Revised 4/03

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS FROM EPOC:

Recommendation #1: Web Overseer Policy

Ownership and maintenance of websites are the responsibility of the college or department represented.  Each academic or administrative unit will assign a site overseer – a technical contact – who will take an active and accountable role in the site development process.  The University Web Administrator will meet at regular intervals with the college and university overseers.  The overseers will be responsible for training site content contributors in their academic or administrative units and will assume an active role in site security and delegation of responsibilities as new site management tools are implemented.

            Deans and directors will nominate the overseers for their areas on an annual basis.  The overseers will identify those editors and content providers within their area of responsibility.  Each academic and administrative unit will be allocated an overseer.  The vice presidents will assign overseers for web sites that originate within their administrative units.

            It is recommended by EPOC that an annual review be conducted of the site management by the respective office of the dean, director or vice-president. The Center for Instructional Technology will provide reports on broken links and traffic data to assist in the review.

 

Definitions:

Editor – Can upload, create and change pages, documents and borders.

Overseer – Can view, add, and change all site content; manage site content, settings and accounts

Root Level Site(s) – A root level site (RLS) is a term for web sites that fall directly under the main Marshall University website. For example, Information Technology is an RLS which means its web address would be www.marshall.edu/it because its folder is in the “root” directory of the web server. Root level sites are to be reserved for large departmental sites or major divisions of Marshall University and are approved through EPOC. As good site management practice, all other sites should follow the university hierarchy where appropriate and/or possible.

University Web Administrator (UWA) – The University Web Administrator reports through the Center for Instructional Technology and holds a seat on the Electronic Publishing Oversight Committee (EPOC). The UWA manages the university web properties including adding overseers, root level site creation and template development.

 

Recommendation #2: External Hosting Policy

            Units that purchase their own domains and host sites externally are subject to (and are expected to comply with) the same standards, restrictions and policies that apply to sites hosted internally. An overview of these standards, policies and restrictions can be found on the EPOC website at www.marshall.edu/epoc. 

Recommendation #3: Root-Level Site Policy

            New web sites requests indicating a desire for root-level status will need to submit a request to EPOC. The request will be reviewed and the committee will determine whether or not the site requires a root-level directory based upon criteria published on the EPOC website at www.marshall.edu/epoc. Requests will be reviewed within 3-5 business days. For a definition of “root level site” please see definitions under recommendation number one.