Website lead

Every WCMS site has one person assigned the Website lead title and is the main contact for the site. This person is responsible for the holistic approach to the management and maintenance of the WCMS site.

For Waterloo Content Management System (WCMS) sites, the Guidelines for use of the WCMS state: A regular staff person; (authorized by the department) must be assigned as Website lead and also have Site owner permissions.

Main responsibilities

• Ensure that the WCMS team has accurate information on the site’s website lead and site owner’s user ID and Submit site owner or website lead change requests to the WCMS help portal

• Ensure quality and compliance: usability and accessibility; copyright and other legal compliance; consistent with University policy and guidelines; best practice

• Plan and manage creation and maintenance of the website

• Submit site change requests such as site name change, URL change, and site deletion to the WCMS help portal

• Request new sites

• Advise content maintainers on site changes and recommend use of features and layout according to the faculty or department’s preferences

• Investigate and report site issues reported by site content maintainer

• Communicate important WCMS updates to site owners and content maintainers

• Accessibility audits via Site Improve

Skills required

The following skills are required for users performing site management tasks:

• Sound knowledge of web guidelines and policies.

• Strong understanding and commitment to meeting obligations for website accessibility.

• Sound knowledge of proper writing for the web.

• Website leads must complete the required WCMS training.

Reasons to connect with a website lead

• Requesting site access after completing WCMS training (Note: any site owners can provide site access) 

• You would like some guidance on making major changes to the content or layout of a site

• Requesting a new WCMS 3 website

• Requesting a site name or URL change

• Deleting a website