Wayne State Web Team

Wayne State University Web Team Blog

Changes coming to the 2013 Web maintenance agreements

Along the lines of my last post, we are going to be making a few changes to the Web maintenance agreements that many units around campus have with the Web department. These agreements create the best of both worlds for the unit and the Web department. They allow a unit to send us a number of updates per month via email, phone, fax (yes, we still get some) and we handle the work. The cost we incur by hiring the content staff is spread out across the campus units which makes it cheap for everyone. The units don't need to train or have a "Web expert" on hand; for a small fee the units can call on us for expert advice when they need it.

# Insights

Over the past year we took a deep look at how units were using their maintenance and discovered a few things:

  1. Some units were not using it at all for content, but requesting slight visual or programming changes
  2. Some units only updated at specific times of the year, and typically went over their limit in those months
  3. Some units used their updates regularly throughout the year

# More flexibility

This got us thinking, so we are making the following changes starting in January 2013:

  • Instead of 5, 10, or 15 updates per month we are moving to a bucket of hours for the entire year. This will allow units to use the time when they need it without fear of going over in a given month or leaving updates unused.
  • The hours allotted will no longer be limited to just content updates. Time can be used for training, small template programming changes, formy assistance, and digital signage assistance if the unit has signage.
  • Because the new agreements span beyond content the cost will be going up slightly, but not by much. Agreements will be $50 more than the 2012 prices.

# The new agreement structure

  • 36 hours of service for $500/year
  • 48 hours of service for $750/year
  • 60 hours of service for $900/year

By spreading the agreements out across all units we are able to keep the cost very low. We believe this new structure will allow the units to be flexible and get the best Web services available to them.

If your unit doesn't already have a maintenance agreement and you would like to get one set up, simply email web@wayne.edu.