The Process Checklist can be accessed from your dashboards left navigation. If you are building a new website, bookmark this screen, as you should be referring to it each day you are working on the website. It clearly shows what staged we are on, and what needs to be done during that stage.
This screen not only shows what step we are on, but who owns that step, and whether or not that step has been completed. Completed items have a green check mark next to them.
On some of these steps, you might notice a time frame in parenthesis. These are simply suggested times that will give you an idea on the amount of time it might take to properly complete the task. These times will vary and be dependent on the way you complete the tasks, while handling the other responsibilities you have during the day! Remember, you are in charge of your deployment deadline. Your Project Manager is your coach and is happy to answer any questions you have during any stage.
DESIGN
Planning and Assessment: Questionnaire completed, template selected and assets provided (including logo and colors.) SEO strategy complete and ready for integration into your site architecture.
- Complete the customer questionnaire
Complete our customer questionnaire to help align our efforts with your expectations. The questionnaire provides us valuable insight to your goals and helps us understand how to work best with you. It also helps you articulate what you want to, allows you to provide the best version of your logo in vector/transparent form, along with your school colors, and theme selection... among other things - Customer Kick-off call
Hopefully, we have your completed questionnaire but no problem if we don't. We will introduce you to our process and tell you what to expect, and most importantly, answer the questions you have.
BUILD
Strategy and Production: Having the theme selected, your brand incorporated, and the architecture published, we're set to produce pages and create a site that will align your web presence with your other marketing tactics while maintaining a user-focused web experience.
- Set up your Google account
You should have a google account set up for your organization to provide the SchoolNow team the items needed to help set up your site. If you do not have one, you can set up a free account at the URL provided. We’ll show you how to send us your Google Analytics snippet for traffic analytics, your Custom Search Engine snippet, if applicable for your site search mechanism, and your Google Translate snippet, if applicable for bi-lingual functions on your site. - Build and publish your site architecture
We start you off with a common school or district architecture and show you how to edit it to your specific needs. Once done, we publish the pages out using the theme you selected. If you have already started an architecture, we can use it! Talk to your project manager to determine the plan. - Provide the website worksheet
After we publish the site architecture, we'll share a Google spreadsheet with you, called the Website Worksheet to help keep track of page progress. This sheet can be used for communication on specific pages and issues between your team and our production team. - Website content production/migration
The SchoolNow migration team will migrate content from your live website to your staged website but they will need your insight and approvals throughout the process. Ideally both our teams will work in unison to stay on track. Ask your project manager how and when to get your publishers trained. - Uploading Digital Assets
Upload the best quality images to your new web for central organization and to ease the page-building process. This also includes PDFs that will be linked on pages. - Supply your iCal feeds to pull in events
Do you use Google calendar, or other solutions to manage your organization's calendar? If so, supply us with your iCal feeds to pull in to your website so that you can continue managing events the same way you always have. - Specify primary navigation and mega-menus
With your site architecture published, we now have to decide what links actually go across the top. These are referred to as your primary, or tier-1 navigation. Will these links have mega-menus when someone rolls over them? What utility links will you have? Utility links are at the top of all pages, but less significant than the links in your primary navigation. This sheet helps get all of this in order for your project manager. - Watch the basic publisher training
Before you or your teachers log in to manage web pages, we recommend you watch the Basic Publisher training first! The training allows you to jump to the videos and topics you need most. - Approve Theme Adjustments
We'll seek your final approval for the theme and any adjustments before we start the mobile QA process. - Browser testing and mobile QA
The SchoolNow team will conduct browser and device testing and QA before we deploy the site. We MUST have your final approval on the theme before we start this process.
On to the Launch phase of the project! You’ll be happy to know that most of the work is in SchoolNow's hands now. We go through this final series of steps to ensure a successful website deployment. We’ll conduct any final training that you feel your team's needs, but your subscription includes ongoing training and support.
- Provide any additional training before launch
Conduct any additional training needed before launch. We can schedule a training session with you and your team if you choose. - Provide DNS information for deployment
Provide this information to your IT person or the one who manages your DNS. If you do not have someone who understands DNS, we're happy to make the changes for you if you can grant our team access to your DNS control panel. We have the specific changes that need to be made documented in written and video form. - Google & Social services installed
We'll hook up the Google services you selected (analytics, search, and translation if applicable) during our pre-deployment process. We’ll hide the search engine to allow Google enough time to spider your site. - QA/Testing completed and link checkers ran
We run a unique pre- and post-deployment check of items during the launch that includes a link spider to check for broken links, accessibility scans to ensure WCAG compliance. We’ll follow up with a report. - Provide final deployment approval
We must have your formal approval before we can launch your website.
