Overview
The following guidance is intended to support UMSN faculty who may need assistance with the various aspects of establishing and maintaining websites and software/mobile applications for personal, academic, and research purposes. Please note that UMSN can provide only limited technical assistance for faculty as outlined in the following guidance..
Funding
Faculty are responsible for funding of all costs associated with the operation and support of their websites and applications.
Website Design
Please take time to carefully plan and map out the use cases for your website prior to the design phase. ITS provides a good web strategy guide to help with this process, see https://its.umich.edu/web-strategy for more details. The guide covers usability, accessibility, and other critical design factors. As part of your initial design discussions, you should determine what level of complexity is needed for your site. Generally, you will need to determine if a static or dynamic site is needed, or if you need a full web application.For assistance with website design, please submit a request to UMSN-IT using the UMSN-IT Website and Application Consultation form. Faculty should consult the UMSN Communications and Marketing branding standards if you plan to use any UM branding within your website. The UMSN branding standards can be found here: UMSN Communications & Marketing Branding Standards.
UMSN Website Design Support Scope
Website Domain Registration
Faculty will need to decide if they want to register their website through UM or an external vendor, and also determine if the URL they want should be a UM or external URL. If selecting a UM URL faculty can use either a top level domain name link myresearch.umich.edu or a UMSN domain such as myresearch.nursing.umich.edu. Top level domains require approval from ITS which may not be approved and may take several weeks to process. Acquiring UMSN or external domain names is much easier and can usually be processed within 1-3 business days. Please submit a ticket to UMSN-IT at nursing-help@umich.edu when you are ready to register a domain name for your research website.
UMSN Website Domain Registration Support Scope
Website Data Classifications
To ensure that your website is secured property, faculty should request an ITS IA data classification review for their websites. Most research websites do not contain or process sensitive information, and will be classified as either low or moderate by ITS IA, but faculty cannot make that determination themselves, this must be done by ITS IA. Please submit a ticket to UMSN-IT at nursing-help@umich.edu to request a ITS IA data classification review for your research website.
UMSN Website Data Classification Support Scope
Website Hosting
Faculty can host their websites using internal UM hosting or you may choose to use an external vendor to host your site. If you or your project are contracting with an external vendor for development, external hosting is recommended (check with the vendor for their preferred hosting environment). For simple static websites, UM hosting is generally the best option.Please submit a request to UMSN-IT via the UMSN-IT Website and Application Consultation form to schedule a consultation to get your website hosting set up.
UMSN Website Hosting Support Scope
Website Maintenance
Before your website has been deployed, you should have staff designated for its maintenance, upkeep, data backup, and closeout. Depending on the level of skill needed for these tasks you may be able to accomplish this with your project’s existing staff. For sites developed by external vendors, it is recommended that you include maintenance as part of your contract, or purchase that support separately.
UMSN Website Maintenance Support Scope
No Support Provided - Faculty must designate staff for website and application maintenance or contract maintenance support with a vendor.
No Cost/Free Web Hosting Services
- ITS Web Hosting - Basic/Static or Dynamic Websites
- Google Sites Hosting - Basic/Static Websites
- Github Pages - Basic/Static Websites
Website Prep Checklist
- I have selected website designer/developer
- I have consulted with UMSN-IT for guidance establishing and maintaining my website
- I have reviewed branding compliance with UMSN Communications and Marketing (if using UM branding)
- I have verified my website’s data classification with ITS Information Assurance
- I have registered my website’s domain name
- I have assigned staff or selected a vendor for website maintenance
- I have selected website hosting service
- I have secured funding for the design, development, operation, and support of my website