A common thread throughout Deloitte Consulting’s 2015 IT assessment of the University of Utah was that too many IT services are decentralized.

“Deloitte’s report drove home the fact that we need to be better at consolidating our services and making them less confusing,” said Barb Iannucci, associate director for USS Content Management & Usability and university webmaster.

The need for more centralized IT services prompted the university’s Enterprise Web Advisory Council (EWAC) to develop the U website registry, a comprehensive database of university websites and web administrator contact information.

“If there’s an accessibility audit or a copyright lawsuit, the Office of the University Webmaster needs a way to quickly contact the people in charge,” Iannucci said.

The registry complies with the university’s World Wide Web Resources Policy 4-003, Rule 4-003D that stipulates that all institutional websites must be registered with the Office of the University Webmaster, and that registry information must be periodically updated. Non-institutional websites—for example, the Utah Commission on Aging’s website, whose members are from different universities but UIT hosts their site—may also register.

Website administrators must register their websites by visiting the university website registration site, which has options to register a website or edit/retire a website registration. These web forms are contained in the IT Service Catalog and require authentication. The search the registry portal is being developed and Iannucci expects the changes to go live in a matter of weeks.

The register a website form includes (this is not an exhaustive list):

• Webmaster’s name and contact information
• Director’s or dean’s name and contact information
• Name(s) of web content authors, web server provider host, whether a content management system is used to publish content
• Whether the website houses sensitive or restricted data

The information provided will:

• Be used to build and maintain a comprehensive website registry that identifies responsible parties to be contacted in the event of an issue
• Better ensure the accuracy, consistency, security, and integrity of all university websites
• Allow the university webmaster to keep web administrators in the loop about future institution-wide web communications and critical requirements
• Help the university webmaster establish a community of practice around the effort

OU Campus websites hosted with UIT and sites managed by University Marketing & Communications are already registered.

An annual review will be conducted to verify the accuracy of the information. The first round of verifications for websites already in the registry will kick off in the next couple of months. The main point of contact will receive an email asking them to verify the accuracy of the website registration information. If a response isn’t received within two weeks, they will receive a second reminder email, followed two weeks later by an email escalated to the cognizant director or dean.

If you have questions or feedback about the registration or review process, please contact the Office of the University Webmaster at uwebresources@lists.utah.edu. For more information and resources, please visit the U webmaster resources website.