Roles and Responsibilities

This document describes several roles for operations, maintenance and management of a cross-agency website. Each role may be carried out by one person or one person may take on several roles, depending on the project. Alternatively, a team may fulfill them.

Sample Roles

• Primary Site Owner (Lead Agency)
• Cross-Agency Portal Content Editor in Chief
• Technical Lead
• Contributing Agencies/Partners Content Lead
• Marketing/Communications Lead

Primary Site Owner (Lead Agency)

• Serves as the primary website owner. Needs to be a federal agency employee, not a contractor, nonprofit or for-profit company.
• Complies with federal policy and guidance to ensure the credibility of information released to the public.
• Ensures that reasonable efforts are made to verify the accuracy, consistency, appropriateness, and timeliness of all information placed on the website.
• Develops site plans and procedures for establishing, operating and maintaining the Cross-agency website.
• Ensures information placed on the cross-agency website is properly reviewed for message consistency and other concerns before it is released.
• Establishes a management plan and regularly reviewing the site.
• Provides the necessary resources to support website operations, including staffing and training.

Cross-Agency Portal Content Editor-in-Chief

• Ensures quality and consistency of content, acquiring training for content providers in writing, creating graphics and other subjects as necessary.
• Ensures accuracy of information, either by direct review or by coordinating the content review by subject matter specialists.
• Establishes a process and schedule for identifying and updating information appropriate for posting and ensuring it is consistently applied.
• Ensures accessibility of information, by suggesting alternatives for people with disabilities, limited technology or other factors identified in the intended audience; and ensures that language, style and format contribute to readability.
• Periodically reviews content and edits or replaces it to keep it current, accurate, and reliable.
• Manages the process for creating and clearing content; tracks the approval of content submitted by contributors.
• Applies federal policies or standards for accuracy and currency of all content produced and maintained.
• Coordinates content submitted by content leads from partners.
• Ensures content is published consistent with the primary site owner’s procedure.

Technical Lead

• Provides technical support consistent with the operating procedures as established by the primary site owner.
• Helps develop and maintain a training plan that addresses the use of any unique web application involved in management or maintenance of a cross-agency website (CMS or Portal).
• Develops a security/risk assessment of the cross-agency website.
• Ensures the operational integrity and security of the computer and network supporting the site.

Contributing Agencies/Partners Content Lead

• Helps to market the web content and services.
• Contributes content: articles, documents, data and images, and other content for which they are subject matter experts or for which their agencies are responsible.
• Prepares content in appropriate formats.
• Periodically reviews content for which they are responsible, editing or replacing it to keep it current, accurate, and reliable.
• Manages how content is created and cleared.
• Coordinates agency content contributors to help them submit relevant agency content.
• Ensures that all necessary concurrences have been obtained before submitting to the website Editor in Chief.
• Ensures information is accessible by suggesting alternatives for people with disabilities, limited technology, or other characteristics of the intended audience; and ensures that language, style, and format contribute to readability.

Marketing/Communications Lead

• Develops, coordinates and implements marketing and communication plans.
• Works with other webmasters and marketing professionals to promote and link to the site and selected content.
• Writes eNewsletters and develops other push technology/subscription products.
• Ensures hardcopy resource and referral documents and electronic information and referral systems incorporate the site’s URL.
• Develops and implements commercial search engine marketing strategies.