DWQ Web Transformation - 2009 Into the 21st Century Yes, it is about time.

Basic Plan Part of the DENR IT structure and housed on their server. Liferay content management program - an open source program that will be supported by DENR IT. DWQ will do design and day-to-day management of the Web site. DENR Creative Services is helping with the graphic design and building of templates.

Basic Plan (con’t.) The Liferay program is totally removed from our current authoring program – the new site will completely replace the old. Members of the current Web team are tasked with learning the new program and participating in the migration of information to the new site. All Web team members will need to take at least one 2-hour training session. DENR IT will provide the training. The one 2-hour training sessions is an estimate of time to get basic skills when combined with play/practice time and familiarity with manual. We are the department guinea pigs. Training availability will adapt to our needs.

Basic Plan (con’t.) Some team members will receive more intensive training and will be 1st Responders for team members who need advice on the program. A Web Team Intranet site with a message board will be established so that team members can share experiences with problems, fixes and short-cuts. DENR IT staff has been very available to us. We will eventually have an IT person assigned as our primary resource for any program problems. DENR Creative Services will also be able to offer support for Web site design and functions.

Liferay (http://www.liferay.com) “Liferay is a leading provider of open source enterprise portal and social collaboration software.” Their ad. Portal – a management system with role-based authorizations. Authoring ability accessible from any computer - including the Regional Offices - once site-area permissions have been established. Please identify regional staff who would want to join the Web team. Underlying structure includes a document library and an image gallery.

Liferay (http://www.liferay.com) Pages are built from a set of portlets – predesigned sub-programs with specific functions. Some of the available functions are: Journal articles – most narrative content. Can search all articles in the community. Can filter and display a set of articles. Data presentation – Retrieves data from internal or external sources and reformats the data for display in the portal. Navigation – Hierarchically displays current and next level pages. Site map – Expands and display all levels of pages for the current community. Poll or Web form data collection – displays a question or questions and answer fields with results that are displayed, collected in a spreadsheet document or e-mailed. Calendar – Displays a calendar of events that can be timed to appear and disappear. Also RSS feeds, blogs, Wiki, calculator, clock, message board and custom applications In fact, journal articles and other aspects of the site can be programmed to publish at any determined location with a display start date and a display end date.

Training The Liferay program has recently been upgraded. IT is in the process of updating the user’s manual and it should be available by the second week in February. Training is scheduled to begin the third week of February. A calendar is now available for the team to sign-up. Training will start with each Web team member attending a 2-hour session. We will evaluate if more sessions are needed for basic-level group. Further training will be available for the advanced group.

Design Team Task no. 1 – Naming conventions and journal library hierarchy – these are needed to begin migration of documents. Priorities for the site include: Emphasize opportunities for public involvement and education. Elevate Regional Office profile – clear and direct connection from Home page, and creation of DWQ Regional Office Web pages. Improve design and accessibility of Employment / Employee information. Improve navigation for general public and professional customer base. Accurate and detailed site map linked to every page footer.

Timeline Have naming conventions and library hierarchy determined in next three weeks. Begin training. Establish library on test Web site and begin migrating documents to folders based on DWQ organizational structure. Determine site architecture. Have home page, first and second tier pages and templates for review / comment. Build site. Test it. Swap sites

Odds and Ends May change URL to: ncwaterquality.gov or NCDWQ.gov Look at the revamped EPA site (www.epa.gov). We may adopt some of the approaches to public involvement and Employment interfaces. Check into site’s progress on the DWQ Intranet portal accessible through the DENR Web site. Questions?