ITS offers web maintenance / content management for departmental web sites within the School of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering at Tufts University.  If your department, center, or institute would like to enroll in an ITS Web Maintenance Plan, please send an email to webupdates@ase.tufts.edu.

1. Plan Benefits

2. Policy Guidelines

3. Turn-Around Time

4. How to submit updates

5. Fees have been waived

6. Websites currently maintained by ITS

Plan Benefits

The ITS Web Maintenance Plan is encouraged for several reasons: Since departments contract with ITS for a web site redesign first, it is beneficial for the department to have ITS maintain it afterwards.  ITS can guarantee timely, scheduled updates while maintaining the quality and integrity of the site. There is little chance for site corruption since our web team is proficient in the necessary design and development skills used for building and maintaining professional websites. Staff or student turnover is not an issue since we are a dedicated group that ensures updates and site maintenance is continued during transitional periods. View the list of sites that  ITS currently maintains.

Policy Guidelines

Maintenance IS DEFINED as follows:

Textual content edits and updates:

• All edits to existing pages, such as change in faculty name, deletions, typos, etc. An email with instructions is sufficient, but if printouts of the pages that need editing are provided instead, the edits should be marked clearly on each page.
• New pages of information should be provided on CD or as an email attachment (word or excel). Documents need to be saved in html, word doc, or excel format. Hard copies of new information are accepted but turn-around time may be extended. Department should indicate where new content is to be posted.
• Large amounts of information (for example, faculty CV's) are at the web master's discretion and may be posted in PDF format.

Photographs and images:

• Photos can be taken by ITS with our digital camera or ITS can scan existing photos.
• Images can be loaned to ITS from the department, either on disk or hard copy for scan.  ITS will size and optimize images as needed for the web.  Acceptable formats are jpg, gif, and tiff files.
• Department should indicate where images are to be placed, if there is an option.
• The amount of photos and/or images used should be kept to a minimum.

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Maintenance DOES NOT include:

• Redesign of a web site's homepage or subsequent pages.
• Restructuring of a web site's entire navigation system.
• Creating new logos or branding images.
• Troubleshooting code created or corrupted by a party other than ITS.
• Interactive components or functionality additions.
• Writing complex or lengthy forms.
• Database activity.

Please note:  Due to site volume and commitment to efficiency, the ITS Web Development Team may decline maintenance and updates to sites that are not designed and developed by ITS.  This includes websites utilizing the FatWire content management system, sites that require large scale efforts, huge seasonal or cyclical updates, or where the timing or schedule of content changes are so critical that other projects and responsibilities of ITS staff would be compromised.

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Turn around time

• ITS requests up to 5 business days for regular content updates, delivered via email or on disk.
• Updates may take longer for any of the following reasons: content is managed using the FatWire system, updates are submitted during a holiday, ITS is understaffed, content is provided on paper, requires extensive typing, or involves table reformatting.

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Submitting updates / edits to ITS:

Edits and updates are encouraged to be submitted to ITS as needed.  Each department Chair needs to appoint a contact person (or two at most) who will receive edits from individual faculty which will then be conveyed to the ITS staff.  The delivery of edits can may be submitted by either method listed below:

• Email information to ITS Web Development Team at webupdates@ase.tufts.edu
• Send disk and/or marked-up hard copy through campus mail to:
  Web Development Team
  ITS Department 
  Tisch Library
  Medford Campus
  
  *Your name and department needs to be included.

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Fees

ITS no longer charges a fee for web site maintenance.  However, ITS may decline a maintenance contract if the site was not designed by ITS.  There is no web design cost if your department would like to choose one of our templates.  Custom web design or redesign is also an option and is currently $25/hour. 

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