The Departmental Plone Project (DPP) aims to migrate remaining academic department and Corporate Services division websites into the Plone content management system. It seeks to significantly raise the standard of the University's website; enabling it to be a strategic communications medium, essential to supporting the business activity and trajectory of the University. This project was mandated by the IT Portfolio Board, chaired by the Registrar, and has support from the Colleges.

The project will be managed by a Project Board comprising:-

• Helen Pennack - (Marketing Communications)  - who will act both as the Project Executive and represent the needs of Corporate Services
• Directors of College Administration who will represent the needs of the Academic Departments  
• Multimedia Services team in IT Services who will be involved in helping to develop and implement the new  websites

The move to Plone, aims to deliver 2 significant benefits:

• consistency of architecture and visual design across University websites and
• the elimination of the need for web technical skills in departments.

Site architecture and overall visual design are the responsibility of the Multimedia Services and Marketing and Communications teams, working to accommodate the shared needs of departments and Corporate Services divisions.

The development and maintenance of  each department/division site is the responsibility of the individual department or division.  Local roles are as follows:

1. Heads of Department or Division - not normally directly involved in web work but ultimately responsible for the accuracy and appropriateness of content.
2. Website Communication Coordinators - (previously known as Web Maintainers) responsible for coordinating work on a website.  Coordinators should be registered with Multimedia Services so that we can maintain an up-to-date list of contacts.  Coordinators need to be specialists in communication, they do not need to have web technical skills.
3. Website Contributors - all those given access to edit a site.  Any number of staff can be given permission to edit web pages.  Their work should be overseen by their Communication Coordinator to ensure a consistent style of content.

As part of the project we have set aside time to work with Website Coordinators and Contributors on site architecture and visual design and to help with the transfer process. We will also provide dedicated training for each cohort and there will be support from the Division of Marketing, Planning and Communications to help with written content.

New Project Plan From October 2010

In order to provide a consistent structure and design as soon as possible, the Registrar would like the bulk of the more visible parts of the University web presence to be transferred into Plone by the end of September 2011.

The revised project will transfer to Plone:

• Key inward-facing service sites
• Outward-facing services related to student recruitment
• Top level areas of academic department sites

Other sites will be dealt with in a follow-on project.

Revised Schedule

Departments and divisions are divided into 10 project cohorts.

Cohort 1 (starting May 2010)

• Human Resources
• Genetics
• Accommodation

Cohort 2 (starting July 2010)

• School of Management
• School of Biological Sciences
• School of English
• Department of Media and Communication

Cohort 3  (starting November 2010)

• Academic and Research Services
• Research Support Office
• Library
• Department of Computer Science

Cohort 4 - Arts, Humanities & Law
(Starting November 2010)

• School of Historical Studies
• The Centre for American Studies
• School of Modern Languages

Cohort 5 - Arts, Humanities & Law
(Starting December 2010)

• School of Law
• School of Museum Studies

Cohort 6 – Corporate Services (Starting January 2011)

• Finance and Business Development
• Corporate Affairs and Planning

Cohort 7 - Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology
(Starting January 2011)

• Department of Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine
• Department of Medical and Social Care Education
• School of Medicine
• School of Biological Sciences

Cohort 8 – Science and Engineering
(Starting February 2011)

• Department of Geography
• Department of History of Art and Film 

Cohort 9 – Corporate Services (Starting March 2011)

• Catering
• Bookshop
• Print
• Registrar’s Office

Cohort 10 College of Social Sciences
(Starting January 2011)

The College has appointed a Web and Communications Officer (starting date 15 November 2010) who will be working with departments to help them with their transfer to Plone. 

• Department of Economics
• School of Education
• Department of Politics and International Relations
• Department of Sociology