The Office of Web Services attends to many internal and external units and guides the Ozarks Technical Community College’s overall digital strategy. The team boasts of user experience experts, information architects, designers, and developers. Together with campus colleagues, the team leads the college’s web efforts and sets policies and guidelines for design, content, navigation, and accessibility.

The Office of Web Services supports all OTC System websites, which include but are not limited to; campus and centers, divisions, and departments. Visit the website https://web.otc.edu/website-hierarchy/ for further details site managed.

We have simplified how a website is conceived, built, and launched to assist in an organized and streamlined approach and process. Many departments are working with existing websites, requiring an audit of the current website while comparing the existing to the specific analytics.

In some cases, maybe your business unit’s priorities have changed, which has prompted the decision to redesign the website. Or your unit is brand new. Either way, the path is the same. Below are the simple steps to assist in your initial discovery, creation, and launch of a student-centered data-driven website. 

NOTE: Steps 4 & 5 are primarily where your team will engage with the process as the subject matter expert. 

Here are the 7 Steps for Website Design Projects at OTC:

STEP 1: Review the principles of student-centered data-driven web design.

The primary focus of The Office of Web Services is to build student-center data-driven websites. Our team has been focused on this since 2008. Below are a few articles written by and about the OTC student-centered approach. 

https://www.ccdaily.com/2017/09/still-keeping-simple/

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/09/10/ozarks-technical-community-college-launches-new-simple-website

A student-centered data drive approach removes opinions and opts for a singular focus.

View STEP 1

STEP 2: Propose a website project.

If you are starting a website project, then this is the place you start. Submit your project requests at https://web.otc.edu/webdesign/request

View STEP 2

STEP 3: Review project planning schedules.

The Office of Web Services maintains over 200 websites, thousands of pages, and hundreds of thousands of elements. This scope of the website has increased from less than a few hundred pages in 2008.

As the size and scope of the website have changed, so has the planning process. Understanding where your request for a website design fits within the current system project planning and system project timing will help you maximize the benefits of new and improved features offered during system-wide upgrades. Web Services can complete standard websites for small college units in less than ten business days.

View STEP 3

STEP 4: Discovery Phase - Project Kickoff

The college has writers, graphic designers, videographers, programmers, web designers, and strategists. However, if you do not clarify your unit’s goals related to a student-centered approach, anything developed by the talented people at OTC will not benefit your unit or students.

Often, we hear units cite “just put something together, and then we can go through it and edit it.”

That process doesn’t benefit the students nor the college community as it is wasteful both in time and resources. While there are exceptions, in emergency cases, you can expect that understanding the basics of your scope, goals & objectives, identity and messaging, stakeholders, target audiences, content, and your team is paramount to the effectiveness of your message, information, and website. If you cannot explain your message and information in writing to web services, how can you expect us to be able to communicate your message?

When you are clear in your vision, the messaging and website can be clear to the intended audience.

Everyone has an idea, and not everyone can execute it. When you create a shared vision, it clarifies the execution strategy for your unit and anything that flows from that, whether it be a website or marketing.  

By completing this process at the project kickoff, you set your unit and future visitors up for success.

View STEP 4

STEP 5: Website Audit, Mapping, & Outline

The purpose of a website, simply put, is to provide information to those looking for that information.

It is assumed that you have gone through Building a Shared Vision with your team in the project discovery & kickoff stage and then have created the document to provide to web services. The next steps are to audit, map and outline your website. As you develop these three documents, you want to rank the most important information you need to convey to the least important. If you have an existing website, you will want to ask for the analytics for your site to determine what is most used and what isn’t.

This part of the process requires your expertise as the subject matter expert and has three parts: auditing, mapping, and outlining the information for the website. If this is a brand new website, please skip to the outline section. 

In some cases, you may also need further visualizations that can be found by looking at your Information Architecture.

View STEP 5

STEP 6: Website Creation

Once we have all your information, we will start to build out your website.  During this part of the process, you will be asked to review content, pages, and concepts. We will also communicate on your behalf with other departments like creative services to obtain the content, graphics, photos, and videos needed to complete your project.

During this phase, you may also be asked for additional information as we uncover other gaps that may benefit your audience. A timely response will ensure the project schedule is maintained.

 

STEP 7: Testing, Review, and Launch

This phase of the website project is relatively complex. It covers testing code, final content review, the launch of the site, and foundational marketing efforts like SEO. Behind the scenes, Web Services ensures your site comes up in local search, is connected to other relevant resources around the college, and is searchable through Google, Bing, and Yahoo.