HUD's Web Management Operating Procedures

Section 2: General Procedures

A: Managing www.hud.gov

Audience: The audience for our Internet pages is people outside of HUD - both citizens and partners.

Management Strategy: While responsibility for the design and overall organization of the site are centralized in the Departmental Web Team, Web Managers throughout the organization control the content of their own sub-sections of the site.

The Departmental Web Team manages the front page and other top level pages. Headquarters Web Managers develop content about their own program areas, which they post within their own directories. Regional Web Managers work together to develop standard content elements and then work individually to gather and post local specifics, for each state. All content appears in HUD's standard template, giving the website one "look and feel."

While that may sound like a "top down" approach, the website also works on a "bottom up" approach. The Departmental Web Team draws content from Headquarters sections and from state pages, through links, to form broad cross-organization content. Thus, all lower-level sections "feed" the top sections.

Departmental Web Team Responsibilities

• Template Design: The Departmental Web Team designs the template used throughout the website. The design is based on a variety of factors, including
  • HUD's mission and strategic goals
  • Laws, regulations, policies, and other requirements
  • Customer feedback through webmail, customer satisfaction surveys, and focus groups
  • Usability principles
  • Changing needs and priorities of the Department
    
    
• Front Page: The object of the front page is to a) tell citizens about the most important services that HUD offers them, b) offer an opportunity for our Public Affairs Office to tell the public about important HUD news, and c) teach all web visitors how to navigate our website.
  
  Most of the front page of HUD's website remains static. Only two sections change with any regularity:
  • The "feature," which typically promotes HUD's killer content: homeownership, and
  • The "highlights," which are quick links to current and/or "hot" information. Public Affairs often uses the highlights sections to spotlight news releases and Secretarial initiatives.
    
    
• Topic Level Pages and Audience Group Pages: In most - but not all - cases, the topic level pages and audience group pages are managed by the Departmental Web Team and are located in the "root" directory. The reason for this management policy is that no single office or organization in HUD "owns" a topic or audience. In fact, information about a topic or for an audience may come from many parts of HUD. Departmental Web Team members organize and layout content, write segues, incorporate links to program and state information, and link to other related info on outside websites.
  
  
• State Pages: The Departmental Web Manager oversees the design and implementation of the state pages, working with the Regional Web Managers.

Headquarters Office Pages

• Headquarters offices each have a section of HUD's website. In their sections, they post all appropriate information, applications, and services relevant to that program area, exclusively.
• Headquarters content must be Departmentwide or generic in nature.
• The Departmental Web Team links program content into the Departmental pages, as appropriate.
• The Departmental Web Manager oversees the Headquarters office pages, including trouble-shooting their problems.

State Pages

• One of the most important objectives of HUD's web products is to ensure that all Americans have access to consistent, high quality information and services, no matter where they live. Thus, at the local level, HUD's website is organized by state; and we ensure that the same information is available on every state page. The state pages supplement the national pages by providing specific local information. Where appropriate, links are created to Headquarters content that is generic or Departmentwide in nature.
• Regional Web Managers work with the Departmental Web Team to develop the standard content templates for the front page, each topic level page, and - where consistencies can be found - sub-topic level pages.
• Links back and forth tie national and local content together in ways that make sense to the audiences.
• Changes to state page templates are made only after vetting among the Regional Web Managers and with the approval of the Departmental Web Manager.
• Once the content templates are agreed upon, they are "locked down." Everyone provides the same information, in the same order, using the agreed upon terminology, making it easy for the web audience to locate comparable information from state to state, in terms that do not vary.
• The Departmental Web Manager is responsible for overseeing the state pages, including trouble-shooting problems.
• Regional Web Managers are responsible for developing and managing the local content on state pages.