Managing information — External

Customers have time constraints. Providing information on the web can

• increase the productivity of your workforce
• give customers access to accurate, timely info when they want it
• allow you to respond to immediate communication needs

Helpful tools

Customers go online to get up-to-date information.

If they are successful in easily finding the information they’re after they’ll be back. If they are unsuccessful the site loses credibility and may even leave the impression that their utility is unresponsive. Customers who use your website will not call the utility as often, gaining additional productivity for employees.

Here's something for our public power clients to think about. It’s counter-intuitive but use of the public website often increases when the power goes off. Customers check the utility website for updates on the extent of the outage and an idea as to when power will be restored. Utilities have reported that the “outage tips” pages were particularly popular. Yes, they can get online even when the power’s out. Dial-ups, Wi-Fi, battery powered laptops and PDAs, cellular phones with Internet access, computers of friends and family members… you name it. It’s easy to get online.  

In order to keep your website credible, information must be accurate and fresh. You should try to put something new on your home page every few days… a new photo, a new link, graphic or other noticeable change. It shows someone is keeping pages up-to-date and that translates to a belief that the information is reliable…as it must be.

Content management systems can put the responsibility to update material with the appropriate departments. There, staff can create copy and have it approved for accuracy. Organizations may desire to have communications staff edit the final copy and ensure that it doesn’t contradict other information on the site. The approval process is set up in a formalized work flow plan for consistency.

Policies

Policies need to be established to help guide content creators.

• Who will set the site standards?
• What, if any, limitations will be put on content for the public site?
• Who’s responsible for identifying and approving the addition of new technologies?  
• Who proposes and budgets for additional functions?
• Who monitors for broken links?   Outdated content?
• What policies are required regarding security levels? Who sets them?

These, and probably more, policies should be drafted and approved. A privacy statement describing how you deal with the information they give you should be available for the public on the site.

Documentation

As the website project progresses it is helpful to begin documenting decisions so that intent is clearly established to guide future growth of the site. Start by defining:

• How the site is organized
• Why it’s organized that way
• How the architecture should be extended as the site grows.

Next explain what the site includes.

1) Mission and vision (original goals for site)

2) Information about intended audiences

• Who the site was designed for
• Assumptions that were made about their information needs
• Assumptions that were made about technology customers use

3) Description of the content policy

• What types of content will and won’t be included and why

4) Include both high-level and detailed information architecture blueprints

• Explain with narrative text

5) Create guidelines for adding content

• Organization (When should a new level in the hierarchy be added?)
• Labeling
• Navigation (How should local navigation systems be extended as the site grows?)
• Indexing systems (Under what conditions can new indexing terms be introduced?)

6) Graphic design style guide and a suite of HTML templates

The goal is to explain why you did what you did and document ideas for growth. Future contributors and webmasters will have needed guidance which ultimately should save on costs for re-design.

Your organization serves its customers better through a planned approach to external communications.. We offer assistance with exactly this sort of process. If your team has questions or concerns about developing a strategy for communicating external information, let us know. We're happy to help. Also, you may find it helpful to read more about managing internal information.