Website governance and publishing process

The website is managed by the UX team through a centralised publishing model. All content updates have to go via the UX team to be made live but not all updates are added by the team.

Our publishing process, which is explained further on this page, helps streamline content updates for everyone involved in the process. It also allows us to work towards meeting website objectives by putting UX resources where they are needed most and where they bring most value, for example:

• Improving user journeys, signposting and navigation across the whole site
• Designing content around more complex council services or processes
• Making sure the website and its content complies with web accessibility regulations
• Making improvements in line with user feedback, website statistics and other evidence of user needs

Content guidelines

For the publishing model to work effectively it is important that everyone, who requests updates or publishes on the website, aligns their changes with content guidelines. This helps avoid any delays in publishing. 

Publishing process: how to request content updates

There are different ways of requesting content updates depending on the requestor and the content.

Content editors

This is currently run as small pilot so we can access and decide if we can roll this out to others.

We work with a small number of editors who request regular changes to the same content. They have access to the stage site where they can make changes and send them for publishing on the live site. This is only for highly recurring updates to content that follows a set format for example:

• Updating opening or operating times and closures
• Updating property for sale or let
• Adding regularly published newsletters or documents

If you are aware of any areas of content with recurring updates, you don't have to request editor access. We will identify these areas from our stats, assess if the format of content allows us to give others access and, if so, we will identify up to two recurring requestors to set up as editors.

Content providers

If you are not a content editor but you previously requested updates to the same content, it's likely that you are already a content provider. 

If you have never requested updates to a specific area of content before, please check within your team first if there is anyone who usually requests them so they can do that for you and avoid delays in publishing. We only accept changes from content providers and if requested by somebody else, the current provider will have to approve them first. This is to make sure only the relevant subject matter experts request changes.

To request updates, content providers can log a ticket with the UX team and there are two ways of doing that.

If you have multiple updates, for example changes to various pages please log them as one request, this helps us action everything more efficiently. 

Log a ticket via the IT Hub 

Go to Business support teams (non-IT) and select the User Experience section.

Log a ticket by email, use correct subject line

• By emailing webcontent@aberdeenshire.gov.uk: please start the subject line with word content (content has to be the very first word, if you are not sure how to do it, please select this link as w)
• By emailing the UX team: please start the subject line with word content, if you are not sure how to do that, use this link webcontent@aberdeenshire.gov.uk which already has the correct subject added

Timescales for publishing content

Timescales may vary depending on the need to amend the information provided to comply with website content guidelines.