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Institutional Web Support Services (IWSS) at Illinois State University

Decision Maker

The first step in any Web project is to appoint a Decision Maker or a small decision-making group of no more than three people. This is often done before clients meet with IWSS staff for the first time, as the Decision Maker has the most communication with the IWSS staff. This person or group should be someone who has a thorough understanding of his or her office and who can give final approval on all Web site-related decisions. Furthermore, this person or group of people should expect to be in continual contact with IWSS throughout the course of the project.

Planning Phase:

In the initial stages of the project, Decision Makers will be responsible for delegating duties to others who will be maintaining the site. See our Site Design Checklist (.doc) to make sure all areas have been covered.

The Decision Maker is responsible for understanding the overall vision and goals of the Web site. Decision Makers should work with Content Maintainers to complete the Communicating Our Identity Exercise Part I to get a better understanding of how to express the unique strengths of your group via the Web.

Development Phase:

During development, it is important to communicate all ideas and concerns as quickly and thoroughly as possible. Decision Makers will be asked to review work done by IWSS or the Content/ Web Maintainers during each stage of development (navigation, content development, design, and the final product). Each stage must be approved by the Decision Maker before moving onto the next stage. Once a Decision Maker has approved a particular stage, that approval is final and IWSS will not make any major revisions to that stage (barring any special circumstances). This is necessary to ensure the project is completed in a timely manner. Therefore, it is important to communicate all concerns as soon as possible. IWSS staff will be happy to revise work they have done in a timely manner.

Maintenance Phase:

Decision Makers should make sure that the Content/ Web Maintainers are following the proposed revision schedule and add duties if necessary.