Urgent: Website remediation and Digital Strategy Initiative progress update

Dear IT Pros,

Bottom Line Up Front: Due to issues found across IU websites, we are contacting website owners you may support to notify them that they must act to correct their site(s).

As part of the Digital Strategy Initiative, a collaborative effort to enhance and streamline IU’s digital communication, marketing, and user experience on the web, we are reaching out to owners of websites that need some urgent work to comply with IU policies.

We will be sending the below messages to site owners beginning July 13. We are writing to make you aware of this project and to ask you to assist as necessary the owners you support.

Additionally, we will be hosting a town hall to provide more information and answer questions about this directive. Please join us, and feel free to invite or forward this information along to anyone who may need to be involved:

DSI town hall
Tuesday, July 18
2–3pm ET
https://iu.zoom.us/j/83435442659

Please feel free to reach out to Tier 2 Support at sct2@iu.edu with any questions. We will also host online office hours 3–4pm ET each Wednesday, July 26–August 30.

–IT Community Partnerships on behalf of the Digital Strategy Initiative team

~~~~~ Text of direct mailing July 13, 2023 ~~~~~

From: Indiana University
To: Owners of sites earmarked for retirement or remediation
Subject: Action needed on your IU website

Dear [NAME],

As part of IU’s Digital Strategy Initiative, over the next several months you will receive critical information about actions you will need to take on your IU website(s). Please watch your email for this important communication, which will contain instructions you will need to follow.

DSI town hall
Tuesday, July 18
2–3pm ET
https://iu.zoom.us/j/83435442659

As you know, having a user-friendly web experience for all IU audiences is vital. Thank you for doing your part to make IU’s web space the best it can be.

Sincerely,

The IU Digital Strategy Initiative team

~~~~~ Text to send to batches of site owners on a rolling basis beginning July 20, 2023 ~~~~~

Subject: Urgent: Remediation required for your websites

Dear [Recipient Name],

Bottom Line Up Front: A number of issues have been found on websites that you own. A detailed plan for remediation or site retirement is required within 30 days.

This communication comes from the Digital Strategy Initiative Steering Committee, overseeing the improvement of IU’s digital communication, marketing, and user experience.

What you need to know: As part of our strategic approach, we have been using a tool named Siteimprove to assess the accessibility of all IU websites. Unfortunately, during our initial implementation and data gathering phase, Siteimprove identified a number of issues on websites that you own.

Considering this discovery, we have a responsibility to remediate these issues promptly. The link below will take you to a folder with detailed information about the uncovered issues:

[LINK TO COME]

Please note that this link is specific to you. If you need to share files in this folder, you must download them first. Please also note that the information available at the link above should be maintained as university-internal under IU’s data management policies.

To help you understand the issues and how to remediate them, please see the Knowledge Base. [LINK TO BE LIVE PRIOR TO THIS EMAIL SEND]

We are providing a 30-day window to take appropriate action on these issues, effective immediately. During this period, it is imperative that the necessary corrections are made or the decision to retire the site is undertaken. Appropriate actions include:

Providing us with an action plan: choosing a 30, 60, 90, or 120-day timeline; requesting assistance; or requesting an exception
Properly correcting issues identified in Siteimprove
Retiring pages, portions of the website, third-party products on the website, or the entire website

Within the next 30 days, you must submit your intention to either remediate the identified issues or retire your site.

Please note that non-response will result in your site(s) being deactivated after 30 days.

We understand that this task will be challenging, and we appreciate your full support and cooperation in this critical matter. Ensuring remediation is vitally important for maintaining IU’s digital presence and overall reputation.

What you need to do now:

Review the list of your sites in the folder linked in this message to determine:

1. Which you do not own
2. Which you will remediate
3. Which you will retire
4. Which you may need assistance with.

Fill out this website remediation form [LINK TO BE ADDED PRIOR TO THIS EMAIL SEND] to complete an action plan for the remediation or retirement of impacted sites by [Date 30 calendar days from now]. This form will ask you to:
1. Choose any sites for which you are no longer responsible and tell us who is responsible, if you know.
2. Select the sites you intend to remediate.
3. Select the length of time you expect remediation to take.
4. Select the sites you intend to retire.
5. Select the sites for which you need to request an exception and explain your request.
6. Review any remaining sites and explain why you need assistance with them.

If you have any questions during this process, please contact your IT Pro or email Tier 2 Support at sct2@iu.edu. We will also host online office hours 3–4pm ET each Wednesday, July 26–August 30.

Best regards,

Lora Fox

Associate Vice President, Enterprise Systems

Sudhir Bhaskar

Assistant Vice President, Digital Marketing & Analytics

REFERENCES

Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504

Other relevant Indiana University policies