8hr/day – 6.5 work hrs 1.6hr slack: bio, water cooler, other For projects resources aren’t allocated above 40% (32*.40=12hrs) ** By estimating time spent on support and projects you can start to determine work capacity Image: http://beyondthebrochurela.com/2011/10/
Discover root cause Support vs Projects work capacity in hours per year B1: 6 team members B2: Each team member has 2080 hours available B3: 6 X 2080 = 12480 hours available B4: Adjusted B3 for administrative tasks .8 B5: 9984 hours available for projects/support B7: 47% allotted for support (9984 - 5252=4732) B8: 53% allotted for projects (9984 – 4732=5252) B9: 2.5 FTE (What ?) B11: Project time per team member per week X 52 weeks/yr X 6 team members = 5252 ** By estimating time spent on support and projects you can start to determine work capacity Image: http://beyondthebrochurela.com/2011/10/
** By estimating time spent on support and projects you can start to determine work capacity and develop a simple project sizing methodology to take to senior leadership.
** By estimating time spent on support and projects you can start to determine work capacity and project size and complexity
Discover root cause - How much time do spent on support/projects Time matrix - Issues/Opportunities Track time spent on support, projects, other Can determine project capacity ** By estimating time spent on support and projects you can start to determine work capacity Image: http://beyondthebrochurela.com/2011/10/
Best Practice – Process – Standards Project methodology Charter, Sponsor Stakeholder committee Steering committee MS Project template Kickoff meeting Project status meetings Project communication Project documentation Image: http://www.oracle-apps-training-online.com/oracle-work-in-process.html
Committees
Project status agenda
Project status email
Project repository
Review - Production Best Practices Process Standards **BPS gets the team to a point where visibility, metrics, and capacity can show value and roi to senior leadership. Can also use data to advocate for overtime/fte etc - Challenges Pushback about SNOW Pushback about time estimates Lack of formal training about PM methodology **Team wasn’t happy about having to enter every request because it’s time consuming, in addition, to the time estimate tracking that proceeded this phase ** No one on the team had any formal project management training. Image: http://www.oracle-apps-training-online.com/oracle-work-in-process.html
Department/Team Change has to be top down SOP for effectiveness ** Must be SOP for every team in the department to be effective; otherwise you will confuse and frustrate customers with inconsistency Benefits Visibility Accountability Value, ROI ** Continue to communicate the benefits to team and customers Challenges Some customers will try to bend the rules Snr mgrs need to follow protocol Communicate process ** Some customers will try to bend the rules and you have to stay firm. Moreover, some snr mgrs will think they are above the law and you need to handle on case by case (probably going to have to submit their requests on their behalf). Image: http://www.oracle-apps-training-online.com/oracle-work-in-process.html
- What is a web custodian
- What is a web custodian
Content Production Strategy * After reading the book Content Strategy by Kristina Halvorson, we added this methodology as a part of our web production process and it’s baked into our web project template. Each CS component is evaluated for feasibility and maybe removed depending on the project size, needs, and goals.
Addendum to the Web Policy Style Guide * The Web Style Policy, this Addendum, and Embry-Riddle’s Brand Identity Graphic Standards Guidelines govern the use of the colors, fonts, logos, graphics, etc. that define the Embry-Riddle brand.
Web Custodian methods WUG & CMS training * Self Explanatory
Metrics & Reporting
Strategy should be co-managed by Marketing and Web Services currently Web Services drives the strategy
Strong web project and content production methodology but our distributed content management approach is a gap in our content marketing (editorial strategy)